Hi Rowan

great!!!

... and you made a lot more progress than me, so do not be "disappointed" ... I guess you put in all the exhaust stacks :-)

You could just leave it as it is ... a highly polished unit hack ...

best wishes

Steffen

Hi again

A week late, but I got there in the end:







The "Red 4" scheme is a bit controversial - with just one ref. showing only part of the aircraft. As you can see, I've gone for a poorly re-painted yellow band over a white original - probably not correct, but it would account for the tonal variations visible in the picture in Squadron's "In Action". The fuselage star is also a bit of a mystery - depending on how you interpret the photograph, it may have only been outlined where it crossed the band.

Anyway, I used the kit-supplied "Victory Stars" and found they were very slightly out of register. This wasn't apparent until they were applied, but it's well worth taking the care to trim them closely while they're still on the backing sheet. The yellow is a little translucent, which is probably why the fringing didn't show up at that stage.

I've really enjoyed the build and I hope it's helped balance some of the criticism the kit attracted when it was released. I'll combine everything into a full review soon.

All the best

Rowan

A beautiful build as per usual mate.....
Seem like you could almost park it in your
garage.... No more problem commuting to work.....

Cheers Jan

Many thanks for the kind words. Now that would be COOL... imagine turning up at work in a real one of these! It would certainly turn a few heads in Soho!

All the best

Rowan

Excellent work Rowan. Love the overall effect of the weathering.
Glad to see your fully back to building. As for your next project, can you please build something for the Bombs Away campaign as i still want to see Mal eat his shorts :-) :-) .
Andy

Hi Rowan

She's looking great! As we could expect .... I hope I will not be too far behind with mine, now that I have the colours

As for your opponent (Fw 190 A-3 or 4 )I am still undecided what c&m it will get ... JG 26, 54, 51 or Jabo/JG5 .. it is not soo easy

best wishes

Steffen

Cheers Steffen

You should make rapid progress now your paints have finally arrived! I'm really looking forward to seeing how your I-16 looks in the AE9 Grey scheme. And as for an opponent, I'm sure any Fw 190 you build will look pretty tasty!

I'm glad to have got the I-16 done before I go on holiday - there was always a danger it would have gone to the back of the shelf if I got distracted. Anyway, Jean-Luc will have a shock when he gets back and finds I've actually got an entry finished for his campaign! :-)

Now to start thinking about that n/m Bf 109G...

All the best

Rowan

Edit: I just spotted Andy's reminder about Bombs Away... I guess I really had better get started on that one! :-)

Hi Rowan!

That's a great little I-16! I just love your weathering technique! Congratulations...

As for the shock, you are quite right! It was almost more than I could support with the launch of Aeroscale! :-) But I must calm you down a little You have not finished the Campaign as Stephen didn't completed his opponent model yet. In a way, he has your destiny between his hands!

Jean-Luc

Hi Jean-Luc

Well I know I'm in safe hands there! Seriously though, I'd better crack on with my '109 if the others are depending on me...

All the best

Rowan

Hi Rowan

hope you have (had) a nice vacation. I totally missed this article at VVS Modelling until now ... just to feed the "controversial sheme" debate:

http://vvs.hobbyvista.com/DigitalModeling/monthly_profile/july06/july06.html

cheers

Steffen

Hi Steffen

Reporting in from the sunny Isle of Wight . Yes, Erik Pilawskii's interpretation is certainly a bit different from mine - something I acknowledged in my thread over on his VVS site before I headed down to the Island: http://vvs.hobbyvista.com/Forum/showthread.php?tid=344

I've no doubt there are errors in my version - my aim has been to move the debate forward, so if it triggers more information to allow the true scheme to be pinned down (some hopes, I fear...) I'll be really pleased.

All the best

Rowan

Hi Rowan

Now it is my turn ... I finally decided for a nice eastern front Fw 190 A-3. It was pretty hard to find a well documented KC holders mount (esp. on such an early machine), but I found one and also appropriate decals in my stash. It will be the Fw 190 A-3 of Oblt. Heinrich "Gaudi" Krafft, Gruppenkommandeur of I./JG 51 Ostfront 1942. Pix are in "Jagdfliegerverbände der Luftwaffe Vol.9 part 2".

BTW the time frame will not totally fit Rowans I-16 t.10 (1944), but who knows how long it was a unit hack.

Still there is some speculation, as JG 51 and 54 did some camo adaption with unknown colours ... i am not sure what I will use, it must be a pretty dark green .. possibly I'll go with RLM 71 or something nice from the WEM WW2 Soviet range.... tbd

Here are some pix. Finally I could motivate myself to do the cockpit .. did I ever mention that I hate doing the pit .... ... seatbelts are from Eduard





I included a spreader .. this might not be necassary on your Hasegawa model (which is in that area much better than the DML et al. issues), but it helped me to close the ¹/₄ - ¹/₂ mm on each side.



Any criticism?

best wishes

Steffen

Ahhh we have a new headline ... thanks Rowan

And now for something complete different .. modelling insane. The "Spornrad" assembly from Griffons fw 190 wheelset has 6 etched parts and 2 resin (only one in the pic)





and now with a ruler .. I still have headache



cheers

Steffen

Hi Steffen!

This time it was me... ! :-)

Nice looking Spornrad... don't tell me how much you paid for it!

Jean-Luc

Hi Jean-Luc

I am sorry! Ehre, wem Ehre gebührt ... so many thanks to you!!!

