FW190 by Cambrian Funfighters

[DaveB1]

Back in the summer I really enjoyed my first model show at the Much Marcle LMA show. Inspired by Peter's Cambrian Spitfire build I visited the Cambrian stand and after much pondering settled on their FW190 Kit. 

Finally got around to making a start a couple of weeks ago, so sharing my progress. I won't go into too much detail as much of the build is similar to the Spitfire, but here we go if anyone is interested ;

 

I

Super kit, really well packed and presented

Lovely quality wings, pretty straight forward to put together

[DaveB1]

I read through the debate on fuselage weight, but decided to stick to the kit liteply fuselage sides, rather than replace with balsa

 

Front bulkhead glued to some large front lower nose blocks - gonna need a bunch of shaping (Motor box not clamped up and glued in yet)

Glued into nose. Clamps with a couple of spacers each side to draw the liteply fuselage sides into the curve of the nose. (Many hands needed to set that up)

Rear top sides of fuselage are glued along the top of the liteply sides

Then pulled in and CA'd in place. I dampened them slightly and was surprised how well it went

Top deck fitted

Similar process in front of cockpit. Bit of a gap between these pieces and the rear turtledeck sides, but I'm sure I can sort that later

 

 

 

[DaveB1]

Closed up the battery hatch then started some initial shaping (plane) and sanding tonight. Not convinced the nose looks like a FW yet, but more to go yet. Good to reduce down some of those thick slabs of balsa

[DaveB1]

Lovely premade balsa nosecone fitted, hope this stands up to landings !

 

Dagadagadag

[GrumpyGnome]

Nice!

 

I'd have to hack a few inches off the nose to make it an 'A'.  Replacing the lost balsa with lead! Then it'd weigh a ton though....😐

[dave windymiller]

Mine the Cambria version for IC but if yours flies half as well as mine you will be very happy with it!   I was doubtful about the look of the "Dora" FW190D but its performance soon had me won over!

 

Enjoy!

[DaveB1]

Nice one Dave, thanks for sharing

[DaveB1]

Nothing much to show for a day of filling, shaping, adding snakes and closing the bottom of the fuz off etc, but played around in the cockpit to make a first fit of a dash and rough cut of the canopy

[DaveB1]

Bit more fun scale additions to the cockpit area

 

Mounted the wing and made a start on a wing fairing

Moved to the tail area

Roughly preshaped the side fairings

 

Before glueing on the tailplane and fin. Lots of measuring and eyeballing to get it all square

[DaveB1]

Made a start at glassing with the bottom of the wings. I laid the heavier wing joining tape and the 25g/sqm skinning at the same time, and used Peel ply to soak up the excess. Pleased with how it all went on, but 24hrs later in this freezing cold house of ours the epoxy is still too soft to remove the peel ply. Think I'll wait top be sure it'll harden before committing to doing any more 

[DaveB1]

Tricky, Sticky job

 

[DaveB1]

Peeled off the Peel Ply before trimming around the edges and a light sanding. Couple of spots where the cloth hasn't bonded (think I was a bit too prudent with the resin), but it'll fill ok. The peel ply leaves a hatched print pattern and I'm wary about sanding too much of that away and cutting into the very light cloth, so will have a go with the infamous freddie sauce when I get to that stage. Good enough to carry on with the top surface and the rest of the fuz

[DaveB1]

Does anyone have any tips on how to ensure glass cloth (25g/sgm) adheres around leading / trailing edges ?

On the larger radii wing leading edge I wrapped Peel ply around the leading edge and taped it to the underside of the wing, to keep the cloth in place, but I'm not convinced it will have wrapped tight enough

 

But on the thinner tighter corners of the fin and tailplane, the cloth won't wrap at all. I'm sure I can trim / sand the excess off once it's hardened but it will likely leave the actual leading edge with no cloth - Is that typical ? Is there a better way ?

[Bucksboy]

After you apply the cloth, hang a load of pegs on the overhang.  The weight of these will hold the cloth in place as it cures.  Once dry, sand off the excess and then repeat the other side.  If you start with the underside, then the top, the minimal overlap will be slightly better hidden.  

