Pacific Coast Models 1/32 Fw 190 A-1/2/3

[stona]

Many of you will have seen some of the Pacific Coast Models kits before. I've built a couple on here, but there's always room for one more!

PCM kits are essentially short run kits put together by PCM with material sub-contracted to various manufacturers. They are not always the simplest kits to put together, a certain amount of experience will definitely help, but they always make very nice and accurate models.

Here's the box. Nice artwork, mine's a bit crumpled as its been in the cupboard for a while!



In the box you get some sprues for the plastic bits. Not as numerous as some kits but nicely done. As far as I know PCM still get these from Sword who are a Czech company.



You also get some really nice resin bits. This is PCM's speciality and I have to say these are really good. I've seen some pretty dodgy casting in my time, but not here.



You also get some photo etch, this from Eduard is typical of their stuff and many of you will be familiar with it.



Next is a great decal sheet with options for no fewer than eight aircraft (though the instructions say six!). Decals are by Cartograph for PCM and they will be very good. You can see that they are in register.



Final goodies are a booklet of colour profiles by Richard Caruana. I've seen some of his profiles criticised but the two options I'm looking at look good and nobody can doubt his artistic ability.



Last of all the instructions. Like all PCM instructions they are a bit vague. Familiarity with the subject will help but is certainly not essential.



I'm hoping to make a start fairly soon. It won't be as quick as the Me 163 but I'll post as I make progress.

Since I'm not in the pay or employ of any model company and am not some kind of super expert modeller you can be sure to get an honest appraisal of how this kit can be built by a mere mortal

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Looking forward to seeing this build out Steve!

[papa 695]

Will watch this also Steve

[yak face]

looks like a proper builders kit steve, i like it! i'll be watching with interest , cheers tony

[flyjoe180]

Will watch with interest.

[stona]

Oooops! Slight delay as the clear parts are missing!

I will endeavour to get some from PCM, failing that I'll be up in the loft ransacking boxes of left over bits and bobs for something.

Cheers

Steve

[stona]

Following a trip up the loft to fit a new ceiling light in the upstairs hallway I have liberated a suitable windscreen from an old Hasegawa kit and retrieved a suitable canopy from the spares box. Both look like they will fit with some very minor fettling. The only other clear parts missing are the wing tip lights and gun sight glass, both of which I can make easily enough.

I have therefore decided to go ahead with this build. That will be two PCM kits in a row, though the small matter of earning a living will not allow me to canter through this one at quite such a pace

Anyone who followed my Tempest recently will see from the pictures above that this is another typical PCM offering. I hope it will fit like the Tempest and not like the Hurricane I built a while back!

I will probably build this as one of the kit options for a change. I'm eyeing up the A-2 of Bruno Hegenauer of JG 26. It dates from the period when they were marking the "stab" aircraft with their initials, this will be this one.



So far I've only found one photograph of the original but it is entirely standard for the period. Camouflage should be, as suggested, 71/02/65 on such an early version which will make a nice change.

More soon!

Cheers

Steve

[stona]

I've not had much time at the bench recently but I have made a little progress.

Just to show that this project has not been completely abandoned here is a few of the bits and pieces, mostly the resin stuff, as they stand today.



Cheers

Steve

[Vaughan]

Nice to see that your back in the driving seat on this one Steve.

[stona]

Quick update, maybe a photo later.

I've built a few PCM kits and by their very nature they can be a bit tricky. These sorts of kits don't have locating pins and tabs and you are expected to deal with fitting the various components as best you can.

Attempting to fit a radial engine, tail wheel well insert and cockpit tub to one side of the fuselage as per instructions is virtually impossible! I dry fitted several stages ahead to make sure everything would actually fit and then went in this order.

1 Attach tail wheel well to one side of fuselage (resin so CA glue)

2 Attach engine first to one, then the other side of the fuselage (resin and CA again). The fuselage halves are now joined at the front by the engine. Once fixed I built up some CA glue and baking powder filler behind it to make sure it stays where I've put it.

3 Insert cockpit tub from bottom of fuselage (knocking off gun sight at least a couple of times, eventually I drilled and pinned the damned thing to the instrument panel!) and attach first to one side then the other (resin and CA yet again).I added a couple of tabs beneath the tub to ensure it doesn't shift later.

4 Fit port and starboard exhausts from inside fuselage with difficulty because they should have been done as step 1 but I forgot them (resin again)

5 Zip up the fuselage with the good old extra thin cement.

This seems to have worked. I have referred more to Smith and Creek's Fw 190 Volume 1 1938-1943 than to the instructions.

As part of the dry fitting I taped together the wings, including the resin wheel well insert. In order for the wings to line up properly the insert will need a bit of thinning, nothing unusual there. The fit looks like it will be okay to good.

Since I've effectively torn up the instructions I am toying with the idea of using an old trick I used on their Hurricane. I might attach the upper wings to the fuselage first, before attaching the lower wing/wheel well assembly. This will ensure a nice clean joint in this tricky area.

These kits require a bit of initiative, but anyone with a modicum of experience would have no trouble figuring them out. Above is just my method, there will be other, maybe better, ways of overcoming the challenge. Hopefully my experience might help someone else taking a swing at this one!

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Pulled my chair up and watching intently

[eddiesolo]

Looking good there Steve, definitely a good looking kit and with plenty of scope to do various variations.

Si

[stona]

Cheers lads.

Despite all the blather above there isn't much to see!



The sharp eyed will notice that I haven't fitted the seat. The instructions would have you fit all the harness parts to the seat and fit it into the cockpit so that it would now be in place. The problem for me is that the shoulder straps on a Fw 190 did not attach to the seat but to the bulkhead behind it. At the stage I'm at the actual area to which they attach isn't even fitted.

I have attached the lap belts to the seat.



I will drop the seat into the cockpit later, then attach the shoulder belts to the correct place above and behind the seat before arranging them suitably.

Cheers

Steve

[flyjoe180]

Nice work Steve, the laps straps look brilliant.

[stona]

Thanks Joe. I don't want to be negative about what is a nice looking Fw 190 but this is not a straight forward kit to assemble. Of all the PCM kits I've made (Hurricane, Spitfire XIV, Tempest) this is definitely the one potentially most at home to Mr Cock Up!

If anyone is contemplating having a go you absolutely MUST plan and fit at least three or four steps ahead or it will bite you The front end of the fuselage can not be assumed to fit around the engine. The engine is a resin part and its exact diameter depends how much you file away in cleaning it up. You have to fit the fuselage to the various panels that mate with it AND the lower wing section. If you don't do this you will be in a world of you know what!

The cockpit "tub" is a bit vague too. You've got to make sure that it will mate with the rear fuselage deck or you'll have a gap between it and the seat exactly where the shoulder harness is supposed to attach. I fell for this one!

It is also VITAL to keep test fitting the upper wings over the lower wings and resin wheel well insert. You have to thin the insert enough that the two halves of the wings fit together, but not so much that the upper wings will not eventually mate to the fuselage.

Aren't limited run kits fun?

Cheers

Steve