Hasegawa Fw-190A5... or 6.

[GazzaS]

12 hours ago, KevinM said:

You are getting there Gary and moving like that  Bugs Bunny in that race against that turtle ......can you still hear that turtle in your head the way he talked?

 

Haha….  Thank you.  I didn’t remember that voice until I heard it today.

[GazzaS]

Small update today.   A workday today...   I hoped to get home and attach the LG...   maybe paint the spinner and blades.  But then I remembered that I still had to affix the MG-FF ammo drum bulges for the A5 version.  As someone alluded, the fit of these is less than perfect.  But, using my mix of CA and baking soda...  as well as my electric toothbrush sander, I got them cleaned up in and hour or so.

Here are the leading edges of the wings, post cleanup:

I'm quite happy with the leading edges.

And here are the underwing bulges:

These look ok until a shadow falls a certain way.  But I don't think the shadow will show once the model is up on her feet.

 

In a moment of weakness I ordered the HGW surface rivets.  They're specific to the kit.  Hopefully HGW will make more sets for other 1/32 kits coming out.

 

Thanks for looking.

[DocRob]

Great attention to detail Gary and I have to try the baking powder thing as well, never thought about it. I will look forward to your further riveting experiences, as I bought a set for my P-38 build.

Cheer Rob

[Peterpools]

Gaz

Nice progress for sure and looking forward to the HGW rivet set going on.

Thanks for the CA/Baking soda technique - surely will be using on the Mustang in a few places.

 

[GazzaS]

On 6/16/2023 at 3:18 AM, DocRob said:

Great attention to detail Gary and I have to try the baking powder thing as well, never thought about it. I will look forward to your further riveting experiences, as I bought a set for my P-38 build.

Cheer Rob

 

6 hours ago, Peterpools said:

Gaz

Nice progress for sure and looking forward to the HGW rivet set going on.

Thanks for the CA/Baking soda technique - surely will be using on the Mustang in a few places.

 

Thanks, guys...   your putty expenses will drop dramatically.

[GazzaS]

After gluing the main LG in place, I let them dry overnight.  I don't usually do this, but I didn't want any possibility of tweaking them while the glue and plastic are still in a molten state.

 

Checking them this morning revealed I had done a fair job.  Both wingtips were 102 mm from the cutting mat with no wheels on.

Then I used the grid pattern on the cutting mat to check alignment.  Of course, what the camera shows will be different than what my eyes saw.

Now...   I have to admit something here.  On every FW 190 kit I have ever built, I have had trouble placing the support arm.  Sick of the problem, I decided to seriously investigate before I committed to gluing.  Here is a pic of the real thing...

And here is a pic of the way the kit goes together without applying force or shaving parts.

The main problem may be the thickness and shape of the molded part of the wheelwell.  So, now I will try to change that without making it too ugly.  I can't just bend the parts into place because that would look all kinds of wrong.  I hope I can do it without having to modify the wing surface.

 

How do you guys do it?  I know some of you have built this kit already...

[Peterpools]

Gaz

I see your point and absolutely, Hasegawa has the arm in the wrong location.  Could be back in the day when they designed the kit, an actual aircraft wasn't available to use in developing the kit and checking the details. Too many manufactures do not seem to give enough thought to not only the design of the gear but it's installation, leading to all sorts of frustrations. 

 

[Martinnfb]

It depends on your preferences. The actuator arm was not a biggie for me, I did bend them in a bit though. Bigger issue( in my eyes ) was the hight. I ended up shortening the legs and oleos to mimic the weighted stance. And again its very subjective.

EDIT: The picture below can illustrate the difference. D9 unaltered, D15 weighted . Please look at the nose angle as an indicator.

[CANicoll]

On 4/20/2023 at 3:35 AM, GazzaS said:

Back again.

Yesterday the HGW belts got here.  And thank goodness you get two sets.  Because I totally ruined one with clumsiness and bullheadedness.  And since I had today off...   scheduled, not a sickee...  I knew I would get them done.  They took me all morning.

You can see in the last picture that 65% of the detail disappeared when I closed up the fuselage.

 

Ciao babies!

 

One of the more frustrating things about detailing the front office!  But you have the pictures to show its there.  Really nice work and you are definitely the master with those %$!#@!! HGW seatbelts.  Yours always look terrific - pulling the detail out of the belts that I've never successfully been able to do.  

[GazzaS]

7 hours ago, CANicoll said:

One of the more frustrating things about detailing the front office!  But you have the pictures to show its there.  Really nice work and you are definitely the master with those %$!#@!! HGW seatbelts.  Yours always look terrific - pulling the detail out of the belts that I've never successfully been able to do.  

Thank you, Chris.  I don't do a lot.  Just a dirty brown wash and then I glue them down to force wrinkles into them.  They're a bit too thick to hold wrinkles on their own.

[GazzaS]

9 hours ago, Martinnfb said:

It depends on your preferences. The actuator arm was not a biggie for me, I did bend them in a bit though. Bigger issue( in my eyes ) was the hight. I ended up shortening the legs and oleos to mimic the weighted stance. And again its very subjective.

EDIT: The picture below can illustrate the difference. D9 unaltered, D15 weighted . Please look at the nose angle as an indicator.

