Eagle Eye Focke Wulf Fw 189A-1 Uhu

[John Symmons]

Not sure when I brought this kit but it must have been in the early 70’s, as it was only first issued in 1970, it,s since then been waiting in my collection of to-be-built kits I think it must have been in the red stripe packaging but that has long been discarded. When I’d finished the Ju 52/3M floatplane I was digging through my kits and came across the Fw 189, Hs 123 & the Hs 129, they all seemed interesting the only one I’d built before being the Hs 120 way back when, so they’re are all now waiting on my work table. I was going to try a Dragon Arado 234 variant but decided as I enjoyed the old Ju 52 winter camouflage so much, I’d stay with the theme and continue with the Fw 189, so’s here’s my attempt at the Eagle Eye. Just decided on the Fw 189 when I saw the write-up in the Work-Bench section of this forum and took it as a sign that the Fw 189 was the right choice. So Mr work bench writer / blogger if any of these photos appeal to you feel free to use them. Finished photos will be part two of this build.

After some basic research I settled on a fairly simple winter scheme of a Fw 189A-1 4E+MK of 2(H) Augk1 Gr13 at Brinokmisk Russia in 1942. The scheme is one of several schemes featured by Authentic Decals in their set for the Fw 189. I’ll not go into detail about the Fw 189 Uhu as it’s readily available on the web. I did learn that it was one of the more successful Luftwaffer aircraft so much so that the Russians operated captured examples, and were so impressed with it they even copied the design for their own air-force only they made theirs bigger and with big radial engines. You could even argue a case that the Americans also sort-off did the same with the Bronco. I saw somewhere that someone commented that the model looks quite small and delicate, when in fact it’s slightly larger then the Lockheed P-38 Lightning.
Even though the kit was first issued in the 1970’s it’s certainly one of Airfix’s better efforts and a credit to the designers back then. It has since been issued by Italeri and now Revell, Aoshima and MPM all in 1/72 scale, plus a whole slew of 1/48 and 1/32 scale models. The Fw 189 was still available until fairly recently from Airfix, but I see it’s now been deleted from their range, Pity as I would love to get another one, maybe I’ll have to try the Revell one, which I’m led to believe could be a re-boxing of the Italeri issue.

Any way on with the build. This starts with the interior which is rather basic, and Airfix have made a small blunder with that , in that the floor piece goes right through the fuselage with a step up just behind the radio operator’s position thereby reducing the already limited space where as should drop down. Fairly easily fixed just cut the floor just behind the step up and use the fuselage as the floor, unfortunately I didn’t realise this until I’d made the whole assembly. The crew figures are good even though the radio operator is an amputee, but the rear gunner is totally wrong, looks like he’s been seconded from the He 177 crew set complete with oxygen mask and helmet, he was sent back to his unit and a Revell infantry man commandeered as a rear gunner. With all that glazing the interior cry's out for something to be added, This I’ve added, many being generic using photographs or builds from the web, I tried to add the panel that runs along the top of the canopy, but it inferred with the pilots head. ( Maybe a case for 1/76 scale crew. I often feel that Airfix crew figures are too big and would be better at 1/76 scale. ) Various instrument panels were added from Evergreen strips ammo drums for the machine guns cut from stretched sprue, and like-wise the various flare tube etc. While not much can be seen through the thick canopy parts the bright colours of the various bits do show and add quite a bit to the final very crowded result. I know that a brass-etch is available and seeing the results in another build looks very impressive, I decided to scratch what I comfortable could. Note to Airfix: If you re-release this model how’s about some new sprues for the canopy and interior.
The interior was painted up in the usual colours, and the canopy hand painted with-out masking, each piece taking about half an hour then cleaned up where needed with cocktail stick, came out better than I’d hoped. The wings were assembled after first gluing some silver foil inside for the landing lights. The twin booms added together with the tail-plane and wing centre section the assembled central fuselage slotted into place to ensure all was true. I must say I was very impressed with the general fit of all the parts there almost clicked into place when dry fitting, unfortunately when it glued the wings together I used some clamps (not that they were needed) and managed to slightly skew one wing a touch,which messed up the superb fit of the central fuselage,but some judicious sanding and Evergreen strip sort-of fixed that; (Do not use clamps they’re not needed.) the undercarriage doors were added; I do like the way the doors are engineered makes assembling them a breeze just a pity some detail couldn’t have been added. Similarly with the engine cowlings , where’s the exhaust, I take it’s those small bumps either side under the cowlings, come on Airfix you can do better.
The underside was airbrushed with Vallejo pale grey blue No 153 which equates to RLM 76 after first masking the landing lights, and after some rough masking the top of the wings, booms and tail-plane shot with Tamiya matt white the central fuselage was brush painted, then the remains of the green splinter camouflage added by brush using Vallejo German Camouflage Dark Green No 97 which is half a shade lighter than black green, and Luftwaffer Camouflage Green No 86 to get some contrast with the two greens. These greens might not be really true RLM colours but there are near-enough-to-jazz that it makes very little difference and helps with the scale effect of very dark greens, if you check out the photos you’ll there is a some contrast between the two. The yellow theatre bands and wing tip were masked out and Humbrol yellow brushed on. That sort-of completed the painting apart from the undercarriage bays, undercarriage, bombs, guns etc which were painted in the usual colours, ready for final assembly. the landing lights and the rear gunners small windows will be glazed with Krystal Clear on final assembly.

