Hypnobear Posted July 26, 2010 Posted July 26, 2010 Hi all For my second of three builds, I will be painting an FW 190 in Japanese Navy colours. Also, if anyone is wodering why I chose the codename Fred for this, its because I looked in one of my Japanese aircraft books and found that the allies gave that name to what they thought was a FW 190 in Japanese service. Ill try and keep the backstory shorter this time, so here goes: By late 1942, the Japanese authorities were looking for a replacement fighter for the A6M2 Zero then in service with the Navy. Although the Zero was a good agile and quick fighter with a good range, it was becoming clear that it suffered from a lack of armament and armour for the pilot and fuel tanks, so a new fighter with improved armour and heavier armament was needed. Mitsubishi proposed to upgrade their Zero to fulfil the requirements, however Kawasaki also took up the challenge. The Kawasaki team did not think they could design a fighter from scratch which was better than the Zero in the time they had, so Kawasaki's design team looked into possibilities of license building a German aircraft instead. The Japanese team quickly became interested in Focke Wulf's FW 190, and, impressed by its combat achievements and performance, requested that an example of the aircraft and full set of blueprints was sent to Japan. By February 1943, test flights using the FW 190 sent by Germany were started, and the Japanese authorities allowed Kawasaki to start manufacturing the fighter. In June 1943, the first Ki 190's reached carrier units. However, Mitsubishi's upgraded A6M5 Zero was also beginning tests in June and by August, A6M5's also began to be used onboard carriers. Although the Ki 190 had better speed than the A6M5, the new Zero was prefered by both pilots and the authorities because of its range. The A6M5 had almost twice the range of the Ki 190, which was crucial in the Pacific due to the large areas the aircraft would need to patrol. This disadvantage proved to be the downfall of the Ki 190's operational career in the Navy, and although Kawasaki offered to produce a secnd version with increased range, the Japanese authorities decided not to go ahead with this as the modified aircraft would take a while to produce, armament, armour and performance would have to be sacrificed, and Mitsubishi had already started major production of the A6M5. Due to its range problems, the Ki 190 was removed from carriers by December 1943 and relegated to land based duties. Continuing production was also cancelled after around 300 planes were completed as Kawaski were instructed to work on other projects. The Ki 190 served throughout 1944 as a fighter bomber, however by 1945, all survivors were withdrawn as a lack of spare parts and general wear and tear forced the aircraft out of service The kit will be Italeri's Focke Wulf FW 190 A8/F: It will be finished with IJN green upper sides and grey underneath, and so I dont need to find an arrestor hook and make any changes to fit it, Ill just cheat and say its the land based one with naval equipment removed!
Daniel Posted July 26, 2010 Posted July 26, 2010 Another great thought out story, not sure it was shorter though (not that that is a problem)! Are you going to build all three concurrently? Dan
Hypnobear Posted July 26, 2010 Author Posted July 26, 2010 Another great thought out story, not sure it was shorter though (not that that is a problem)!Are you going to build all three concurrently? Dan Must have got carried away again! I think Ill build the two Japanese ones together as the painting will be simular. Just waiting to start now!
hacker Posted July 26, 2010 Posted July 26, 2010 Actually the japanese did recieve one 190 for evalution and was seriously thinking of manufacturing but only as a land base fighter http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/4...63/m/3061023807 check it out here plus there is a photo of a Ju 87 in Japanese markings on there too l did not know about
Nick Millman Posted July 26, 2010 Posted July 26, 2010 FWIW the 190 was imported and tested by the Army. Sources differ as to the actual sub-type and whether there was more than one. It was later used as a point of reference by Kawasaki in the conversion of Ki-61 to Ki-100. Kawasaki are more usually known as a manufacturer of Army aircraft. Of the top of my head I cannot think of any 1939-45 Kawasaki-manufactured Navy types. The "Ki 190" designation would be strictly an Army type designation referring to the kitai (airframe) number in a chronological sequence of allocation. The real Ki-190 allocation has never been identified so it could theoretically have been used for the Fw-190 but only as an Army type. The Navy designation would be something like AXFw1 (Fw 190). or Navy Experimental Type Fw Carrier Fighter. Then, had it gone into production and operational service it would have had to be sandwiched somewhere between the Zero A6M and Reppu A7M. Foreign types were allocated duplicate numbers, e.g. A7He1 and A8V1 so presuming that for some reason Reppu was not pursued as a Zero replacement in favour of a Kawasaki 190 development for the Navy it could have been A7K1 but that is stretching even a "what-if" scenario. The story is more feasible for an Army aircraft, especially in the consideration of specialised ground-attack types to counter Soviet armour, other than for the fact that the Japanese Army were not impressed by the flying characteristics or performance of the type and regarded it as inferior to the Ki-44 in all respects. Nick
Hypnobear Posted July 26, 2010 Author Posted July 26, 2010 I thought someone would pick me up on that! It did say in my book that the Japanese had an example of the FW 190 to test. I cant think of any naval Kawasaki built aircraft either, I just chose Kawasaki as the manufacturer as I couldnt really have the FW 190 and A6M5 by Mitsubishi as I dont think a company would compete against itself, and Id already planned an aircraft by Nakajima. I couldnt think what "A" designation to give it, so as I mentioned that the plane was relegated to land based duties, I could say that its designation would change to the Ki 190.
