Focke Wulf 190 F4C 1/4 Scale

I have been waiting some time to track down a scale tailwheel and just by chance someone I have known for a long time in the USA has actually been making them for a few years and my waiting suddenly came to an end. This little gem recently arrived in the post with the customary handling charge by the post office. There was no fear of it being damaged in transit ….





The hub is to scale including the 3 bolts and tyre tread, try finding one over here


The only part I am still awaiting is delivery from Bob Violet (BVM Jets) in the USA of the bomb release pneumatic system which will work off the mains retract air tank with a TX mix/snap roll switch (reversed). I have fabricated the “ETC 501 Pylon” for the bomb/drop tank rack, which runs down the centre of the belly. I’ll post more detail once it has arrived and fitted.

Starting to come to life and nearly ready to paint the undercoat, so I thought a quick walk around may be of interest while still in the base coat:









Rudder is dry fitted and will be removed during painting so that I can get around the leading edge properly. The elevators are still masked off, as like the rudder and ailerons are fabric covered and they will not get the first coat of paint. They have been fixed in place due to the servo linkage buried in the tail.













Now all being well with the weather you will need your sunglasses for the next update

I did say you would need your sunglasses










My 7 year old daughter gives some idea of size if there was any doubt. It will be a shame to cover it all up with “camo” top skin and then sand it back off in places for the “scale weathering effect”. So enjoy while you can

I’m in the processing of fabricating the bomb/drop tank rack to fit on the ETC501 pylon now the BVM release system has arrived. Post more of that when I can.

super finish we all thought that was it until the summer I'm sure

Supurb!!

Love the bear metal finish it's sure a shame to cover it up.

Roy

pity the Germans didnt take as long to build.The War would have been over in months.
A Fantastic job well worth all the effort.

Good they didn't build'em with Richards quality

I’m pleased you all like the progress so far and here are few better photo’s out in the sun. It’s like photographing a mirror and plays havoc with the exposure settings. Maybe a P51D or a Sabre might be a next project

The other side …







and one final close up ..

After some consideration I have now opted to model the A8 flown by Ernst Schroder 5./JG 300 during Defence of the Reich in 1944.



He had it personalised with his towns emblem and a local slogan on the port side and his girlfriends name on the other side. His aircraft were conventional two-tone grey but he had this version done, just two days before he was shot down (survived the war).

I've had paint masks drawn up by Nigel at Fligtlinegraphics here in the UK. He sent me a draft swatch, which I photocopied onto OHP film and used to check for size and correct positioning. He's done a great job All I need now is for some warm weather to start painting . In the meantime I will continue with the drop tank/bomb rack which is causing a few headaches

After considering a few materials I could use to fabricate the ETC 501drop tank rack such as wood dowel, plastic tube or aluminium I opted for the latter. It will be strong and vibration resilient (it’s going to get a lot of buffeting).

First I made a jig platform and fabricated the brackets from aluminium bar obtained at B&Q. They will be bolted to the wing belly and making it easy to remove if required at any time. Then I fabricated the tubes (also from B&Q). Each side required a slot for the mounting brackets to fit into. A line of holes drilled and cleaned up with a needle file made short work.





I then needed to make two adjusting clamping bolts on each side. These stop the drop tank or bomb from being a bit wobbly in flight. I still need to make the receptacles they slot into on the drop tank. I cross drilled and tapped them for 3mm stainless steel bolts and it was this that pushed me towards using aluminium over plastic or wood.



Final check made with the drop tank sitting on the clamping bolts, all looking fine.



Then welded everything together using aluminium weld from Germany.





A few odd scale details to add and hopefully this is what it will replicate.

It has been a month and my workshop is like a freezer, so not a lot further with painting. I have finsihed the undersurfaces but I’m still waiting to finish the final “splinter camo” of RLM 74/75. Being about 2 months behind schedule I’m not expecting to finish now before February and only then if it turns warmer.

