I thought it might be an idea to start a build log for the Airfix 1/24 Fw190 I'm building as a part of the Fw190 campaign. So that I might put the details of and the solutions to the problems I've encountered. So here it all is, it may not be the elegant of builds or the most detailed but I just wanted to sort out the problems and put it here as an encouragement for all of us that have this kit in the stash to actually start building them.

I got the kit off of eBay and it was a bargain! A quarter of the cost of buying it here and that included the cost of shipping it out to me on the other side of the world! Some of the parts were off the sprue and it was all loose inside the box but I was going to build this kit so it didn't matter one iota!

I started looking around to get some aftermarket details for the kit and started to purchase them. Brass barrels for the 7.92mm machine guns, decals from Aeroscale to replace the cockpit instruments and Luftwaffe placards for the cockpit. I talked with Mal from Mal's masks and have arranged for some masks for the markings as I intend to spray paint them on. Let's be honest what better scale to use masks but this? I also found some 1/24 scale dry transfers for the stencils that are so sorely lacking in the Airfix kit. If it's one thing I would ask of Airfix it's to provide better stencilling than what's available in this kit. Or in this case MPC as it is their re-boxing of the Airfix kit.

So here we go lets get this started!

We've all heard that the 1/24 Airfix kit has fit issues, the engine, the forward panels and the wing to fuselage to mention a few. I've even heard it said the kit is nearly unbuildable. However after studying what was available on the web and the drastic measures taken to make it all fit. I was determined to use the kit parts and not resort to drastic surgery if I could at all help it.

First off I assembled the cockpit as per the kits instructions with just a couple of deviations. I didn't glue the bottom instrument panel into place I left it loose as I was intending to use the Aeroscale decals as a replacement. But in left it in place so that the fuselage gun mounts set at the correct angle. Just remember to file the lower instrument parts at an angle so that it fits perfectly and that the top of the gun mounts sits flush against the top of it. just remember this part (the gun mount) is angled and does not sit at right angles as you might expect. After everything was sufficiently dried I sprayed the cockpit tub, walls and instrument panel RLM66 and the inside of the fuselage RLM02. It was very easy to mask off the cockpit walls and spray them. After the paint was dry the next morning I got out the Aeroscale cockpit placards and decided which and how many of them I was going to use. I used about ten or so in the end and they really enhanced the look of the cockpit.

I also installed the tail wheel but I didn't install the other half of the fork and the tail wheel just the oleo strut and retracting gear which I glued into place as this is going to be a static model. I taped the two halves of the fuselage together while it was drying so that I could fit the cockpit tub and sort out the fit issues. It was at this point I decided that rather than completely scratch build another instrument panel that I would use the kit parts paint the back of the clear parts black and the instrument panels RLM66. I then dry brushed the front of the dials white which really popped the details out but still showed the black painted on the back. I then glued this into the cockpit and set it aside to dry over night.

The cockpit tub was one of the first problems I tackled, it became apparent very quickly that it was not shaped to easily fit into the fuselage. I'd already taped the fuselage halves together so the tail wheel assembly could dry in place and while taped together I filed the cockpit tub till it fit more or less perfectly and the instrument combing actually met! It took a couple of hours of filing and sanding but the end result was more than worth it. I glued the bottom portion of the fuselage (the parts visible in the inboard canon bays) on first and let it dry overnight but clamped in place by spring clamps and then I glued the halves and the cockpit tub together held in place by Tamiya masking tape till it had dried overnight.

Unfortunately I should have taken more in progress shots than I did but here a few of the pics I did take to help with what I'm saying. The thing of greatest importance is to let it all dry before moving onto the next part of the build as it needs to be as rigid as possible when you work with the next step. I'm certain that if I tried to glue it all together at once that it would've warped, moved and created more issues for me.

The other thing to do is when you're gluing parts together and they rely on other parts for their correct alignment you need to tape the related parts together, so the glued part will set up correctly, if you don't you will generate more work in the filing, filling and sanding department to get it to fit.

I spent some time working out how best to approach the second hurdle that of the engine cooling fan sitting 6mm to far forward and decided to sand every flush fitting surface. Remember to sand both cylinder heads as this is where most of the excess width lies. I also took the step of sanding the engine mounting ring and recessing the engine mounts by about 2mm. This necessitated the filing of the engine mount attachments so that they would fit into the recessed holes. It didn't take all that long and I'll be the first to admit that it was all guess work, however it turned out pretty much on the money! I then assembled the engine after painting it what colours I thought were the relevant ones and gave the aluminium cylinder heads a black oil wash to make the details pop out.

