Dragon 5503 Focke Wulf Fw 190D-9 (Oskar Romm)

Kit#: 5503.

Price: 36$

Decals: Two options.

Notes: The Hobby Boss Fw 190D-9 in 1:48 is far better. Sky Model 48057 decals used.

History: 

"The BMW 801 engine had behaved well at low altitudes, but it lost performance at higher altitudes. To solve this issue, it was decided to install the Daimler Benz DB 603 on fuselages of Fw 190s B and C. Finally, for the Fw 190D, the Junkers Jumo 213A-1 was used. To make way for the new engine, the nose of the Fw 190 was enlarged. A small number of Fw 190D-0s were built from Fw 190A-7 airframes, being identical to the latter except for the chosen engine, a Jumo 213. The armament chosen was of four MG 151/20 20mm cannons on the wings and two MG 131 of 13mm in the cowling.

The prototypes of the Fw 190D-9 were the Fw 190 V22, V23 and V46. These machines were equipped with the Jumo 213C-1 and were armed with two MG 17 machineguns in the nose and two MG151/20 20mm cannons on the wings. Two more prototypes were built from airframes of Fw 190A-8s, V35 and V54. These two aircraft were equipped with the Jumo 213A-1 engine, and were armed with two MG131 machinguns in the nose and two MG151/20 20mm cannons in the wings. These two aircraft satisfied the needs of the RLM, and production was green lit.

The first Fw 190D-9 was complete in August 1944. The D-9 was an attempt to replace the Fw 190A-8s already in service. At the end of the Spring of 1944, production of the D-9, armed with two MG 131 machineguns in the nose and two MG151/20 cannons in the wings.

The first Dora to fly did so on September 7th 1944, at the hands of Focke Wulf test pilot Hans Sander. Production began at the Focke Wulf factory in Cottbus, and production was also licensed to Fieseler and Arado.

In the Spring of 1945, some Fw 190D-9/R5s were completed as Jabo aircraft, equipped with two SC50s bomb supports under the wings. Some of these machines were sent to SG 2 and fought in Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

In the airfields of 1944, the Doras shared the runway with the new Me 262 jet fighters, serving as escort fighters during the takeoff and landing of the jets. The first unit that received the Fw 190D-9 was III/JG54 in September 1944. The unit was sent near the base of Kommando Nowonty, first unit equipped with the Me 262. The next unit to receive the Fw 190D-9 were I and II/JG 26, on October 26th 1944.

The Kit:

This kit was my first experience with Dragon. Before buying it, I made sure to read the reviews of several of the Dragon kits on MM to be sure how to tackle any shortcomings of the kit. The first one was the wing/fuselage massive gap, which was easily solved by adding a spreader sprue under the cockpit. The second issue was the landing gear which, if installed as per the instructions, would leave you with a tip toed 190D-9. Another issue I had with this kit, and which none of the reviews online pointed out, was that the cowling cover was too large, and wouldn't fit without trimming.

The kit comes in a top opening box, with 6 light grey sprues, one clear sprue and two steel photoetch frets. The main parts are marred with imperfections, sign that the moulds of this kit have been used a lot. The photoetch parts are done in steel, and they'd prove to be difficult to remove from their sprue.

The kit offers two decal options, once for Gerhard Barkhorn's aircraft in RLM 81/82/76, and another one for Waldemar Wubke's D-9 in service with JV44's Papagei Staffel.

Construction:

The first thing I did was to paint all the cockpit parts with Revell 78 (RLM66), and then I glued all the parts together with Revell Contacta. Before finishing the cockpit, I had to cut the instrument panel, which is a photoetch part. It took quite a bit of time to remove it from the fret. 

I then built up the wings and wheel wells. The wells need to have the cannons and some other parts attached. Then, I opened up the holes on the lower wing to attach the fuel tank, and then I glued the wheel wells to it, with the top halves of the wings coming next.

I then assembled the fuselage. The cowling guns were glued to the cowling, and then that piece was glued to the fuselage. When I tried to fit the radiator face to the fuselage, I realised the cowling was too large, so I had to trim it quite a bit. After that, I glued the cockpit from the underside and left it to dry. After that, I added two spreader bars under the cockpit to allow for a good wing/fuselage join, doing that will eliminate the need of using putty. After that was done, I glued the wings and the horizontal stabilizers.

Colours and Markings:

My first Fw 190D-9 was from Hasegawa in 1:32, and I had painted it as Oskar Romm's machine, a Luftwaffe ace with 92 victories. This particular 190D-9 had the regular Fw 190A canopy.

I first painted the aircraft with Revell 68 RAF Dark Green (RLM 83), and then added Revell 65 Bronze Green (RLM 82). The undersides and fuselage sides were painted with Revell 49 Light Blue (RLM 76/65). The contrast between the two upper colours isn´t as strong as I would have liked, maybe I´ll use other colours for my next aircraft with RLM 82/83 colours. The model was then varnished with Revell's gloss varnish to prepare the surface for the decals.

I used Sky Model decals 48057, which has options for many Fw 190D-9s and a Ta 152H. Between all those markings, there was one for Oskar Romm's aircraft, so I used those. After leaving the decals to dry for 24hs, I applied Revell's matt varnish to seal the decals.

Final Construction:

I painted the props and spinner in RLM 70 (Revell 40), added the landing gear and glued the wheels. The exhausts were painted with Revell 83 Rust, and the canopy was added in the end.

Conclusions:

Compared to the Hobby Boss Fw 190D-9 in the same scale, the Dragon offering falls short. The fit issues and its higher price compared to the former model put it at a disadvantage. Will I build another Dragon 190? I'll do, the Fw 190A-5 Special with markings for Hermann Graf's aircraft are really appealing to me. 

References:

Focke Wulf Fw 190: "El Pájaro Carnicero." Javier Ormeño.