The Moki has been sold to a modeller who was desperate to get it off my hands for more than I paid for it when he learned that I was not happy with the weight approaching 20kg if I used it . Jungle drums have some discouraging reports of problems with value guides and requirement for maintenance after every hour run time . Weight is always going to be a critical factor with any large scale model but it was starting to look like I would be limited to the number of scale events I would be allowed to enter due to weight limits. Should it just tip the scales at 20kg it would rule it out altogether and cause a rather big problem with getting the CAA exemption certificate . Part of that process would now require cutting inspection holes and patching up afterwards, something one is reluctant to do with that scale finish . In the USA guy’s using the Moki are adding extra ballast to the tail (more weight) to get the CofG right . Vailly were originally advertising the model as mid 20lbs but I see that they have now upgraded it to mid 30lbs, possibly due to the number of people complaining on the web that they couldn’t get it under 30lbs with a 60cc which hasn’t enough power. I contacted Gerhard Reinsch of Practical Scale in Germany and a few days later the new specification Zenoah ZG80 PCI twin arrived which is approx. 1.5 kg lighter than the Moki . It won’t have the same dream sound (close) but will have more than enough oomph. Gerhard strips, inspects and rebuilds all new Zenoah engines he supplies with the added bonus of a 5 year guarantee . There is a FW190 similar to mine with a ZG80 and weight is 37lbs .



I have finished fabricating the spinner to match the propeller and fan, which now awaits a spiral coat of black and white paint. I made a card template to get an accurate profile for the Menz propeller cut out and then “drill and tap” for retaining bolts to the back plate.



Scale panel lines and rivet detail had been added.



Wishing everyone a merry festive season and that Santa brings you many big boy toys

sweet shame about the moki

Richard,Fab job your doing.

It’s turned cold again but I was able to put some “splinter camo” on the wing between Xmas and the New Year. The debarkation between the two colours requires a soft edge that one cannot get from using masking tape that gives a hard edge. To get the desired soft effect a raised edge is needed and by careful angle of spraying away from the masking one can get the desired result. The difficult bit is being consistent when you apply second or third coats as necessary.



In this photo I am using loose fitting 3mm foam as the paint mask and the effect is ..…









I’m still some distance away from being able to paint the markings, if only it would get warmer

I mentioned earlier the alloy weld product from Germany and noticed I hadn’t shown the finished weld on the ETC 501 rack so here it is …



I’ve also been able to trial fit the Zenoah ZG80 PCi and soon discovered I needed to do something with the exhaust outlets which wanted to make a big hole in the cowl. B&Q to the rescue again (maybe they should include model supplies in their branding) and some plumbing provided the perfect solution which is silver soldered and exits at one of the scale exhaust points.





Another job I’ve been tinkering with over the Xmas holiday is the MG131 machine guns that fit above the cowl. I’m trying to make them into RX on/off switches or Gun Hood canopy latches …. More later when I’ve worked it all out. In the meantime a big thank you to John Bowman who made the machine guns for me on his lathe at short notice, what a star

Well the last month has been very hectic getting everything finished for the start of the season but eventually made it. A sneak preview …..



before I show all, the rest of the build continues…. The drop tank was fabricated and panel line detail added and primed.



Custom stencils added (provided by Flightlinegraphics.co.uk), red paint done (overspary masking has been removed in photo)







As mentioned before the BVM drop release was fitted (forgot to photograph, sorry) and I will fabricate a bomb later to play with. The drop tank will only be used for static display.

The painting has been finished and here is the fin stencil. It requires 2 stencils and to align them a neat way is to use location pins that each stencil hooks onto for a perfect alignment. The location pins are to the right of the photo and held in place by yellow tape.





The static spinner has panel line and rivet detail applied the same way as the flying spinner and both were then painted ….









The static spinner is on the left. Will post more soon.

This is my finished scale static prop ….. hypnotising spinner when rotated

Another job was to fabricate the exhaust stubs …

and when fitted looked pretty good …..

When the weather is obliging I’ll be able to take some detail close-ups and upload them. Here are my finished MG 131 cannons with smoke weathering …

Staying on track to be a top quality build, what is the estimated flying weight.

Still a very impressive machine, look forward to seeing it fly at this years Nationals

I have to admit I haven't got the patience

Well done Richard, keep us updated