Hi all

With no internet connection yesterday, I couldn't resist starting a build as a little build-therapy, so I plumped for Hasegawa's new 1/48 scale Fw 190A-8. As Jean-Luc showed with his superb 'A-5, Hasegawa have designed the kit beautifully and it almost falls together, making progress fast (even for a slowcoach like me!).



With the aim being to make this a quick build, the only addition I made was to open up the cartridge chutes in the mainwheel well - but, be aware, if you fit the drop tank, these could be hidden - and fit Eduard pre-painted seat harness (I'll add the shoulder straps once the fuselage is completed).

I'm combining this build with a Lifecolor paints review, so I'm breaking from my normal technique and will be using acrylics almost exclusively throughout. (Note: The cockpit is actually painted with Hannants Xtracrylix as the Lifecolor samples didn't include RLM 66).







Although this will be mostly OOB, I'll be converting the kit back to an 'A-7, as it'll be an ideal opportunity to use some Eaglecals JG 300 decals for "Yellow 18" which also features unusual fuselage-gun flash- suppressors.

Internet connection permitting, there'll be more to follow later in the week...

All the best

Rowan

That's sweet! You have a very deft drybrushing technique- cheers!

Many thanks Chuck

Ironically, I actually felt the drybrushing hadn't come out strongly enough on items like the canopy opening wheel when I looked at the first pics, so I've added a touch more and also picked out a few extra details in the instruments...



As I usually manage to get bogged down in builds, I'll call that it and close up the fuselage - it more important that I actually finish something for a change!

All the best

Rowan

Hi Rowan!

I saw the pictures yesterday but I needed to sleep one night over it to be sure it wasn't a dream!

Jokes aside it looks very good so far and I can't wait to see more of it. Let's hope you get your internet connection back not too soon...

Jean-Luc

Looking good so far. Can't wait until you get to using the Lifecolor paints. I just got the two Luftwaffe sets and havn't the time to use them yet.

Hi Tim

Well, I've used the LifeColor RLM 02 on the wheel wells and undercarriage and it went on beautifully - very smooth and fine. I used LifeColor's own thinner. An interest point is that the paint smells identical to Xtracrylix, so I assumed they would be the same, but the latter's RLM 66 dried much glossier. As a test, I'll spray some side-by-side patches of the other paints to see if there's a difference in colour and finish.

All the best

Rowan

..nice work Rowan ...which kit is this though ..? ..and what ever happened to your Eduard A-8 build ..?

Hi Neil

It's this one. I'm afraid I've done my usual trick and started a new model before finishing a build that's already started...

All the best

Rowan

Hi Rowan,

Slightly off topic maybe, but what sort of camera do you use for your photos? Your close up work always seems so crisp and clear. I currently have an Olympus 5 mega pixel affair but even with the macro setting on close ups are awful.

Steve

Hi Steve

I still use my 5 years-old Canon G3, which is only 4 megapixels but, (apparently) has a pretty good lens. It's desperately out of date by today's standards and certainly struggles in terms of resolution on landscapes etc., but I still think it's great for close-up work - and that's the bulk of what I need it for. I've often thought of upgrading it - partly because I just love new toys! - but I can't really justify it for web-work when what I've got does the job. I suppose, if I were to upgrade, it'd be cool to get a good condition G6 - not the newer G models, which have deleted many of the features which made the originals so useful.

But, if you're getting poor results, how are you shooting the pics? I never use flash for close-up work. Do you use a small tripod and set the camera on its timer? It's a good idea to go for a low ASA number to avoid "noisy" pictures and a long exposure at a low F stop to ensure good depth of field.

All the best

Rowan

Hi Rowan,

As I suspected, nothing wrong with the camera, it's me thats crap! I will take your comments on board, I don't know much about photography, just a point and shot kind of guy. I will learn about ASA's and F stops and have a play. I do know what a tripod is though



Steve

Hi Steve!

That's a tripod...



Jean-Luc

..same here. Try manipulating a 'basic' clear picture on your PC- no flash as Rowan says....even if you've only got minimal kit you can enlarge the image or the part of the image that you want using Windows Pic Editor, then take a screen print (key marked PrtSc alongside F11,F12 keys on most keyboards) and paste into Paint and crop accordingly...save as jpg of course rather than bmp

You mean the windows pic preview? (I'm running a Finnish XP and don't remember what it's called in the original)
Well, I guess it would work, but MS paint isn't really the sharpest tool in the shed when you wan't to do photo editing. If I'm not mistaken, the only difference between Paint in Win95 and XP is the larger amount of supported formats in XP. With Paint, you're limited to very basic functions. I don't think you can even crop images to a selected size. At least using a single tool. And saving JPEGs doesn't allow any compression options.

No need to hand out a lot of cash for a photoshop or other commercial software, there's many freeware applications around, like GIMP.
http://www.gimp.org/
Or if you're not looking for a more complicated photoshop-style editor, but a light program that performs the most commonly used editing functions with ease, there's Irfanview for example.
http://www.irfanview.com/

Thanks for all the help guys, I will certainly try many of the suggestions posted here.

I feel we have somewhat hijacked Rowans thread here, what we need is some more fine pics of this excellent build to get us back on track.....

Steve

Hi Steve

No problem - it's nice to be hijacked in a good cause.

Work's been too heavy this week to let me get home in time to do any modelling, but I hope to have a good crack at the Fw 190 (and Ki 10) this weekend - especially if my internet stays messed up, so I've got no excuses like Aeroscale to distract me.

All the best

Rowan

Good grief Rowan what's going on
I too was amazed to see another build, shall I bet my shorts again Maybe not, you seem confident (yeah right) in finishing
Looking good, we really do need to see more of you work completed

Mal