I then glued the bottom wing onto the fuselage and clamped it to the part of the cowl that are moulded onto the fuselage. Once this had dried overnight I glued in the engine and left it all to dry. I used Tamiya masking tape to ensure the engine was held in place while the glue dried. And that it fit flush with the engine mounting ring. Just a note here to on the glue I use, I use Tamiya's extra thin cement as it melts the plastic and with a little pressure the join becomes pretty much solid plastic. it provides the necessary strong bond between parts that is important to this build. I use thin super glue too but this is more as a filler than it's gluing properties.

I glued the oil ring to the front cowl and then the top three panels to that and left it all to dry overnight. Then I fitted it to the lower parts of the cowl. The fit was not that great but to get it all to conform I used some styrene shims to pack out the gaps and then I used electricians insulation tape, the glory of this tape is that you can stretch it and it'll pulled all the panels together nicely!

I didn't fit the exhausts until I had the engine actually mounted and dry in the fuselage as I filed the parts and bent them a little to fit when I installed them. Again having the engine rigid and in place helped with the fitting of theses parts. A word of caution though the underside of the exhausts will need filing to fit onto the fuselage so that it all sits as it should. Again a lot of dry fitting is best so that everything fits with a minimum of force.

The next step was to put the main spars in place in the wings, I assembled them as per the kits instructions, however I removed the spars and didn't mark which one was which and the result? I glued the landing gear on the wrong spar and downside up to boot! I'd been very careful and glued everything in very very well so taking them apart was NOT an option! The resolution to the problem? I cut the end off the spars and rotated them 180 degrees and re-glued them back onto the spars they came off, supporting them at the back with pieces of plasticard. So I would caution you, build them one side at a time and only remove those parts that you need to complete the step! I only discovered my mistake when I tried to glue them in place and the spars only fitted with the landing gear pointing up!

I also discovered that one of the spars was a little lower than the other so I glued some L shaped plasticard on top of it to fill the gap. Now again I find that everything was pretty much where it should be, I was careful when putting the cockpit and fuselage together and the care had paid dividends. I then boxed in the front of the wheel wells as Airfix had not provided anything at all. I taped the top of the wings on and drew around the front of the wells with a pencil lead. With this marked I put some L shaped channel onto the outlines.

The hardest part was making the front parts of the wells with holes for the canon to pass through I assembled the wells in two pieces and did the longest part first then the shorter part with the cut out for the canon. The cut outs are slightly off centre but they work so I wasn't going to redo it all! To mark where the hole should go I put the shaped piece of card in place and put my pencil lead in the cut out in the wing for the canon and marked the piece of plastic card. I then got my hole punch and punched out what I thought was the correct size hole. I've only got three sizes of hole punch so it wasn't all the hard to pick the one I would use! I'd love a set of Waldron punches but I can't justify the cost of buying a set. (Yet!)

Excellent thread so far Chris. As I said in the 190 Campaign thread, my 9yo son Josh picked up the Airfix boxing of this kit for $40 at a swap meet. It's a big step up for him from the 1/72 kits he has built so far, but with a little help from Dad and a lot of patience we will get it done one day.

Thanks for putting so much detail up for us here, no doubt it will come in very handy.

Cheers, D

Hi Damian thanks for the encouragement! I'm sure the project with your son will be a blast Damian! My girls have little interest in following dads footsteps but they're both good artists like their mum and they like creating things with their hands so I guess a little of dad has rubbed off.

$40 is a damn good price Damian! It would seem your son is acquiring dads bargain hunting skills. I was going to use aftermarket parts for this kit and as I was building it I began to question why? And I changed my focus and decided to build it pretty much out of the box except for the stencils and cockpit placards and masks from Mal Masks. And a set of photo etched belts. I've also kept the scratch building to a minimum as I want to show that the kit can built pretty much as is.

Would a piece of CD jewel case be an adaquate replacement for that cracked windscreen? I'd be tempted to carefully cut the damaged pane away from its frames and replace it with an equivalent width of the jewel case.

Hi Jessica
Hadn't actually thought of that, it certainly seems feasible. I'll give it a shot and let you guys and Gal know how it all turns out.
Thanks for the advice Jessica. I was actually thinking of getting a squadron replacement but this will work out infinitely cheaper in the long run. Assuming of course my skills are up to the challenge.

A wonderful thread Chris. I had heard about these issues but I hadn't seen how to fix them anywhere, so this is a great help for when I crack mine open. I managed to pick up the full set of Airfix 1/24 kits (less the Harrier) for £15.00 each :-)

Well done Mal! I got the Fw190 off of eBay and paid what I considered to be a bargain and that was including the ever horrible shipping! I still think the Airfix 1/24 scale kits get bagged more then they should be they are generally accurate in shape and provide a good starting point. They're nothing like A Trumpeter kit, but they are in my case 31 years old! So I think damn good for the time period.

