Airfix 1/72 Focke-Wulf Fw190A-8

[Jim R]

Hi all
After my HMS Victory and with the interruption of Christmas and the New Year coupled with my Ikea revamp of the model room I needed something straightforward. I remembered that Ron built this a couple of years ago with one of his wonderful "tales" to go with it. Hauptmann Hans 'Lottie' Haas I bought the kit back then - £5.99 from Aldi if memory serves.
I wanted it flying. Spent quite a while on the propeller. Went fairly heavy on the weathering as I figured that in Belgium in late '44 the Luftwaffe were short of planes, pilots, ground crew and spares so it would likely be a refuel, a quick check over and back in the air.









Jim

 

[spanner570]

Excellent build Jim and nicely presented.

Good to see 'Lottie' Haas is flying again.

Nice prop too!

This aircraft is my favourite. a real brute, business like, killing machine.

Ron

 

[Mark1]

Nice build Jim, looks good

 

[Tim Marlow]

Excellent work Jim. Looks great.

 

[minitnkr]

Really nice finishes.

 

[adt70hk]

Jim

Very nicely done indeed. Hope mine turns out just as well.

ATB.

Andrew

 

[Steve Jones]

Not my thing Jim but it looks like a fantastic result

 

[The Smythe Meister]

Cracking stuff Jim .
Great finish all round,particularly the Prop-time well spent i`d say,
Well done Sir!!
Andy

 

[yak face]

Lovely job jim , nice to see another great little airfix kit . Cheers tony

 

[Steven000]

Well done Jim, looks way better in the air where it belongs!
The prop turned out great, I think the Luftwaffe never used yellow tips on their props, but correct me if I'm mistaken! (Also don't want to be harch, just info)
Looking forward to your next project ; )
The weathered look came out great too
Cheers, Steven

 

[Jim R]

Thanks guys for all your very nice posts. Appreciated
Steven - you're totally correct about the yellow tips on the propeller. The box art and the painting guide and the references I looked at all showed no yellow tips.


I did make a couple of propeller discs without the yellow, I even dry fitted one.



Somehow it didn't look right. I don't know why but I wasn't happy so made the yellow tipped version which 'looked' good although was not correct I certainly don't mind the comment - I'm grateful to people who look in on my builds.

Jim

 

[Steven000]

Thanks guys for all your very nice posts. Appreciated
Steven - you're totally correct about the yellow tips on the propeller. The box art and the painting guide and the references I looked at all showed no yellow tips.

I did make a couple of propeller discs without the yellow, I even dry fitted one.

Somehow it didn't look right. I don't know why but I wasn't happy so made the yellow tipped version which 'looked' good although was not correct I certainly don't mind the comment - I'm grateful to people who look in on my builds.
Jim

I see, I think the prop effect looks very good, with or without yellow, nicely done Jim!
Cheers, Steven

 

[flyjoe180]

Fantastic job Jim, love the prop.

 

[boatman]

AN HI Jim YES I ALSO LOVE your prop on the plane it actually looks like its flying very well done
chris

 

[papa 695]

Cracking work Jim.

 

[JR]

Jim that's a neat job,love the weathering and agree about just get it back into the air .

The Committee here at Race Towers were asking how did you make the prop please, as it looks so convincing like that .

Congratulations.

 

[Jim R]

Thanks guys for your such kind comments. John I hope you will thank the committee on my behalf for such a prestigious award. It will take pride of place alongside my Blue Peter badge and my cub scout needle craft patch.
The spinning prop - how did I do it. I made about a dozen with varying success.
First the centre piece. Filled in with bits of styrene tube.




Disc cut from 0.5mm clear styrene sheet. Fixed into my electric Como drill and touched with a medium coarse sanding stick.


Mask cut and I found that the centre needed to be close to the disc and the edge needed to be raised off the disc. This gave a sharper image at the centre and more feathered at the edge. I found that black was not as effective as a dark grey for airbrushing. Fade out to the edge.




I hope that helps but I didn't take enough photos to show how the method evolved.
Jim

 

[Steven000]

Well done Jim, thanks for taking the time to share it with us
Steven

 

[grumpa]

Wonderful!
Beautiful subtle weathering, and that prop is a real masterpiece.

Jim.

 

[JR]

Thanks guys for your such kind comments. John I hope you will thank the committee on my behalf for such a prestigious award. It will take pride of place alongside my Blue Peter badge and my cub scout needle craft patch.
The spinning prop - how did I do it. I made about a dozen with varying success.
First the centre piece. Filled in with bits of styrene tube.
View attachment 442626

View attachment 442627

Disc cut from 0.5mm clear styrene sheet. Fixed into my electric Como drill and touched with a medium coarse sanding stick.
View attachment 442630

Mask cut and I found that the centre needed to be close to the disc and the edge needed to be raised off the disc. This gave a sharper image at the centre and more feathered at the edge. I found that black was not as effective as a dark grey for airbrushing. Fade out to the edge.
View attachment 442628

View attachment 442631

I hope that helps but I didn't take enough photos to show how the method evolved.
Jim

Thanks Jim, looked very complicated to get right.
I thanked the committee and gave them your regards .