I chose to build the Fw 190 A-7 because it was a lesser seen
variant of the 190 series with only about 80 being produced. I
had a copy of Kagero's superb book on JG1 from 1944-1945 on hand
and it came with a great set of decals...including markings for
Hptm. Alfred Grislawski's 190 A-7.
I chose to use Hasegawa's 1/72 scale 190 A-7 as the starting
point for the build as it only needed a few tweaks to make a
fairly accurate representation of this version. The kit cockpit
was replaced with True Details resin cockpit set. There's no
detail on the fuselage decking behind the pilot so I added
Eduard's P/E brass detail here and in the canopy framing to
dress that area up a bit. The kit landing gear is good for this
scale but Cooper Details makes an excellent replacement set
that's worth using. It includes new gear doors, wheels and
landing struts for the main struts and for the tail gear as
well. I chose not to use the tail strut parts. The cannon
barrels were replaced with fine aluminum tubing and the pitot
tube with plastic rod sections.
The model was painted entirely with ModelMaster enamels and
acrylics paints which went on very nicely using my Iwata Eclipse
airbrush. The demarcation lines between colors were kept
consistent and fine using paper templates attached to the model
with tiny rolls of tape to keep them about 1/8" inch off the
surface during paint application. This results in a fine but
soft edge between colors...a challenge in small scale painting.
After a coat of Future I applied Kagero's decals as well as
markings from an EagleCals decal set for the 190. Micro sol/set
were used to get the decals to settle down nicely. The exhaust
and other weathering touches were then added. I used pastel
chalks and pencils for the dirt and grime in addition to the
chipped paint areas.
Final touches were the various antennae which were scratch made
as the kit parts are too thick. The loop antenna is PE scrap cut
to fit...the other belly antenna is a section of stainless steel
wire. The small wire antenna topside is made from stretched
sprue and was attached with white glue at the canopy end...Zap
adhesive at the tail end.
This was a fairly trouble free project even with the detail
improvements and one I'll do again with another variant using
Hasegawa's great little 190 kits.