BTW It was a press sample .... sometimes it is nice to be IPMS D Webslave .. but I think those parts are not too expensive .. and Pavel is a really nice guy .. so go buy that stuff (Griffon.cz )

cheers

Steffen

Hi Steffen

Glad to see you've got the target for my little I-16 underway! Looking good - and frightening detail on the tailwheel (Griffon are new to me, so I'll definitely be checking them out! ). You don't like doing cockpits!? I love them... but, of course, I also have a bad reputation of not progressing beyond the cockpit on far too many kits! :-)

All the best

Rowan

Hi Rowan

here we go .. I played the whole day with the prop and spinner .. I did not finish it yet

So here it is without it: camo needs some touch up around the swastika, Klear is applied, and some decals already on:





I hope tpo make some more progress soon

cheers

Steffen

Hi Steffen

Cool! I looked in during a break at work, but it took so long before the pics loaded (they never did), I had to give up and log off before I got caught! I'm always fascinated by the unit-applied Eastern Front schemes - can you tell us a bit more about the one you've chosen?

How's the Hasegawa kit gone together - I only did a test fit for my review when it was released and hit problems with a warped fuselage. Hopefully, mine was just a rogue kit...

All the best

Rowan

Hi Rowan

yes the site is quite slow from time to time. The camo is a dark green according to Prien JFV 9/II. I build "Gaudi" Kraffts a/c as Gruppenkommandeur of I./JG 51. There are some photos of this machine so it was quite easy to estimate this camo. I chose RLM 71 for the dk. green .. this is a guess but as good as any other. The areas below the swastika and Werknummer were spared also on the cowling is a faint stripe in RLM 76.

One photo shows Kraffts a/c from ahead (according to the caption .. also in several other books) and shows signs of the yellow lower cowl. Other pictures do not confirm that but the lighting is very poor for colour recognition on these. The book states that yellow lower cowls and wing tips (up to the Balkenkreuz) were very common ... also it is much easier to overspray it 76 than to make it yellow afterwards :-) :-)

the prop is RLM 70 and has a white spinner tip for the Stab a/c. I used a Superscal sheet which is totally wrong .. I have to find white bordered black Gr.Kdr. chevrons and some numbers for the WNr.




It was a very enjoyable build after the crappy P-40 . I did some work to make the fuselage front sit a little higher to give the whole thing a nice wing-fuselage joint ... this made some problems when fitting the cowl but I could fix it (though it still points a little up) Also I included the spreader .. but that might not be necassary

More questions ... please call ..

cheers

Steffen

Hi Steffen

I blame it on what I call the "London Rush Hour" - logging on to anything is hit or miss around 4 or 5pm here. I did well today... I got through to Aeroscale in a jiffy, but the extra link through to IPMS.de for your pics... no chance! I could have waited forever - well, I gave it 5 minutes and bailed out as there were bandits (clients) at 6 o'clock high! :-)

All the best

Rowan

Hi Rowan

yes it is a mixture of hight traffic problems. IPMS D website is on a pretty good server with a high servicability ... but at 1700-1900 local we have the traffic peak .... so when you waited for 20 minutes for Aeroscale to build up all the images and then starts the request for my pix on the telecom server which is pretty busy and the network across europe is also pretty crowded .. you might end up waiting for a looooong time :-) :-) :-) :-)

BTW I do not blame Aeroscale/Kitmaker or staff_jim for that ... some times I remember what I have studied for some years (also I have set up my profile for 50 posts a page)

have a nice time

Ahh .. BTW seems I could finally make a contact between ruslan and my pals here .. lets hope for a nice He 45 and He 70 .... any progress on the 112 V6 ... just kidding

best wishes

Steffen

Excellent! He told me he'd tried to get in touch! Funny that... he was nagging me about the He-112 too - it's a conspiracy! :-) I haven't forgotten it, but I'm distracted by the new R-5sss info he's just sent me... the build's going to be fun.

All the best

Rowan

Hi Rowan

seems well get the campaign ribbon ... it is done

Here is Hasegawa's Focke-Wulf 190 A-3 in the camouflage and markings of Heinrich Krafft, Gruppenkommandeur of I./JG 51 in 1942 and recipient of the Knights Cross. Kraff was shot down in this aircraft and crash landed on 14.12.1942. He was killed either due to the forced landing or by enemy troops. The colour is described as dark green which could be everything from German or captured sources. Looking at the photos in Jagdfliegerverbände der Luftwaffe vol.9 part III I chose RLM 71. The yellow lower cowl is not sure but I liked the colour spot and it conforms with the modus operandi of I./JG 51 during that time (beside there is one photo which clearly shows it, but others are unclear about that .. exact date of all unknown)

The kit was built almost OOB but I added seat belts (eduard) and replaced the wheels with a Griffon set. I drilled out the guns. Then I ruined the canopy and had to replace it by one from the Eduard A-8; which has a spare due to the opened/closed alternatives. It does not fit 100% perfect, but it is good enough. Because of my accident I cheated a little and fit the aerial wire by computer (I will add one, but I feared to ruin another canopy ---- so I took the pictures first)












comments welcome

cheers

Steffen

Hi Steffen!

Sorry for the late comment! I know you have posted the pictures last week, but I just wanted to say you made a great job on your Fw 190! With all this excitement about the Eduard kit, it's nice to see Hasegawa's version can also be built into a superb model!

And thanks a lot for the profile picture! I'll make good use of it soon!

Jean-Luc

Many Thanks Jean-Luc!

I already thought nobody has seen it or dislike it so much that they prefer not to comment on it ...

best wishes

Steffen