Scale Aviation Modeller International — November 2017

PAINTING AND DECALS

As for finishing, I went for scheme

B, which represents an aircraft

attached to Stab III/SG10, Vysoke

Myto, Czechoslovakia, circa May

1945, carrying a centreline fuel

tank and four wing pylons with

corresponding bombs. I sprayed

the model with Lifecolor Acrylic

RLM 75, 74, and 76, available in the

UK from the Airbrush Company.

The 4-view colour profiles

provided a good reference. I

started by spraying the nose and

rudder yellow. These areas were

masked with Tamiya tape and the

undersides were given a coat of

blue-grey RLM 76. After this had

dried, I masked all the undersides

and sprayed the upper surfaces

camouflage. A small area on the

fuselage sides, in the form of a

triangle in grey RLM2, happens to

fill the space within the chevron

marking. For this, I used a blank

decal and sprayed it in this colour,

then cut it to the shape that fits.

Decals were opaque in colour

and in good register, but somewhat

on the thin side; care was required

when sliding them in place on

the kit. In addition to the main

decal sheet, there is also a smaller

sheet, complete with stencils

and wing walkway lines. These

come in two sets and you have

to select the ones that make the

best contrast with the camouflage

colours of your chosen scheme.

Before I applied the decals, I

gave the painted model a gloss

coat of Klear to assist settling

the decals into panel line detail.

With the decals added I applied

a little weathering, mostly to the

undersides close to the guns’

cartridge shoot openings.

FINAL CONSTRUCTION

The clear two-piece canopy was

made with the main part sliding

backwards. This I drilled through

with a pin drill in order to fit the

wireless aerial wire that connects

to the tail fin. On this version of the

actual aircraft, when the canopy is

slid open the aerial wire remains

taut, while on the blown-canopy

versions it would go slack. The

antenna was made from a piece of

invisible thread, attached using a

tiny spot of super glue at both ends.

As an alternative to under-wing

bomb racks, a nice feature in this

boxing is that Eduard provides a

nice set of Panzer-blitz rockets,

complete with corresponding racks,

in both long and short versions. If

you choose the under-wing rockets

then the surplus paddle-bladed

airscrew must be added; on the real

thing it was fitted to this version to

cope with the extra load imposed.

Incidentally, the kit also

contains among the extra parts

a complete set of FuG 216 radar

aerials that go on the wing leading

edges of anFw 190A-8/R11, and a

centreline rack ETC501 to go with it.

CONCLUSION

It has taken me more time than the

weekend to complete my weekend

edition model, but I enjoyed every

step in building it. The assembly

resulted in a very pleasing model

and represents one of the finest

aircraft operated by the Luftwaffe

towards the closing years of the war.

Thanks to Eduard for making the

sample kit available for me to build.

KIT REVIEWS

072-77-Reviews-1117.indd 75 16/10/2017 15:51