1:48 Fw 190D-9

A long nose that came late

The Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9 came about by converting a proven type to the V12 Jumo 213 engine. The fuselage had to be lengthened both at the front and at the rear so that the balance stayed right, and out of that arose the silhouette for which the nickname long nose took hold among the crews. The machine reached the units in the autumn of 1944 and flew until the last weeks of the war. The engine was given an annular radiator in the nose, so many an observer mistook the V powerplant for a radial.

The squadron that watched over the take-off of jets

The most conspicuous finish was carried by a small unit charged with protecting an airfield from which jet-powered Me 262s took off. They were at their most vulnerable precisely during the take-off run and the landing, and that is why piston fighters circled above the runway. So that their own anti-aircraft defense would not mistake them for the enemy, the lower surfaces of the wing and fuselage were given prominent transverse stripes in red and white. The other units made do with more traditional markings: a letter or a numeral by the cross, a unit badge under the cockpit and a thin band around the tail section.

Accuracy a brush cannot match

The canopy frames on this type are narrow and run off in several directions, so edging them by hand tends to be protracted. Pre-cut pieces shorten that to minutes and, thanks to the inner set, the view into the cockpit stays clean. The insignia stencils are useful even where a decal on a saturated finish would show through or break over raised rivets. The riveting on the fuselage sides is pronounced, so the difference between a sprayed and an applied cross is visible even from under a matte coat.