Hasegawa's 1/32 scale
Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9

by Ian Robertson

Hasegawa's 1/32 scale Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9 is available online from Squadron.com

"Yellow 8" was a Focke-Wulf Fw.190D-9 (W.Nr. 600375) from JG26 found abandoned at Celle, Germany in April 1945.

Two photographs of this aircraft appear on page 239 of Axel Urbanke's book, "Green Hearts: First in Combat with the Dora". For those interested, Urbanke's book provides a dramatic and sobering view into the lives of Luftwaffe fighter pilots during the final stages of WWII when defeat was certain. The text is supported by a large number of photographs of pilots and their machines, as well as numerous color profiles.

In conjunction with Urbanke's publication, Eagle Editions produced decals for "Yellow 8" on EagleCals #61. The instructions are accompanied by a color profile by Tom Tullis, as well as a reduced version of one of the photographs in Urbanke's book.

Here is my interpretation of "Yellow 8", using Hasegawa's new-tool 1/32 Fw.190D-9.

Accessories Used on the Model

• MDC hollow resin exhausts

  • Each exhaust stack attaches separately to the model, which makes them a bit fiddly to work with. However, the end result is worth it. No surgery to the kit is needed to install the parts.

• MDC main wheels and tail wheel

  • Superb detail. Brake lines are included for the main undercarriage. I added some additional wiring to the radius rod hinges.

• Eagle Editions resin gun cowl (Eagle Parts #42-32).

  • The shape of the kit's gun cowling has been criticized for having too much "cleavage" between the gun bulges. The Eagle Editions replacement corrects this problem, with no surgery required to fit the part.

• Eagle Editions cockpit (Eagle Parts #40-32)

  • A very well detailed alternative to the kit cockpit. This set, which contains both resin and photoetch, is intended for those with moderate to advanced modeling skills. Some minor modifications to the kit are required. The Eagle Editions website provides online color instructions to enhance the instructions supplied with the cockpit.

• Rutman Products resin seat

  • The Eagle Editions replacement cockpit comes with two beautifully designed resin seats, one with seatbelts and one without. Because I used these seats on two previous Fw.190 models, I opted to use the Rutman seat this time. The seat is very good quality, with only minor cleanup necessary. Cutting Edge also makes replacement seats for the kit.

• Rutman Products cigar-shaped 300 liter drop tank

  • The resin drop tank I purchased suffered from a large number of small holes that required filling and sanding. It was not a difficult task, although it was time consuming.

• It is worth noting that the cigar-shaped drop tank was quite rare and used only late in the war. Although there is no evidence that "Yellow 8" was fitted with this kind of tank, the tank is appropriate for the time period during which "Yellow 8" was in service.

• EagleCals decals #61

  • Printed by Microscale, EagleCals are thoroughly researched and among the best aftermarket decals available. The airbrushed profiles by Tom Tullis are works of art.

Hasegawa's 1/32 Fw.190D-9 is a pleasure to build and has few drawbacks.

For me the biggest challenge in construction occurs while fitting the wings to the fuselage. The fit is very tight, with multiple pieces in play simultaneously. Careful attention is needed to ensure proper alignment of the wings to the fuselage. Having said that, all three 1/32 Fw.190s I have built have turned out fine in this respect.

Below I describe some other important steps in construction.

Rivet Detail

As I have described in previous articles on the 1/32 Fw.190D-9 and A-8, I used Hasegawa's rivet-making tool and spacing template (available at Hobby Link Japan) to create thousands of rivets on the fuselage, tail and wings. Tamiya tape was used to guide the placement of the template on the model. Once the rivets were in place, I gently polished the model's surfaces with a Micromesh sanding cloth. This was done to help keep the rivets subtle in appearance.

Cockpit

I replaced the kit cockpit with a highly detailed resin and etched metal cockpit from Eagle Editions. To install the cockpit it is necessary to remove the raised details on the interior of the kit's fuselage halves. Some thinning of the interior fuselage sides is needed to ensure the cockpit sits high enough within the fuselage to be flush with the rear deck. Repeated test fitting will ensure good results.

I opted not to use the replacement coaming above the instrument panel. Note, however, that the placement of the gun sight on the kit is incorrect because it interrupts the padding that extends across the front of the coaming. Therefore, I repositioned the gun sight further forward and added a strip of styrene rod to fill the gap in the padding. This modification is illustrated in my previous article on the Fw.190A-8.

The cockpit was painted RLM66 using Polly Scale acrylic. A wash of reddish-brown enamel was used to flush out details in the cockpit, and SnJ polishing powder was used sparingly to simulate worn surfaces on the floor panels. Silver-colored pencil was also used to highlight detail in the cockpit. The dials on the instrument panel were added individually by punching them out from the kit's decal sheet using a Waldron punch and die set. A drop of Future was added into each dial once the decals had dried.