Nick Millman Posted July 26, 2010 Posted July 26, 2010 Even if it was a Navy land based aircraft it would still have a Navy A*** or Type # designation. The "kitai" (Ki) designation was strictly an Army system. The two services weren't too chummy but there are a few examples of co-operation, for example the use of the Army Ki-67 in torpedo bomber configuration by the Navy's 762nd Ku ("Yasukuni"). So your best bet might be to consider in similar fashion the "Ki-190" as an Army developed type in use with a Naval air unit "for some reason" - maybe Hiryu torpedo bomber escort! Nick
Hypnobear Posted July 26, 2010 Author Posted July 26, 2010 Even if it was a Navy land based aircraft it would still have a Navy A*** or Type # designation. The "kitai" (Ki) designation was strictly an Army system. The two services weren't too chummy but there are a few examples of co-operation, for example the use of the Army Ki-67 in torpedo bomber configuration by the Navy's 762nd Ku ("Yasukuni"). So your best bet might be to consider in similar fashion the "Ki-190" as an Army developed type in use with a Naval air unit "for some reason" - maybe Hiryu torpedo bomber escort!Nick Yeah, I like the "for some reason" part. It just happened basically!
Hypnobear Posted July 31, 2010 Author Posted July 31, 2010 Here is my first progress on the Ki 190, or A7Fw1 as the naval identification should be. Ive decided to do this as an aircraft used as a land based fighter bomber as I mentioned in my backstory, so Im planning to add several small bombs from Airfix's FW 190 I had in my spares box. I couldnt do a close up of the pilot as it was either blurry or a big strange blob
Hypnobear Posted July 31, 2010 Author Posted July 31, 2010 Aircraft now built during the afternoon, all waiting for camouflage tomorrow now Wings and fuselage together And with the undercarriage added Undercarriage wasnt that easily put together compared to Academy's kit, but I still got it on
CPNGROATS Posted August 1, 2010 Posted August 1, 2010 Looks like the IJNAF production line is moving right along....!! Cheers, ggc
Hypnobear Posted August 1, 2010 Author Posted August 1, 2010 Looks like the IJNAF production line is moving right along....!!Cheers, ggc Thanks to everyone for their comments so far! The production line is going very quickly, I even went to Flixton today, and still got almost all the painting on all three builds done! Heres how the Ki 190 stands as of today.... With the coat of IJN green and grey... Bombload on, Ive probably put them in the wrong place though I tried to paint some of the wingwalk lines on, but the acrylic paints I was using didnt come out too good, so Ill go over them tomorrow and try something else. Probably maks them if I can get my hands on some masking tape Thats all for today folks, a bit of weathering planned for tomorrow!
TaiidanTomcat Posted August 2, 2010 Posted August 2, 2010 Nice job, a careless observer would certainly think "Zero"!
Hypnobear Posted August 2, 2010 Author Posted August 2, 2010 Nice job, a careless observer would certainly think "Zero"! Thanks! I agree there too, its only really the canopy and tailplane that gives it away! Theres some more progress on the weathering, however it wasnt as straight forward as hoped as my technique of using sellotape to remove some of the camouflage didnt work, so I had to hand paint on some weathering. Its a bit of a dirty butcher bird now! Maybe a bit overdone... Before... and after... And after some oil stains and other general wear and tear... All ready for decals now!
Hypnobear Posted August 2, 2010 Author Posted August 2, 2010 Last update, and the Ki 190 is complete with decals.... I think out of all three of my builds, this is my favourite. I may not be able to do super detailling and perfect paint work, but I think its good considering my limited skill, and I really enjoyed it, didnt cause me any major problems for a change My first groupbuild complete, I feel really stupid having finished within three days Any comments welcome, I like comments!
TaiidanTomcat Posted August 3, 2010 Posted August 3, 2010 I really like it! can't go overboard with weathering on Japanese aircraft either. I really like the heavy bomb load out as well
Hypnobear Posted August 3, 2010 Author Posted August 3, 2010 Thanks for the replies! I really like it! can't go overboard with weathering on Japanese aircraft either. I really like the heavy bomb load out as well Im glad you like it, looks as if it would have been quite effective in the ground attack role with that bombload!
ChancerUK Posted August 3, 2010 Posted August 3, 2010 I miust admitt that the FW190 looks like it realy belongs on Japanes markings, great model, nicely done.
Daniel Posted August 5, 2010 Posted August 5, 2010 Looks good to me, I have never built a Japanese plane, but the heavy weathering is par for the course generally with them. And well done on being first! You'll easy finish your 3 builds at that rate! Dan
Hypnobear Posted August 11, 2010 Author Posted August 11, 2010 Just added some scenery to liven it up a bit I hope you enjoyed watching my progress as much as I have had making the model
Daniel Posted September 10, 2010 Posted September 10, 2010 Well done, any chance of a group picture of your builds for this GB? Dan
Hypnobear Posted September 10, 2010 Author Posted September 10, 2010 Well done, any chance of a group picture of your builds for this GB?Dan Could do a group one, but all three aircraft including some others were damaged after a shelf they were on collapsed! Ive managed to repair all of them though, which is good They suffered surprisingly light damage for the fall they had really, and I think the shelf landed on top of them too....
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