Hasegawa 1/48 scale Fw 190 A-4 by Pat Donahue

Hasegawa's 1/48 scale
Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-4

by Pat Donahue

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-4
"Black 1", Leutnant Horst Hannig, 2./ JG 2

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Description

This model got off to a rocky start, after I had the wings attached and was checking the alignment something just did not look right.

After staring at the model for about an hour and a couple glasses of tea I realized that the left wing had a slight warp from mid span out which caused the left outboard wing panel to twist slightly downward giving a strange look when viewed from the front. It was one of those things that I did not notice at all until I put the model on its alignment grid when it became painfully obvious that something was not right.

I tried heating the wing in some hot water to twist the outboard wing panel back into alignment but that was a TOTAL disaster, as parts of the wing folded in on itself!

So with a heavy heart I sawed the left outboard wing off and taking the wing from another Hasegawa kit, cutting off the outer wing panel (that hurt!) spliced the donor wing panel on with the aid of a few spars of sheet stock.

I can only assume that I had a rouge kit as the donor kit had no problems of this type.

After rechecking the alignment which was now fine and a bit of putty and primer I proceeded to finish the rest of the model with the following updates and modifications.

The cowl armor ring was spaced out to proper distance, engine spark plug wires added, scratch built BMW emblem added to engine front., scratch built lower exhaust pipes.

MG 151 gun butts and barrels were scratch built, electrical wiring and hydraulic piping added to wheel wells, tail wheel retract cable and pulley added, solid and flexible brake lines and clamps added to main gear along with grease fittings, and tow links.

Tail wheel well had some structure added along with weld marks on fork, grease fitting and tail wheel lock lever. Gear position indicators were added to the upper wings.

The Cooper Details cockpit added, along with cockpit lights, wire cable from stick and fresh air vent control, guy wire assembly added to headrest structure along with antenna wiring.

Canopy tracks were grooved out and canopy rollers added. The nav lights were done in sprue painted with the appropriate colors, pitot and antenna were mode from tubing and wire.

The forward part of the eagle head is a decal the rest of the eagle body was masked and painted. Xtracolor enamels were used on the model.