That's a great idea, Martin.

[GazzaS]

I haven't accomplished much on the model this week.  Had to go to the hospital today to find out what's wrong with my wrists.  Anyway...   all I've managed lately is to paint this dudes face.  He looks a fair bit better from a distance.  I'll give him a couple weeks to dry, then paint the rest.

[DocRob]

I hope your wrists will be better soon, Gary. I think the hombre looks great with real eye magnification.

Cheers Rob

[GazzaS]

13 hours ago, DocRob said:

I hope your wrists will be better soon, Gary. I think the hombre looks great with real eye magnification.

Cheers Rob

Thanks Rob.  Unfortunately, the more they look, the more they find.  Now waiting for a date with an MRI.

[belugawhaleman]

27 minutes ago, GazzaS said:

Thanks Rob.  Unfortunately, the more they look, the more they find.  Now waiting for a date with an MRI.

Sorry to hear about your wrist problems. For me lately its been a bad shoulder

I see a cortisone injection in my near future. I hope you heal up soon.

Anyway, Gary, your model looks great as do your figures.

 

[GazzaS]

4 hours ago, belugawhaleman said:

Sorry to hear about your wrist problems. For me lately its been a bad shoulder

I see a cortisone injection in my near future. I hope you heal up soon.

Anyway, Gary, your model looks great as do your figures.

 

Thank you, Paul!

[Peterpools]

Gaz

Nice to see you found some bench time and the figure is taking shape nicely.

Sorry about the wrist issues you are experiencing and just hang in there and all will be well... just takes time. I know the pain and frustration. Yes, it does always seem, the more the doctors and tests, the more they find.

This past month my wife and I seem as if nearly all our time as been devoted to doctors, specialists, specialized testing and a hospital admission with procedures. Just seems the older we get, the more of our time and energy is devoted to trying to stay as well as we can be.

 

 

[GazzaS]

Thank you, Guys!

      Dunno what will be done about my wrists.  I seem to have bits of bone that have lifted from the bones.  So, now I have to wait for an opening for an MRI. 

 

Anyway...   about the kit...

I glued on the windscreen a few days ago with canopy glue.  Discovered a sill.

It was only a half a millimeter wide, but would be almost an inch wide in 1/1 scale.  No way Jose!  Would you jump on the expressway, USA if your hood or doors were sticking out an inch when the should be smoothly blended with the body of your car?

As I prepared for primer, I gave the entire model a gentle sanding with 2K grit.  Small sink marks abound...   even in the canopy!

 

 I will camouflage them with effects if the show up later.

The whole kit...   only the clear wingtip lights to add....   oh $&@...   totally forgot the tail light.

 

One thing I learned about my first foray with HGW rivets...   you need to make sure that your primer is dark enough to see the rivets against.

My preferred primer:  Tamiya paint...   which ever color you want to use.  Holds as well or better than anything else around.

Here, I discovered that I had done a terrible job removing an ejector pin mark from each propeller blade.

And while still masked I gave the canopy a spray of RLM 74.  But you can see, my masking job was imperfect.  I'll fix it tomorrow.

Thanks for looking!

[KevinM]

Now Gary I can be anal about my wood work some what but models .....nope.If it comes out nice good if it fails so be it now you know my solution to that problem.. f'it.

[BlrwestSiR]

Just catching up with your build Gary. I've yet to do a 190. Came close with the Hasegawa A8 kit but botched the wing/cowl/fuselage join which you've shown can be a problem. Great problem solving and I'll have to remember some of them when the time comes to do the D9 I have in the stash. 

[DocRob]

Nice progress Gary and thanks for the tip about the dark primer as a preparation for riveting. I will keep it in mind for my riveted NMF P-38. Gloss black will be a good base for the NMF and the rivets.

Cheers Rob

[Peterpools]

Gaz

Sorry to read about your wrist issues - and of course, hoping all will be well. Just don't push and overdo it. 

Yup, it's all the small details that we seem to miss until then they appear just before the painting stages. Nice going on catching and fixing the step by the front windscreen. I see those nasty sink marks on so many props over the years, it's almost like a " must check and repair" part of the build.

[CANicoll]

Man, we all seem to be falling apart!  Hang in there Gary and hope the wrists work out ok.

Question - do you always sand down your  plastic with 12000 before priming?  I don't but wonder if I should.  I see that it does help pick up problem areas.  Agree with Peter on the prop sink marks.  UGH!!  And well done on the windscreen.  Whew.

All the best!

Chris

[GazzaS]

Thank you, Chris!

I only sand if there will be a chance of paint lift.  And if you're masking, there's  50% chance that you will lift your paint and primer somewhere.  Since I have used the combination of sanding with 1200 or 2k grits and plain Tamiya paint, I have had Zero paint lift.  So, it's one of my golden rules, now.

[Clunkmeister]

On 6/11/2023 at 8:44 PM, GazzaS said:

Thank you for the pics, Martin!  Great ones they are, too.  Now I just have to decided how visible to make the reinforcing rings.  Might do them as decals so that the thickness is uniform.

Mr 190 comes through again.  Is there a 190 detail that Martin DOESN’T know about?