Italeri 1/48 Focke Wulf FW190A-8
By Jacob Russell
The Plane
The Focke-Wulf FW190A-8 entered production in early 1944. It was powered by the 1700 horsepower BMW 801D-2 14 cylinder, twin row radial engine. The A-8 was heavily armed, with 2 MG 131 machine guns and 4 MG 151 20mm cannons. More than 6500 A-8s were constructed by the time production ended in May of 1945.
The Model
This a reboxed Trimaster/Dragon FW190A-8 kit. It consists of 135 parts on 9 sprues and 2 photo etch frets. 17 of the plastic parts go unused. The surplus parts include the large prop blades and 15 blade cooling fan for the rare A-9/F-9 variant. The photo etch frets are stainless steel, rather than brass and come directly from the Trimaster kit.
The photo etch parts include an instrument panel, seat harness, rear upper decking, canopy armor, etc. The clear parts are well done but only include the "flat", standard canopy. This is an old kit, but it is accurate and well detailed. The surface detail is excellent and the mold quality compares well to the Eduard and Hasegawa FW190 kits.
The decal sheet is by Cartograph and it is superbly printed, in register and it features bright colors. The sheet includes a complete set of stencils and national insignia (but no swastikas) for a single aircraft. There are 6 options on the sheet:
"White 2," Uffz. Julius Handel, 13/JG54, Eastern Front 1944. This plane is in the standard mid War Day Fighter colors of RLM 74/75/76. The lower cowl, spinner, and 1/3rd of the prop blades are RLM 04 Yellow.
"White 9," Uffz. Martin Ullmann, 9/JG5, Norway 1945. This plane is also painted RLM 74/75/76. The armored cowl ring is white and the spinner is RLM 70 Dark Green with a white spiral.
"Red 1," Uffz. Alfred Fritzsche, 4/JG1, Operation Bodenplatte, January 1 1945. This plane is painted in the late War colors RLM 81 Braunviolet and 82 Hellgrun over 76. There is an RLM 23 Red fuselage band and the spinner is RLM 70 with a white spinner.
"Yellow 17," Gfr. Ludwig Sauter, 6/JG300, Lobnitz, November 1944. RLM 74/75/76 camouflage with an RLM 25 Red fuselage band. The spinner is RLM 70 with a white spinner.
"Yellow 13," Lt. Gerard Vogt, 7/JG26, France 1944. RLM 74/75/76 with RLM 04 Yellow lower cowl and black spinner.
"Yellow 7," Ofhr. Walter Kohne, 3/JG1, Lippspringe, Germany 1944. RLM 74/75/76 with RLM 04 Yellow lower cowl, RLM 23 Red fuselage band and a black spinner with a white spiral.
Conclusion
This is a good kit that has stood the test of time. It has great surface detail and it is well molded. I think it may be easier to build than the Eduard kit. The stainless steel p/e parts might be difficult to bend. I would buy an Eduard Zoom set to replace the instrument panel and seat harness. I recommend Eduard or Ultracast wheels to replace the kit wheels. They lack the inner rim between the tire and wheel, and they just don't look right. This kit is still a viable alternative to other Focke Wulf kits on the market. I recommend it and I would like to thank Italeri for the review sample.
References
HT Model Special, Focke-Wulf FW190A/F/G/S, by Josef And'al, HT Model, 1998