Done : JV44 Fw190D-9 "Red1" of Heinz Sachsenberg Gruppe Build....

[lesofprimus]

Thanks to my bud Bill (drgondog), I now have the pleasure of building this 190D-9.... He was oh so kind to ship this sweet ass kit to me across the country.... JV44 Papagei colors, with a photoetch kit inside....

It has been decided by better men than myself that I should be allowed to enter this into Unternehemen Flugbrucke Gruppe Build... Since I was in the process of working on this, I'll summarize the build to this point....



I will be submitting the 1/32nd scale Hasegawa Fw 190D-9 as Red 1 of Lt Heinz Sachsenberg...

Aces of the Luftwaffe - Heinz Sachsenberg

[lesofprimus]

While there is no record of these aircraft ever entering combat against Allied fighters, they - like everything involving JV-44 - have become the subject of enduring interest by modelers around the world. The unit had a sense of humor, since each aircraft had an amusing "dark humor" slogan on it. "Red 1," a Fw-190D-9 carried the slogan "Verkaafts mei Gwand 'I foahr in Himmel" ("Sell my clothes, I'm going to heaven") flown by Staffel Kapitaen Sachsenberg; "Red 3," a Fw-190D-9: "Im Auftrage der Reichsbahn" ("By Order of the State Railway") a reference to the fact a shot-down pilot could travel free on the state railways to rejoin his unit; Red 4, a Fw-190D-11: "Der nachste Herr,deselbe Dame!" ("The next man, the same woman"); and "Red 13," a Fw-190D-9: "Rein muss er wen wir beide weinen" ("In he goes and then we both cry").

It appears that Jagdverband 44's last victory may have been scored by Hptm. Faber while flying Rote 13, who claimed a P-47 shot down over Bad Abling while on a flight to pick up some whiskey! This victory is purported to have occurred on May 4th, one day after JV 44's Me 262's were blown up in the face of the U.S. 3rd. Armored Division at Salzburg*Maxglan. We so far have been unable to confirm this claim against U.S. 9th Tactical Air Force losses listings, though other sources have yet to be reviewed.

There may be a smattering of victory claims here and there, like the one I posted above, but as the records I could find indicate, Sachsehberg had ZERO kills in his red kite....

On 3 March 1945, he had raised his victory total to 103 victories when he shot down P-51 over Hungary. On 16 April Sachsenberg shot down a P-39 for his 104th and last victory.

Later, Sachsenberg transferred to JG 7 to fly Me 262 jet fighters. Here, he briefly led 9./JG 7 before joining JV 44 in April 1945. Sachsenberg was tasked with setting up a Platzschutzstaffel, flying Fw 190 D-9 fighters, to protect the Me 262s during their most vulnerable phases - take-off and landing. The unit was variously known as the Sachsenberg-Schwarm or the Papagei Staffel. Sachsenberg died of complications from the wounds he received during the war on 17 June 1951.
“Wimmersal” Sachsenberg flew 520 missions in recording 104 aerial victories. All but one of his victories were recorded on the Eastern Front.

Aces of the Luftwaffe - Heinz Sachsenberg

[Airframes]

That does look like a very nice kit and 'add on' bits Dan.

[lesofprimus]

Heres the cockpit layout...

[lesofprimus]

The powertrain....

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The lower wing assembly and wheel bay...

[lesofprimus]

Fuselage together and some photoetch installed...

[lesofprimus]

The meeting of 2 worlds...

[lesofprimus]

What a shame all that hard work is hidden...

[lesofprimus]

Fillin the seams with putty...

[lesofprimus]

Tail in place and cowling just sittin there, tail wheel installed....

[lesofprimus]

Lookin good...

[lesofprimus]

Well, I started getting my paints premixed for the first stages, RLM21 White and RLM23 Red... Although it looks wrong in the bottle and wrong on a spare piece of plastic, once the white was painted underneath and then the stripe revealed, the RLM23 red actually looks red.... Had to go with several coats to get the red looking red tho....

[lesofprimus]

Alright, got the white lookin good enough to pass for some field technicians quality of work... A couple of goofs, but the red should hide them.... Gonna let it dry till the morrow, then stripe it up and then its red-time...

[lesofprimus]

Some more pics to critique...

I masked off my uneven poorly cut stripes onto the white and let the Red RLM23 go.... I think it came out satisfactory...