1/48 Fw-189A-1/A-2 Great Wall Hobbies

Started by George R Blair Jr · 106 · 3 hours ago · . 1/48, Fw-189A-1/A-2, Great Wall Hobbies, Quinta Studios
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    George R Blair Jr said 3 weeks, 2 days ago:

    The workbench is clean and everything is put away, so it must be time for another model. Having just strayed into car country with a Mustang Mach 1 from Diamonds Are Forever, it is time to get back to something with wings. I built a 1/72 Fw-189 a few months back and decided I wanted to build one in 1/48 scale. By a happy coincidence, I was able to pick up this kit on sale at one of the online hobby shops. I plan to build this model pretty much out of the box, except that I got a Quinta Studios set for the cockpit, as well as some canopy masks. I didn't realize at the time, but this kit comes with PE, masks, and a really nice set of decals, so I could have saved a little money on extras. I hope to get started on this kit tomorrow. Cheers everyone.

    4 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 weeks, 2 days ago:

    Another excellent entry, my friend @gblair! Looks a great kit!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 3 weeks, 2 days ago:

    Great entry, george @gblair
    Those masks will be very handy with this huge amount of windows.

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    George R Blair Jr said 3 weeks, 2 days ago:

    Thanks for stopping by, Spiros (@fiveten) and John (@johnb). I wouldn't want to build this kit without the pre-made masks.

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    George R Blair Jr said 3 weeks ago:

    I am having a really slow start to this one. I had heard some great things about this kit, but it has so far been a little frustrating. I have spent the last two days just removing ejector pin depressions from the interior parts. One of the sidewalls had seven large ejector pin marks to clean up. Each one was in a recessed area between raised areas on the sidewall, making scraping and sanding very difficult. After I got everything cleaned up, I sprayed a black primer over the parts. I plan to gradually build up the RLM66 using thin layers of increasingly lighter paint. I want to see it I can get the cockpit to look like something more than a black hole. Onward tomorrow.

    2 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 weeks ago:

    Quite a few pin marks hard to get to, my friend @gblair. Great job so far!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 3 weeks ago:

    Those positions are difficult to clean up nicely indeed, George @gblair
    You're doing a great job so far.

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    Chuck A. Villanueva said 2 weeks, 6 days ago:

    Another interesting subject that I have been interested in getting this kit, a version I thought no one would ever pop in this scale. Ejection pin marks can be frustrating if they will be visible such as the gear bay walls or roof panel. But myself not so much within the interior as most get covered up or just can't see once assembled with time being more precious I try not to dwell on things that will not affect the overall build of a rather unique model. Have fun and build the darn thing.

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    Michael Turner said 2 weeks, 6 days ago:

    G’day George (@gblair),

    In the ‘70s a childhood friend gave me the Airfix kit already assembled. I painted and decaled it and hung it from my bedroom ceiling along with alm the others (>100 in the end).

    This aircraft, along with the P-38, was one of the most distinctive profiles. The most distinctive was the assymetric Bv 141, of course.

    Having built the latter in 1/48 last year, I’ve been looking out for a reasonably priced 1/48 Fw189.

    All of which is a long way of saying I’ll be following along with great interest.

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    George R Blair Jr said 2 weeks, 6 days ago:

    Hi, Spiros (@fiveten) and John (@johnb): Thanks for stopping by. Parts are now all cleaned up and being assembled.

    Hi, Chuck (@uscusn): I usually do the same thing. I have reached an age where I don't want to spend a bunch of time on things that won't make any difference in the end. In this case, I wasn't sure if the large canopy would allow more than the normal amount of interior visibility. On the other side of the coin, it will be really hard to see anything in a cockpit that is almost black. I found I had a curved Xacto blade that was small enough to fit between the interior cockpit ribs, so the cleanup involved some judicious scraping rather than filling and sanding.

    Hi, Michael (@michaelt): I also had models hung from my ceiling when I was a kid. I had two lines strung up, each one going diagonally across my room. I kept adding more and more until they all came crashing down in the middle of the night. Most of them were beyond repair. There is something about the Fw-189 that draws you in. As a former pilot, I can't even begin to imagine flying this thing. A few months ago I built the 1/72 ICM Fw-189C/V-6 and decided I wanted to build a bigger version of the "standard" plane. Happily, at the same time, one of the online hobby stores had it on sale for 50% off, so I snatched it up. The issues I have had so far are really fairly minor. The kit is really complete with a nice set of masks and some PE. I got a Quinta set for the model, as well a set of canopy masks that I got before I realized the kit already had them. Keep your eye out online and a good deal will turn up.

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    George R Blair Jr said 2 weeks, 4 days ago:

    Things are moving really slowly. I have spent the last two days working on Step 1 in the instructions, which deals with building and painting the sub-assemblies for the cockpit, as well as the cockpit sides. It took a little work to get the parts ready for the Quinta interior set, and many of the parts require a lot of detail painting. There are also some small PE parts to add. I think I am finally in a position to move out of the forest and break into the plains. My day tomorrow has a long doctor's appointment in it, but I hope to finish Step 2 and beyond. I have taken a couple of liberties with the painting of the parts in order to have some colors other than dark gray in the cockpit. Cheers everyone.

    8 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 2 weeks, 4 days ago:

    Solid progress and excellent looks, my friend @gblair! This is a really fine looking cockpit!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 2 weeks, 4 days ago:

    That interior looks very nice, George @gblaie

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    George R Blair Jr said 2 weeks, 4 days ago:

    Thanks, Spiros (@fiveten) and John (@johnb). It will be hard to see anything once it is closed in the fuselage.

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    George R Blair Jr said 2 weeks, 1 day ago:

    My time to work on this model seems to be much less than I planned, but I have made some progress in the last couple of days. I have discovered that this kit is deceptively complex. It doesn't look all that complex when you begin, but the way many of the major parts go together can lead to some early fit problems. The fuselage sidewalls attach directly to the cockpit floor, which in turns attaches to the bottom of the wing. If these sub-assemblies aren't aligned correctly, then you can end up with wings, booms, and other parts that won't fit correctly. I have really taken some care to insure that everything is where it is supposed to be. Hopefully all of this extra work will result in the core being straight and true. If not, I will be using a lot of colorful language during the rest of the build. Tomorrow is our day to pick up my granddaughter after school, so limited time tomorrow. Cheers.

    16 attached images. Click to enlarge.