Tamiya FW190A-4 conversion

Hi all,

I seem to have picked up a few 190's over the years. This one is the Tamiya FW190A3 converted to an A-4. This airframe makes that conversion pretty easy, as all that is needed is to add an antenna mast on the tailfin. This is one of those kits that sits partly built in a box in the corner of the hobby room for quite a few years! I lacked confidence to paint the centers of the fuselage side crosses in one of the top camouflage colours.

As I started finishing some other kits, I was noticing that generally, the aftermarket decals I had gathered up years ago were starting to degrade a bit, so it was imperative to get these puppies finished off and out of the hangar so to speak.

I fixated on the black and white striped cowl of this airframe the first time I saw it on a build online. I had already built a Tamiya A3 in the box markings for Hans Assi Hahn, so wanted something different. This past year I finished the camouflage, and then finally got the decals on. If I had waited another couple of months, I think they would have cracked all to bits. That's with the decals in a ziploc and in climate control...The black stripe decals started cracking up with the slight adjustments as I applied them. Any cracks were hidden with black paint.

The only changes made from the Tamiya kit were the undersized kit wheels were replaced with some from the Hasegawa 190 kit, and adding a tail mast.

5 additional images. Click to enlarge.