[DaveB1]

Ah ha, good tip thx - I'll raid the peg bag and try that next time

[DaveB1]

Moving into painting and finishing stages. Bought a super 3D printed pilot from Realmodelpilots and painted him with acrylics.

Instrument panel printed from a downloaded photo but could only find glossy photo paper and the colour came out a bit odd. 

Both are ok for a fun scale if you don't look too closely

 

  

 

[DaveB1]

I've never had complete success with canopy gluing, but here goes again, we'll see how successful it is tomorrow !

[DaveB1]

I've not built a scale model before and although this is definitely only fun scale model, its a good opportunity to play and practice with some different materials.

I cut some engine louvres from an old coffee tin and roughly shaped and roughened them up. A couple of tabs on each will allow them to be glued into the cowl.

Exhaust stubs are just cut from cardboard

 

 

 

[DaveB1]

A coat of primer and it's starting to look the part

 

I shaped a supercharger inlet from grey foam with an intake cut from an upturned superglue nozzle, but the prier's eaten it ...whoops !

 

[mightypeesh]

Looking really good, I was not sure about it when I was looking at the kits - top job!!! Father Christmas left me the ME 109 under the tree so I am looking to see the best power train to use. Is the motor you have the 1500kv one that Cambrian have on their site? I saw somebody else has done a 109 with the 4max 3547 1100 motor but it sounds a bit overpowered with that... I am all for a bit more sedate flying than they do at the shows!

 

Cheers, Simon

[DaveB1]

I'm also not looking for the highest speed out of this, and have gone for a 3536 1500 kv thumper with 3S 2200. I suspect it will still be ballistic enough for me with this power

[mightypeesh]

I am looking for 3s too. Have you gone for the 40amp esc as well? It sounds like they need a bit of go to launch, but to throttle back once away. keep up the good work!

[DaveB1]

Thanks for the interest and encouragement mightypeesh. Yes I've sourced a 40A ESC

Control surfaces hinged, all primed up and ready for spraying (or brush painting if I can't master an airbrush !!)

I meant to weigh it before priming but its currently 940g (no r/gear or motor yet) which feels a bit portly, but not too bad

[DaveB1]

mmm - Got a lot to learn on this Glassing, filling, priming , spraying process. This is my first (semi) scale project and trying out these stages was one of the reasons for choosing this model before moving on to something more serious. 

Several observations ;

1. I was really wary / concerned about weight gain so was very light on the amount of epoxy used with the glass cloth. Similarly when I applied the Freddie sauce. The result in most areas is a slightly textured finish which I'm ok with, but also some very dry weave areas that are not good. They didn't look too bad under primer alone, but the first spray coat of light blue on the fus and wing undersides would not cover these open weave areas - more filler applied.

2. I struggled (as expected) with my air brushes. I have a small compressor and cheaper end of the market single action and dual action airbrushes. I've tried before with both but had no success. This time I used pre thinned Vallejo paints which were much better, however I still can't get any consistent spray out of the dual action unit. I persevered with the single action and got a passable spray, but its pretty slow and patchy - just about manageable though

3. I masked off for the Yellow nose and fin and experienced a lot of bleed though. Not too much of an issue now, but I'll have to do better in later stages

[DaveB1]

Wow, I have to say that spraying this model has been a hugely enjoyable learning process and is already inspiring me to build another scale model. 

Things I learned / put into practice ;

1. Still no success with my dual action airbrush - can't even get air out of it never mind paint

2. My single action is ok but does keep stopping / blocking - bit of patience and retrying and it kinda works

3. I used Vallejo model air acrylics that required no thinning and they worked great

4. I was pleasantly surprised that there's no solvent smell, so I got away with spraying in a corner of the kitchen

5. Drying with a hair dryer between multiple thin coats allowed a very quick paint build up

6. Spraying some clear acrylic over masking tape before painting prevented bleed through

 

I saw this rough masking tip somewhere (Flitetest ?) to help get the loose camo edge

ey Viole

 

First colour Grey Violet

 

Light Green Added

 

Built up more colour, then added the decals (bought from Cambrian with the kit), and it just sprung to life 🙂

 

 

Weight so far 958 g - So paint has added 18g - not too bad

 

Now onto some panel lines and weathering