Well, after I've finished my FW-190A-4 and between academy exams + diploma work defence I really feel I need to gather more information about my next modeling - FW-190A-8/R2 "Rauhbautz" of Klaus Bretschneider.

I will use tamiya's 1/48 FW-190A-8/R2 kit fot this project.

So, as I found out there some pics of the subject. At least there was a photo of the a/c that Klaus flew for the last time. It's a FW-190A-8/R2 Wr.N.682204 "red 1". Neil Page have already posted the pics of this subject:



I will name this particular a/c "the last one" later in the text.

I want to build the Sturmjager with the armour plates around the pilot's place. This one here:



I will call it "the early one" later in this text. It's obvious that those 2 a/c are different. The last one is without the armour plates and the propellers looks different to me. What colour spiral is on the early one?

I apologize - I meant FW-190A-8/R2 for the subject of this thread.

Here's another thing I've noticed - gun blisters on the upper surface of the wing look too simplified and robust, comparing with the pics of the real ones. So I guees will have to modify them.

I glued tamiya's drop tank halves together.. What I found is that when you look at the drop tank from the front you'll get an elipse instead of a round circle!!

Hi Arseny

The cowling looks identical in the two photos - note the pattern of the mottling and the faired-over gun-ports. I'll have a have a hunt through my refs and see if I've got any other photos that might help you.

All the best

Rowan

Here're some pics showing the drop tank:







Here's also a photo of the "pilot's working area":



I'm not leaving it this tidy anyway - I'll aply some washing and dry brushing.

I agree with Rowan. The mottling is kind of a "fingerprint" when it comes to the WWII luftwaffe stuff. I'm almost certain that the spiral on this machine was white

Hi all!

For me it's the same aircraft for the same reasons mentionned above. I'm not sure that the spinner is different. White tends to leave a more important "ghost print" on photographs for moving objects. The paint chippings around the latches of the gun cowlings are identical if you look closely. It appears to me that only the armor plates have been installed later on.

I'm no expert though and these are only conclusion based on my own visual interpretation. It's interesting to see how the tonal values of the greys are different between the two pictures...

Jean-Luc

Ok, I see. So I use both pics as a guide.

By the way, here's the cockpit in place and weathered the way I like it

..probably not a good idea to get into a discussion about the differences between the R2 and R8 variants of the Sturmflugzeug...but if you register at the LEMB there is this thread ... http://www.luftwaffe-experten.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=2339&st=0&start=0

shouldn't make any difference for the model..

Jean-Luc's theory for the spinner is an interesting one ... and having looked at all the photos of Bretschneider's machines I think I agree ....there is no evidence that II./JG 300 had coloured spinners - certainly not white, nor red as some 'references' suggest...

note the II. Gruppe bar overlaps the fuselage band and is probably a different shade of red..
although not evident on these pics the gun cowl cover has the small yellow ring in the bottom corner signifying the up-rated TU/TS engine..

Some slow (really slow) in-progress pics on that A-8:





More pics here.

Thanx for comments!

I would trade speed for good result anytime. And you are getting fantastic results.

Thanx for comments, Carl!

As you can see wheel struts involved a little bit of scratchbuilding as I replaced oleo with aluminum tubes. Drop tank is the replacement part from Eduard's kit that I got from Jesper aka SGTJKJ. You can see that Tamiya's drop tank is wrong in shape. At least in my kit..

Looks good, Arseny. Good to see your project get underway again.

Looking forward to see more

Arseny:
Great job so far. I like the use of tubing on the struts. I have never tried it, but now I'm tempted. I look forward to seeing more

The model is almost built. The process stopped because of the ruined canopy - I tried to polish it and now the canopy has a small crack which is quite visible.







I have uploaded the rest in-progress pics to my blog here. Hope to hear your comments and critiques.

PS. Updated photo links as were not showing

almost built.

Arseny- That looks great. If the canopy defect is still there, I can't see it. In particular, I like the subtle post-shading and tonight down of all the colors. Again, fantastic work.

Regards - Tom

Thank you for comments and feedback, Tom!

I have to thank colleagues JimMrr - for the brand new canopy and SGTJKJ - for the drop tank and wheels from Eduard's kit.

And couple more pics: