Following Tom Cleaver's positive review of the Hobby Boss D-9 elsewhere on this site I ran out and bought the kit. The box didn't sit on my shelf for too long... 🙂
The cockpit area looks good from the box but I added a few PE details borrowed from an Eduard set made for the Hasegawa Fw 190A-8, as I figured the details are similar enough. The control stick comes from CMK and the seat comes from SBS Model.
The engine plug for the area visible through the wheel well lacks a lot of plumbing, but on the other hand not much is really visible. I added a few lead wires of different sizes to remedy this.
The various subassemblies painted up with RLM 02 and 66.
A set of Quickboost hollow exhausts were used instead of the solid kit items. Strangely enough, they lack the weld line along each stub but otherwise look superb.
While these are designed for the Eduard kit I found them to be a good fit. Blobs of epoxy putty were used to secure them inside the fuselage.
A set of Master Detail cannon barrels were used also. As they are not designed for this kit the gear bays needed some modification for the barrels to sit as intended, but nothing too serious.
Also, I tried to represent the missing shell ejector chute in the center of the wing using my Dremel and a little careful cutting.
The cowling had the solid areas between each flap removed and cleaned up. Simple styrene strips were installed to simulate the flap actuators. Yes, they are a bit long but this should not be visible when the cowl has is in place.
Also, as pointed out in Mr Cleaver's review I made sure to close the flap located in front of the supercharger intake.
Ready for some paint!
The stabilators come from an Aires set. While designed for the Tamiya kit they fit just fine and enables the elevators to be posed dropped or raised - IMHO a major improvement to any model.
I am certainly no expert on the Fw 190 but I still think this is an exeptional kit and it has been a fun build so far. 🙂