1/72 IBG Fw 190D-9 Early Production

[jkim]

Looks like a great macro cam. I'm so tempted, but I'm just a lazy iphone user

Not quite macro but it will do close-up model photography well, I think! All of the latest phones take very good photos but are usually apply processing to a degree to make the pics look good on the smaller phone screens. Cropping, which I do a lot of, can reveal some of those processing artifacts. I'm sure there are work arounds but I won't need them now that I have a new model-specific camera.

Nice work as usual, John. Especially in this scale!

Thanks John! Just like my other builds but smaller!

Everything is looking beautiful John, sorry you had to get a new camera

Thanks Clint! No need to be sorry... you know how it is with boys with their new toys!

Except I hate iPhones. I've always been an android user. My wife has an iPhone and is always asking how to do this or that. I always answer the same. I hate iphones

not a fan either, last year the company I retired from had mandatory equipment requirements (they bought/issued/controlled the phones) and everyone had to go to iphone. I had been on android for 6 or so years after walking away from iphone way back.
Anyhow, back to John's build

I'm a PC (vs Mac) user but have an iPhone 13. I like it!

Speaking of this D-9 build, this is Claes Sundin's profile of the aircraft that I will be portraying...


Jerry Crandall's' D-9 book has some photos of this aircraft, primarily from this starboard side.

[jkim]

Creeping along with the wee Dora build... here is the painted spinner on the prop mounted on the radiator cowling.


I am painting the engine right now and in between paint layers, I've moved on to look at the landing gear. Lots of sprue attachments for each piece, which requires tedious and careful cleanup.


The strut attaching the tail wheel to the mount is very thin and on the verge of breaking so I decided to replace it with brass tubing.

[mostrich]

Can't get enough of these lines, no matter how often I see them. The D-9 is such a sleek design.

[LyleW]

Wunderbar! Viel Spaß auch beim Anschauen!

[jkim]

Can't get enough of these lines, no matter how often I see them. The D-9 is such a sleek design.

Yup! The D-9 embodies what I love most about WW2 aircraft. It has such a purposeful look to it... even the radiator cowling to blunt off the nose speaks to the design brilliance of shoehorning a bomber engine into the FW 190 airframe.

Wunderbar! Viel Spaß auch beim Anschauen!

Thanks Lyle! I hope future posts are just as enjoyable!

Here is the wing spar with the ammo cans glued into place. I cut off the gun mounts at the top of the cans to make sure they don't interfere with the brass barrels. It was painted RLM 02 Green Grey (Mr Hobby Aqueous) and weathered with a brown pastel wash.


The engine has been painted. Before painting, I drilled some little holes discretely into the engine body to accept wiring, if I chose to and not be too distracting if I decided against it. I added some to represent some of the hydraulic plumbing... not very accurate but visually adds to the complexity, which is what I was after.






The engine mounts to the wing spar via the engine support bars, just like the real aircraft. This approach can lead to some fit complications but I was pleasantly surprised at how well everything went together.



Without any bending, forcing or cursing, the exhausts registered perfectly into the openings in the fuselage.



The engine largely disappears with only a small view of the rear available through the wheel well.

[jkim]

Another perspective change to show the actual size of the Jumo 213 engine...


The completed engine is then joined to the cockpit via the common bulkhead between the two.






This joined assembly is trapped between the fuselage halves. Fit has been great so far but I've found a little trouble here as the cockpit sits a little low when the engine is correctly oriented. It should be correctable during the gluing phase but I'm going to pay close attention when that time comes.


The tail wheel extends a little bit too far for my tastes.



It's very simple to adjust the height by cutting away an appropriate amount from the base end.


Another minor adjustment was to thin the edges of the radiator cowling flaps. It may not be noticeable since the flaps are in the closed position but I thought it was worth doing.

[Stikpusher]

Looking great John! I don’t know how anyone pulls off this quality of work in 1/72, but you doing it does not surprise me.

[keavdog]

Great detail on what looks like about the size of an anchovy from the bait docks

[Bish]

That's some lovely work on this, its looking amazing. I have seen they are releasing more versions of this, i think looking at yours i might be getting one myself, possibly the D-13.

[jeaton01]

Lovely.