[Serpiko]

Hi simmers and modelers! Here I'm showing you my first attempt to make a (minor) kit conversion.

I wanted to add a model of Franz Goetz's FW-190 D13 to my collection, since I liked the paintscheme very much. But, despite some web research, I couldn't find any 1/72 kit for this bird (only 1/48 or larger). So, I had no choice but to make my own "custom" D13 from a D9 kit!

Being this my first conversion, I chose as a Base the Airfix 1/72 FW190 D9 kit, which I had already built.
In case you want to try and experiment the same conversion, you may choose to use this kit for some reasons:

- CHEAP: if you mess things up beyond repair, you won't have wasted much cash (about 7 € in stores).
- EASY: the kit builds up easily and fits good.
- MINOR CHANGES: the conversion from D9 to D13 requires relatively little work.
- DECALS: the decals sheet already provides the correct crosses, the fuselage band, the "yellow 10" number and the "ace of spades" that you need for Goetz's D13.

To see a brief review about how the stock kit builds up, take a look here: viewtopic.php?f=170&t=30667

MODIFICATIONS

Since this is a small scale kit with somewhat basic detailing, there's no point in "picking the nits": you can be happy with recreating the main exterior changes from D9 to D13, without the need to reach absolute accuracy standards. Plus, Goetz's "yellow 10" paintscheme is so mottled that it alone will take on most of the final look of the model.

Actually, the only real changes in shape affect the nose: the upper MGs must be removed and while the supercharger air intake must be enlarged. So, I sliced MGs off and filled gaps with putty until I had flattened the cowling, then I sanded to get a smooth surface. To make the air the intake, i simply enlarged the existing piece by deforming the plastic with tools, then again putty and sanding finished the job (see the pic).



In order to reproduce the 20mm cannon that replaces the two MGs, I just painted the gun muzzle on the tip of the spinner and filled one of the inner slells exhausts on the belly (leaving only the left one).
The painjob was made 100% by hand brush.



Many of the necessary decals are in the kit, but some are missing. I left my model without serial number and hakenkruz on its tail and painted the white-bordered black stripes aside of the crosses on the fuselage. I also had to paint the white background of the aces of spades, since they were transparent. The white spiral on the spinner is hand painted, too. Stenciling was poor, so I just omitted it.



The black crosses under the wings are smaller than they should be, because I sliced them out of a pair of black-white fuselage crosses.



The bomb is the only part I added "out of the box". I've found no photos of Doras carrying ground ordnance, but a few fonts tell about the D13 having ground attack capability (it has in IL-2), so for something different I replaced the stock droptank with a bomb.



So that's it! My finished 1/72 D13 won't win any contest, nor shine with details, but i'm quite pleased with the result. Not that bad for an experiment!

[Hawker17]

Nice job, and in fact, you would win against my building skills.

[Deutschmark]

Nice build

Deutschmark