1/48 DML Fw 190 A-7 by Mike Forsythe

1/48 DML Fw 190 A-7

Gallery Article by Mike Forsythe

Fw 190 A-8 converted to an Fw 190 A-7

This is the old 1/48 scale DML FW 190 A-8 backdated to an A-7. Conversion simply involves removing a few panels (consult your ‘In Action book) and moving the drop tank forward. As well, the coverplates on the wing tops were deleted, as these were not introduced until the A-8. I think.

It was only my second plane I’ve built in 20 years, the first being a Hasegawa 109 kit built earlier in 2000. What can I say about the ‘fit’ of this kit that hasn’t been said before ? It’s a ‘pigsicle’, pure and simple. However, with perseverance and a pound of body filler, it does build up into a nice looking ‘Shrike’ when all is said and done. I guess the Hasegawa kit spoiled me; I expected all kits to fit that well !

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The the drop tank & rack are Verlinden items, with feed tubes added from copper wire. The wheels are from True Details, and the 20mm cannon were cut from stainless steel tubing. I stole the 13mm MG’s from a Hasegawa late 109 kit. I’ll worry about replacing them later I guess. Eagle eyes will also notice that the headrest is not the etched part from the DML kit. That disappeared into my carpet (where it’ll make the acquaintance of many other small parts which have disappeared over the years) , so I swiped the thicker plastic headrest from a Tamiya F8 kit.

The plane was painted in Aeromaster acrylics, thinned with Methyl Hydrate and mixed with lots of Liquitex ‘Slow-Dri’ and ‘Flow-Aid’. The scheme was the basic RLM 74/75/76. Before decalling, I used Future floor polish to get a glossy surface, but it reacted very badly to the Micro-Sol. I got white stains left, right and centre; I wound up actually repainting most of the RLM 74/75. I re-glossed using multiple thin coats of Testors gloss Lacquer. I really liked the results, and I believe I’ll stick with that product from now on.

The decals are from EagleCal, and depict a plane of JG1, based at Rheine in Feb. 1944. This was during JG1’s ‘art-deco’ period, where many of their planes had colourful checks or stripes, applied no doubt to attract the attention of Mustang pilots. I swear you could do an entire collection composed entirely of JG1 FW190’s. I intend to build more for sure. For this bird, EagleCal supplies black decals for the cowl stripes, but I decided to be slightly masochistic and do them myself using Tamiya Flat Black and lots of Tamiya masking tape.

The cockpit is from Hawkeye

Most of the weathering consisted of highlighting the panel lines with a mixture of black & raw umber oils. On top of this was added pastels and some paint chipping using a silver pencil Finally, a coat of Testors lacquer Dullcote was applied.

I know I’ll buy more DML 190’s, because for one thing, I had to swipe the exhaust stacks from my only other DML 190 when I accidentally lost the first two INSIDE the fuselage. This was at the last minute, the night before a contest (of course).

Mike Forsythe

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