I had planned to do an Airmodel Fw 187 for this GB but it didn't work out. I'm traveling too much this month, and couldn't locate suitable aftermarket parts for the exhausts and props. Rather than do such a difficult kit this month, I've fallen back on something easier. In fact, just about the easiest possible.
Don't know yet if I will do it in the supplied markings with the red underside. It's overdone, but then again, there's a reason for that. Plus I do not usually build Luftwaffe subjects so I don't have a lot of alternative decals in the stash. Well, it's a decision that can wait for later.
Work will not begin in earnest on this kit until late this week.
After a couple of weeks on the road, I got a serious start on this model over the weekend. Cockpit is painted Extra Dark Sea Grey with enough black washes to approach RLM 66 and emphasize the relief detail. The only enhancement is some seat belts made of yellowed white decal. Having just finished a cockpit with aftermarket color photoetch, I have to say this simple treatment looks almost as good, especially on a 1/72 kit with such a small cockpit opening and decent detail to begin with.
Major construction went easily. Not quite as perfect fitting as the Academy P-47 but excellent considering that the structure is a little more complex. No filler is needed anywhere, just some light sanding, especially to bring the upper nose piece flush with the fusleage. Cutting out the flaps and control surfaces for repositioning made assembly a little more complex but not too much.
This is the first long nose 190 I have ever built and am using the build to learn more about the history of the airplane, quite interesting. I never realized how crude the engineering was on the lengthening of the tail; it's just a constant section insert, like stretching an airliner, resulting in an odd interruption in the fuselage taper in plan view.
The primer / underside color of RLM 76 went on last night. Following the simplest recipe I could find on the internet, I mixed this from Tamiya XF-23 (supposedly RLM 65) cut about 40% with white. Looks okay to me. No surface or fit issues to speak of. The gap at the front cowl is because it's just tacked on and will be removed after painting to fit the prop.
This is as far as I can take this model without deciding on a specific aircraft, having opted out of the red-bellied kit scheme and no time or inclination to buy a decal sheet. Every 190D seemed to have a different camo scheme on top of the RLM 76, with different colors and patterns. Given the paucity and poor quality of photos from that period, even the better-documented planes are subject to a lot of guesswork. I've been pawing through my spare Luftwaffe fighter decals seeing if any of the tactical markings I have match any of the documented 190Ds, and I'll put something together.
This one is coming along, although it will need a big push and a lot of luck to get done by the end of the GB. I went with an RLM 82/83 (green/green) scheme. The 82 is RAF interior green darkened with about 30% RAF Dark Green; the 83 is RAF Dark Green. The 82 is just about right, the 83 may be a bit light but it gives me the vague separation between the colors that I was looking for.
There's a lot to do, not much time, and I've invested too much in this one to mess it up by hurrying, so it either will or won't get done by June 30. We'll see how the weekend goes.
I approve of the kit so far. Fit is great, and unlike so many Academy kits, it does not suffer from some big accuracy boo-boo - so far as I can tell. Having not built a Fw for over 30 years, I'm no expert. I do like the variety of paint schemes available for this type, considering the few that were built and the short period of service. Undersides can be 76 blue or NMF; uppers can be grey-grey, grey-green, green-green, brown/violet-green; mottling can be soft, hard, or absent. And they all appear to have been mixed within the same units, so the planes on those bases must have been very colorful and attractive, although this would have been hard to take time to appreciate what with having no fuel to fly, facing far better trained and equipped opponents, not even being safe in your own landing circuit from being bounced by Mustangs, having a life expectancy of about a week, and other such inconveniences.
Here is where it stands on the last day of the GB. Tonight it will get a matte clear coat, but otherwise won't change much.
Even though this will be scored as a DNF (unless the ref awards some added time; hint hint) I'm more than happy with the build and grateful for the GB providing the occasion. It's my best Luftwaffe model ever, and one of my best models in years. That's why I resisted the temptation to get in under the wire by, for example, rushing the clearcoats before I am sure that the underlying layers are fully cured.
Just by way of info, I chose a conjectural paint scheme from JG26 (black and white band). Conjectural because there's no documentation that I'm aware of of a Yellow 3 with this unit, but it's likely there was one. I used the Academy kit decals except for the fuselage cross (from an ancient Revell kit; Academy don't provide this style) and the fuselage numeral, which is from the "wild customizing decals" in the old MPC Bf 109G kit. The 1960s decals worked perfectly without the need for any de-yellowing or liquid decal film.
Well, I haven't seen a ruling on a deadline extension, but I put in a little effort and finished the Dora one day late. Might still add the aerial wire and do a little touch up here and there, but here is the rollout photo shoot.