Some photos of the of the central fuselage

http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y451/idiotone/Eagle%20Eye%20Fw%20189A%20Uhu/Fw%20189%20Interior%201_zpsxdd3ocoa.jpg

http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y451/idiotone/Eagle%20Eye%20Fw%20189A%20Uhu/Fw%20189%20Interior%203_zpsuwypezyw.jpg

Control stick not installed can only be done after pilot is secured in place.

http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y451/idiotone/Eagle%20Eye%20Fw%20189A%20Uhu/Fw%20189%20Interior%205_zpsmvkv2u9m.jpg

http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y451/idiotone/Eagle%20Eye%20Fw%20189A%20Uhu/Fw%20189%20Interior%207_zpsyssfxzjq.jpg

http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y451/idiotone/Eagle%20Eye%20Fw%20189A%20Uhu/Fw%20189%20Interior%20amp%20Crew%201_zpsaunnv1gl.jpg

The airfix crew.

http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y451/idiotone/Eagle%20Eye%20Fw%20189A%20Uhu/Fw%20189%20Interior%20amp%20Crew%203_zpsjsyjbcfn.jpg

http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y451/idiotone/Eagle%20Eye%20Fw%20189A%20Uhu/Fw%20189%20Interior%20amp%20Crew%204_zpsjya9a9vl.jpg

Crew and seconded infantary man only place in position for photo.

Couldn't get rid of that top seam as the roof was slightly concaved even though I tried. 

More to follow hope you enjoyed it so far. All comments welcome.

Remember we do this for fun. John the Pom.

[Heather Kavanagh]

This is bringing back a few memories. I distinctly recall building one of these in my early teens. I think it was the first model aeroplane I built that I painted using the right colours - and they would have been Airfix paints back then. The smell of Airfix enamels was always different to Humbrol. 

 

Looking forward to to seeing this progress. 

[John Symmons]

Thanks Heather.

Part two Decals and final assembly.

Now for some clever bits, the decals. I have some very old Letterset dry decals from the 60’s so decided to see if they still worked. Tried an upper wing cross first only to find it worked in bits and the backing plastic foil just broke with the rubbing, the damaged decal easily removed with selotape. Tried a second one only this time covering the whole decal with selotape and sticking it onto the model, then rubbing down with a roughly sharpened brush handle, then gently lifting one side of the selotape to see if it worked. I was able to replace the decal back down in register and rub down the odd bits that hadn’t stuck, and it worked. I now have a method of using my old Letterset dry decals. Decal-ed the wing crosses and the tail swastika using these old dry decals; no carrier film, no silvering and a totally matt painted on finish. Why these decals are not used more often I’ll never know, as they’re in many cases far better than the old water-slide decals. I did see somewhere that there’s a new decal that’s a cross between the two in that the decal is first a water-slide, but with a plastic top film that’s removed once the decal has dried on the model, again leaving no backing film. The remaining decals were made-up by me in Corel Draw and printed out onto Bare Metal Foil (Micro Sol.) decal laser paper, one whole sheet of US letter size costing R5 (that,s about 26P in UK money) plus the cost of the decal paper. When I made the decals to be printed I made plenty of stencil and walkway markings with loads of duplicates and other decals for some upcoming builds, not bad for 25P.

