1:48 Eduard Fw190A-5 (ProfiPACK) **Finished 9/29/24**

[hasenpfeffer]

Well, on to the next. It will be this kit. I have a few AM goodies for this one too. Nothing too major, but the flaps should be fun. I did these for the 1:32 Hasegawa A-8, so it will be interesting to see how they build up in this scale.

[thug626]

I have made sure to bookmark this early. Not wanting to play catch up like last time.

[handiabled]

I'm onboard for this one!

[hasenpfeffer]

May 5, 2024 23:20:06 GMT -5 thug626 said:

I have made sure to bookmark this early. Not wanting to play catch up like last time.

Either way, glad to have ya along Dave!

May 6, 2024 1:56:45 GMT -5 handiabled said:

I'm onboard for this one!

Excellent!

[kyledehart5]

Awesome. Look forward to watching this one come together.

[406 Silverado]

This is gonna be another great one for the books!! I'll get this A-5 added to the list pronto Dave!!

[deafpanzer]

Bookmarked!!! Good luck

[hasenpfeffer]

So, damn! I can't believe I've been absent for 2 months! I apologize, but you all know the drill. I've got a lot of catching up to do on your posts and builds, but I guess I'll start with my own which stretches over that 2 month time period. I started off with the usual cockpit work and a little test fitting.



I didn't get too far as I wanted to dive into the flaps. Mostly because it takes a lot of cutting, chiseling, grinding and sanding to do what Eduard wants to make these bad boys fit where they should. I really felt like I needed a mini CNC machine to do the job. It took a great amount of patience and care. I don't have the best pics of the prepared plastic, but a couple general shots so you might get the idea. I don't remember going through this much prep work on the 1:32 scale flaps of the same variety.

Here you can see the "step" they want produced after removing the flap.


The upper was more about just removing (slowly) material so the PE part would fit to the edge and have enough room to allow the wings to join properly.





I tested my sanity by soldering the joins. I am hoping the job is clean enough under paint. LOL, what am I worried about? It's not like you will be able to see them anyway!


Here's the PE instrument panel supplied by the Profipack. Not too shabby. You just have to be extra careful to not use too much CA that it gets pushed out on the dials. Otherwise it's pretty straightforward.


I also have the Master Model's AM armament set that required a little engineering to make fit. At first I thought I could just cut the original plastic piece and drill it to fit the smaller radius "pins" on the PE guns, but they are too close in size and drilling would be extremely difficult. So I cut some brass tubing to the proper length and made an Evergreen sheet replacement that I could glue in place of the original. Worked out great.


Test fit:


I also really like the 2-piece cannons as you can glue the main part of the cannon in place and leave the barrels out to be installed much later in the build - like almost last. These were so much easier than cutting brass tube like I have in the past and making them straight - and then making them straighter, and then making them straighter............



I'm not as far along as I wanted to be given my ambitious plans to finish 5 or 6 of these before 1/1/25. But I have at least been able to spend a little more time recently making progress. I hope you enjoy the update, and I look forward to seeing and posting on all of yours.

[406 Silverado]

I really enjoy building these Eduard A variants as they already have so much detail OOB and then you go and add on the flap, cowl gun and cannon details and make things really interesting. The interior PE on these OOB is very well represented by Eduard and you did a fine job of putting it all together. Glad to see some progress on this and excited about what your next update will look like Dave.

If I haven't told you already........I'm really happy to have you back man.

[thug626]

Welcome back! Life happens my good man. I'm not so sure you need a CNC machine with this build. It looks as though you're doing a fantastic job at adding all of the goodies to it.

Cheers
Dave

[jeaton01]

Nice added detail, the brass is nice! I have gone to using Formula 560 canopy glue for PE, kept making a mess with CA.

[kyledehart5]

Holy cow Dave!! Glad to see you back and you are back with a bang!! This is unbelievably nice. Love all the details you're adding in everywhere.

[TJ]

What a great start on this. Those brass barrels are fantastic

[handiabled]

Great to have you back at it! I'm liking the mods to the barrels and the dropped flaps, they look fantastic! This is coming along great so far!

[deafpanzer]

NICE work! Thanks for giving me an idea how to glue the machine guns to mine. Your kit is newer and it already look far better than my outdated Eduard A-8 kit!!!

[hasenpfeffer]

Ahh boy... I guess I'm on a 2 month per post average at this point. Sorry about that. Summer stuff is starting to wind down a bit, so I will hopefully have more time for this. I thought I'd at least force myself to sit down and show you all where I am at. Some progress has been made.

I don't have a great photo of the finished cockpit, so that is something I'll have to do when I get it opened back up and can see it again. This is the best couple at the moment. Again, it's the kit PE and I did add HGW belt - that you can't see, of course.


So, as I had mentioned earlier, it took quite a bit of work to prep the existing parts to accommodate the flaps. I didn't do the best job, but it was taking me long enough that I forged ahead anyway. You can see some stress marks at the corners of the flap pockets. This is a result of not taking enough material away (I think). Seemed pretty thin to me at the time.


Getting it all built up for paint.


That 2nd pic where you can almost see the cockpit dash.