Dropped flaps

Hasegawa provides an option for dropped flaps. However, the locating tabs on the kit parts force the flaps to droop at an angle of about 90 degrees, which is incorrect. At most the angle should be 60 degrees, and 13 degrees was more typical for parked aircraft, so you will have to make the necessary adjustment.

Repositioned elevators

I deflected the elevators upward. On Fw.190s this was done to lock the tail wheel in place. When the elevators were dropped, the tail wheel could move freely. The control stick was pulled back for consistency with the position of the elevators.

Antenna wire

The antenna wire was made from stretched sprue and painted dark gray. Note that there was no retractor mechanism for the antenna wire on Fw.190s with a blown hood. Therefore, the wire sagged when the canopy was open.

I began by painting my model with Tamiya gray surface primer. This undercoat was needed in preparation for a coat of Alclad II aluminum metalizer around the wing roots and fuselage sides near the cockpit. Without a suitable primer, Alclad II will scar the plastic.

I painted the black and white fuselage bands and masked them with Tamiya tape until all other painting was complete.

Camouflage

In starting this project I was drawn to the unique and striking camouflage scheme of "Yellow 8" on EagleCals #61. The upper colors are described in the instructions as RLM82/83, with RLM76 on the fuselage sides and underside. The sides of the fuselage were mottled with RLM83 and perhaps RLM82.

 

To recreate these colors I used some home-brewed mixtures of acrylic paint. I wanted the RLM83 (dark green) to have a brownish tinge, so I used 3 parts Polly Scale "Pullman Green" (a generic dark green color that I had on hand), 1 part Aeromaster RLM81 brown-violet, and 1 part Testors RLM83. These paint brands are compatible to mix.

RLM82 (light green) is a color I find to be poorly represented in the Polly Scale range because it has been made excessively bright. To tone the green down, I used 1 part Polly Scale RLM83 (which is really supposed to represent RLM82), 2 parts Polly Scale "Pullman Green", and 2 parts Polly Scale RLM67 dark olive green. While I cannot attest to the accuracy of the mixture, it did produce a light green that I felt was reasonable for RLM82. Moreover, it is similar in appearance to the recently released White Ensign Models RLM82 enamel, although perhaps slightly more yellowish.

Polly Scale RLM76 was applied out of the bottle.

I painted the interior of the wheels wells, flaps, undercarriage, and landing gear covers RLM02 (interior gray). The spinner and propeller blades were painted RLM70 (black green).

Decals and Weathering

A coat of Future floor wax was added to the model at least 12 hours prior to decal application. The EagleCals decals were of the highest quality and went on without difficulty. However, I later ruined the fuselage markings due to over-weathering. These markings had to be stripped off and replaced.

The interior of the fuselage cross on "Yellow 8" was RLM83 rather than black. Although EagleCals supplies a pair of decals already filled with dark green, I opted to mask and paint the interior area of each cross with RLM83 to maintain consistency with the rest of the RLM83 on my model. I then used an appropriately-sized white-outline cross from another EagleCals sheet and placed it over the area I had painted.

Once the decals had dried I added a second coat of Future floor wax. This was followed one day later by a 50/50 mixture of Polly Scale clear satin and clear flat acrylic.

Exhaust stains were applied by spraying highly thinned black paint. Reference photos show that the exhaust stains on this aircraft were prominent.

To simulate paint chips at the wing roots and near the cockpit entrance, I used fine grain sandpaper to create surface abrasions and expose small amounts of the Alclad II aluminum beneath.

Groundwork

A wooden cutting board was used as the base for the model. Celluclay was used to make the basic ground cover. The celluclay powder was mixed into a paste with water and white glue, tinted with brown acrylic paint, and then spread thinly over the cutting board. Note that the cutting board had previously been treated with several coats of clear lacquer to prevent warping while the celluclay dried. While the celluclay was still wet I added pieces of Heki grass mat (item # 1574 - Wild Grass Savanna), fine sand, and small bits of moss. I purchased the Heki grass from a mailorder company in the UK.

Images were taken with a Nikon Coolpix 5400 digital camera outside with a natural background. The "sharpen edges" tool of Adobe Photoshop was used to restore some of the clarity and crispness lost during image compression.
 

Click on the thumbnails below to view larger images:

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Modelling Manuals 20 US Price: $17.95 UK Price: £12.99 Publisher: Osprey Publishing Publish Date:  May 25, 2002 Details: 64 pages; ISBN: 1841762687 Shop Buy it from Osprey Publishing

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2004 by Ian Robertson
Page Created 21 September, 2004
Last Updated 21 September, 2004

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