http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y451/idiotone/Eagle%20Eye%20Fw%20189A%20Uhu/Other%20German%20Markings%20amp%20Stencils%20Decals_zpsw8hs7opp.jpg

Photo of my 25P decals. Plenty of spares.

Decals applied over glossed areas then covered with Vallejo matt varnish, ( If you’ve never tried this matt varnish, do so its far superior to that clouding Humbrol stuff and it’s water soluble. ) the stencils were placed with a combination of whatever of references I could find and common sense or what looked right. Time to finish off with the final bits like propellers, undercarriage; one small aside the undercarriage is made as un-weighted, the trailing arms should be at right angles to the main legs if supporting the aircraft on the ground, and not drooping at 30 degrees as modelled; the only thing I had to add was the aerial under the fuselage made from stretched sprue as Airfix had omitted to include it. Some Fw 189’s did have an aerial on the canopy top, so check your references. Final piece glued on was the pilot tube, just a few touch-ups and add some weathering, when you check photos of the Fw 189 you’ll notice that as it was in such demand they were invariably very grubby and weathered.I tried a new way of weathering this model using oil paints and he dot method, saw demo-ed at the club recently so thought I’d give it a try. Used Yellow Ochre on the under-side to grubby it up a little, and Lemon Yellow and Viridian plus some White were I’d over done it on the winter white camouflage, then added Burnt Sienna streaks under the wing and cowling to indicate the muddy environment. Not to sure the result was totally what I wanted or if it’s that much better than dry-broshing, but it certainly holds some promise; more practice needed. Exhaust and gun port stains were done with some cheap metallic make-up mascara and Tamiya pigments. Yes I did buy the mascara especially for this type of thing; word of warning; do not try this with your sister’s, wife’s, girl friend’s make-up if you value your models and or life.

http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y451/idiotone/Eagle%20Eye%20Fw%20189A%20Uhu/Fw%20189%20Airframe%201_zps6al3maut.jpg

See green contrast on starboard wing tip & tail-plane.

http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y451/idiotone/Eagle%20Eye%20Fw%20189A%20Uhu/Fw%20189%20Airframe%204_zpsc3x9sjwu.jpg

http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y451/idiotone/Eagle%20Eye%20Fw%20189A%20Uhu/Fw%20189%20Airframe%205_zpswpjonj4f.jpg

http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y451/idiotone/Eagle%20Eye%20Fw%20189A%20Uhu/Fw%20189%20Centre%20Nacelle%201_zpsjzymo7fa.jpg

Very crowded crew compartment.

http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y451/idiotone/Eagle%20Eye%20Fw%20189A%20Uhu/Fw%20189%20Centre%20Nacelle%202_zpsqji2wud1.jpg

http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y451/idiotone/Eagle%20Eye%20Fw%20189A%20Uhu/Fw%20189%20Centre%20Nacelle%203_zpsk90hzxt8.jpg

http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y451/idiotone/Eagle%20Eye%20Fw%20189A%20Uhu/Fw%20189%20Centre%20Nacelle%2010_zpsg0dp5fhy.jpg

http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y451/idiotone/Eagle%20Eye%20Fw%20189A%20Uhu/Fw%20189%20Centre%20Nacelle%2011_zpsknmmh0nc.jpg

