The kit and its assembly:
A remake of an inspiration. This build is a follow-up, and a further interpretation of another modeler’s idea, comrade harps from whatifmodelers.com, who came up with a Moldovan Bf 109E and a respective background story some time ago. After all, the Russian Liberation Army (ROA) also operated German aircraft like the Bf 109G, so the idea was not as weird as it might seem at first. I liked the idea of an overlooked Moldovan operator very much, and my first build within this fictional framework was a Heller Bf 109 F trop (a horrible kit, BTW).
This time I wanted to tackle an early Fw 190 A fighter, and also finish it in winter camouflage. The kit I used is the Academy Fw 190 A-6/8 model. It is certainly not the most detailed and up-to-date model of the aircraft, but it is a solid model, goes together well and is IMHO a priceworthy offering.
Building-wise, I did not change much about the kit, it was built OOB with some minor mods. The pitot, OOB mounted close to the wing tip for an A-8 version, had to be relocated towards a mid-wing position for an earlier A-6 variant. As an extra I lowered the flaps and cut away the lower sections from the wheel covers; this was a common practice on Fw 190s operated at the Eastern front during wintertime, because snow would clog up between the wheels and the covers, freeze and eventually make the aircraft inoperable.
As another extra I used the WB 151 gun packs which come with the kit – resulting in the massive firepower of eight(!) 20mm cannon, plus a pair of machine guns that would operationally fire tracer bullets, so that the pilot knew when he could unleash the cannons! The optional tropical sand filters came with the kit, too.
Painting and markings:
To a certain degree quite conservative, since this was supposed to be a former Luftwaffe aircraft, transferred to the Moldovan air force from the Mediterranean TO. As such I gave the aircraft a standard Luftwaffe camouflage with RLM 74/75/76 (using a mix of Modelmaster enamels). As a side note, this does not speak against the aircraft’s potential former use in North Africa – many Fw 190s operated there did not carry any desert camouflage at all.
However, I wanted to present the aircraft in a temporary/worn winter camouflage on the upper surfaces with washable white paint, overpainted former Luftwaffe insignia and additional new Moldovan markings. I also wanted to visualize the short period of time between the aircraft’s arrival at the Russian Front from Northern Africa and its immediate employment in Moldovan hands, including tactical markings of the Axis forces in the Eastern TO from around late 1941 onwards. Sounds complicated – but it’s the logical translation of the made-up background, and I think that such a concept, literally telling a story, makes a what-if model more convincing than just putting some obscure markings on an off-the-rack kit.
After the original German scheme had been painted, the next step was to paint over the former German and African TO markings. I used a light olive green and a light blue tone, as if the machine had been modified in a Moldovan field workshop with Romanian paints (or whatever else) at hand. The new yellow ID markings (lower wing tips, engine front (both painted with Humbrol 69) and fuselage band (decal) were added at this stage, too. Then came a black ink wash, emphasizing the model's engraved panel lines.
Once dry and cleaned-up, the new Moldovan markings were added. They come from a Begemot MiG-29 sheet. The flag on the rudder was improvised with a mix of paint (blue and red) and a ~2.5mm yellow decal stripe. The tactical code, the red "26", comes from a Soviet lend-lease P-40.
But the Fw 190 was till not finished - now the whitewash was added. This was simply created with Humbrol 34 (Matt White) and a soft, flat brush, in streaks which were made from the back to the front. This creates an IMHO quite plausible look of the worn, washable paint, and in some areas (around the cockpit, on the wings) I thinned the whitewash layer down even more, simulating wear.
Once dry, the decals received a light tratement with sandpaper, in order to match their look to the worn surroundings, and exhaust stains and gun soot were added with grinded graphite. Some dry-brushing with light grey was done on some areas, too. The wheels and the landing gear received a layer of "snow cake", created with white tile grout.
Finally, the model received a coat of matt acrylic varnish and finishing touches like a wire antenna (made with heated black sprue material).