Hello all-
I don't post much, so in order to get in the habit and to put even more pressure on myself to finish something for the Wurger campaign, I decided to try my hand at a build log.
I'm doing the Eduard 1:48 Fw 190A-6 as shown below, and I've read about a lot of different problems with and solutions for building the kit. I figured I'd better go ahead and figure out how and if I can make something of it, since I have a few of the Eduard variants in my stash (and if this one goes badly...hellloooooo Ebay! ) If I can help someone else in the process, so much the better - I know I learn a lot from watching other folks on Aeroscale.
Don't expect me to worry about every little detail and accuracy (I've got 2 young kids...time is short!), but don't be afraid to point out issues for other readers (and my next time).
So, here's the kit:

I'll be doing the box art a/c, Georg Schott's "White 11," because the black cat on the side reminds me of my feline!

Sorting the unused bits for my version (in the box) still leaves a daunting pile.


The cockpit went smoothly. The Eduard pre-painted photo etch looks great to me. Everything was sprayed with black, then Tamiya RLM 66 (equivalent), then an oil wash. I still need to add some silver pencil weathering.


That color PE is much better than I could ever do (but it does make me feel a tiny bit like I'm cheating ).

With that done, next step was a dry fit. The cockpit fits good, but the front lower cowl is floppy (but should be easy easy to coax into flush position with the lower wing). Everything fits without the firewall and wheel bay wall/spar. But that's where most other builds seem to run into trouble...


More to come, but keep in mind I'm a modeling snail!

Regards,
Tom

Got the gun bay and firewall done this weekend. I just added some wires - no other added detail, as it looks good enough for me from the box. I think there will be more extra to do with the cover.
But, after dry-fitting into the fuselage, it isn't anywhere near as wide as the natural lay of the fuselage with the cockpit installed. Also, the rear corner of the gunbay fouled the instrument panel and both had to be trimmed at their respective backs to get it to sit back far enough as seen here.

At this point I'm not sure if the gun bay is too narrow or the cockpit is too wide. I think the latter, because squishing the fuselage to the width of the firewall makes the gun hood fit - otherwise, the opening is much too wide for the cover to sit on top.
Rather than commit to gluing yet, I'm going to assemble the rest of the cowl and see how it fits - that should tell me how to proceed next.
Will be a few days before another update, as I'm away on business.

Regards-
Tom
Wisconsin, USA

You're not the first to discover the Eduard kit's fit problems. It's a fine model that rewards careful work, but it's most definitely fiddly.

A lot more fiddly than I was able to cope with I wound up scraping the whole thing and replacing it with a Tamyia A-3 and using bits from the Eduard debacle to upgrade the Tamyia to an A-5

Good luck Tom

Later

The eduard's model is beautiful but difficult. I'm finishing Emil Bully Lang's plane and i have had the same problem....and...others...push the pieces in position with strength!

keep going with this please ! i'm just about to start the same build and want to know the problems....

cheers paul

Thanks for the support, everyone. Having things like the old Classic Airframes Bloch 152 and Macchi C.200 under my belt makes me confident I will finish her, but then again those kits are in the back of the display case

I did assemble the cowl and mated it up for a dry fitting. It was clear that the gun deck/firewall needs to be flush with the fuselage sides in order for the front end to meet up with the cowl. You can see the remedial work needed to get everything to fit: trimming on the back of both the instrument panel, the firewall, and the cockpit sides where the instrument panel meets.

The result was that everything fit snugly with the gun bay gaps gone...pending Tenax, Superglue, and multiple clamps!


Thanks for following along!
Regards,

Tom
Wisconsin, USA

I am happy to see that other people share the misery of the Eduard FW 190. I read all the chatter, then happily delved into the project. I followed the Brett Green cautions and enthusiastically glued things together(my favourite part). I am doing the Weekend Edition. I can see how things might go off the rails,and they are.The little part that I would call the instrument panel cover is way too small. Mr Eduard, you might address this issue.But, anyhoo I have discerned that modelling is about solving issues. So I will stretch that goofy little piece. My deepest darkest secret, is I painted the interior with XF 24 Dark Grey instead of RLM 66. My non modelling friends(that would be all of them) will not notice. They are always ready to snap delicate parts off of anything."Nice Tank!" SNAP "Is that a MesherSNAP?"
Knowmsayin?

Looks like you're off to a solid start Tom! Looking forward to seeing this one progress.

I need to get my 1/32 190 started for the campaign as well. Your build is certainly inspiring me to do so!

Doug

Well Done! Pay attention when you are assembling the entire engine. I think is too long, but i'm thinking you are on the exact way because now the panel and mg are in the right position. Good work!!

Thanks Peter, Doug, Enrico and other earlier commenters.
Yes, this certainly seems like a kit that gets rave reviews with "no or few problems" from uber-kit builders, but in the hands of a mere mortal such as myself...well...
But it's still all enjoyable! Ahem...so far.

So the next problem I've seen in other builds and my test-fitting is the spar, which appears to be responsible for much of the alignment. The Eduard instructions (green box, below) show a wonderful, clear vertical fit, but this is no Tamiya kit. The actual parts don't really line up and there are no positive location points. The red and green lines illustrate how far from vertical and horizontal position they are. (Hopefully this comes through on the photo)

So, I first sanded the bottom of the spar to a flat surface (it has a bit of chamfer?), then dry fit everything back together to find the correct alignment. Then I used Tenax to set it in place.

The resulting dry fit of the wings shows dihedral and fit is well within acceptable limits. Those gaps will (er....should) disappear with a bit of coaxing. And with that last statement, I shall go fondle my lucky rabbit foot and hope I am right!


Thanks for hanging around!

