The Little World

When you want to build a kit straight out of the box, the first thing you do is cut the seals and open the box. When you want to build it to a different variant the first thing you do is go to the computer and open Google. It is the source of much of the basic information that you need for an alternate build – and it can be either so prolific or so pinched…

In my quest for an alternative Focke Wulf 190A I thought I had a clear enough vision – I would build it as a Rafwaffe captured example – the colour scheme would be a variant upon the yellow underside/fighter camouflage topsides that the air testing unit used for most smaller planes. There were clear B/W photos and several colour profiles that came up on the first Google search.

Were I a simple soul and content with this I could have screen saved the largest of the profiles and painted to that. There were several schemes used as the RAF was lucky enough to capture or have handed to them several examples of the FW 190. But I was lured down the page by a wide search caption and wandered into the USAAF Focke Wulfs…and wondered if I should have one of them as a contrast to the RAF Heinkel HE 111 that already is in the museum. The US Focke Wulfs seem to have been gained by the US Army over-running Axis airfields before the original owners could destroy the planes.

They are colourful, to say the least – but they do not seem to have been taken over quickly enough by a testing unit to gain a uniform appearance. There are bright blue, red, and yellow examples plus a number of half-painted hack aircraft. They are real enough, but tend to resemble clown cars.

So I went further. The Czechs, Yugoslavs, Soviets, and Poles all had examples of the Focke Wulf 190 in their control at some stage of the game – and they all had at least one flying example. The colour schemes for the Soviet captures are simple copies of contemporary Soviet fighter paint jobs. Easy to do but uninspiring.

The Yugoslav example is patchy, but colourful…the Czech fighters are close to RAF standard day fighter of the period. I have leftover decals for each of these air forces so these were on the ballot paper. Can’t say their air forces excite much interest in me…

But finally I hit one. Simple scheme, but characteristic. Paint colour readily available. Set of leftover decals in readiness. And a back story about the type in foreign service that is fascinating. Tomorrow the reveal…