Instruction set for the FW190

 The package should include all the parts listed

2 fuse halves, two tapered wing panels, 1 wing center section, two fuselage doublers, horizontal and vertical tail, control horns and pushrod wire, firewall plywood, and 1 roll of colored tape.

 
I generally start with the tail group. Look at Fig. 1 for a side view of the hinge line in the elevator. (Note: these instructions will refer to drawings that are included at the end of this manual). Find the approx. hinge line by slipping the elevator into the fin (or just hold it up to the fin and line the tab and slot up) and pick a rib that will allow the elevator to move up and down without binding on the clearance hole in the fin. After finding the rib where you want the hinge, slice only the bottom surface of the coroplast. Then trim the flashing off so the hinge will bend up and down without binding on itself. Then make dashed cuts in the hinge, this makes the hinge bend easier. I take an Xacto knife and make 1/2" cuts every 1/4" or so. Bend the hinge up and down a few times to loosen it up.

 

The tailpieces are glued together with GOOP (that’s the retail name - E6000 is the industrial name). A small bead along each side of the fin will do. Then block them so they will dry straight and perpendicular. Thick CA or 5min epoxy glue will work also but will not be as crash resistant. Silicone glue will work too but don't get it anywhere you will need to tape or glue. Set the tail aside to cure and start the fuselage.
Before making the wings you need to prepare the wings for the ailerons. Most of our combat war birds have tapered wings. Tapered wings tend to get thin at the trailing edge towards the tip. Our aileron stock is 4 mil (about 1/8 inch thick) coroplast cut from the left over horizontal elevator material. So before you start prepping the wings, you will need to trim and sand the trailing edge. Make it a constant thickness, root to tip, so that it will approximately match the coroplast material. Usually the root is at about the right thickness. If it is thicker than the aileron stock, sand it down a little first. Then use a straight edge and mark a line from the root to the tip so that when the wing is trimmed, the trailing edge is a constant thickness. In effect you will be making the wing trailing edge a little more tapered by maybe 3/8 inch at the tip. This is OK, we have sized the wing to take the trimming into account. For the ailerons to work efficiently and smoothly, the trailing edge has to match the thickness of the ailerons.

The FW190 wing is in two halves + center section and will be very close to the scale wingspan.  Use the supplied wing tip pattern for the wing tip shape and cut and sand it to shape. After the tip shape is cut, smooth the wing tip by rounding over the end of the wing a bit with sandpaper.  That will eliminate the thick and ugly wing tip that shows up after cutting to the tip pattern. Sand the top and bottom surfaces of the wing and the center section smooth with 150 to 220 grit sand paper and dust off thoroughly. This helps the tape to stick.
We have included a center section that has the dihedral cut into it. Check the dihedral for accuracy before gluing the panels to the center, sand carefully if they need truing up. After the dihedral is checked and wings are sanded, place a weight on the center section and block the wing tip at about 2-3/16" from the table to the top surface of the wing tip. When you are satisfied with the dihedral, Use 5min Epoxy (epoxy is best) or spray glue to stick them together. Very important: before the glue sets, MAKE SURE the wing panels and center section are in the correct alignment with each other. One wing panel can not be twisted in relation to the other wing panel or you will have a plane that will continually bank one direction or the other or that will have a nasty habit of snap rolling. NOT GOOD!

Note: This is a little tool designed to cut a groove into a foam wing (or fuselage for that matter) of a specific width and depth. I used a thin piece of wood, wrapped and glued 80 grit sand paper around it. Then, with some micro C-clamps, clamped a length of aluminum angle to it as a stop so the groove will only cut so deep. Pick your sandpaper board so it will cut a groove wide enough for the spar you want to use and set the stop so it will cut just deep enough that the spar is flush with the top of the wing. 

 Note: The small font text closely follows the written instructions included in the kit. The pictures here may not exactly match the text so I will use this larger text to augment the instruction text with extra notes and tips.....

