Eduard 1/72 FW190A-8 Standard Wings Weekend
By Jacob Russell
The Plane
The Focke-Wulf FW190A-8 followed the A-7 variant into production. The A-8 incorporated the MW 50 water injection system. It provided the BMW 801-D motor a short lasting power increase to 1,440 hp at approximately 18,700 feet. The MW 50 system necessitated a cylindrical 115 liter tank in the rear fuselage. This installation required that the ventral ETC 501 be moved 20 cm forward. The A-8 also incorporated the strengthened wing introduced with the earlier A-6. This wing substituted MG 151s instead of MG FF cannon in the outer position.
The Kit
The kit comes in Eduard's customary box with a nice illustration of an A-8 in flight. It consists of 128 parts on 3 sprues, one of which is clear. It's worth giving special notice to the clear parts. The canopy flexed as it slid backwards on its rails and Eduard has captured this detail in the open canopy.
The surface detail of the wings and fuselage is superb, with fine rivet detail right where it is supposed to be. The ailerons and and rudder are separate pieces so you can display them displaced. The wheel wells are deep and convincingly detailed. The cockpit is shallow but it is sufficiently detailed to look the part.
You get 2 styles of tires, smooth and ribbed, plus the early and late wheel faces. There are 2 propellers included, one of which is the wide blade, wooden VDM 9-12157H3, which is applicable to the later A-9 variant.
There's an ETC 50 rack plus a drop tank and an SC 250 bomb. The BMW 801-D is well molded but it will be all but invisible behind the prominent 12 blade cooling fan and propeller.
There are 2 well printed decal sheets, one of which is devoted to airframe stencils. The main decal sheet includes a pair of instrument panel faces and a set of seat belts. The decals are up to Eduard's usual standards. They are well printed, legible, and in register. There are 2 decal options in the kit, both of which are painted in the standard mid-War Luftwaffe colors of RLM 74/75/76:
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“Red 1”, 2./JG 54, Lt. Hans Dortenmann, Villacoublay, France, June 1944. This plane had an RLM 04 yellow lower cowl and an RLM 24 blue fuselage band. The spinner is black with a white spiral.
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“Blue 4”, werknummer 350 189, 12./JG 5, Herdla Airfield, Norway, 1945. This plane had an RLM 04 yellow and black fuselage band, and a blue armored cowl ring and spinner with a white spiral.
The instructions follow Eduard's standard format, with a parts map and a well illustrated, logical build sequence. Color callouts are for Gunze Mr. Color paints.
Conclusion
Just about every manufacturer has tried their hand at the radial engined Focke-Wulf FW190. Hasegawa led the field for years with their 1/72nd kits, and Airfix has recently introduced some nice 190s that have more accurate wheel wells and better detailed cockpits than Hasegawa's. The new Eduard kits are a decided cut above the rest. They are accurate and well detailed. They look good right out of the box, and if so inclined you can go to town with Eduard's photo etched sets and Brassin detail parts. I recommend this kit and I would like to thank Eduard for providing the review sample.
References
Focke-Wulf FW190, Volume I, by Krzysztof Janowicz, Kagero Publications, 2003