Regards,
Tom
Wisconsin, USA

If you superglue part K20 first, than attach the spar to K20 and after that glue the spar to the wing the fit is perfect. At least that was my experience.

Nice work on a tough kit, the cockpit looks very nice.

Matrixone

Back form traveling for a few weeks, so I've had time to work on my A-6!

@Les - thank you!
@ Dimitar - In retrospect, I agree, installing the part you described would have made it easier. I almost missed that part on the instructions.

So here's the engine. I didn't add anything to it, as test-fitting showed that no extra wiring, etc. on the engine itself will be visible. Were I opening everything up like Fred Rose's build here .... then I would do more work on it. It was a tedious build considering it won't be seen (part of me would have been OK with a 3-piece typical Hasegawa-style molding of a radial engine), and the imperfect molding of the cooling fins makes a resin replacement almost mandatory if you are to open it up.

But what I _did_ do, as I will leave the upper gun day open which has a view to the extreme rear of the engine, is plumb the bay with a bunch of wires. This proves I am not entirely lazy!

I based it on photos from a Squadron "In Action" title, but in this scale all such detailing by me is impressionistic.

Lastly, here's the engine test-fitted to the mount.

I'll tidy up some of the painting, and I DEFINITELY have to do something about those guns pointing to port!

Regards-
Tom

OK, last update for a few days. The engine is superglued in place. Dry fitting the cowl over it reveals an acceptable fit, and the added detail shows where it is needed.


Thanks for following-
Tom

Note the product placement..."This post brought to you by MILLIPUT!"

Airframe assembly is now complete, and the picture shows results after 2 rounds of MILLIPUT and rescribing (I love all the fine rivet detail until I have to replace it!). One thing I forgot was to fill the seam at the front of the wing fillet (see photo). This often gets left on models, but it's not on the prototype.

Problems areas were:
The lower rear join between lower wing and fuselage (when is that NOT a problem), requiring some plastic card to fill.
The closed wing gun bay covers - very difficult to get flush with the wing surface. I won't really know if I did a good job until I prime.
The cowl....I had to shim the 3-4mm wide "joins" between the cowl and the fuselage to push the nose down a bit but I think the nose still "points up" too much. Not sure if that's my fault or not, but can't see what I could have done to cause it. Anyone else have this problem? Also, the joints at the wing root are not tidy and in a bad spot - hard to sand due to shape, and it's hard to preserve the piano hinges molded in place.

Of course, I broke off the wing root gun barrels because I'm an oaf, and deliberately removed the fuselage guns because I never should have but them on when Eduard told me to (nd I needed to correct their sit).

Good news, though - I was worried about the instrument panel coaming, but it fit nicely where Eduard said it would.

Now it's off for priming!


Thanks for looking! Regards-

Tom

The filling, sanding, and re-scribing are done, and though not perfect, I am satisfied. Actually, this step didn't go as badly as I'd feared - the kit actually builds a lot better than I expected. The rescribing chore is eased by my new best friend... the UMM scribing tool. Love it!
She's been primed with Tamiya primer, followed by pre-shading with lightened Tamiya dark grey. I've also sprayed the cowl white as the base for both the checker pattern and the base coat for the yellow recognition marking on the cowl underside.


Thanks for watching! (if anyone is there?)
Tom

You bet someone is there
It's looking really good, Tom. This is one of my favorite subjects, and I'm looking foreward to see more!

Regards

I'm here too, Tom- never fear! A really nice job is shaping up here- cheers! I love what you've added to the engine and compartment- I have a few of these kits and what I see of yours has got me itching to build one of them!

Thanks Kenneth and ChukW!

And in honor of ChukW being "in the house," (imitation being the sincerest form of flattery) here's Marianne to show us the painting work completed over the weekend.

My Luftwaffe mottle is always enamels (Modelmaster in this case) thinned 50:50 or even 70:30 thinner/paint. I spray at 10 psi or so, building up color in an area gradually. And, I resign myself to the fact that I will have to touch it up. Two rounds of touch-up were done before this picture:

Now it's on to paint the exhaust panels and vary up the colors a bit as a measure of weathering. And I promise, promise, promise to leave the drawing of pretty ladies to ChukW.

Regards-
Tom

excellent build tom.

paul

Thanks Paul!

Decals are on! And yes, the checkerboard is decals. A risky move, I know, but you haven't seen my masking flubs.

Can;t say enough good things about the kit decals - just the right balance of thin vs. tough, with non-silvering and good registration to boot.

The kit is still glossy, having laid down Future, then decals, then another layer of Future. Next it is on to weathering - some light post-shading, grime, exhaust, and maybe some filters.


Thanks for looking!
Regards-
Tom

Some more work this Memorial Day weekend...

In the first picture, I've used a oil wash in some of the panel lines, and to simulate drips of fluids. I've also done a bit of "modulation" - placing small dots of blue, white, and green oil paint on the airframe and blending in with a turpenoid-soaked Q-tip. This provides some variation in color that doesn't come through on camera very well but I think is noticeable to the eye.


In this picture I've added exhaust stains using highly thinned Tamiya brown, black, and grey paint, and then used highly thinned white, light grey, and black paint to streak the surface of the model.


Lastly, for the bottom, I've added streaks using drops of thinned Tamiya Smoke placed onto the airframe, then blown using the airbrush. I also made fluid and mud splatter by loading a flat brush with thinned brown and Smoke and blowing the airbrush through the brush.



I hope I didn't over-do it. Weathering is one of those things that you can get "in a groove" with, and suddenly you realize you've gone too far.

Enjoy!

Regards-
Tom

nice work Tom! ...got three of these in the stash ..and every time I look in on some-one's build on-line, they get put further and further to the back of it; might manage one in retirement one day!

Nice work Tom, it gives me courage to put my A-8/R2 near the top of the to build next pile.