Now you are at the point where you have to decide if you want a spar or stiffener in the wing besides the tape. My belief is that a plane that bends, doesn't break! But with the kind of power we are putting on these planes now, it may be worthwhile to strengthen them. I have been flying this plane very well done exactly the way this instruction sheet outlines in the next section (strapping tape spars) but a bad crash can soften a wing panel. You can stiffen the wing dramatically by epoxy-ing several layers of fiberglass or carbon fiber tape along the top and bottom of the wing.

Some of you are having good results with 1/4 x 1/4 inch balsa spars epoxied into an appropriate groove at the thickest part of the wing. I use 12” bamboo shish kabob skewers – they are cheap and work great! Sand a little trough to lay it in first so it blends with the surface of the wing. 

Here the groove sander is being used on the bottom of the wing. On this wing I used 12" bamboo shish kabob skewers.

Since this wing has two dihedral joints, I made a short piece for the center and used scarf joints to join the wing spars to the center. I only went up the wing the length of the skewers, about 12", and used strapping tape to the tip. 

 Another idea that one of our customers came up with is a 3/16” dia. hardwood dowel or carbon fiber tube imbedded in the bottom surface only. The theory being that the wing will still flex and the top surface will compress a little but since there is nothing that will buckle, the wing will survive hard G’s or a crash. In any case, we have found that if you put in a spar, most of the extra strapping tape and extra layers of packing tape can be eliminated thereby making a lighter wing. So make your spar if you want and put two strips of strapping tape over them on top and bottom and forget most of the rest of the taping below except I would still run colored packing tape from leading to trailing edge from the center of the wing out about 8 inches on the top and bottom before the main wing taping. This will help stiffen the wing torsionally. If you put spars in, skip down to the Ailerons section below and proceed with the wing taping. 
Spars can be glued with several different adhesives. 5 min epoxy works great. Elmers wood workers glue works good also but lately I have been using Probond urethane glue. This is an interesting adhesive in that it uses moisture in the wood as a "kicker" to start the curing process. As it cures, it will foam up and, if allowed to, expand about 5 times its original bulk. This ability to expand will fill the groove and lock the spar to the foam as the glue seeks out grips microscopic pores in the foam and wood. After fitting the spar, pull it out and lay a small bead of urethane glue in the bottom of the groove. Then quickly dip the spar in water, shake and wipe off the excess liquid and press the spare into the groove.

After embedding the spare into the wing groove, you will have to seal the groove with tape. The wing above has a layer of masking tape over the spare. A strip of packing tape would work better. Make sure it is sealed very well because remember what I said about the glue expanding? Well, it will seek out even the tiniest little hole and bubble out of it. Then you will have to sand it off in the morning and it is pretty tough to sand. This wing has seen lots of hard flying and combats and is still holding up very well. You could use Epoxy to attach the spars and it would work very well also but this is something new and is seems to work very well.

After applying the strapping tape to the wings, it is time to prepare the ailerons. Cut the ailerons from the elevator sheet. Make the ailerons about 1/2 wide and, if you use the full length of the elevator sheet, should be just longer than the wing panels. The ailerons are just right if you slice the coroplast so that two complete ribs remain with half a rib left on each side - see fig 4. Position the ailerons so the inboard edge will clear the fuse by about 1/4 inch. You could encapsulated these in tape before they are attached to the wing (see fig. 4) or tape them the way they are – your choice. 

Center the fuselage on the wing and, at the trailing edge, make a mark ¼ inch from the side of the fuse. This is where the ailerons will start and should give plenty of clearance for aileron movement. First look at Fig. 4 for visual aid on how to hinge the ailerons. Set the wing flat on a table, top side up, and lay the aileron along it. Use three tiny pieces of tape to hold the aileron and wing together with about an 1/8-inch gap between them. Lay a strip of colored packing tape along the top of the trailing edge of the wing and aileron together to create the top “hinge”. 

 

Don't worry about the wing tip shape of the ailerons because we will use the wing tip pattern to trim them after they are covered and attached.

Flip the aileron up and lay back on the top surface of the wing and use a small piece of tape to temporarily hold the aileron in that position, that will leave your two hands free for the next step.
Stick a strip of tape along the back of the wing and the aileron, smoothing the tape down on the bottom surface of the aileron and the bottom of the trailing edge, then open it up, lay the aileron flat. 

