Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-11

by Tim Both

Revell-Monogram's 1/48 scale Fw 190D-11 is available online from Squadron

Every Luftwaffe nut needs a JV44 plane in their collection, right?

Well here is mine!

This is Revell’s Fw190D-11 which, as you might know, was once in DML’s and Trimaster’s range. Now after more than 10 years, the moulds are showing a great deal of degradation. The surface of mine was covered in what can only be described as little pips or lumps of plastic. These covered panel lines and generally got in the way.

Below is a list of extras I used on this model:

• Part-R-Parts engine plug

• Eduard 190D flaps

• Extratech 190D-11 details

• Eaglecals #14 Doras of the Galland Circus

• CMK #4034 Armament set

The Part-R-Parts engine plug was a simple one-piece affair to which I added some plumbing and wirework with fuse wire and some small sections of brass tubing. The wheel well I cut using a small saw and cleaned up with files and wet and dry sandpaper.

I am sure that the CMK set is designed for the Tamiya 190 as the gun access covers have little resemblance to the shape of the Revell ones although technically they should be the same. I made the cutouts in the Revell wings and through sanding and test fitting super glued the cannons in. These had great detail and looked great painted black and dry brushed but they are all but hidden on the final model.

Onto the cockpit. For a mere $10Aust you get from Extratech a sheet chock full of brass details a seat, harness, instrument panels, side panels, gun sight, instrument coaming, pilot armour and complete sidewall detail. Each sidewall has 4 parts and more including levers etc, etc. I installed all of this not really expecting it all to fit but it did. I cannot recommend this set highly enough. There is a separate door for the pilots stowage compartment so I scratchbuilt the ‘bin’ using sheet plastic and painted in RLM02 on the inside and glued it on. The cockpit was painted RLM 66 and washed with diluted black and installed.

It was here that I ran into my first problem. I had decided to use the Extratech instrument coaming and removed the kit’s plastic one. The etched one requires some tricky bending to fit. I got close but not really close enough and ended up having canopy problems down the track. Also the etched coaming is too thin and doesn’t represent the leather-padded front at all well. Next time I wont use this part.

The flaps caused me the next nightmare as they fouled against the resin cannon details already installed. Through coercion and trimming they were glued in with super glue and I had won that battle. Again, I don’t think that I would bother with the flaps again as from what I know most 190s had their flaps raised on the ground and the amount of work involved didn’t really pay off in the final result.

The rest of the construction was fairly easy. I bridged the gap between fuselage and wings with sprue as a spreader and this took care of most of the problems. I made a big effort to remove all the seams here as none existed on the real craft. I restored any panel lines with a needle and sharp blade.

I used 5 minute epoxy to glue on the front windshield but this was not a great fit due to that coaming coming back to haunt me. The canopy rode about 1mm too high which isn’t much but it looked awful so I used a mix of putty and super glue to blend it carefully in.

Cannons barrels were made from fine brass tubing.

I have a Tamiya Sprayworks airbrush which is very basic but I have taught myself to use it properly so I can now do those intricate Luftwaffe schemes. You have to thin the paint just right to get those fine lines. I use Gunze mainly with a Tamiya colour now and then.

Painting

I started by spraying the fuselage sides RLM76 and letting it dry. At this time I applied the ‘<58’ decal to both sides as my idea was to spray the rest of the camouflage over the top to make it appear faded and old.

Next was RLM75 being careful to take my time with the tail mottles. Then came the RML83 on top of that again thinned greatly and applied slowly. There is no pressure regulator with the Sprayworks so you have to use what you get. The Eaglecals suggest that there was possibly RLM81 on the tail as a mottle but that means that there possibly wasn’t RLM81 so I didn’t use that colour.

After letting the top colours dry I masked them off with Tamiya tape and sprayed the lower surfaces with RLM23 from Gunze. This covered really well and the model was starting to look good.

A few details like the prop and exhaust areas were sprayed and left to dry.

Decals

These are Eaglecals so therefore they were outstanding. I found the red 4 to be lighter than the Gunze RLM23 but maybe that was because it was placed on the white background because it looks fine on the sheet. I used Aeromaster stencils for this craft saving the Eaglecals stencils for another time. All decals went on well with no problems.

Weathering and Finishing

After the decals had dried I gloss coated them and started with the weathering. I ran highly thinned Gunze black into the panel lines and when dry used Gunze ‘smoke’ to postshade the panels. This is the first time I have used this technique until now and think that it looks okay. Using a silver pen I scribbled on some Tamiya tape and then used a toothpick dipped in the silver to apply some wear and tear around where the pilot enters and a few other panels. I didn’t want to overdo this so I went carefully.

Thanks to the articles on HyperScale I was able to correct the gear legs so they had the correct stance. Knowing that the bottom of the gear door should be parallel to the ground made it easier. I used 5-minute epoxy to glue on the legs with the doors already attached and left the model overnight with it resting ‘wheeless’ in the correct stance. I could tell if it was right or not as the model HAD to rest flat on the bottom of the gear doors. Making sure of the correct toe-in was also done.

All the smaller bits and pieces were now added and the model was coated lightly with Gunze flat a number of times. The canopy masking was removed, pilot armour was installed and it was done. There’s no antenna wire just yet as I have run out of black sprue to make it.

I am happy with the result. By far the most realistic model I have built so far.

That was the one and only Revell 190D-11 that I am going to build not due to the difficulty but because the surface of the plastic is so poor. The next one might be a Tamiya and a conversion kit.

Thanks to my fiancé Stephanie for letting me work for so long on my models.

Hope you enjoyed this one.

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Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2003 by Tim Both
Page Created 07 September, 2003
Last Updated 17 March, 2004

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