Red Tulip...1/48 Focke-Wulf Fw190A-5/U7, JGr Ost
Finished in 2018. Hasegawa kit, painted with Gunze and Tamiya acrylics, EZ Line for antenna, Ultracast wheels.
After starting to apply the kit decals and the tulip leaves, my dad and I realized, that Hasegawa got them wrong. There are not 6 but 7 leaves on the upper cowl part. Couldn´t get the decals off again with sticky tape, so my dad sanded the decals away and repainted the cowl. Bought a Lifelike decal sheet, which got the leaves correct. The decals were stiff and not so responsive to decal softener, tended to stick on the finger when moving and little pieces broke off when adjusting. So, like with the EagleCal decals on the 109K-4 tulip, also here some repainting was neccessary.
The model shows the Fw190 equipped with the two-time supercharging compressor and airintakes for high altitude fighting of Hermann Graf, (Ergänzungs)-Jagdgruppe-Ost in France 1943.
Nice model result!
Next time consider painting them. I have had bad experiences using any Tulip Decals so I just mask and paint them because of the cowling surface texture. Not saying it is easy but the end result looks a lot better and fewer issues.
Fantastic result, Reinhard!
Funny thing about the Hasegawa wrong tulip interpretation, nice save, too!
I've had the same problem with a different Lifelike sheet. Mine was made for Ll by Microscale, but it was as if the final coating of clear was not applied. The exposed ink was stiff , cracked around raised details, and wouldn't sink into recesses without a great deal of effort and solvent, and still there was much damage to the decals that had to be repainted.
Your work here is outstanding - you've made a very convincing replica of this well-known Fw. Congratulation for working through the problems to achieve such outstanding results!
Good saving on the tulip, Reinhard.
The build looks awesome.
A real zinger! I was able to find the tulip decal set to match the last 109 K you displayed for 1/72, and now may have to go looking for something to replicate this! Very colorful bird, not just with the tulip nose but the tail markings as well. And beautifully done as always.