This is my Tamiya 1/48 FW-190D-9 finished as “Blue 1” from IV/JG3. There is a painting of this aircraft on the cover of Squadron/Signal’s “FW-190D Walkaround”, and the look of this particular aircraft really grabbed me. A late-war Dora with the flat early style canopy, absent spinner spiral, and a myriad of colors really gave it a patchy look. I cannot remember exactly how many shades and colors I used, but it was quite a few. I originally finished it in the summer of '06, but never was quite happy with it. Everytime I tried to touch it or move it I ended up breaking the canopy or antenna off. I also was in such a hurry to finish it I neglected several things. After a couple of years, I decided to “upgrade” it. Here’s what I added:
Loop antenna under fuselage replaced with aluminum strip from a soda can.
Brake lines added.
Wiring on retraction strut added.
Trim tabs painted red.
Cannon barrels replaced with hypo tube.
Canopy re-masked and touched up to cover previous poor weathering/painting.
New stretched sprue antenna with more secure attachment.
Rear sliding canopy part reinforced with brass wire.
Added weathering to get a real dirty, used late-war appearance.
Plus a couple of other things I can no longer remember.
Painted in Gunze acrylics, mostly OOB except for aluminum strip antenna, hypo tube barrels and scratchbuilt seatbelts. Weathered with paint, pastels, oil washes, and MIG pigments. Comments and constructive criticism appreciated. Thanks for looking!
Frank - Outstanding , Wow What a Sexy Bird ![tup] [tup] I even got my Squadron out to compare, you have done a Terrific Job . The FW’s are what got me interested in Aircraft Modeling. Hope my Builds one day will look this good.
[tup]Excellent work Frank. The finish is A+++ I was looking to build of these next and you just helped make up my mind. I only hope it will look as good. [:)]
Excellent job on the Dora. I give it [tup][tup]. I just had the Squadron Walk Around out looking at it. I am looking for and trying to decide what my next project will be. That 1/32 Hasagawa Dora is caling my name.
Bravo, Frank…very, very nicely done from all aspects. And very nicely writtwn post, as well. I can definately relate to a picture or a box art, etc. grabbing my attention and making my choice of markings for me.
Your paint job is flawless and the extras you’ve added make this one of the nicer 109D’s on the web IMHO.
Daywalker, is “revisiting” old builds a common practice for you? Or did this one just really call out to you from the shelf? [(-D] I’m not sure if I could make myself go back and re-work one of my builds. Hmmmm. Something to ponder. Think the “call of the stash” is too great to make me pull something off of the display case to get into again.
WOW!! Frank, you nailed it! Never been a big fan of BIG “D`S” but after seeing yours and a few others, I may have to get one for the stash 3 thumbs up, my friend…Harv
