This Fw190D-9 "Schwarz 12" W.Nr. 500570 of 6. Staffel, II./JG 6 was surrendered to elements of the U.S. 10th Photo Reconnaissance Group at Furth, near Nurnberg on May 8th, 1945. It was one of four Doras from a total of nearly twenty aircraft which were flown west to Furth by their pilots to avoid capture by Soviet forces. Little else is known about this aircraft. 

The Tamiya kit is really a beautiful kit to build.  The fit is excellent and the overall look of the plane is very satisfying when finished. For that reason,  I chose to build my kit "Out of the Box".  After seeing © Claes Sundin's renditions of "Black 12" , I decided to paint mine the same way.  I really like the late war camouflage schemes, and there are quite a few debates going on to this day, about what exact RLM colours were used on the Luftwaffe aircraft towards the end of WW II.  The following article on Hyperscale, pretty much sums up all the facts and mysteries around the evolution of the RLM colours. 

"Commentary on the Evolution and Usage of Luftwaffe RLM Colours 81, 82 & 83" 

After the construction of the kit, I preshaded all of the panel lines using black.  The under surface and sides of the fuselage were painted a mixture of Gunze RLM 02 grey and RLM 65 and Tamiya Sky.  I painted a few light coats, just enough to cover the panels without completely covering up the panel lines.  When painting the plane after preshading, you have to keep in mind that you are going to probably touch up some areas after you apply the camouflage mottling, so you should not apply too much of the base coats. The rudder and the flaps on the under surface of the wings were painted RLM 76.   Once the RLM 84 was finished, I allowed it to dry for a couple of hours and then painted the upper wings as well as the upper fuselage by free hand.

 By using my Aztec and the fine spray nozzle, I find that most of my camouflage can be done free handed.  The only mask was for the cockpit and the canopy.  I first painted the Gunze RLM 75 Grey Violet on the wings, this was followed with RLM 82 Licht Green on the wings and upper fuselage as well as some spots of mottling along the fuselage and tail.  The RLM 82 was followed with RLM 81 Braun Violet, this was carefully sprayed over the top of the fuselage as well as my masked canopy.  Any over spray was touched up with a very thin mixture of the RLM 84.  When the paint was dry, I picked out all of the panel lines with pencil lead, and then sprayed a couple of coats of Tamiya Clear.  When the clear was dry I decaled the plane, following some of the reference photos I obtained from Mark Tucker's web site Scale Model Hangar.  Mark has done a fantastic job on his "Schwarz 12", and that is what led me to do my own.  I finished up the model by shooting two coats of Johnson's "Magic Shine" i.e.. "Future", to seal the decals and the paint, and then matted it with a mixture of the Magic Shine and Tamiya Flat Base in an 8:1 ratio. 

This was the first Dora I built, and I plan on building a few more in the near future.  I really love the lines of the plane and the mystery behind the late war camouflage schemes.  One of my next projects will be a Trimaster Fw 190 D-9 converted to a D-13 "Yellow 10".  I also have a Hasegawa Fw Ta 152 H, that I am awaiting.  

Anthony