Hi,
This is my Tamiya Fw-190 D-9. It is about 80% complete but i need to do the panel lines, glue on all the small bits, put all the small decals on and paint the details. When the time comes, i shall move it into the AGE 2 gallery (if i enter it). I think some constructave critism would be quite healthy also.





cheers

Philip

Very nice effort keep up the good work.

You did however ask for some "constructave critism":

First, watch your wheel alignment they seem a bit off.

Second, take care in aligning your decals, the crosses on the sides would look better if they lined up (front top view).

Third, you may want to consider painting the Yellow and Orange stripes in the future, (I'm sure thats a decal), I can never get those to line up properly myself, I pitch them and paint the stripes.

Fourth, the canopy doesn't seem to mate properly, closed it wouldn't stick out like that.

Not bashing here, just some things you might consider and watch out for on your next build,. Hope there are many more. This one was a good effort, good job on the camo.

Thank you for the tips! The defence of the reich band is the kit decal. I really messed up the aplication because i put to much micro sol on it. This caused it to rip and i had to reposition it and all sorts of wrinkles appeard. I had to touch it up with some yellow paint. The canopy is not stuck on yet. About the cross and wheel alignment: maby your judgement is slightly distorted because the pic is slightly to the left, or you are right!
For my next project i may try and use milliput to fill in te wingroot gaps.

cheers

Philip

OK Philip, first a few things that you will be able to improve the next time round: Chuck is right about the wheel alignment, the main wheels seem to be towing out and the legs aren't at the same forward rake. The FW 190 series had a particularly prominent and unusual undercarriage, which looks odd if not captured. I would imagine that the Tamiya kit has pretty positive location points but care is still required to get them aligned correctly. Here's a way to avoid this problem. Test fit the legs, retraction jacks and wheels first, just to highlight any potential problems. The retraction jacks will set the angle of the legs, the square pin at the top of the leg should align the legs but unless it is a tight fit there will be some play. The same goes for the wheels and the instructions give you a diagram with their angle. However if you follow the instructions you have to be pretty lucky for everything to line up. So the first thing is to get the legs in the correct position. Temporarily glue the wheels on, using white glue, don't worry about the angle just make sure that they are aligned front to back. With the model upside down locate one of the legs and attach the retraction jack, get this in position then run liquid cement into the socket for the leg, do the other leg in the same way. Now you have time to adjust the alignment of the legs and therefor the wheels before the glue hardens. Use the wheels as a reference and eyeball them in, checking from every angle that they are the same. If the glue is get hardened before you are finished add a drop more glue to soften it. You can use tube cement (sparingly) which will give you more time. When you are satisfied support the model off it's wheels and let the glue dry overnight. Next day remove the wheels, (they should twist of quite easily but use caution), clean them of any white glue and re-attach using Polly cement, adjusting the angle so everything lines up as per the instructions and front to rear. Again support the model off it's wheels overnight. Lastly attach the main gear doors. I use CA for attaching the undercarriage, so I don't have to wait over night but you have very little time to get it right.

I have explained about Micro Set/Sol and decals via PM, did you have a look at my article? I think Chuck is right about the fuselage crosses, the starboard one looks to be higher on the fuselage than the port. There also appears to be a little "silvering on the wing crosses.

Did you use RLM 76 for the underside and lower fuselage?

I explained what you need to be able to achieve mottle camo, but I can see that basically you have to much paint and to high a pressure.

I think what you have achieved so far is actually quite remarkable, so well done Philip. You have a great enthusiasm and I don't want to affect that in any way, but if you could slow down, just a little :-) who am I kidding :-) and plan your build to take into account how you are painting and finishing, and not be a slave to the kit instructions you will go far.
Not at all bad for a 12 year old using an airbrush for the first time, well done and keep it up

Mal

Thank you so very much!

Will i need to coat the thing in flat varnish?
I did use 76 for the fuslagae and underside. I can-not wait to start my Typhoon. I shall also take more care for the decals and wheels next time.
What do you think of the screen behind?
It was only AFTER dooing the mottling that i thougt of using the fine head assembly i have :-)
I did some practice mottling on my test-bed b-17. It worked better.

cheers

Philip

one trick I have found about aligning landing gear legs is to use some legos that I "borrowed" from my sons collection, I take one of the big flat green 'ground' pieces then several thin ones with 8 or so locating pins for my front and rear braces (you must have the tail wheel inplace before you can get this work), then I align those parallel across the front and back, then other smaller ones on the inside/outside of the gear legs where needed. then with the landing gear dry fitted to the ac and use card stock or other thin material, even playing cards cut in 1/2 inch strips for shims to get the fit just right, when everything is looking square, thats where the legos come in, then just ad glue and place model into jig let it sit overnight. it sounds more difficult than it actually is, but it seems to work.

Philip

The guys above have I think outlined everything and provided some excellent advice on what to do in the future.

