Once upon a time,
there were only a couple of models of the Fw 190D-9. One of those was the Airfix
model circa 1958 which had some accuracy issues, and another was from Lindberg,
which was even worse. Then, in the mid-1970s, FROG released their Ta 152H-1.
Maybe that spurred Airfix on to making a new tool of the venerable Fw 190D-9.
In
any case, it appeared in 1978. I have included a photo of the 1958 Airfix Fw
190D-9 to compare with the later one.
The Airfix Fw 190D-9
has been joined in the market by Italeri, Hasegawa, Academy and Tamiya, but it's
still a good-value kit. I made this one with the undercarriage down, but it sits
on its stand in my coffee table.
I made it almost OOB.
It has a DF loop made from 5 amp fusewire wrapped around a small paintbrush
handle. The radio aerial is Aeroclub rigging thread (knitting-in elastic or
lycra thread).
I used mainly
Gunze paints except where noted otherwise:
RLM 66 for the interior;
RLM 71 for the prop;
RLM 23 for the control surface tabs;
RLM 02 for the wheel bay interior and
undercarriage struts;
RLM 74,75 and 76 for the exterior
camouflage colours;
Future prior to decalling;
Tamiya Smoke for a bit of weathering;
and
Humbrol Mattcote to tone it all down.
These were sprayed freehand using my Badger 360 at 30psi, generally unthinned or
slightly thinned with isopropyl alcohol (except Mattcote, which was thinned with
Mineral Turpentine). I have an Iwata compressor, which is not particularly
quiet, but it works quite well otherwise.
All decals are from
Airfix, mostly from a recent boxing, although the hakenkreuz comes from a late
70s packaging of the kit. They reacted quite well to Microsol.
In comparison with
the Italeri and Hasegawa kits, the Airfix kit lacks a lot in the cockpit
interior, but if you include the pilot, and shut the canopy, then you're not
missing out on much. Speaking of the canopy, I spent a bit of time and Gunze Mr
Surfacer 500 in fairing-in the canopy to the frame.
Have you built this
kit? If not, why not? It's inexpensive and really good fun to build, and I think
it scrubs up ok, too. If you're somewhat retentive about raised panel lines,
then there aren't that many that you'd have to rescribe, being such a small
model.
Bruce
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images below to see larger images
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