The canopy jettison lever was added from scrap styrene

Engine Plug

The open centre section of the wheel well was a feature of the Fw 190D-9. However, no mass-produced injection moulded kit has represented this feature to date.

Hasegawa’s engine plug is relatively simple, yet looks busy and convincing when painted and weathered. I partially assembled the plug and airbrushed the components. Before completing the engine plug, I brush-painted details with gunmetal and Tamiya Titanium Silver, then added oily streaks with a thin mix of Flat Black and Red Brown applied with my Testor Aztek airbrush. A sharp 2B pencil was used to add simulated scratches to the painted parts.

The engine bay sidewalls were painted in a similar fashion so that they would blend with the engine parts.
 

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The engine plug is made up from relatively few parts	Even so, it looks quite convincing when assembled. Basic painting has been completed at this stage.	Heavy staining and weathering has now been applied, as appropriate for a hard-working engine bay.	The detail looks good from all angles. The ejector pin marks on the bottom of the engine block are hidden when the wing is installed.

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Wing and Fuselage Assembly

The wheel wells, interior of the wing and interior of the landing flaps were sprayed RLM 02 Grey before being dirtied up with the same thin mix of brown and black that was used for the engine plug.

The main wheel well is integrated with a spar that guarantees the correct dihedral for the kit wing. The wing spar also incorporates a cutout that the fuselage wing root slots into, ensuring perfect alignment between the wing and the fuselage. However, all the parts must be lined up perfectly. The first critical stage is the installation of the main wheel well.

In order to ensure that the wheel well and wing spar were completely flat against the inside of the bottom wing, I used multiple plastic clamps to position the part then applied liquid cement to the edge of all the mating parts.

While this was set aside to dry, I assembled the fuselage. The cockpit tub is designed to be trapped between the fuselage halves with the assistance of a rectangular locating point on the inside of the fuselage. I decided to glue the tab on the cockpit tub to just one side. The fit was tight without glue anyway, and this made sure that I had a little leeway if the fuselage had to be spread at the wing root.

The cockpit tub and engine plug were glued to one fuselage half, then the fuselage was joined. I did not add the tailwheel at this stage (as suggested in the instructions). It fitted without trouble after all the assembly and painting was completed.

The gun cowl and forward top cowl are moulded as a single part. Initial test fitting did not look promising near the front, but I found that the part fitted well when pushed firmly into place then taped down until completely dry.

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The wheel well was weathered by spraying a thin mix of brown/black along various structural features.	The interior of the flaps and main landing gear doors received the same treatment.	It is essential that the integrated wheel well back wall and wing spar is exactly mated to the lower wing. I used plastic clamps to help.	The wing spar guarantees the dihedral of the wing.

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It was now time to bring together the wing and fuselage.

Similar to the gun cowl, dry fitting was not initially encouraging. It looked like I was going to have to deal with a noticeable step on one side and gaps at both inside leading edges. I took a deep breath and glued the parts together. Glue improved the situation. I also ran a long piece of masking tape from under one wingtip, across the top of the fuselage then back under the other wingtip. This tape was tight enough to squeeze together the wing root and fuselage - although I held it tightly between my fingers for several minutes before trusting the tape. To my delight, when the cement dried there were no gaps and no steps.

This assembly stage did require some fiddling and provoked a few anxious moments, but with care and time a very close fit is possible.

The rear fuselage/empennage was assembled and glued to the main fuselage. The fit was perfect. I scribed a double-panel line on top of the fuselage extension as seen in some references.

The only other tricky aspect of construction is the lower mid-fuselage insert. I did need to trim the front forks of this part to get a good fit.

Fuselage Flush Rivet Detail

Hasegawa has not attempted to depict the characteristic lines of flush rivets on the fuselage sides. This is not a criticism as the panel lines are very nice, and there are many differing views on how surface detail should be represented. Modellers who want to add texture can do so in a number of ways.

I chose to add the flush rivets only to the mid fuselage. They seemed to be most prominent in this area – especially the multiple rows of diagonal rivets.

I bought a dressmakers marking wheel while accompanying my wife on a visit to a craft shop some years ago and now I finally had a chance to use it. Self-adhesive Dymo tape was used as a guide. A short length was stuck to the fuselage side then the marking wheel was firmly run along the edge. This process was repeated until the basic pattern was achieved. A heavy steel scribe was then used to emphasize the holes although, in retrospect, I probably could have skipped this step.

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I wanted to add the missing structural detail on the mid-fuselage. Dymo tape is used as a guide for a dressmaker's marking wheel.	The result is not perfect, but it is easier and probably more precise than using a hobby knife or drill to make individual holes.	This feature was quite obvious on many Doras. The final result on the model is not too overpowering.

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Finishing Construction

Smaller details were now gathered for final assembly. The exhaust stacks, machine gun barrels and the small fresh-air intake on top of the cowl were all hollowed out. I used a scriber and a not-too-sharp hobby knife for the MG barrels and the intake, and my Dremel motor tool fitted with a small dental burr for the exhaust stacks.

