Here is my 100% out-of-the-box 1/48 Tamiya Fw-190 A-3. Construction is an absolute doddle. Fit including that of the undercarriage leg angles is great. The kit decals were easily applied and conformed well – including the black eagle on the engine cowl. My Fw-190 only received a light black oil wash along its panel lines.

I tried two new techniques with this build: the first was airbrushing the Luftwaffe mottle camouflage onto the vertical fuselage. At the time I was using Tamiya acrylics, which required some mixing and put me under a bit of pressure to do things right first time. But after taking care to thin the paint to a good ‘skimmed milk’ consistency with Tamiya X-20A it all worked out OK. I was using the double action Revell Vega airbrush with a medium needle. I’ve seen a few other people write that the Revell Vega brushes aren’t that great, even though they are copies of a Badger design, but I’m really happy with mine. (I have never used an ‘Acura-like’ Iwata airbrush yet, so can’t really compare it to the best). Next time, for a Luftwaffe plane I will try using my newly arrived Vallejo Model Air paints, but it will have to wait for me to build a few modern 1/48 jets I have waiting for attention.

The second technique was less successful. I tried adding radio wire from tailfin to cockpit using stretched sprue and household superglue. With practice I am sure that great results can be achieved, but I ended up with burning sprue (!) and when I eventually got a few decent lengths they were not really thin enough. Next time, I’ll try the technique advised to me by Peter Kozelj who published a Me-262A-2a here on ARC which has great radio antenna: basically use invisible sewing thread and a small dabs of ZAP-A-Gap CA+.

That’s all for now. 

Simon