FW 190D-13 Yellow 10 (Complete!)

Jim J
I decided to build "Yellow 10" after seeing it at the Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum (FHCAM) in Everett, WA, last month. Yellow 10 has been modeled many times and is likely familiar to this audience. But if you're ever in the Seattle area, it's worth a trip to FHCAM to see it up close. It's a very impressive machine with a unique camo scheme. After you see it you may find yourself wanting to build the model too (or again), especially if you're a Würger fan like me.

My plan is to depict this during its last month of wartime operation in April 1945. I'm going to be adding some aftermarket detail kits and plan to use the new AK Real Colors paints for the first time. AK's research has resulted in some non-traditional shades for RLM 66, 02, 76, 81, and 83. I'm going "all-in" and am trying the new shades to see how everything looks.

I've completed the cockpit and other internal components. The AK RLM 66 is a bit more gray-olive than gray-blue and the RLM 02 is much more vibrant than typical. Overall things are progressing well so far.

Nathan Dempsey
Nice choice! I was thinking of this one with AK Real colors too! I'll leave it to you sir 🙂
The cockpit looks great.

Jim J
Thanks Nathan!

Jim J
I worked through the wings with the extra wheel well detail and the flaps. I think the wheel well detail kit (lots of work) is about on par with the current generation FW 190 Eduard kits. I'm not sure it's worth the effort but it looks OK. There's still some clean up work to do.

As for the flaps, I like the add-on. There's lots of sanding and filing to remove the molded flaps and create space in the wing tops and bottoms, but the flap well and the flaps themselves look good. I've tried to create a natural wood effect and have a few more steps to do. Wings actually mated with the fuselage very well given all the work on the wings. I needed a little spacer under the cockpit to align the wing roots, but no major gaps. I'm actually impressed how well everything fits together. Lots of dry fitting, sanding, re-checking, etc. with this kit.

PE cowling is next. Thanks for looking.

Jim J
Completed the build and am now on to painting. Final build steps were adding the cockpit deck (PE), the quick boost supercharger intake, and attaching the cowl flaps. What an ordeal. It took me three tries to get the cowl flaps done correctly. I used Gator's Grip Hobby glue to allow myself some recovery. It really works great and cleans up with water.

This has been the toughest build yet for me. The aftermarket parts really add a whole new dimension of complexity. Hats off to the modelers who are skilled in this area. Lots to learn...

Treehugger
Q: How difficult or easy, was it to work with the photo etch for the flaps?

Nathan Dempsey
I'd say the result was worth the effort though. It really is matching the look of the original.

Jim J
Thanks Nathan.

@Treehugger - The flaps and flap wells themselves are actually very straightforward. They look complicated but Eduard did a great job engineering them. Just a few clever folds and you're done. A folding tool isn't needed.

The major work is the plastic excavation. Significant filing and sanding is needed in the upper and lower wings and fuselage to get the flaps to fit. Lots of integrated dry fitting. It's not particularly difficult, just lots of work. Key points: (1) it's important to ensure the thickness of the wing root section of the fuselage and the upper flap well cover are the same to get the right fit — not obvious from the instructions; and (2) protect the wing surfaces when sanding! I learned this second point the hard way but recovered ok.

Jim J
A couple recent additions to their collection include an Me 262 (flight tests soon) and a Ju 87 Stuka (restoration in progress). Great staff.

Nathan Dempsey
Some future subjects 🙂

Bart Goesaert
Cockpit looking good. Complete build too. What is pic 14? good luck with that camouflage...

Jim J
Pic 14 shows the wooden flap detail. Still some work to do...

Jim J
By the way. Thanks for the nice comments, Bart.

Alec K
Cool project and progress, following. On my to-do in 1/72, in unspecified future...

Jim J
Thanks Alec!

Jim J
It's slowly coming to life... Started with the Aluminum underside with some panel variation using chrome and silver using Mission Models paint. Added white for the wing cross masks and RV band. I wasn't sure the best way to tackle the masks on the wing tops: (A) white patch, mask, camo, remove mask; or (B) camo, mask, white paint, remove mask. I've seen it done both ways. We'll see. I also painted RLM 76 on the underside and sides using AK Real Colors. Sprays nice.

