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AIR761Eduard's New FW 190 A-4 PDF
AIR761Eduard's New FW 190 A-4 PDF
Many experts believed that radial engined Eduard is one of the few companies prepared to
fighters would lose performance caused by too revisit kits and improve them. This is the second
much drag, but the Fw 190 proved otherwise. 1:48 Fw 190 from this company, and it is a
Commonly believed to be the best fighter completely new kit.
aircraft of World War II, the Fw 190 had such a About ten years ago, Eduard released their
big impact on the Luftwaffe air operations it was original 1:48 scale kit of this German fighter. It
manufactured in over forty different models to was a very engaging model just straight out of
fulfil a variety of roles. The FW 190 started out the box. The cowl was a multi-part affair
as a low altitude high speed fighter with better showing a full engine. As a result, it was a quite
armament than the early Allied counterparts. complex build. Now, with a much greater
Since the air battles over France until the end of experience in manufacturing full kits, Eduard
the war, the Fw 190 was extensively employed have returned to the same subject releasing
replacing many fighter and ground attack what feels to me as one of the best kits today
aircraft. The air cooled radial engine of the Fw available in this scale. The simplification of the
190 offered a couple of advantages over the parts breakdown and is the most evident
water cooled engines equipping the Luftwaffe’s difference in comparing the old and new kits
other ubiquitous fighter, the Bf 109. The first because in this second release the fuselage
advantage was that it could take a lot of halves extend all the way to the engine cowling.
damage and keep running. The second The basic version of the kit is indeed a simple
advantage was that its huge size helped to build but for those of us who want more Eduard
shield the pilot in combat. Additionally, radial have also released a fantastic range of
aircraft offered more simplicity in their upgrades...how could I resist?
manufacture and operation.
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No wing gun bay details are provided given that the covers are
moulded closed. The one piece lower wing incorporates a
large section of the belly, something very convenient when
mating wing and fuselages together. With the exception of the
flaps, all the control surfaces are separate and posable. Wheel
wells include a recessed cover, some small separate detail
parts, the wing gun barrels, and a long spar.
It’s true that in this new ‘Profipack’ release a full engine is missing, that so little will be visible after joining together the fuselage
it is also true that Eduard has promptly released a full series of halves. This super detail set is made up of an etched sheet and
super detail sets in the ‘Brassin’ range to spruce up this 1:48 Fw over twenty incredible cast resin parts. Building the cockpit was a
190 to a level so far unseen by any other company. I like this very easy process. First I painted all the small details and the main
approach because gives the modeller the choice of a straight cockpit parts according to the instructions, then I washed all these
build or of a more complex super-detailed one. Given my parts with some Burnt Umber oil paint and finally I applied some
predilection for open cowls and engines, I decided to build this kit very basic dry brushing, just to highlight the most visible upper
taking advantage of four of the Brassin detail sets just released by parts, using some Humbrol Gun Metal (56). The supplied etched
Eduard: the Fw 190A-4 engine & fuselage guns (648355); the Fw dashboard needs only to be carefully placed on the corresponding
190A-4 cockpit (648351); the Fw 190A propeller (648366), the Fw resin part. The same is true for the construction the very delicate
190 resin wheels early (648152), and the Fw 190A-3/A-4 bronze etched pedals and the seat belts, as usual I painted these in
undercarriage legs (648367). The reason why I opted for the Gunze Sail Colour (H85) and then heavily washed with the same oil
bronze undercarriage legs was not so much for the increased level paint used for the cockpit tub and side consoles. However, while
of detail, but mostly out of the worry that given the increase in the cockpit goes far beyond in terms of detail and accuracy, what
weight, due to all these resin parts, the original plastic parts would impressed me most with this project was the engine and guns
not stand the test of time. detail set. I was ready for plenty of resin and etched parts, but I
was pleasantly surprised by the fit and ease of assembly resulting
As usual with World War II fighters, building starts in the cockpit. in stunning detail.
Honestly, unpacking the Brassin parts I could not stop regretting
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The most difficult part of this project was cutting the fuselage probably mating the fuselages to the wing, given that these parts
halves to receive the engine. My suggestion is to deepen the perfectly mate together. At this point I decided to first paint the
relevant panels with a very sharp needle and then cut them apart main airframe surfaces, before gluing the engine and the fuselage
with a sharp razor blade. The easiest part of this build was together.
Of all the five markings available out of the box my choice was the
second one, an aircraft over painted in white, even if a white
scheme is always a challenge. Given that aircraft was originally
camouflaged in the typical RLM 74/75/76 scheme, I first
camouflaged my ‘190 using the corresponding Gunze colours.
After masking the spot on the wings where are supposed to
receive the national insignia, I randomly airbrushed some very thin
layers of Gunze Gloss White (H-2) until I was happy with the look
of the slightly transparent finish. When the white was dry, I washed
the entire airframe with some very thinned brown oil paint
removing the excess with fine tissues quickly. It is very important
that the over painted white is very glossy and very dry otherwise
the oil was will tint the white and appear dirty. The last step in the
camouflage process was to scratch away some of the white paint
from the wings using a very fine 3000 wet abrasive paper.
As expected, the decals went on flawlessly.
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