Hasegawa 1/32 Fw 190D-9 Brown 4

[jkim]

Having past a significant milestone on my ongoing Tempest project, I wanted to start a second build to keep occupied when I'm waiting for things to dry on the Tempest. This one has been in the queue inside my head for a while. Yes, it is another Dora. This will be my Fifth build of the Hasegawa 1/32 Fw 190D-9 kit. Like the D-13, this one is a little bit different from other Doras in that it featured a Ta-152H-style tail plane.

Here is the kit...


Based on the 2003 release, this special edition was released in 2015 with the tail plane parts and new decals. That 2003 release must've been a state of the art kit when it came out and featured, for the first time, the correct depiction of the open wheel well found on the D-series. It's a solid kit but maybe starting to show its age but for now, it is the best large scale representation of the Dora that we have.

I have a slew of aftermarket stuff for the Fw 190D that I have collected over the years. There are some things I will DEFINITELY use, some things I definitely WON'T use and some stuff I haven't decided on.


Definitely YES:

Eagle Editions Fw 190D Resin Cockpit - in my opinion it is the best aftermarket cockpit for the Dora (having used the MDC and Aires cockpits as well)

Eagle Editions EC 32-126 - although I'll be making masks for the major markings, I need this decal sheet for the data stencils

Quickboost Fw 190A-7/A-9 Gun Barrels - the Hasegawa kit incorrectly supplies leather boots for the wing guns so these metal mounts are necessary

Synthetic Ordnance Works Fw 190A/D Landing Gear - composite metal/resin so you don't need to paint the oleo!

Eagle Editions Fw 190 Cigar Drop Tank - a little different look... why not?

Eduard Fw190D Canopy Masks - always, when available!

Eduard Fw 190D Flaps

HGW seatbelts

Definitely NO:
Eagle Editions Fw 190D Late Gun Cowling - my copy is a bit warped and undersized... doesn't fit

Quickboost Fw 190D Early Gun Cowling - doesn't fit

Quickboost Fw 190D Radiator Cowling - doesn't fit

Maybe:
Eduard Fw 190D Flaps - looks nice but fiddly

Eduard Fw 190D Exterior Set - might be useful to dress up the landing gear wells

Here is a quick tour of the kit parts.

The fuselage parts. Typical, high quality stuff from Hasegawa but circa 2003 so the level of detail is not as high as current kits. No rivet detail provided so I'll be applying my own.



This style of instrument panel is my least favorite. Painting never looks right and trying to apply decals over the raised details will probably look worse. It would be much better to leave the instrument faces smooth. Revell has shown that you can get really nice results with instrument panel decals if you provide raised instrument bevels only.


Besides that instrument panel, the supplied cockpit is pretty basic. If you are going to use the kit flaps, watch out for the visible sink marks on the exterior side.


The lower wings come with panels for different armament configurations. Not a factor for the D-series.



Since this boxing is a late war Dora, no flat canopy is provided. All you get is the bulged canopy. The single sprue attachment for the canopy often breaks during transit so check your canopy for scratches.



The kit only provides the smooth tire. If your Dora had treaded tires, you'll have to go aftermarket.



This is a Dora-specific sprue holding the open wheel well as well as some for the rear of the engine.



The kit-supplied decal sheet. This will be unused as I'll be using masks and the Eagle Edition decals for the stencils.


Almost forgot... here is the sprue that holds the Ta-152H tail that is unique to this boxing.

[Floki]

I'm a sucker for a Dora build! Can't wait to see you start on this.

[Stuart]

Another excellent building the making & it does look like a lovely kit!

[mostrich]

John's on a run. Good to see!

[BlackSheep214]

Oh boy... the double feature is about to start.

[jkim]

Having built so many of the same model, I have to guard against doing things too quickly so I'm going to try and explain things as much as possible, even if it is repetitive. The D-9 is my favorite aircraft, even going back to my childhood. One of the first models I ever remember building is the old Revell 1/32 D-9 back in the 70's.

The Hasegawa kit is solid. I don't think they've released any new 1/32 aircraft since before the pandemic and that makes me sad. I rather like Hasegawa's no-frills approach to aircraft models. No internal structural details that you'll never see like Zoukei-Mura and no molded rivets like Trumpeter. Just solid engineering and great molding quality.

There are some correction and minor alterations that I like to do right off the bat. One of them is the radiator cowling. Both Eagle Editions and Quickboost make resin replacements but I've not had good luck with either. Oversize resin would be correctable but when it is too small, the part becomes almost unusable or at least more trouble than it is worth and that's what I experienced with both the Eagle Editions and Quickboost radiator cowlings. The kit radiator cowling is too boxy and needs more of an airfoil shape to its cross-section. I've screwed a Dremel chuck into the resin casting base of the Quickboost radiator cowling and I can temporarily glue the kit cowling onto it. I use the rotary tool as a lathe to gently re-shape the cowling. The difference is subtle but noticeable to my eye. The re-shaped cowling is on the top left and the unmodified kit cowling is on the top right. The target is the Quickboost resin cowling on the bottom.