Turn the wing upside down and use a blunt object (window screen tool works perfectly) to press the top and bottom tapes together to complete the hinge. Do this to both ailerons and after they are attached, get your wing tip pattern and trim the ailerons to match the pattern. If this is difficult to figure out, see our web instructions for step by step pictures. The main idea is for the top and bottom wing tape to form the hinge by sticking them together between the aileron and trailing edge of the wing. This makes a very strong gapless hinge.

When covering wings with packing tape, follow this simple taping convention: Always start at the back and work forward overlapping about 1/4". This way the tape edges will flow with the wind instead of pointing into the wind. Another good idea is to always start with the bottom of the wing so that the finished wing always has the top tape wrapping over the bottom surface. It just looks a little neater.

 Again, always apply the tape from trailing edge to the leading edge with the typical ¼" overlap. The leading edge should have a couple layers of tape wrapped around it by the time the top and bottom covering is done. We recommend adding another layer or two of tape to the leading edge for extra protection. Stretching the tape modestly while sticking it down will help it go on smoothly but be sure to balance the stretching or you could have a wing that bends up or down.

 

Let half the wing hang over the table when taping the bottom.

 

Use slits and tabs to tape around curves like this wing tip.

Also notice that the motor mount and firewall are set up and sealed with tape - then glued to the front of the fuse.

 Now that the wing is done, it is time to set up the aileron servo. Refer to the fig 2, for an approximate location. I usually place it at about 1/3 of the chord from the trailing edge of the wing. On the FW190, the fuel tank will determine how far forward it can be located. Hold the servo in position and trace around it. Use a sharp knife to cut a pocket for the servo. Make it a tight fit. The wing is thin at the servo point so the servo will probably hang out the bottom surface of the wing. No problem, after the wing is finished and the servo glued in, fashion a tiny box from scrap coroplast around it and put several layers of packing tape over it and the servo part that hangs out the bottom of the wing. Install the control horns and connect the servo arms with the ailerons using the piano wire provided. I like to use Z bends at the ends and make a kink in the wire for easy adjustment. There are other ways to connect the servo to the horns too so if you have a favorite way - go ahead and use it. 

The control throws should be about 3/16”” up or down. This will make the plane handle quick but fairly easy to control at high speed.

 
We supply a chunk of plywood and a pattern for the firewall. You will have to lay out the engine and mount you are using and trim the front of the fuselage so that the firewall, mount, and engine combined will position the prop and spinner to clear the front of the fuselage doubler. This is much easier to do before the fuse is sanded. If you cut the nose, be sure not to change the firewall angle. The face of the firewall should be perpendicular to the wing and tail centerlines with no up, down, or side thrust. Use the pattern to cut a firewall to shape from the plywood provided.

Our fuse length is sized to fit most motors. No trimming should be needed on the nose for most engines of the .20 to .25 size, but set up your engine/motor mount and check for nose length just to see that the prop will clear the front of the fuse doublers. We will trim the fuse doublers if the prop interferes with the front of the them.

 

 

Use the firewall to get the main shape of the fuse. Notice how the canopy is shaped. 

Make sure the wing fits the saddle and sand the bottom of the rear fuse to shape.

 After setting up the engine and firewall, you will need to glue the two halves of the fuselage together. Use 3M 77 or other foam compatible spray glue or use Epoxy if you want. If you use spray glue, use some caution and do not put too heavy a coat of glue on the foam and be sure to let it dry to a strong tack before sticking the two halves together. If the coat of glue is too heavy or the fuse halves brought together before drying, it could melt the foam! If you use glue other than 3M 77, work quickly and blow the glue or fan the parts to dry the glue before the foam starts to melt. Use a piece of cardboard or scrap coroplast to smear any globs of glue out before they can melt the foam.

