SPA Modeler

Fw 190 A-8
WNr. 175140
7./II./JG 26
“Brown 6”

Manufactured/Cottbus: August 15, 1944
Abandoned/Melsbroek: November 11, 1944

The short and troubled life of an Anton ends here.


Colorized and I like it.

Prologue

I am so looking forward to building this kit!

Really, I am.

Really.

Chapter 1

This is going to be a bit of train wreck so it may be fun to watch. I make no promises, however. Viewer discretion is advised.


Monochrome courtesy Imperial War Museum

Rather then showcase pretty sprues in an odd shade of green I jumped in and cut out a drop tank (not visible in the photo due to framing and cropping by the photographer).



In other photos the tank is sitting on the ground a few meters from the fallen nose - and pointing toward the buried IED the Germans left behind for the Allies. The bomb did go off and kill members of a tow crew attempting to move the aircraft.

This... is a sobering photo when you take into consideration there is an unexploded bomb beneath these men and the photographer and whoever else was around.



I have never worked with Eduard plastic before but at least one other project on the horizon will be an E kit so this is a good test. The plastic is very oily and smooth. It’s not particularly tough. It is slick though and stank like the water damaged barn find from Topeka Kansas that this is. So! I chose to wash the sprues first which I never do. This helped a little bit. Then I glued drop tank half to drop tank half. Fit was oddly off. So! I ended up sanding, scraping and scribing the drop tank, which took far longer than expected, but gave me a few hints or pointers or tips about working on this kit. I cannot, nay! I shall not take fit for granted. I have not taken any photos but tomorrow I will!

16mm film frame of a US Ground Crew adapting German drop tanks to a Thunderbolt. The color reproduction is just superb!

You’re off to a good start Bruce. Based on your description, I might suggest something. Since the fit of the drop tank was off, do test fits, and if they are similarly off, remove the locater pins on major assemblies like wings and fuselage. You can more likely line them up better yourself.

That is a damn good idea. My great fear is any slippage of joins will generate a wave form pattern of non fitting pieces and at that point I will do well to remember Mike Gordy who said he trashed a free kit. Considering that it was Mike and his experience I proceed with caution. However I like cast off kits. And if I can salvage this and get it to stop smelling like an old barn and stick together I am content.

And... this is quarter scale which I forgot to mention and I’m grateful for the added real estate for painting and bashing about a bit with larger blades. I think I actually have 1/48 riveter too. Hm.

I also have placards which came as an extra with the kit so I guess this was going to be someone’s 2006 magnum opus with all the bells and whistles of the time available... and then it was stuffed in a barn and became very wet and possibly moldy on the outside while the sealed bags of parts were cooked in a primordial sludge.

I will be along for the ride.

Thanks so much for joining, Clint! It’s going to be a wild ride!

Are you going to represent Brown 6 in that nose down position? If so, you maybe rendering alot of the fit issues to bed since you'll have the option of having panels open and/or not fitting perfectly due to crash damage. Most of the trouble seems to have come from modelers wanting to close the panels. Will not need the riveter as Eduard does a comprehensive job of covering the model in rivets. Out of all of the manufacturers that does this, I like Eduard's rivets the best.

Thanks so much for your comments, John. Yes, I am planning to recreate the aircraft’s position. I’ll be looking for a small base to pull that off—initially I debated calling this a diorama and setting up in that category here. Ultimately I decided to keep this as an aircraft build and went forward from there. I agree it will be much easier to work around the fit issues. Looks to me like I will have to cut open an underwing panel. I assume that has something to do with removing the magazines or the machine guns? Any ideas? Thank you for letting me know about the riveting! Cheers!

The Doras and Ta152 did not have those outboard guns so I am unfamiliar with them. Actually... I'm not one to pose ANY access panel open so I tend to not pay much attention to those parts of the aircraft anyway. Don't know much about it but it appears to be the outboard gun hatch. Not even considering what is inside that space, just getting the hatch cut out and fashioning the funky-shaped panel with bulge and portruding ejector chute looks like trouble to me. So much so, that if it were my project, I would opt to keep the hatch closed and show the aircraft in its pre-salvaged condition. Definitely advanced level scratchbuilding required unless there is an aftermarket set available.

Thank you so much, John! Happy Father’s Day! I personally feel like you do that opening up the panels of an aircraft spoils the lines of the design in many cases. However, I think this is an important exception. I still would like to make the attempt to open the compartment, perhaps adding simple framing such as was done here with a 1/48 Trimaster kit:



You mention resin aftermarket and I think this is one way to go! Even though this was used in closed position, that certainly looks like CMK cream resin to me.



I just spent ten minutes on eBay looking for resin pieces without success. Perhaps I can scratch what is needed by taking part of the existing piece and attaching it to a new panel. Based on the walkaround views I think this would be possible.



Tonight I will clip three more cockpit pieces from the sprue to begin painting.



Earlier in the week, I found a box of Gunze paints specifically set aside “in a safe place” by me, so I have RLM 66. I think I may lighten that up a few points, due to the scale.

New suggestion. Look for some Eduard overtrees for that kit. Get a second underwing panel if you can. Use one for the doors only, and on the other one cut out the door openings. You can combine the two together.