I didn't spend a lot of time pre-shading which may make itself evident why a couple pics down. I used Mr Surfacer Mahogany this time. I kinda like it as it's a little more subdued and seems to make the colors a bit richer than shooting them over black. Maybe it was just confirmation bias on my part?


And, with some markings. The upper wing crosses are the kit decals. I was able to remove the carrier film as has been described by many. I used a little white spirit and a cotton bud, gently rubbing the film away. I was sure to take my time and it worked just fine. The rest of the markings are painted on. The crosses on the bottom of the wings really leave a lot to be desired. I'm not really all that happy with them. But at a glance, they aren't terrible. I haven't decided if I'll fix them up or not given their location. Anyway, I think you know where I'm going with this one at this point. Pretty obvious the Jagdgeschwader, plane, etc. I was close to doing Bully Lang's "black 7" but chose this instead. I'm slightly torn on the colors, but in the end went for the bolder sand (RLM 79) and green (RLM 25). So, we'll see how it turns out in the end together.




And, there ya go! I'm good for another 2 months. (Hopefully not!)

[keavdog]

Great progress. Those flaps look great - not sure I have the patience to do those!

Which scheme is this? pilot/squadron/theatre etc? Interesting camo

[bakster]

I am late to the party on this one. Camo looks really good and love the flaps.

You guys do such nice work. Seriously.

Following.

[kyledehart5]

Really excellent job with the flaps!! Love the camo too. Great work.

[handiabled]

I've seen an Emil Lang decal scheme sheet for sale but not built before. A very cool and different camo scheme on this! Your Fw190 is coming together wonderfully!

[hasenpfeffer]

Thanks for the comments, fellas.

Sept 13, 2024 15:52:42 GMT -5 keavdog said:

Great progress. Those flaps look great - not sure I have the patience to do those!

Which scheme is this? pilot/squadron/theatre etc? Interesting camo

Hey John, It's JG54 summer of 1943 (Estonia), Pilot is Major Hubertus von Bonin (KIA Dec 43). The camo is a topic of much debate. It is quite evident that JG54 had some fairly unique patterns to blend in with the local terrain. The colors themselves are the discussion point. Some claim they are from captured Soviet stocks, while others argue that they are RLM colors (like 02, 70, etc., etc.) It's probably one of those things that we will never know for sure. At least in my (very) limited research.

Sept 13, 2024 17:01:08 GMT -5 bakster said:

I am late to the party on this one. Camo looks really good and love the flaps.

You guys do such nice work. Seriously.

Following.

Glad to have you along!

Sept 14, 2024 3:00:32 GMT -5 handiabled said:

I've seen an Emil Lang decal scheme sheet for sale but not built before. A very cool and different camo scheme on this! Your Fw190 is coming together wonderfully!

I really like them both. The basic camo is pretty much the same. All mine so far have been numbered aircraft, so I thought I'd get a chevron on one.

[hasenpfeffer]

All of the markings are on. Main panel wash is done and I have to say it toned down the camo quite nicely. Not sure that it shows in the pics. The only thing I'm not too happy with is how the swastikas turned out. So add that to the crosses on the wing bottoms. Ahhrg. I'll have to do better next time.

A couple quick pics.

[kyledehart5]

Nice update and I just love the camo. Looking really nice

[jeaton01]

Looks great. The late war scheme looks so strange compared to the early war colors.

[handiabled]

Your subtle wash did soften up the camo paint work really well. The markings look good from here!

[hasenpfeffer]

Sept 17, 2024 0:06:47 GMT -5 jeaton01 said:

Looks great. The late war scheme looks so strange compared to the early war colors.

Hey John, thanks!

This isn't late war, per se, but summer '43. JG54 (and some others) field painted these to match local terrain vs. adherence to any regulations or standards. They get very interesting with whitewash over the top.

[406 Silverado]

I haven't seen this color combo on Fw190 camouflage until now but I've gotta say......I really like this, Dave (hasenpfeffer). Excellent work in that pit and again with a clean paint job along with the subtle weathering so far. Great to have you back in here and building again and I hear what you're saying on the summer event calendar as it's been slowing me some at the forums as well. 

[thug626]

I like what you've done with the camo. Not a scheme commonly represented.

Cheers
Dave

[spook]

Very impressive build!
Your bench is so clean!

[hasenpfeffer]

Sept 17, 2024 13:48:59 GMT -5 thug626 said:

I like what you've done with the camo. Not a scheme commonly represented.

Cheers
Dave

Hey, thanks, Dave! I think that's why I decided to go ahead and try it.

Sept 17, 2024 14:22:59 GMT -5 spook said:

Very impressive build!
Your bench is so clean!

LOL - thanks! And believe me, it's not always that way. In fact quite the opposite.

Quick couple of pics to show some of the post shading I'm trying out. I still don't really have a system down so I'm winging it a little. I'm not happy that the MRP Matte decided to speckle my aircraft with white spots. Another thing to deal with... These pics are a little further away, but are maybe a bit more representative of the true color. Less light being reflected (in frame) to affect the camera white balance I suppose.