Another Dora... Big Tail 500647 "Brown 4"
Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2021 10:31 pm
I wanted to report on some investigative research that I've been conducting on a future subject. Focke-Wulf 190D-9 WNr 500647 is one of two documented D-9's to have been retrofitted with the tail of the Ta152H. It is interesting from that perspective and I am going to be building this aircraft as a future build.
There are not many photos of 500647. In Jerry Crandall's Dora Volume 1, a photo is featured of Brown 4 looking somewhat decrepit/damaged parked within a revetment in the woods without a prop or engine cowling.
This photo of the port side of the aircraft leads to a speculative color profile featuring a camo pattern similar to other 500xxx machines produced at the Mimetall factory. Note the shape of the "4".
In Dora Volume 2, there is an addendum to 500647 based on a more recently discovered photograph showing Brown 4's starboard side with a clear view of the "4" marking.
There is a revised profile based on this new photo and the style of the "4" was changed to feature a curve that is seen in the photo.
I've always had an issue with this assessment since there is a curvature in the fuselage cross section that could be distorting the "4", similarly to what is seen happening to the fuselage cross. Since I have several Dora kits in hand and can created custom painting masks with my Silhouette Portrait cutter, I thought it would be an easy and interesting experiment to see if my doubts had any teeth.
I created a mask based on the "4" marking found on the Eagle Cal decal sheet EC32-126. But I replaced the curved element with a straight one.
This was sprayed onto the starboard side of an unbuilt Hasegawa 190D-9 fuselage.
I then photographed the marking at an angle that approximates the archive photo. It is immediately apparent that curvature of fuselage could very well make the straight "4" look curved.
For further confirmation, I composited the two images in Photoshop and used transparency to see that two "4" markings are almost exact matches.
Since comparing photos like this can be tricky, I don't consider this a fool-proof analysis but it is enough for me to believe that the "4" marking on Brown 4 did NOT have curvature.
There are not many photos of 500647. In Jerry Crandall's Dora Volume 1, a photo is featured of Brown 4 looking somewhat decrepit/damaged parked within a revetment in the woods without a prop or engine cowling.
This photo of the port side of the aircraft leads to a speculative color profile featuring a camo pattern similar to other 500xxx machines produced at the Mimetall factory. Note the shape of the "4".
In Dora Volume 2, there is an addendum to 500647 based on a more recently discovered photograph showing Brown 4's starboard side with a clear view of the "4" marking.
There is a revised profile based on this new photo and the style of the "4" was changed to feature a curve that is seen in the photo.
I've always had an issue with this assessment since there is a curvature in the fuselage cross section that could be distorting the "4", similarly to what is seen happening to the fuselage cross. Since I have several Dora kits in hand and can created custom painting masks with my Silhouette Portrait cutter, I thought it would be an easy and interesting experiment to see if my doubts had any teeth.
I created a mask based on the "4" marking found on the Eagle Cal decal sheet EC32-126. But I replaced the curved element with a straight one.
This was sprayed onto the starboard side of an unbuilt Hasegawa 190D-9 fuselage.
I then photographed the marking at an angle that approximates the archive photo. It is immediately apparent that curvature of fuselage could very well make the straight "4" look curved.
For further confirmation, I composited the two images in Photoshop and used transparency to see that two "4" markings are almost exact matches.
Since comparing photos like this can be tricky, I don't consider this a fool-proof analysis but it is enough for me to believe that the "4" marking on Brown 4 did NOT have curvature.