I must admit I really enjoyed this model and would recommend it whole heartedly certainly one of the 70’s Airfix better efforts. Even though it’s now deleted form their catalogue It certainly bears re-releasing at a later date, I doubt that Airfix will retool the whole model, but they could easily up-date it with a few extra sprues, and there is a real plethora of camouflage options. A fresh sprue for new clear parts just make the new one thinner and a touch smaller, and a new sprue for the interior would go a long way to improving the basic kit, and if they could include the camera and scribe the inside of the wing centre section with a cut out for the camera window the reconnaissance version could be modelled quite easily, and some smaller (1/76) crew . Even though not many versions of the real thing were made, Airfix could easily do them all; the A-2 was basically the same as the A-1 only with twin defensive guns, they could even do the night fighter version, and with a new centre fuselage include the trainer and the experimental ground attack version without the expense of a complete re-tooling. Come on Airfix you could have four new models with minimum lay-out. Suppose we can live and hope.

 

The final result.I haven't rigged the wire from the airial to the tail-plane not sure if it's worth it, maybe do it later.

http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y451/idiotone/Eagle%20Eye%20Fw%20189A%20Uhu/Fw%20189%20final%201_zps7jjmlhnp.jpg

http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y451/idiotone/Eagle%20Eye%20Fw%20189A%20Uhu/Fw%20189%20final%202_zps0295ocwk.jpg

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http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y451/idiotone/Eagle%20Eye%20Fw%20189A%20Uhu/Fw%20189%20final%204_zpsfjloi6xb.jpg

http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y451/idiotone/Eagle%20Eye%20Fw%20189A%20Uhu/Fw%20189%20under%20side%20final%201_zpsiwmaztmq.jpg

http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y451/idiotone/Eagle%20Eye%20Fw%20189A%20Uhu/Fw%20189%20under%20side%20final%202_zpssqir09kf.jpg

Mascara gun stains came out well.

http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y451/idiotone/Eagle%20Eye%20Fw%20189A%20Uhu/Fw%20189%20under%20side%20final%203_zpsiwsn0vbd.jpg

http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y451/idiotone/Eagle%20Eye%20Fw%20189A%20Uhu/Fw%20189%20under%20side%20final%204_zpsdqsa5uye.jpg

Supposed to show exhaust stains but the light is catching it wrong making high-lights

That's it hope you enjoyed mu Uhu Eagle Eye, and maybe given some inspiration. All comments welcome.

So what’s next; as mentioned at the start I have dug out the Henschel 123 and 129 from the stash, and as I seem to be on a roll with winter camouflage I’ll probable be doing those also in many shades of white. Maybe add a few 109’s, a Ju 87 and or 88, a Do 17Z ( old Frog or Monogram ) I’ve even found a He 177 in winter camouflage now that should be an interesting challenge.

Remember we do this for fun. John the Pom.

[DavidJC]

That's a good looking build there.

[Rael]

Nicely done!

[the F-111C dude]

great job

[Pretty Mediocre Modeller]

Hi John,

 

Hope you don't mind if I post a few pics of my Airfix Fw 189, built many years ago out of the box, but with decals from the spares box based on a side profile in the old 'Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft'. As you have said a good kit with no issues. Worth a re-release I think.

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[John Symmons]

Hi PMM

Wow! This was a surprise you must have dug deep to find this posting, and of couse I don't mind always good to see what other modellers have done with these old kits. Looks like you made a good representation of the FW 189 and great to see you did the one featured in the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft, I have the complete set of the first issue so I know the profile you used. 

 

Actually those background models also look interesting. That's quite a collection you've aquired.

 

Maybe I should re-post some of those missing photos fro the original posting.

 

Remember we do this for fun                            John the Pom

[John Symmons]

 Thanks to photobucket here's a few ofthe missing photos of the original posting that went missing.

 

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A few views of the sub-assemblies.

 

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A few views of the finished model. And below the 20p decal sheet of home made decals that were mentioned in the original posting some of which were used on this Fw 189. If Airfix do re-release this kit it's certainly one of their best efforts and well worth getting you'll not be dissappointed.

 

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Remember we do this for fun                                          John the Pom