I recommend using 4-40 T-nuts (blind nuts) to fasten the motor mount to the firewall. After getting the T-nuts set up, stick the firewall to the front of the fuse with a coat of spray glue or 5 min epoxy and sand the fuse to the shape of the firewall. Use coarse sand paper (40 grit or so) to rough the shape and then smooth it with 100 to 150 grit. Go ahead and shape the rest of the fuselage too. We have some fuse cross-sections drawings to give an idea how to shape the fuselage but basically the FW190 is sort-of rounded at the cowl, then turns to a oblong shape from the back of the canopy to the tail. The nose is sanded with a sanding block to match the firewall. The FW 190 has very little length in front of the wing so just round it out to match the firewall. As you sand the fuse you will want to shape the canopy. The FW190 canopy is very tiny and skinny with a slant in each side of the canopy.

 
Fuel Tank

The fuel tank is laid out and cut in at this time. I like to go in from the left side of the fuselage, at about the center line, and dig a pocket that fits the tank snugly with about a 3/8 inch of foam left behind the firewall for strength and cushion in case of a crash. I like to crowd the tank close to the left surface of the fuse to give me a little extra foam on the right side to make a tunnel for the throttle servo rod without accidentally boring a hole into the tank.

You will have to accommodate the lines coming from your particular tank and a good way to help everything slip into place is to make the pocket long enough so that there is a little space for the fuel and vent tubes at the front of the tank area. After slipping the tank in, cut a chunk of scrap foam to wedge the tank in and keep it from sliding forward and possibly pinching the lines in a less than elegant landing. Locate and drill holes for the fuel and vent lines and install the tank. There is very little room for the tank in the FW190 so a 4oz tank is about the max. Most of the tank will be above the front part of the wing so you will have to plan the location along with the aileron servo position. Crowd the tank as close to the top of the fuselage as you can to leave enough room for a servo under it and possibly a small battery pack or micro receiver above. There are several ways to get the aileron servo in position. The simplest is to use one servo in the center and run pushrod wires to the aileron horns but since the tank is above it, you will have to sink the servo into the wing a bit to keep a low profile. If the bottom of the servo hangs through the wing, you will have to protect it with a simple protective box of coroplast and tape – more on that later when we are covering the wing.

 After the tank is fitted and installed, start at the bottom and work up, covering the entire firewall with strips of strapping tape. Let the ends cover the nose back about and inch or two. This will strengthen the nose and start sealing the firewall. I have started covering and sealing the firewall with the colored packing tape at this time also.

 

After sanding the fuse to shape, squirt a little spray glue on the foam and use strips of strapping tape to strengthen the firewall mounting to the fuse.

After the strapping tape, apply a layer of packing tape to seal the foam.

  
Fuel Tank

The fuel tank is laid out and cut in at this time. I like to go in from the left side of the fuselage, at about the center line, and dig a pocket that fits the tank snugly with about a 3/8 inch of foam left behind the firewall for strength and cushion in case of a crash. I like to crowd the tank close to the left surface of the fuse to give me a little extra foam on the right side to make a tunnel for the throttle servo rod without accidentally boring a hole into the tank.

 

 

Now mark the tank cutout and dig it out.

The tank takes up a lot of room over the wing in the FW190 so use a 4oz tank, our Dubro rectangle tank works well. Notice a chunk of foam at the front of the tank - wedge a piece in to hold the tank in tightly and to keep it from moving forward in the unlikely (Ha!) event of a crash.

 You will have to accommodate the lines coming from your particular tank and a good way to help everything slip into place is to make the pocket long enough so that there is a little space for the fuel and vent tubes at the front of the tank area. After slipping the tank in, cut a chunk of scrap foam to wedge the tank in and keep it from sliding forward and possibly pinching the lines in a less than elegant landing. Locate and drill holes for the fuel and vent lines and install the tank. There is very little room for the tank in the FW190 so a 4oz tank is about the max. Most of the tank will be above the front part of the wing so you will have to plan the location along with the aileron servo position. Crowd the tank as close to the top of the fuselage as you can to leave enough room for a servo under it and possibly a small battery pack or micro receiver above. There are several ways to get the aileron servo in position. The simplest is to use one servo in the center and run pushrod wires to the aileron horns but since the tank is above it, you will have to sink the servo into the wing a bit to keep a low profile. If the bottom of the servo hangs through the wing, you will have to protect it with a simple protective box of coroplast and tape – more on that later when we are covering the wing.
After the tank is fitted and installed, start at the bottom and work up, covering the entire firewall with strips of strapping tape. Let the ends cover the nose back about and inch or two. This will strengthen the nose and start sealing the firewall. I have started covering and sealing the firewall with the colored packing tape at this time also.