I think back to what I was modelling when I was 12 and am amazed at what you have achieved. I was stuck on 1/72 Airfix kits with tins of Humbrol enamels and 1 paintbrush.

You should be proud of this dora and put it on the shelf for 2 reasons.

1 to show off; and
2 as a benchmark so that in a few models time you will be able to see the difference in your skills.

I wish my mum hadn't trashed all my old kits (over 75) when I went to uni so that I could look at them now and kid myself that I am doing better. :-)

Keep up the good work.

Brian

I assume you mean the backdrop to your pics? It works well and you have no clutter in the pictures to distract from the model. A little word about the pics the first one is a little blured, was the camera hand held? If so you will have to either use a faster shutter speed or get a tripod. The second one is much better and has good depthof field. To achieve good depth of field (more of the subject in focus between forground and background) you need a small apature (larger f.stop) This usually requires a slower shutter speed, to let in more light, therefor making a tripod almost esential. Also check the white balance on your camera, as the RLM 76 looks to pale?
Philip, When you asked me to be mentor for this build I envisaged building my Tamiya 190D-9 along with you and doing it as an online build to make it easier to show you what I would be talking about. However your youthful enthusiasm ment I had no hope of keeping up with you :-) You have done better than I thought you would to be honest, so you definately have some talent. I think what you need to try and do is to take more time over each part and not to be to impatient to get to the end. I realise that for a 12 year old that is nigh on impossible :-) because I was 12, once. Anyway I was wondering if you thought it would still be useful if I were to still do my D-9, as an online build so you can at least see how I would approach this model? Of course there are many ways to do it but when air brushing I have found it best not to actually follow the instructions to the letter. So what do you think?
Mal

I think is would be good if you did your D-9 as an online build. There are several reasons for this. Firstly i think it would help other prople when thy build thier D-9s. And secondly bilko has suggested taht i could use my D-9 as a benchmark, so if you build yours i could compare the two and see how i could improve, then mabye build anotehr in a coupple of years (or months) and use the the tips from your build to help me.

cheers

Philip

OK Philip I'll start it this week end eek. Please be aware that I have 3 other online builds running already, plus many other projects in various states of completion. However I will endeavour to work through my D-9 without to much slacking I will be using aftermarket decals but building OOB
Mal

About the Fw 190 landing gears, I suggest you look over those two articles and print them. They are extremely useful to align the wheels correctly.

Fw 190 landing gear part 1

Fw 190 landing gear part 2

Ok, i shall use those links for my next Fw-190!

cheers

Philip

OK Philip I have started the online build find it HERE along with the others
Mal

Good show Mal!

Can't wait to see the rest.

Thanks Olivier, The Mossie and Lysander are nearing the painting stage and other projects are moving forward but I will try and press on with this 190.
Mal

Good.

My Typhoon is done, I'll take pictures tomorrow and update the site.

Very cool so far!

cheers

Philip

My progress has been hindred slightly because i got a cold, so i do not feel my best. I did the panel lines using several techneques (ink, pigments, pencil dust and tamiya smoke) and have done the exaust stains for the guns.

You're 12? Jesus! I was still sitting on my front step gluing bit together without instructions.....you can imagine what they looked like! Thats a fantastic effort, all the points the guys have pointed out will help you get even better. Great effort!

Vinnie

Thank you!

cheers

Philip

I had a brain-wave today. I decided to play around with tamiya smoke and then it hit me USE IT AS A WASH!!!! it works wonders and is amazing for panel lines. You do not have to thin it mkuch because itis allready quite translcent. It is probabbly the most useful colour ever. Thenk you Tamiya! IT also works well for post-shding.

cheers

Philip

All this talk about 12 year olds and modelling had me thinking about what I was doing at 12. The internet has made a big difference, the hobby is not as lonely as it used to be the sharing has greatly enhanced the early knowledge gathering for the younger and novice modeller.
Tamiya smoke as a wash sounds like a good idea, I've heard of it's use for this before. I personally think that black is to stark for a wash but smoke being a dark grey may just work. I use artist oil colours so I can pick up on the camo colours the particular model.
I am just about to take my 190D-9 into the spray booth for it's internal colours, is it possible for me to finish it in time for March's model of the month? If I do it will be my fastest ever build and a miricle :-)
Mal

Phillip, use Taniya smoke very sparingly. It is very,very difficult to get it to matt down afterwards. On wingy thingies it might be OK, but it's use in armour modelling is very limited because of this.

Vinie

Just to tell everyone that my name is spelt with ONE (1) 'l'.

I think that you could do it Mal (what is that short for?) But then again you probably spend more time on teh cockpit then me.
Thanks for the warning Vinnie. Were Luftwaffe planes semi-gloss or matt? What is a good matt varnish?

cheers

Philip

remember: ONE 'l'...

Just flat-coated my dora and am about to attach the canopy. When i put my finished pics in the gallery, should i put it in the member gallerys or the AGE 2 galery, because i MAY enter her, depends on how well i do on my typhoon.

cheers

Philip