REVELL 1:32 FOCKE WULF FW 190D-9

Reviewer: Michael Johnson (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 6 December 2003

The Aircraft

The FW-190 was the only completely successful piston-engined fighter introduced by the German air force, the Luftwaffe, after World War II started. The Museum's Fw-190F and D represent the "second-generation" Fw-190s which followed the Fw-190A into combat. The Fw-190D interceptor was considered by many German pilots to be the finest piston-engined fighter in Luftwaffe service.

The Fw-190D was a re-engined and reengineered development of the widely-used Fw-190A, the first Fw-190 production model. It was viewed by its designer, Kurt Tank, as an interim design pending availability of the Ta-152. Prototype testing began in March 1942, with the unreliable air-cooled BMW 801-series engine replaced by the liquid-cooled Junkers Jumo 213A 12-cylinder engine (1776hp, boosted to 2240hp with water-methanol injection). This engine had previously been used exclusively on bombers.

The longer-nosed Fw-190D, with a redesigned tail, was a success with pilots because of increased engine reliability and performance much superior to the Fw-190A-8 in climb, dive and level speed. The aircraft attained 692kph (430mph) at 11,300m (20,200ft) and could fly 850km (480mi) -- performance that made it a much better interceptor against the burgeoning and fighter-escorted Allied bomber formations. Pilots considered it more than a match for the P-51D "Mustang". Armament was two 20mm Mauser MG-151/20 cannon in the wing (with a robust 250 rounds per gun) and two 13mm Rheinmetall MG-131 cannon (with 475 rounds per gun) over the engine. Small batches of Fw-190D-0 and D-1 preproduction fighters were delivered for service evaluation in Spring and Summer 1943, just as the American 8th Air Force was starting large daylight bombing raids.

The first production variant was designated D-9 (because the previous production type was the A-8). Construction started at Marz, Cottbus, and Kassel-Waldau in Summer 1944. This was part of a major expansion in German single-engined fighter production initiated 2 years earlier by Erhard Milch, chief of aircraft procurement and supply. Over 1,000 fighters a month were now entering air defense service.

The multirole D-9 carried bombs in some versions and radar in others (the D-9/R11 and D-12/R11 night fighters) and was even faster than the D-1, reaching 709kph (440mph) at 20,780m (37,000ft). Nicknamed "Dora-9" ("Dora" being the phonetic "D" of Luftwaffe radio traffic), service began in October 1944 with III/JG-54 (the 3d Squadron of Fighter Group 54), then I and II/JG-26 (by January 1945), and JG-2 and JG-301 (in early 1945). Allied and Luftwaffe pilots immediately dubbed it the "long-nose" ("langnasen") Fw-190. On their first operational mission with the new Fw-190D-9, II/JG-26 shot down four British "Lancaster" bombers and one "Mosquito" fighter for the loss of one "Dora-9".

Several Fw-190D-9 equipped groups, including JG-2 and JG-26, participated in airfield attacks by nearly 1,000 aircraft during the ill-advised "Operation Base Plate (Bodenplatte)" opening the Battle of the Bulge on January 1, 1945. JG-2 suffered 40 percent losses, and a total of 250 fighters were lost. Additionally, since the U.S. Army Air Force had begun hitting aircraft assembly plants and later oil refineries, the fighter force steadily lost effectiveness against daylight bombing raids. By the time JG-6 received 150 D-9s in April 1945, the bombing campaign had so restricted fuel supplies that only four aircraft could fly at a time.

Development continued with the D-10 through-15 versions, all of which were to be multi-role interceptor/ground-attack fighters with a wide variety of engines-the Daimler-Benz DB-603A and EB, the Junker Jumo 213EB and F with and without water methanol injection. Further development followed as the Ta-152, which is reported separately. Between 650 and 700 Fw-190Ds were completed when production ceased in 1945. Focke-Wulf's Marienburg plant, although apparently devastated by bombing, itself produced eight Fw-190Ds a day in December 1944. Figures vary, but approximately 13,250 fighters and 6,250 fighter-bomber versions were produced. This included 11,411 accepted by the Luftwaffe in 1944 alone-an increase of 375% over the previous year-and some 2,700 added in the final months of the war, even though about 30% of Fw-190 factories had been overrun by Soviet forces by February 1945.

Oddly enough, the Luftwaffe had also considered the D-9 to be an excellent torpedo bomber, and after the war, the Soviets actually put a batch of captured Fw-190D-9s into service with the Naval Air attachment of their Baltic Fleet, where they apparently served until 1947 or 1948.

Preamble

I build this kit about 6 years ago when I first purchased an airbrush. This airbrush was pretty basic, a Modelmaster 1000s single action internal mix. What motivated me to buy this type of brush were the interchangeable nozzles, which have a strong link to the Rotring Technical pens I used when I was a draftsman some 20 years ago. These pens were easy to clean and I hoped the airbrush would be also.

A friend of mine gave me the kit as he could not get the warped nose to line up properly and thus gave it up for another kit, my gain or my pain I guess.