The Hasegawa MG131 cannon barrels over the engine are not hollowed out at the ends. Since they out poke out so little, I usually opt to use the kit parts IF the molds are perfectly aligned and the cross-sections are round, which I've verified. An x-acto blade is used to start a hole in the middle of the barrel end. I then switch to a small drill bit to keep the hole I make perfectly round.



The exhaust pipes are nicely shaped and come in three separate groupings of 1, 2 and 3 outlets. Like the cannon barrels, the ends of the exhaust pipes are not hollowed out. It's cumbersome and time consuming but I usually elect to hollow out the exhaust ends myself instead of resorting to aftermarket. Three holes are daisy-chained across each exhaust end to start the excavation and it is just a matter of carefully gouging out the material between the three holes. It takes me a couple of hours to complete this task.




Next we come to the gun cowling. It is a distinctive part of the Dora and Hasegawa has endowed its gun cowling with some exaggerated curves. There are some aftermarket replacements available but like the radiator cowling, I've not had good luck with fit with the Quickboost or Eagle Editions replacements. For reference, the Quickboost early style gun cowling is on top, with the Eagle Editions late style gun cowling in the middle and the kit cowling, which represents the early style, on the bottom.


There are slight variations to the gun cowling that Jerry Crandall has conveniently documented in Volume 1 of his 2-part Dora series of books. Brown 4 was manufactured at the Mimetall factory (Werk Number 500647) and Crandall's describes the Mimetall gun cover to be the late style with a bottom edge flare and no circular bulge on the side rear of the cowling.


The difference between early and late style gun cowlings is an extra panel in the early style. So this panel must be removed. I like to use black CA glue for the filling of panel lines since it sets instantaneously with accelerator and the black color makes it very easy to keep track of the filled areas.


The next step is to re-sculpt the curvature of the cowling. I use White Milliput for sculpting work. It is a 2-part epoxy that takes a few hours to start curing, which gives you plenty of time to work with. Prior to curing, it can be reduced with water, making smoothing and sculpting very easy and neat.


Using the Eagle Editions cowling as a guide, I first fill in the valley between the two gun bulges with Milliput very roughly.


If you wet your finger and rub the Milliput, you can start smoothing it and spreading it out.


After this, I switch to a moistened piece of paper towel, which helps to remove the excess putty from the part. It doesn't have to be perfect but you should be striving for a smooth even surface that somewhat feathers down to the existing plastic.


The "cheeks" under the cannon openings are given similar treatments and this is set aside to dry. To be safe, I like to allow Milliput to cure overnight before I put sandpaper to it. Don't worry about the hole for the starter crank between the two bulges... it will be re-established in the next step.

[Floki]

Always a pleasure to watch you progress through the steps. The reworked cowlings are looking great

[jkim]

Thank you Clint!

The hole for the starter crank is now added to top of the dried Milliput. It is simply a double-punched donut of sheet plastic and glued into place with CA glue. It's raised but I'll add a pool of Mr Surfacer around it and sand the mound to replicate what you see on the Eagle Editions cowling.


An optional corrective item is this coolant tank that is visible from the open wheel well. The hollowed out side is supposed to be out of sight but I'm always afraid that it will be visible from certain angles so I've decided to fill it in with White Milliput this time around.


Jumping over to the wheel wells, there are some conspicuous ejector marks that should be filled. I use Mr Surfacer 1000. This stuff shrinks as it dries so an excess amount is always applied initially.



Mr Surfacer takes many hours to cure so I take this opportunity to fashion up some tools to help sand those hard to reach ejector marks. Using an appropriately sized punch, I glue discs of 400 and 600 grit sandpaper to the flattened ends of cocktail sticks.

[LyleW]

Quite interesting to watch. I think you are the Dora King!

[jkim]

Thanks Lyle! Hopefully, there are some helpful tips and interesting information that I'm providing.

One of the aftermarket items I'm seeing for the first time is the "cigar-style" drop tank by Eagle Editions. The Dora book by Jerry Crandall shows this late war version of the drop tank on the profile of Brown 4, which gave me the idea to use it. The resin set includes the drop tank cast in three parts, a resin ETC 504 rack, plastic anti-sway bars from the Hasegawa kit and a set of decals.


Interestingly, the fuel filler cap is a separate part.


The drop tank is not very big but the casting blocks are full width and need to sawed off.


When the mini saw isn't up to the task, I go to the blade I call Blue Steel.


The remaining sliver of casting block can be sanded away. I use a piece of coarse sanding paper taped to a small sheet of glass. This helps get the joint perfectly flat and square. Make sure you use a protective mask when cutting and sanding!



The two parts are glued together using CA glue.


The tiny gap around the circumference of the joint was filled with white Milliput.


Comparing the kit ETC rack to the resin version.


I want to utilize the mounting pins between the tank and rack to help hold the tank in place so two holes are located and drilled out on the drop tank. Those four pipe-things on the drop tank look like attachment points but they are not, according to the Eagle Editions instructions.



I also placed pins in the rack to aid in the placement of the rack onto the wing bottom.


There is a small protrusion on the wing bottom that interferes with the rack. One option is to cut this away but I chose to gouge out a groove in the rack to accommodate it.



Drop tank is complete and can be set aside for now. I'll have to do a little research to see if there are any visible fuel lines connecting the drop tank to the aircraft.