New procedure! before applying the doublers, run a bead of goop along the edge of the firewall then stick the doublers on with spray glue and staple them to the edge of the firewall.

Notice the tank access door and the coroplast filler over the nose. This has goop under it also before stapling it to the firewall. Now put strips of strapping tape around the cowl to cinch it down tight.

 You should now have a sanded fuselage with a firewall taped on and tank installed so the next step is to prepare the fuselage doublers for gluing on. These are die-cut from 2mil coroplast material and will cover each side of the fuselage from about the back of the wing forward and will be long enough to make the side of a cowl. If you miscalculate and get the engine a little to far back, it is easy to trim the front of the doubler a little to make it fit or cut it off and use a bottle to make a cowl - more on that later.

To prepare the doublers, do two things. The first is to use a blunt object and score the ribs on the inside of each doubler to help them conform to the shape of the fuse, and the second is to locate and cut a trap door on the side that you cut the tank in for access to the tank later on (that would be the left side if you cut the tank in on the left). Cut the door on only three sides so that one of the ribs in the coroplast will make a built in hinge. Cut the hinge just like you did the elevator hinge so the door will open out.

 
Use 77 spray glue and spray the fuselage doublers and the fuselage. After the glue dries a little and you are ready to install them, run a bead of Goop on the edge of the sealed and taped firewall. This is optional but the Goop creates an incredibly strong joint between the doublers and the firewall. When you are ready to put the doublers on,  very carefully line them up to the wing saddles before sticking them to the fuse – you only have one shot at it because the glue will stick so make sure it’s right before you stick them. Now you will see why you scored the inside of the doublers. They should conform rather nicely to the contour of the sanded fuse and if you have let the contact cement dry well, should mould themselves to the nose, a Monokote iron can be used to heat and shape them to the foam if you wish. You should also begin to see the shape of the lower edge of the cockpit.

Put strips of strapping tape on the wing saddle. 

Stick a strip of strapping tape along the back of the fuselage. Use the doublers to define the canopy line and cut it off. Run a couple strips of strapping tape over the rear deck and I usually use a strip of it over the back edge of fuse doublers too.

 After the doublers are on, it is time to remove the canopy. Use a sharp razor knife to slice it all the way around until it comes off. The fuselage doublers and the foam fuse define the bottom canopy line pretty well but you will have to adlib a little at the back of the canopy.  
After slicing it off, set it aside as it will probably need to be hollowed out a little to clear the servos before covering it with tape. It is helpful to smooth the interior area foam where the canopy came off with sand paper. This will make a smoother surface for the radio installation and fuse taping.

 We have included some extra 2mil coroplast with the kit. It will be the left over material from the sheet the doublers came in. This will be used for fill between the fuse doublers on the top of the fuselage nose from the firewall back to the canopy and the under belly from the firewall to the front of the wing saddle. It is a great idea to leave the underbelly filler about a half inch long so you can slip the front of the wing under it when the wing is glued on. You will end up with a nose section that is completely covered with coroplast.

This would be a good time to double check the engine fit and location. Check the clearance for the prop/spinner and front of the cowl. Before you can do that you may have to trim the doubler to clear the muffler and you may have to punch a hole for the needle valve to poke through.

Here is the key to the outstanding strength of our planes.....

After fitting the extra 2mil coroplast top and bottom, glue them on with spray glue. Use a hand tacker or staple gun to staple through the coroplast into the edge of the firewall all the way around. This will make the firewall very solid and able to withstand unbelievable crash forces. If you don't have a staple gun, use 1/2 inch wire nails, upholstery tacks, or even thumbtacks. Just be careful that you don't drive them through the fuel lines that should be already pulled through the firewall.

firewall.