Okay now a little more build I think! Now to the wing tops, yes there is a little warp in the wings however the spar and the locating pins and holes will take care of it if you are careful when gluing them together, I wasn't! And I managed to snap off the two front locating pins which made it a little more difficult. However with careful attention to the wing tips making sure that top and bottom were even and the use of plenty of Tamiya masking tape and spring clamps I got the right hand side on with no gap at the wing root what so ever! The left hand side however was not so good but a 2mm thick strip of evergreen styrene later with some putty and a coat of paint it'll be hard to spot. The inboard cannon cover will also need the same width strip as well as it will sit 2mm away from the wing. But just around the top left edge as the bulged cover at the back easily covers the gap. (see photos)

I then turned my attention to the canopy and painted the interior of the frame RLM66 and the headrest Humbrol 62 leather. While it was drying I took a look at the crash bump pad around the instrument combing and considered it quite anorexic. So in an effort to plump it up I mixed up some milliput and made a thin sausage up and applied it around the edge using a wet finger to smooth and shape it. When I was happy with the result I used the remainder to make the leather seat cushion. Just a note here regarding the bump pad after I had it in place and to the shape I desired, I test fitted the front of the canopy and found it was a little TOO plump! So after some careful shaping of the milliput I got it to a point where the front canopy fitted over it with a little clearance. When it was dry the next morning I drilled and cut out the hand holds either side of the instrument combing. I painted the seat Humbrol leather as well, I gave the seat a fairly rumpled creased look to it which I accentuated with Tamiya "smoke" enamel paint. This darkened up the Humbrol paint and gave it a certain level of grime and shadows. I then gave the headrest the same smoke treatment and glued on the canopy.

Turning my attention to the landing gear I looked over the hubs and have come to the conclusion that I don't think I've ever seen a set of hubs like that on a Fw190! I briefly considered looking for some resin replacements but decided that if I wanted to keep to my use what's in the kit theme then I'd better do something to enhance their look. So with that in mind I drilled out the holes and cut out a couple of appropriately sized plasticard circles which I glued on the inside of the hubs. I drilled out the centre of the hubs and drilled holes through both sides of the wheel shaft. I got some very thin copper wire and created some pins to go through the drilled holes. The result wasn't to bad in my book see photos and make your own decisions.

Having got the wings together I started looking for replacements for the MG151 and MG17 barrels. I'd previously purchased what I mistakenly thought were 1/24 MG17 barrels only to find when they were delivered I had in fact ordered the 1/32 scale barrels. Finding no barrels for the canon I decided that I'd settle for opening up the barrels on the kit parts and see what I could achieve.

After half an hour of careful drilling and sculpting with a fresh scalpel blade I had the barrels hollowed to my satisfaction. I also took the trouble to round the canon barrel ends as they were oval in profile and not round. Now do I put the barrels in place now? Do I go through the trouble to mask them off or do I simply install them after painting the model? I've settled for the latter as it seems to be the route of least resistance. It also means I'm less likely to damage one of the canon or MGs while trying to unmask them.

So here are some pics I've taken of the end results, my eldest daughter looked at them and said why did you paint ALL of them? When your only going to see the very end of the barrels? My reply? Because I'LL know they are! Just as I've painted the canon bays even though they'll not be seen once closed up.

On other occasions I'll be the first to admit I've only painted what will be seen and on others I've painted the whole shooting match! it depends on how I feel and what I want to achieve I guess.

I also took the time to go over some of the panel lines, well actually most of the panels lines. Some of them were quite shallow and the majority were a little soft, so I ran my Tamiya engraving tool over them to crisp them up and the result was quite pleasing.

Great work Chris. I'm sure this thread will help a lot of people out on future builds. The crash pad and seat cushion came up very nicely. Is the paint still wet in the photo's, or did you use gloss paint?

Cheers, D

Hi Damian, the paint is Tamiya's "smoke" in enamel form and is gloss and it's actually dry. It dries an almost black clear gloss coat, quite dark where it pools in the creases lighter where it runs off on the tops. I'll tone it down with a little dusting of a dark brown chalk pastel just so it's not quite so reflective and looks a little more like barely worn leather.

I'm going with the almost factory fresh look, in the early days of it's career the Fw190 ground crews kept their machines as pristine as they could and they had the time to do so. Later it was just enough to keep them in the air and fighting. You could still shoot down enemy planes if your mount was dirty as long as it performed like it should!

I think I see where Trumpeter's Mad Riveter learned how to do it.

I agree completely Jessie (Jess? Jessica? which would you prefer? I'm sorry for not asking earlier) Mr Riveter went to work for Trumpeter and Mr trencher (ex Matchbox) went to work on Airfix's current releases or so it would seem.

