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By now the Focke Wulf FW 190 needs no introduction on these pages. Neither does this little gem of a kit from Tamiya.
Building it was sheer pleasure from start to finish, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Being fascinated with all things related to the Russian front in World War II, and having a copy of this kit in my stash, I decided to see if I could find some appropriate markings for a FW 190 as it might have appeared in the western Soviet Union during the winter of 1941/2, when the German advance on Moscow was halted—as much by the harsh Russian winter as the efforts of the Red Army.
I used decals from a special sheet by Tally Ho (#72-045 Focke Wulf FW 190 A-3/A-4 Part 1) which includes markings for two Eastern Front birds, as well as the captured Soviet version of one of those planes.
An excellent sheet, though now apparently out of print. This particular A-3 is an unnumbered “Black< ~” of Stab 1/JG 51 operating from a field airstrip on frozen Lake Ivan, west of Moscow in the winter of
1941.
Click on
images below to see larger images
Larger separate parts and sections of sprue were organized into “color groups” for efficient painting, as I’m always looking for the best way to coordinate painting and construction. Polly Scale RLM 02 (Gray) was used for the wheel wells and undercarriage. I used a combination of Polly Scale RLM 66 (“Scale Black”) and its Tamiya equivalent, TS 4 (“German Gray”) for the cockpit. (Personally, I prefer the Polly Scale’s smooth lusterless flat to the Tamiya’s semi-gloss appearance; but tonally, the two are pretty much identical.)
Overall topside was sprayed with Tamiya Fine White Surface Primer, the yellow bands on the fuselage for the Balkankreuz were masked off and sprayed with Polly Scale Reefer Yellow.
Underside was sprayed with Tamiya AS 5 Luftwaffe Light Blue direct from the rattle can.
Polly Scale Clear Gloss was airbrushed before and after decaling, followed by a light coat of PS Clear Flat.
I pre-shaded all panel lines with a mechanical pencil. Machine guns just aft of the cowl and on the leading edges were hand-brushed with Model Master Acryl Gunmetal.
An Eduard Kabuki-tape mask was used for the canopy.
And that’s pretty much it. Hope you like it.
Jerry Hawhee (Old Blind Dog)
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