This is a model of a
Focke Wulf FW190 A-8 in 1/48 scale by Dragon. It was enriched with a CMK
cockpit kit (which is intended for a Tamiya Wurger but it fits, not a perfect
match, but...) and Eduard`s Access and scribing templates for a A-3 (from which I
used pieces needed for the back wheel well an two fueling hatches). A nice kit,
Dragon, but VERY nerve eating when assembling the wing, fuselage and engine
cowling pieces. Not a Tamigawa, I say...Overall nice details, some strange molding
marks on the lower wings, but hey, it`s not supposed to be easy....hm?
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This is my
interpretation of a Franz Eisenach`s plane from I./JG54 stationed in Courland
near Riga at the end of `44. Eisenach was instated for Gruppenkommandeur
and received a new Anton 8, reaching a total of 129 kills. Known as a Stormovik
killer, all of his kills were made in the Eastern front (he was a Zerstorer pilot
before), and he was able to do a 9 kills in a day. JG54 was pinned down in
Courland to the end of the war where he was captured with the rest of his
unhappy crew.
Little is known about the plane
of Eisenach (at first I would like to say that this was the best intel I could
find). It is probable that it was factory painted in a RLM 75/83
combination and
when received underwent a certain modification by overpainting it`s fuselage with
RLM 83 (not Bright Green but Darker Green!) and RLM81(this was my touch,
it
was not uncommon, that paint started appearing and Luftwaffe started
experimenting with it). Colours used were Gunze Sangyo acrylics and Model Master
paint which I used for 81(paint was actually Chocoladenbraun, since the shade of
that colour is still a little dubious...) Weathering was done with a enamel wash
(black-brown combo) an d dry pastels. I love pastels and I prefer them over
airbrush work for stains.
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Overall, this build lasted several
months (parts of the kit were riding in my glove department for a month or two...)
because of a mishap when painting-some black paint managed to get to the
instrument panel an ruin it, so I had to (after nearly trashing it) cut open the
fuselage to correct the mistake. Also,I had trouble with wing-fuselage
joint-when I installed the CMK cockpit, I realised that fuselage became too narrow for
a fit with wings. I corrected that with a bar of styrene as a spacer bar
and then
when I joined them together, cockpit tub decided to part with cockpit
walls...Great...Then, joining
of the cowling(4 pieces!?)-a HUGE gap! Humongous...I had to apply so much
putty you couldn`t believe. Other fits were OK, some Mr.Sufacer work and it was
done. Finally.
There is a big error which I couldn`t rectify, on the front window there is a
damage from disconnecting from a sprue-an accident when opening one of the bags
:(.
Base was made with some laminate strips and earth was-fine earth mixed with
white glue an water and grass was from an old brush (this was done in a hurry,
it
was not so important...).Figure is from a ICM kit (one of my first figures).
I'm happy with the build, there are errors, but I`m still learning...
Thanks for having a look!
Matija
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