1/24 Trumpeter Fw-190D-9
Recently there appears to be a lot of interest in this kit, which first appeared in 2004, with lots of commentary about its problems, with several afttermarket gurus coming to the rescue with lots of high-priced resin. Back in 2004, there was none of that, but the problems were just as obvious then as now. To me, the main one was the curved line of the side cowling hinges, which would be a physical impossibility. I solved that bu cutting inside the "piano hinge" and straightening, then putting a triangular piece of sheet plastic in to fill the gap in the upper part on either side. The gear doors also had some fantasist's idea of what the interior detail looked like, so I sanded it down and then made new detail with Evergreen sheet, following the look of other kits that got it right. Then there was the problem of decals, so I decided on a really simple scheme - the D-9 "Schwarze Zwolf" (black 12) of JG 26 flown by Ltn. Theo Nibel that was downed by collision with a pigeon in the radiator on New Year's Day 1945 during Operation Bodenplatte, to become the first Dora examined by Allied air inteligence. I painted and masked the markings, then proceeded to do the camo scheme, which the Experten have finally agreed must have been 81/82 over 76 from the description in the intelligence reports. It was my first use of Xtracrylix.
If you're interested in a really big Dora, it's not that hard to fix the obvious on this kit and get a result that's impressive just by size alone.
Tom... You sure captured the essence of the "Butcherbird"... it looks ready and able to engage anything in the sky. Obviously one of my favorites on the axis side of things. Great looking model.
Big und beautiful. I didn't even remember Trumpy doing one of these. Wish I had the room for more of these big 'uns. Nice work.
Yeah, thank goodness Chino has all those hangars...
Nice big bird Tom!
Gary
HEY! Nice photos. Was this usin' the "old" Nikon F you mentioned before?
Well done as always Tom, enjoy seeing your work here or at MM.
Nice job!
( btw; it's "Schwarze Zwolf" for black 12... 😉 )
I knew my high school German was going to fail me. 🙂
Correction made.
Thanks for that review Tom, I am a big Dora fan and shied away from the BIG Dora because of all the stones thrown at this kit over the years, yours turned out great. Model building skills used to perfection!