Brengun 1/72 FW190A-8/R-11 Photo Etch
By Jacob Russell
Brengun's new photo etch set, which is intended for Revell's 1/72nd scale Focke-Wulf FW190A-8/R-11 Nachtjager (Night fighter), is a very useful set suitable for any of Revell's radial engined FW190 kits.
This is a comprehensive set which caters to the cockpit and airframe. For the cockpit you get a new instrument panel, seat harness, sidewall consoles and canopy headrest. The airframe upgrades include oleo scissors, 3 piece landing gear doors, wheel faces, d/f (direction finding) loop, etc. Additional items include a retractable cockpit step, Morane antenna, anti-glare shields for the exhausts and the FuG Neptun radar antennae. I would have reservations about using 2 dimensional flat PE to simulate rods but it's not objectionable in 1/72nd scale.
Everything on the PE fret with the exception of the latter 2 items is applicable to any mid to late-war 190, hence the usefulness of this set.
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Revell's 1/72nd scale FW190 kits are a bit long in the tooth. They're neither as old as Hasegawa's nor as new as Airfix's 190 series. They're also hampered by a cowl ring with too small an aperture and a canopy which fails to include the canopy's structure as part of its tooling. Neither flaw is fatal: Quickboost produces an aftermarket cowl ring and an accurate canopy is easily sourced from Squadron, Falcon, Rob Taurus and others. The Revell kit is mostly accurate, nicely detailed, reasonably priced and it's usually easier to find than the Hasegawa FW190 kits. Brengun's photo etch set is an excellent value. The detail of the PE parts is great (although some parts like the lap belts and anti-chafing pads are TINY) and they will greatly enhance your model. I recommend this set and I would like to thank Brengun for the review sample.
References
The Focke-Wulf FW190, radial engine versions (including FW190A, B, C, F, G & S), by Richard A. Franks, Valiant Wings Publishing, 2014