Nathan Dempsey
Looking great. I'm happy to see the Mission Models metal colors seem to lay down nicely. I have the paint, but haven't been able to use it on a larger surface yet.

Jim J
Thanks Nathan. I've used the metallics a few times (wing undersides, engines, interiors, etc.) and have not had any issues. I have yet to use them for an entire plane. (Maybe a P-51 in the near future?)

Jim J
Completed main painting and got the gloss coat on this hot rod. I'm happy with the progress so far.

Using AK real colors, I put down RLM 75 and then laid down the complex RLM 82 and RLM 81 (v3) camo pattern. I completed the entire sequence on the wings first then repeated it on the fuselage. I don't trust myself on preventing overspray. I masked out wing walk lines but they are mostly covered by the 81 and 82. I decided not to preshade panel lines this time, thinking that the complex pattern and color combinations would quickly obscure the shading. I plan to post shade instead. There was quite a bit of back and forth between 82 and 81 to clean up the pattern and fix minor issues. Interestingly, this camo pattern appears to me to be characterized by interwoven color patches rather than traditional luftwaffe mottles. Rather than faded, fuzzy color clouds, the pattern called for bold, disruptive shapes and patches. I followed the Jerry Crandall EagleFiles profile as closely as possible.

The AK real colors spray very nicely. I really like how thin and smooth the layers of paint are. Much more so than Mission Models. I used AK real colors thinner and kept the thinning ratio from 1:1 to 2:1 thinner to paint. My compressor pressure was ~15-18 psi for the base coat layers and 25 psi for the fine line detail to minimize spattering. There were no real issues at all with the AK paints.

As for markings so far, I used the Montex mask set intended for the Tamiya D-9. The wing crosses and the HakenKreuz on the tail were fine, but the fuselage cross mask was about 2mm too small. So I used tape to make my own mask for the black fuselage cross. This was my first time using the Montex masks and I really liked them. This eliminates the entire decal silvering and visible film problems, especially with the broken crosses in the late war luftwaffe planes. I will have to use decals for the maintenance stencils and the yellow 10. The RV band and white stripe on the tail came out nicely. I used Mission Models paint for these.

The key command decision was to forego the Mission Models gloss clear and try Tamiya X-22 clear. What a game-changer! I sprayed Tamiya X-22 with 50% Mr. Color leveling thinner and then immediately afterwards laid down a coat of 100% thinner. The result is absolutely amazing - thin, high gloss, dry to touch within 1 hour. I've been struggling for a while to find the right gloss coat and this is it! Highly recommended.

Decals are next. Thanks for following along.

Nathan Dempsey
Still looking nice. Keep up the great work 🙂

Dave Flitton
Thanks for the painting tips!, the model looks great!!

Jim J
Thanks Nathan and Dave!

Alec K
Looking really great Jim. I appreciate the info regarding paint: I have been looking at the AK Real Colors for a while, and I think I am ready to jump in. I did not like how the Mission Colors spray.

Jim J
Thanks Alec! I agree on the Mission colors. Sometimes with certain colors they spray very well, other times they spray poorly. It's hard for me to figure out the cause. However, I think AK real colors are really targeted for spraying. Mission colors are much better for brushing than AK straight from the bottle.

Nathan Dempsey
I stopped thinning my Mission Models paint when airbrushing and haven't had any problems since.

Dave Flitton
Mission Models paint was not meant to be thinned, look on their web site for proper application

Holger Kranich
Formidable work, Jim! The darker the MM colores are, the more pigments they have. That makes spraying hard sometimes. Its important to use their thinner as a activator. Or the paint wont dry quick.

Dave Flitton
just one or two drops if that.

Jim J
Thanks mates. I'll look into the thinner situation with Mission Models paints. Maybe I'm thinning too much.

Holger Kranich
That could be the case, Jim.

