Focke-Wulf Fw 190F-8

Kit:	Hasegawa, 1/72; model finished on 2022-02-01
Aircraft:	"Q9+AB", W.Nr. 931666, I/SG 5, Luftwaffe, in Utti, Finland in August 1944

The model represents an aircraft of I/SG 5 that was briefly stationed in Finland in the summer of 1944. The aircraft was flown by the unit's (I Gruppe) commander Major Fritz Schröter. I/SG 5 was part of a special Luftwaffe detachment "Gefechtsverband Kuhlmey" that supported Finns during the large Red Army offensive in June and July of 1944.

Construction Notes

The Hasegawa kit is old but quite accurate and well detailed. Some changes and additions were necessary, however. I rebuilt the ventral rack, converting it to the "deeper" variant; the drop tank came from the spares box. I added Eduard photo-etch seatbelts, particularly since I really wanted to leave the canopy open. I only used the windshield from the kit, and used a Squadron vacuform canopy for the rest. I drilled a very small hole in the canopy, snaked some Ez-Line through it, and superglued it to the back of the canopy. Once the canopy was in place, I attached the other end to the top of the vertical fin.

I painted the model mostly with Tamiya acrylics. The wing and tail sorface pattern was masked, as were the Eastern front markings, but the rest of the scheme was "freehanded". The exhaust stains I airbrushed using very thinly diluted flat black (see the pictures above). For decals, I used Future before and after, and finished the model with a mixture of Testors' Dullcote and Glosscote (mostly Dullcote).

I took some of the decals from the kit, some from an Eagle Strike sheet ("Home Defence Fw 190s, Part II"; $5.95 in 2012 - an excellent sheet, btw.), and the markings for the individual aircraft from an Authentic Decals sheet ("Focke-Wulf Fw-190F-8 Unknown schemes and marks"; $11.25 in 2014). The Authentic Decals' sheet has interesting schemes, but the decals are thick yet fragile, and I neglected to protect some of them with Liquid Decal Film; I simply had to buy another sheet to complete the model.

Before I decided to leave the canopy open; compare with the next picture.

Note how I cut the headrest support, this is to accommodate the structure I glued inside the vacform canopy to make it stiffer.

Almost done!

My knife slipped; this is why you buy vacform canopies in bulk.

References Used

This aircraft type is extremely well documented, so I won't list everything. My database shows about 150 entries in my personal library! Below are some specific sources I found useful with this model.

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 described, Part 1 (Pentland et al); Kookaburra Technical Manual 1/5; Kookaburra Technical Publications 1970
Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Aces of the Russian Front (Weal); Osprey Aircraft of the Aces 6; Osprey 1996
German Aircraft Interiors 1935-1945, Vol.1 (Merrick); Monogram Aviation Publications 1996
German Aircraft Landing Gear (Sengfelder); Schiffer 1995
Luftwaffe Over Finland (Stenman & Keskinen); Luftwaffe at War 18; Greenhill Books 2001
Luftwaffe Suomessa 1941-1944 (Anttonen et al); 1976
Luftwaffe-kuvasto - Saksan ilmavoimat Suomessa ja Pohjois-Norjassa 1941-1944 (Valtonen); Keski-Suomen Ilmailumuseon julkaisuja 7; Keski-Suomen Ilmailumuseo 1998
Saksalaiset koneet Suomessa 1939-1945 (Keskinen & Stenman); Suomen Ilmavoimien historia 16; Apali 1998