The wing-mounted cannon barrels were badly out of round. Rather than going to the trouble of sanding and hollowing, I replaced the barrels with brass tube.

Three locating tabs are moulded to each landing flap. This makes for a firm fit but unfortunately the flaps are dropped too far – almost to the vertical. I simply bent the locating tabs back to a more representative angle using a pair of pliers, then glued the flaps along the edge before attaching them to the wings.

Some late-war Doras were fitted with a different style of drop tank. Various sources state that this was a new 300 litre tank, but it looks a lot smaller capacity than the conventional Luftwaffe drop tank to my eye. Jerry Rutman manufactures this style of “cigar” drop tank in resin, and I decided to use one on my Dora.

The remainder of assembly proceeded according to the instructions.

Apart from filling the panel lines on the gun cowl, this model did not require a single spot of putty during construction.

The resin cigar fuel tank from Jerry Rutman. The resin sway-brace mounts were sliced off the front position and relocated to suit the kit parts.	The kit fittings only needed a little work to adapt to the Rutman drop tank.		Panel lines were slightly highlighted before decals were added.

After the decals had thoroughly dried, I sprayed a sealing coat of Polly Scale Flat. There was still some work to be done though.

The reference photo shows a dark exhaust streak on the forward part of the aircraft. I mixed some Flat Black, Red Brown and a spot of Flat Base with approximately 80% thinner. This thin mix was first applied in tiny vertical streaks on the fuselage sides, then along panel lines that were destined to lie under the stain, and finally built up gradually for the entire length of the dirty streak.

Scuffing and chipping of paint along the wing roots was achieved with a silver artist's pencil. It is important to keep the pencil sharp for the whole job. I re-sharpened the pencil several times before I was finished.

The characteristic toe-in and forward angle of Fw 190 undercarriage legs has been a problem for model companies until now.

On my kit, the undercarriage legs were such a tight fit that I could not dry fit them in the locating holes without risking damage. Fortunately, a thin application of glue was enough to lubricate the plastic and they almost clicked into place for a magnificent fit and perfect alignment.

By the way, I accidentally sliced off the locating pins for the retraction struts on both main undercarriage legs when removing them from the sprues. This is an easy mistake to make, but also an easy one to fix. I drilled a shallow hole in the appropriate position on each leg and superglued a short pin of brass rod as a replacement.

Small detail parts such as the striped Morane mast and footstep were painted and glued to the model.

Focke-Wulf 190 aircraft equipped with the standard (flat) hood had a pulley system inside the canopy that kept the antenna wire taut whether the sliding section was open or closed. The blown hood did not have this mechanism. The wire simply hooked onto the top of the canopy and slackened off when the hood was open.

I usually use invisible mending thread for antenna wire, but I have not had much luck getting this material to look convincingly slack. I therefore stretched a length of dark green sprue using a candle. The stretched sprue can be positioned to a certain extent. A long section of stretched sprue was strung between the fin antenna post and the top of the canopy. A short piece was curled at one end to depict the slack lead-in wire on top of the fuselage entry point.

The Dora was finished, and in fairly quick time. I estimate that construction took around 12 hours, with painting and detailing another 15 hours or so.

Since its release in late 2001, I have seen far more photos and articles of Hasegawa 1/32 scale Bf 109G-6 submitted to HyperScale than any other single model – and with good reason. That kit is quite accurate, pleasant and fast to build, offers a staggering range of finishing options, is an impressive size without making big demands on display space, is not burdened with esoteric gimmicks and the price is affordable.

Hasegawa’s new 1/32 scale Focke-Wulf 190D-9 continues this sensible philosophy with all the same qualities as the earlier Gustav.

The Dora is slightly more demanding than the Bf 109 with respect to the wing/fuselage join, but it is still well within the scope of most modellers.

I think that Hasegawa’s 1/32 scale Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9 is a terrific kit that deserves great sales success. It will look good built straight from the box, but also represents an excellent platform for superdetailers to weave their magic.

Tamiya, Revell and Trumpeter are doing a good job with large scale jets. We can only hope that Hasegawa continues to cover more 1/32 scale WWII subjects. Who wants to see a state-of-the art Mustang, Fw 190A/F/G, a late mark Spitfire or a Hurricane in this scale?

Who wouldn’t!

This project was a much more enjoyable experience thanks to the assistance of:

• Jerry Crandall from Eagle Editions for the commentary on his construction; assistance with reference questions on the subject aircraft and the provision of decals.

• Jerry Rutman of J. Rutman Productions for the provision of the resin "cigar" fuel tank last year in the "Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9 Late Style Conversion" (for the old Hasegawa Dora)

• Meteor Productions for the review sample Fw 190A-8 cockpit way back in 2000 - I knew that I would use it eventually!

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Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2003 by Brett Green
Page Created 26 April, 2003
Last Updated 17 March, 2004

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