Before proceeding with the taping, spray another light coat of 77 spray glue over the foam part of the fuselage and let it dry.

The second major key to the strength of our planes is to wrap strapping tape around the nose from the firewall back to the canopy. Do the same on the under belly from the wing saddle to the firewall. Lay the strips side by side and pull them hard enough to cinch the coroplast down tight to the foam. I use long enough strips to go over the top and down the sides about half way then turn it over and do the belly the same way. I like to do the same thing with the wing saddle. Lay strips of strapping tape side by side and cover the whole wing saddle and let the ends run up the side of the doublers about an inch. Pull these tight as you put them on too. 

When strapping tape is wrapped radially around the nose and wing saddle, you will make the nose of the plane virtually unable to crush or buckle. The strength of this construction will be evident on the first ground plant.

The wing has been covered and the aileron servo is installed. Notice that the tank leaves very little room for the servo! The servo is actually farther back than should be for efficient aileron control but the finished plane flew super anyway. However, I would recommend moving the servo farther forward, about an inch, and sinking it lower into the wing to clear the bottom of the tank. You may need to raise the tank a bit too. The only other way would be to sink a micro servo into each side of the fuse or imbed one into each wing panel so each aileron has a separate servo. If you use one servo as shown, the bottom of the servo will hang through the wing so you will need to protect the bottom of it with a little box of scrap coroplast taped over it. 

TIP: when trying to tape a curved fuselage surface with packing tape it will tend to bunch and pucker. Stick the tape along the flattest surface and slice the edge that is hanging over about every ½", then starting at the back, working forward, smooth each little flap of tape over the curved edge. The little flaps will overlap each preceding flap and the curve will be much smoother. After the fuselage is taped up, use a razor blade to open the tail slots and wrap the excess tape flaps into the slots.   

Now we are ready to start covering the fuselage with the colored packing tape. Curved and rounded surfaces, as found on FW190s and most other war birds, can be a bit of a challenge to the first time foamy builder. My first bit of advice is to relax and don't stress out about a few wrinkles. We really don't care too much about how it looks because these planes are designed to maximize fun, take extreme punishment, and then throw away! Now, that having been said, with a little care, a few tips, and experience at sticky-tape handling, you will be able to turn out a reasonable looking product also.

The place to start is at the wing saddle. You should already have strapping tape covering the saddle from side to side so now we want to cover it with the color tape. Start at the trailing edge of the saddle and lay packing tape across the saddle letting the tape run up the side of the doublers an inch or so. Keep laying in strips of tape with about a 1/4 inch overlapping the preceding strip until the saddle is completely covered.

After the saddle is covered side to side, you can cover the fuselage. First lay a strip of strapping tape along each side from the nose to the tail then start laying strips of colored packing tape on the fuselage from front to back. I like to start on the bottom and work up the sides. Overlap the preceding strip by about 1/4 to 1/2 inch or more until the whole fuselage is covered. Use the tip outlined above to help the tape conform to compound curves, unless you like lots of wrinkles. If you make lots of slits to help the tape conform, it is sometimes good to lay another strip of tape so that the previous slits are covered -- even if it means overlapping the strips of tape an inch or more.

If your plane will use the doublers to make the cowl, it is a good idea to let the tape run long enough to tape around the front of the doubler to cover the inside of the engine compartment all the way back to the firewall.

You should have the fuselage covered pretty well by now. If you cut the canopy off your plane, let the excess edges of tape wrap into the canopy area. You will have to slice it to get to stick smoothly. Check the canopy fit to see if taping changed anything, sand it a little if needed.