The Kit

This kit is BASIC, hailing from the early 70’s when raised rivets ruled supreme and it seems the mettle of a kit was measured by the amount of rivets festooning the outer surfaces of a new release. A basic replica of the big Junkers Jumo 213-A1 is included along with a basic cockpit, who’s main feature was sparsity of detail. Included in the kit was a blown canopy of good clarity and thinness, instruction book and poor decals of the ultra matt type from Revell Germany. Apart from some stencilling, these went straight into the deepest recesses of the decal dungeon. I sourced a Superscale set as a replacement.

Construction

Construction (as always) started in the cockpit. There are absolutely NO details in the cockpit at all except for a basic representation of the pilot’s seat and an instrument panel, which painted up RLM 66, with black dials and dry brushing with white gave an adequate representation of the real thing. The cockpit interior and tub was painted RLM 66 and the seat Tamiya AS-12. Once dry and completed it was offered up to a fuselage half and cemented into place. Both fuselage halves were then taped together to ensure the cockpit tubs correct alignment.

Whilst the cockpit was drying, I assembled the wings and begun work on the Jumo power plant. The engine was assembled, cleaned up and painted flat black, and then dry brushed with various metallics to impart a well used look. A wash of Citadel Flesh Wash was run in around the engine to add some depth. Once this had dried, it was then added to the same fuselage half as the cockpit tub and both halves where then taped back together to allow proper alignment.

The fuselage halves went together with lots of filling and sanding required to smooth over the joins. Because of the amount of filling it was impossible to keep all that riveted detail and a lot was lost. The wings were then attached with filler required to remove the 1mm+ gaps in the wing roots. There was really no chance that the engine access panel was going to fit in place and I simply painted it separately and left it off. Not quite correct as the panels on the Dora’s engine bays swung up from top hinges, but I was happy with the inaccuracy.

The windshield was masked and attached to the fuselage and gaps attended to with white glue wiped off with a moist mark one finger tip. I then masked the sliding canopy, attached it to the separate sliding frame and tacked that to the fuselage with Humbrol Maskol. At this stage I then painted the interior frame colour RLM 66 in preparation of the main paintwork.

Time for painting and using that new toy!

Painting and Decaling

The lone paint scheme offered by the Superscale sheet was for an Fw190D-9 flown by Gerhard Barkhorn during February, 1945 in Welzow, Niederlausitz. The scheme calls for RLM81/RLM71 over RLM65, a typical scheme for late 1944/early 1945 Luftwaffe aircraft. The fuselage sides were to be heavily mottled with a mixture of RLM81/RLM71. At this stage of the war the once proud Luftwaffe Jagdflieger arm operated out of forested areas and hidden shelters to avoid detection by allied airpower.

Barkhorn christened all his aircraft “Christl” after his wife; this was in prominent display under the cockpit sill.

Now for the acid test; I first sprayed Tamiya RLM 65 (Luftwaffe Blue) over the undersides, tail and fuselage sides. Good, so far! The next challenge was the RLM 81 Brauviolet, which also went smoothly, even the mottling down the fuselage side turned out well for a first ever attempt. For this I reduced compressor pressure and thinned the Aeromaster paint some more on the advice of some kind souls on Rec.Models.Scale. I then made some soft masks and sprayed the RLM 71 Dunklegrun on the wings and along the upper fuselage spine. Mottle was next, done once again by reducing pressure and thinning the Aeromaster paint. It was then a simple and straight forward matter to mask and paint the “Reichsverteidigung “or “Defenders of the Reich” rear fuselage band.

Standing back, I was very happy with my first ever airbrushing project, which apart for some touch ups and overspray removal was pretty darn good in my opinion!

Once all the paint had cured, I then airbrushed Testors acrylic gloss clear to seal everything in and preparing the surface for the decals.

The decals looked pretty good on the sheet and applied beautifully with only a small amount of silvering. The addition of some decal solvent helped the decals snuggle down very well over all those oversized rivets! Once the decals had dried, the fuselage was washed with a damp cloth to remove any glue and solvent residue the decals where then sealed in with yet another coat of Testors acrylic gloss clear

I then sprayed a sealer coat of Testors acrylic flat clear to restore the flat finish and set the fuselage aside to dry for 24 hours.

Finishing Touches

All that remained was the undercarriage and the undercarriage doors. All these parts were pre-painted earlier and no complications were encountered whilst attaching them to the finished fuselage.

Exhaust stains were added using the airbrush and cannon stains with some ground up pastels. These days I prefer to weather with pastels, for me gives far more control than airbrushing. If you make a mistake it can simply be washed off to start the process again.

The canopy masking was removed and the clear areas buffed up and cemented into an open position. Voila! The Dora Neun was complete!

Overall

The Revell kit can only be purchased via eBay or club sales and is a true collector’s kit now. Completely eclipsed by the new modern and full of details Hasegawa kit, it is best avoided.

I had fun though and it was a great test vehicle for my first airbrush and it was only 6 months after this build that I went out and got an Aztek double action airbrush.

References

Focke Wulf Fw190 Janes Profile series

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