[Epapazian]

OK! So some time ago I painted red and yellow squares on the engine cowl of a plastic model of a FW-190 free hand style with a fine tipped brush. The question was do I still have such skills---or are the rigors of age taking their toll?

To find out, I selected a Dragon FW-190 and replaced its markings, including the fuselage crosses, which were misaligned in my opinion. Then I painted the rudder white--as on my original model-- added the yellow ID markings under the engine, stuck a swastika on the tail, redid the spinner, applied some weathering and, finally, sat down to do the red and yellow checker pattern, freehand, as before. Amazingly, I had no trouble at all and got it almost right on the first go. A bit of retouching and the job was done.

Of course, things are never as easy as they seem. I had planned to display this model in the wheels-down mode, however Dragon's main undercarriage parts just didn't fit and eventually one of the wheels broke off, much to my disgust. So, I switched to the wheels-up mode, which meant that the belly rack had to go. Also, I had to fabricate a tail wheel in the "up" position, since Dragon doesn't provide one and I also added a pilot---sans his legs--to rectify another Dragon omission. Here's how it all came out:

[Cruver Collecter]

That looks fantastic! Excellent job on that one.

[smartd]

Nice work.

[no4mkit]

excellent job, Epapazian. I would never have gotten away with that checkerboard without masking tape!

[Captain Eddie]

Looks great! Well done.

[theodore]

Nice job on this diecast!!

By the way, I had 2 starboard landing gear covers on mine for the extended version so I was forced to display mine in the retracted version!! Good diecast, except for the landing gear snafu!! This problem seems consistent with most Dragon diecast; the landing gear don't fit well or they are too flimsy. Hmmm, this reminds me of another company with similiar shortcomings........

[Epapazian]

Originally Posted by theodore

Nice job on this diecast!!

By the way, I had 2 starboard landing gear covers on mine for the extended version so I was forced to display mine in the retracted version!! Good diecast, except for the landing gear snafu!! This problem seems consistent with most Dragon diecast; the landing gear don't fit well or they are too flimsy. Hmmm, this reminds me of another company with similiar shortcomings........

I've had many problems with Dragon's landing gear for its FW-190As, in particular. On the one I used for this project, one of the landing gear was warped, so even after I got it to fit--more or less--- the wheel was angled inward about 45 degrees too far. And talk about flimsy, while I used extreme care to get the darn thing into its main mounting hole, the wheel popped off anyway. Fortunately, I like to display my warbirds in the flying mode, so this debacle was only a mild annoyance.