Christian Lehmann
👍

Jim J
When I took a closer look at the decals supplied with the kit, I was unsatisfied with quality. The black horizontal bars were significantly out of register and the color was off, particularly on the yellow 10 itself. I should have looked more closely at these earlier but I didn't think about it. The reviews of the kit stated that the decals were printed by Cartograf so I was not worried. However, the actual decals in my copy of the kit are not Cartograf. So I went ahead and order the Eagle Cal decals for Yellow 10 and waited a few days.

The Eagle decals overall were fine but tested my patience with the number of Microsol applications. I needed to cut along some panel lines and touch up a few spots with paint, but they came out alright.

The spirit of this build is "every step is a major project". Consistent with spirit, the spinner required some major work. First, the spinner called out by the kit for the D-13 is incorrect. It's supposed to have a blast tube for a 20mm cannon and it has a huge hole. So I made a blast tube from spare sprue, drilled a hole in the standard D-9 spinner and glued it in. The next problem was that the D-9 spinner has an extra panel line where the D-13 spinner does not. So Mr. Surfacer 500 came to the rescue along with some careful sanding to remove the panel line. After priming, masking and painting, it's looking acceptable.

Murad ÖZER
Jim that is a stunning and an unusual (for a dora) paintjob, double lovely!

as for eaglecals, i've had one encounter with them so far, can't say anything about their accuracy but material was they were a meh as decals go.

Jim J
Thanks for the comments Murad. Much appreciated.

Jim J
Yellow 10 is now complete. This is by far the biggest modeling project I've undertaken, and though it was much more work than I anticipated, I'm happy with the outcome.

To summarize, I used the base Eduard FW 190D-13 Profipak kit with the following additions: Quickboost supercharger intake and exhaust, Master cannons and pitot, Eduard detail kit, Eduard wooden landing flaps, Montex masks for main markings, Eagle decals, AK Real Color paints for RLM 02, 66, 70, 75, 76, 81, and 82. Model Master paint for RLM 25 (spinner).

Since the last update, I did a Flory panel line wash and picked out some of the rivet detail. Then I oversprayed the entire plane with a thinned buff-gray mix to tone down the solid white and black areas. The exhaust and gun smoke was a combination of thinned black-brown paint plus some pastels. The spinner was weathered to reflect oil leaks in the hub. I gave it two coats of Model Master Flat Clear Lacquer for the final finish. The antenna was stretched sprue to get the right sag.

This was a very challenging build for me but I think it looks good in the end. I probably went overboard with the aftermarket add-ons (this was my first time using them). I would recommend the cannons, intake, exhaust and actually the cowl flaps. Maybe the landing flaps. The extras in the wheel bay don't add much value.

I really enjoyed the paint challenge. I'll be using AK Real Color paints more in the future for sure.

Thanks for following along and enjoy the photos.

Nathan Dempsey
Beautiful result Jim. That's some fine camo work!

Spanjaard
excellent result. those pictures in the grass look simply awesome!

Murad ÖZER
indeed! lovely result Jim, big huge kudos.😎

Alec K
Well done Jim, and joy to follow your build narrative 👍

Dave Flitton
Looks like a real gem. Nicely done!!

Stephan Ryll
Very nice 190 👍

Neuling
Looks very good!

Thomas Bischoff
Great job!

Jim J
Thanks for all the nice comments, mates! Much appreciated and motivating. Thanks again.

Bart Goesaert
Looking good, but the wood looks a bit toyisch (think to much contrast) compared to the rest of the finish. Ok, it's barely visible.

Otherwise a very nice result that I can only hope to achieve one day...

Sebastian Meyner
Impressive work mate! 👍

Tim Heimer
Wow! Looks good!

Jim J
Thanks Bart, Sebastian and Tim! Really appreciate the comments.

@Bart - Thanks for the feedback on the wood flaps. Too much contrast was a concern. I did a tan overspray to tone it down, but it didn't get subdued as much as I thought with the clear coats and weathering. Good lesson for next time.