Eduard Fw 190 A - 'old' new-tool. What a dog! (part 2)

 

Finished the Eduard Fw 190 A-5 - the 'old' new-tool 'weekend edition'  Obviously it is not designed to be built 'closed-up' (or even finished in a weekend!) but I did not want to leave it all open. I drew the line at filling, filing and sanding a second cannon-bay hatch and left the starboard wing-root door open. Some of the engine parts have to be mounted (somehow) inside the cowling panels in order to have the BMW fan correctly positioned.. 

The other point to mention about this kit is the poor 'sit' or 'stance' of the finished model - it definitely needs some tweaks to the gear legs. 

Finished as 'black 7' flown by the Staffelkapitän of 5./JG 54 - Lt. Emil Lang. During the late spring/ early summer of 1943 bands of earth brown/sand were roughly applied over the two greens and the unit's green heart markings were over-painted - not 100% convinced by the paint finish, it looks a little too neat to my eyes, but at this stage I was just happy to get something that looked reasonably 'presentable' on the shelf.. 

Some images from Huw Morgan's build of this kit - or rather the A-8/R2 boxing - that was featured in the now defunct 'SAMI' in 2015. I chuckled at the 'minimal filler' needed. There isn't one part of this kit that fits to another that doesn't require it! Obviously if you attempt this - I do have another in the stash -  you will encounter the same issues.

Italeri T-6 G Texan, Algerian war in 1:48

.. surprisingly straight forward for Italeri, not their plastic though.. (Occident) Hardest part of course, canopy masking. Finish is a mix of Tamiya yellow and clear orange. Period images of this machine (see below) appears to show the addition of black wing tips... 

My model depicts a French EALA machine (escadrille aviation légère d'appui- light ground support) tasked with suppression of rebel forces (or as the French put it, 'maintien de l'ordre' ) during the Algerian war, 1958-60. The T-6 G could carry four AA 52 7.62 machine-guns (each with 200 rounds) six T-10 rockets, two 50 kg bombs and either two napalm containers or two rocket launchers carrying seven 30 mm rockets. Claude Liedet was one T-6G pilot with EALA 10/72 who flew a fourteen-hour conversion course during December 1958 comprising aerobatics, rocket-launching, bombing and strafing and flying in mountainous regions. Sorties lasted from 45 minutes to 2hrs 50 mins. Risks were mechanical failures, ground fire, bad weather or pilot error especially in mountainous areas.  Liedet describes some of his 'near-misses' in the January 2020 issue of "Le Fana de l'Aviation"..

Eduard 1:48 Fw 190 A - what a dog!

About 13 years ago now, the Czech model concern Eduard released their first new-tool Fw 190 in 48th scale. I've avoided it - until now. Recently I (perhaps rather naively) imagined that I could complete it to a reasonable level and call myself a 'real' modeller! I'm working on one at the moment and I can safely say that it will easily make it into my listing of the Top 10 worst model kits ever released. In fact I'd go further. It is quite possibly the worst kit ever manufactured and sold to the general public. Of course some people on model forums and in blogs actually maintain that they have built it - to which I would say, not as the model company intended you haven't! There are a whole range of fit issues with it - from the small 'triangular' part that you must align and glue behind the wheel well spar to the wing root gun bays and covers, the upper cowl MG mounts -far far too large- which clip into the upper wheel well part and are supposed to represent the ejector chutes to the horrible horrible (yes, twice for emphasis..) engine assembly - so bad Eduard provide a 'template' for you to align the individual exhaust stacks to the multi-part cowling. I could not even get the wings together properly. To get anywhere with the kit you must immediately deviate from the instructions - glue the fuselage halves together and then slide the completed cockpit in from underneath - the fuselage halves are so thin and flexible doing it this way is fairly straight forward.Obviously checking all the while that the forward cowl cover and windscreen will fit without leaving a 'lip'. The way the instrument panel is supposed to be located - 'clipping' into the coaming - is dreadful, especially as the coaming doesn't even touch the sides but there is not a lot that can be done here, aside from super glue and clamp. That's about as far as I've got with the kit at the moment and while I never bin anything, I'm seriously contemplating doing it with this one. I'd been saving this one up for a long time as well - 13 years. I've read all the reviews, collected all the advice, from Fridell and others. Even Eduard themselves issued a page of guidance to 'help' modellers with the build - and it still didn't work for me. Do they not perform test builds at the factory before unleashing stuff like this into the modelling world? Evidently not as they managed to completely screw up the first new-tool '48th' scale Me 109s they released as well. No wonder both their 48th scale 109s and Fw 190s had to be re-tooled!