At this point you should have a fuselage that is completely taped up. The tail group should be dry and ready to install now. I use a coat of 77-spray glue on the part of the tail that slips into the fuselage. Now, you have to be fast so have the slot in the fuse open (slice along the covered up slot and push the excess tape into the slot) and ready to receive the tail group. Then, quickly spray a wet coat of 77 glue on the parts of the tail that fit into the fuse. Before the glue starts to set, slide the tail into the slots of the fuse. Make sure the fin is straight and true with the centerline of the fuse and that the horizontal tail is laying flat on the saddle then squish the sides of the fuse onto the fin. If you are not careful, it is easy to give your plane a permanent right or left turn by bending the back of the fuse one way or the other. The goal here is to assemble the tail group and fuse while the glue is still wet to allow a little slippage so they can be aligned properly---good luck, work fast! An alternate would be fast curing epoxy. Apply a strip of packing tape under the fuse to close up the tail slot, then run a small bead of Goop on either side of the elevator to stick and seal the tail to fuse joint. Block the fuse and tail so they will cure in good alignment. We like Goop because it is extremely tough and sticks incredibly well to tape and coroplast.

You should now have a completed fuselage ready for wing installation and radio gear!  

As you can see the mechanical linkage angle is not the best or most efficient but it does work. Notice the dug out foam for servo arm clearance and the slots in the side of the fuse for the pushrods. drill a hole through the fuse to bring the servo wire up to the canopy area.  
This is how this plane turned out for radio placement. This plane has a .21 Thunder tiger marine motor in it. To balance it the battery is cut in a deep pocket under the rear deck of the canopy. You can see a tiny bit of yellow. This a 350mah battery pack. In the middle of the cockpit are the throttle (far) servo and the elevator (near) servo. Both are FMA S80s. Although tiny, the S80 has performed very well under very strenuous conditions. All you can see of the FMA Tetra receiver is the plug block to the front of the cockpit. The receiver is cut into a pocket just above the tank. See, I told you it was tight. The FW190 is a very small plane and with the high pro .21, is an excellent performer.

You could throw some decals on it right now and it would be ready to fly, but I like to monkey with paint. So the next section will cover how to spiff it up a little.
This section will cover how to prepare the tape for paint and some scale decorating techniques

Use 220 grit wet/dry automotive sandpaper (dry sand don't use water) to prepare the tape for paint. There are, no doubt, other types of paper out there that will do a similar job. As you sand the tape you will notice the finish will get dull and little marbles of junk will kind of roll off the finish, this is the shine coming off the tape and to get the paint to stick well, most of the surface will need to be dull. Since this is tape over foam, there will be many little dips and imperfections that will stay shiny but don't sweat it just do the best you can. Sanding it will also tend to smooth out the tape wrinkles a little bit.
We have found that Krylon sticks pretty well to sanded tape. I use a variety of greens, grays, and blues with Hunter Green satin my favorite for most British, Japanese and some German cammo colors with gray and Sage Green highlights. Krylon makes a Dull Aluminum color that works well for silver planes and canopies such as this FW 190 canopy. The only problem with the silver is that it is very easy to wipe off with fuel and solvents. We will deal with that problem in a minute. 

Most FW 190s I've seen were light gray or gray/green with dark green or gray mottling so this one was sprayed over lightly with Sage Green to cover the dark green tape. I should say that this plane could very well be left the green tape color and decorated for combat with the same decals as shown here. however, the plane should have been covered in white for the scheme at the left - would have been a lot easier to paint. Any way, after the light green is applied, quickly spray spots and stripes with Hunter Green and primer gray leaving some of the light green showing through. This may not look the way you want it the first time but the paint is not sprayed on heavy and dries very fast and if I don't like the way a spot looks, I hit with another color or the base color until it looks just right. Don't worry if it's not completely dry, just spray over it with the next color. All the painting you see on this plane only took about a half hour and the rest of the decoration only took an additional hour of labor before these pictures were shot. 
I usually start painting the bottom first so the top can be painted without having to flip it over, possibly scratching the top side before it dries hard. I never really care much if the bottom gets scratched - because it will anyway. The bottom of this plane got a coat of light gray with sky blue mottling. 