They are rather heavily done but should take pre-shading well and some are quite soft. Others will have to be redone as the detail has been lost due to sanding, filing and filling but a small drill in a pin vice matched to the size of the other rivets works a treat. It's just a matter of drawing a line and marking out the spacing, a quick twist so that the drill just cuts to the first lands on the drill and viola! New rivet detail! Certainly not as easy as one of the new riveting tools but it's something I already have in my arsenal of tools.

Chris, I showed this thread to Josh and he got so excited he just HAD to get his kit out and do some test-fitting . . . .



Cheers, D (and J)

Awesome Josh! And well done D! This is what I was hoping for, to get people enthused to build these kits! Get them out of their stash and get into building them! I'm about ready to do some pre-shading and start painting it. So watch this space!

This was a dream kit for me (together with the Monogram B-17) when I was a kid. Nowadays I am irreversibly stuck in small scale but I enjoy your thread anyway!



Magnus

Doing well Chris. This was one of those kits I gazed at longingly in the LHS but realised at the time I couldn't afford.. Now that I can afford it I think I will stick with Trumpeter kits..
Mad rivetter is easy to fix but some of the things I have seen with your kit would have me very worried.. Bit like a modern short-run kit. I wonder if Airfix ever got anyone to test build their kits before they released them on the unsuspecting public?
Why can't I ever find these mythical swap-meets with absolute bargain kits??

Thanks for the kind words guys! I'm happy that some of you have found this thread interesting.


@Magnus: As a youth with no responsibilities I must admit to spending large chunks of my pay on large scale Airfix kits the Me109 and Spitfire to name a couple. But I also built the Bandai 1/24 P51D and I'd like to revisit that kit just to see how my skills have improved.

@Warren: Ahhhh yes the swap meet! Well first you have to find the local chapter of Imps (assuming you can find the like in your neck of the woods) or some such and find out when they actually hold them. I wonder the same thing about Airfix Warren, when they measured up the example of this aircraft in the Imperial war museum it was hanging from the ceiling and no one thought about the fact that the oleo's were at full extension! So they really need shortening however I've decided to leave them as they are ...... for now.

..very much so, and more of us joining you all the time. Have a couple of these part started, you might just have inspired me to get going again on one of them. I'm a little surprised you had a gap on the wing root there, those wings have quite a bit of dihedral. IIRC this is critical for getting the wheel to sit at the right angle to the ground.. (??)
all the best

Neil

Hi Neil I found that by gluing the wing spars in so that they glued to the cockpit first and that set the dihedral and I then glued the bottom wings to them so that the wheel shafts on the landing gear were at right angles to the ground as they should be. I used Wide Tamiya masking tape to set the dihedral and it looks like Airfix had it engineered pretty much right. Everything set up beautifully, I'm sure it would've been even better if I'd got the spars right in the first place!

OK Chris, thanks, I'll have a look at that, remembering to get the spars the right way round of course

Hi guys time for an update I think! I've been only working on ONE item at the moment and that's the cowl over the machine guns. For some reason known only to Airfix and the gods of plastic kits, Airfix decided that the whole cowl should be covered in rivet detail, lots and lots of it! So after looking at what resources I could find it was obvious that this wasn't right. So out came the Tamiya masking tape which I sliced about 2mm wide and I covered over the detail I wanted to keep. This amounted to the fasteners and I decided to keep a line of rivets around the cowl. I then carefully wiped putty over the rest of the cowl. Sanding followed, lots and lots of it. While I was sanding the Italeri brand putty I'd been trialling simply cracked off and fell away! it went on beautifully flowing around the contours of the cowl, this looks great I thought! However I found that unlike squadron green putty which I usually use it didn't actually bond to the plastic but rather formed a hard shell over it, which when sanded cracked and fell off. So out came the squadron green putty and my trusty silicone paint brushes which I use to put the putty on and smooth it into the areas I'm filling.So with the Squadron Green putty in place it was back to sanding which went off without a hitch this time. Here are some pics to see for yourself.

Well after spreading quite a small amount of putty around it's off to the paint shop!I have decided to forgo pre-shading and concentrate on post shading and a modicum of dot filtering. I also have never used any undercoat/primer on the models I've built. (Just plain lazy perhaps?) As I've found that up to this point I've never needed to use it. I've applied the first coats of RLM78 to the undersides and undercarriage doors. Next it'll be coats of RLM74 and 75. After the first coats of paint there'll be the odd bit of puttying and sanding to get a panel to look right and to smooth out any joints in the kit. The seams have turned out quite well and the general fit of panels has been excellent for the most part, however careful work around the engine cowling is required! But again if you work methodically and carefully allowing every major step a chance to dry properly this kit can very easily be put together. I've put up a couple of pics of the first coat I'll put some more up once I've completed the initial camouflage.