This is part 1 of this build report - who knows whether there will be a part 2.   

yes, if you want everything 'opened up' just follow the instructions. But those cowl gun mounts will look rather ridiculous if you do leave them alone. Part I21 is tricky (see image above). There is no indication at all where this 'sits' - a bit of trial and error and test fitting with the cowl cover and windscreen is the only way to do it, otherwise it end up far too high as well.. 

Below; Even if you do use the cowl part closed up then you will need to retain the bulkhead I4 onto which your suitably amended magazines will still need to be mounted. The engine mount struts fit onto this part as well but I'm not feeling at all confident that the engine assembly will 'work' as per the instructions. Well the wings are assembled and some filler at the roots will be required. The MGs have to be inserted into the bays before the top wing goes on, which, once again, is not ideal!

Phantom February @ IPMS East Kent

 

The theme for February's model club meet was Phantoms! Here's a few views of the table with Tamiya, ZM, Hasegawa/Revell, Esci and Academy F-4s in 48th and Airfix and Fujimi F-4s in 72nd. 

Build review of the Airfix 1:48th Jaguar - part 7 Finished!

 

The Airfix 1:48th Jaguar  is now finished in the markings of XZ 118 'Buster Gonad'. Difficult to photograph in this 'Granby' scheme as the flash obliterates the oil panel-line wash and the little bit of post-shading with Tamiya Smoke. Note that Airfix has given the modeller a bit of a 'mish-mash' with this machine as it wore a variety of markings and was seen in a number of different configurations especially post-Granby eg, the "FF" tail codes which are not present on the kit decal sheet  - although indicated on the decal placement diagram. While with 41 Sqd, XZ 118 also carried the recce pod in grey/green which I thought offered a neat contrast with the RAF Desert Pink (AK Real Colors lacquer). XZ 118 was the aircraft that ended its life upside down in the Tate Gallery..

Overall, a great kit, although the undercarriage is a little tricky and fitting the parts in and around the airbrake bays requires three hands. Some additional detail could have been provided in the cockpit perhaps. But then we modellers always seem to want more. A very good 9/10 from me.

Building the Airfix Sepecat Jaguar in 1/48th (part 6)

 

Finished painting except for one or two details. Discovered AK Real colors (laquer) after selecting their 'RAF Desert Pink'.  These are fantastic - with a little Mr Color Levelling Thinner easily the best spray finish I've ever achieved, probably the most 'in control' of the airbrush that I've ever felt. Getting some more !

Meanwhile, as I slowly complete my first, Mr. Bill Clark of our club has completed two, both of which will be on the Jag-Uhar SIG table at this weekend's SMW 2025 in Telford.

A few close-up views of Bill's model of  XZ 375 as seen at a recent East Kent Scale Modeller's  club night..

Building the Airfix Sepecat Jaguar in 1/48th (part 5) - reference pics of the gear bays and legs

 Finished painting the airframe.

'Black-basing' the airframe prior to application of the AK Real colors 'Desert Pink'  proved to be a complete waste of time. I was very impressed though with the AK paint and used in conjunction with 'Mr Color Levelling Thinner' proved to be a revelation..(..to me at least..)

Next; dealing with the gear bays and undercarriage. Assembling the legs can be pretty tricky at first sight. Note the 'ring-like' attachment point on the long inner strut is canted. Make sure you position it the correct way round otherwise it will bow just like it does on Gary's build! And a shout-out to the model channel 'Hobby Wan Kenobi' or whatever it is he calls himself - why on earth do all that masking around the gear bays? Paint the bays and then use the kit gear doors to 'mask' them by just positioning them in place closed up.

Close up of the gear legs on the Manston example, and, bottom, detail views of the gear bays. Airfix's colour call-out for the legs - Humbrol 27 - is rather too dark in my view. Overall though Airfix have done a fantastic job on this part of the kit.

Port main gear bay looking towards the rear of the aircraft and, bottom, looking directly into the starboard bay. Note inner faces of the main gear doors are not in zinc chromate..

Airfix new tool 1:48th Gannet COD 4

 

Dick from East Kent Scale Modellers has done a brilliant job on the new Airfix Gannet COD 'carrier delivery' aircraft. What a beast, looks magnificent in 48th!

Another view and a comparison with the Classic Airframes kit. This older kit has a noticeably smaller prop assembly and a rather 'pinched' forward fuselage..note my Land Rover and Dick's Heller Austin Allegro also on the table..