If you have a graphics program on your computer, it is a fairly simple matter to make up country markings and squadron designations. Scale them to a size that looks about right and print them out on standard paper and spray glue them on. Alternatively,  print them on full sheet sticky - back label paper from the office supply store. The blue and white stripes are colored electricians tape found at the hardware store. Draw some panel lines on with a permanent marker - a Sharpie works good. The black lines on the canopy are automotive pin stripe tape. 

 After all the stripes, lettering and insignias are on, use clear packing tape to cover and protect them from the fuel and abrasion. They will last pretty well, especially if you can seal the edges of the tape well and cover the paper completely. I've had oil seep under a wrinkle and mess up the markings a little but I don't sweat it too much. If it starts looking too bad, just remove them and spray over it or add a new one. Clean the oily surface thoroughly with mineral spirits (paint thinner) before trying to re-tape or re-paint. 

One last thing, Krylon paint resists the spent oil fairly well. However, it will soften and/or wear off over time. I actually like the look as it resembles a combat plane after a few battles. But, if you find the right clear poly-urethane, like Minwax brand or similar, you can spray a couple coats over the whole thing and it seems to resist the fuel better. None of these spray finishes will hold up indefinitely against nitro fuel, especially the raw fuel but it's cheap and quick and sticks fairly well. If somebody out there has a good idea for a better finish, we are open to suggestions. We haven't tried the sprays that match Mono-kote so that could be a possibility. Krylon is simply easy to find and one can will do a dozen planes.

That's about it for the painting. The key is: do it fast! Due to the rough treatment these planes receive, there is really no reason to belabor the decorating process. The problem with WWII birds is that most of the color schemes are hard to see in the air and this one is no exception but combat rules dictate that it should look fairly authentic and the decals and lettering help visibility.  
Now lets take it one step further and add a cowl to this plane...............
Variety and grocery stores are good sources for inexpensive and plentiful cowls. take your tape measure to the store and hunt around until you find something that fits. In this case, K-Mart had a clear storage container in the "food storage container" section that fit the plane perfectly. If you can't find one small enough, get a larger diameter and slice it so you can close the diameter down by overlapping the edges and holding it with goop and pop-rivets. Bleach bottles, peanut butter jars, and pop bottles can work for different radial cowl planes.  

As you can see the diameter was about right. and the shape was very close to the real thing.
First make the engine room ready for the cowl by cutting off the cowl formed by the fuselage doublers (which look a little funky but work very well and from 10 feet, don't look too bad - specially at 70mph). I suggest using a quick-fuel valve to make it easy to fuel up the plane with the cowl on. Leave a little tab of coroplast to mount the valve on and then cut a hole in the cowl to insert the fuel probe through. 

Mount the motor and hook up the fuel lines. notice the fuel filter. I highly recommend the filter because it saves a lot of headaches from plugged needle valves. After about 6 flights on this plane it started to run lean and couldn't be adjusted, a wad of junk was pulled from the filter and now she's back to normal. I would have had to pull the carb apart - probably two or three times if not for the filter.
Clear plastic cowls are wonderful for fitting. It takes a little guess work but trial and error will get it fitting pretty well. I use a vis-a-vis water wash overhead projector type felt pen for marking the plastic. Trim a little here and a little there until you are satisfied with the fit and the prop comes out in the center of the front opening. 

Mark a circle around the fill valve and when the cowl is mounted, cut a hole for the filler probe.
If the cowl is a little bigger than the front of the fuselage - great, that lets wind go through the cowl easier. I use small chunks of ply the proper thickness to act as spacers between the cowl and the firewall. Use #4 sheet metal screws about 1/2" long and screw through the cowl, block and into the edge of the firewall. Three or four screws are plenty. Notice the hole is punched now for the fuel valve. 

This is the under side.......

This is the view from the top front. Everything fits snugly. The cylinder head should have about a 1/4 inch of air-space around it for cooling, and the carburetor needle valve will have an extension hooked to it that will protrude through a hole on the other side of the cowl.

 

Well the pictures below show how good the round cowl looks. Since it is clear, scuff the inside surface and paint it along with the outside. That way if paint comes off the outside it will still look good.

This cowl has been very tough and still looks good even though it has been through a few hard landings.