Eduard Fw.190A Resin Upgrades (for Eduard)

[Mike]

Fw.190A Resin Upgrades (for Eduard)

1:48 Eduard

 

 

Eduard's newly issued early Fw.190A has been released in ProfiPACK and Royal Class boxings, and now we have another brace of new resin sets for those of you that love to add extra detail to their models, and aren't always satisfied by the ability of injection moulding to satisfy your needs.  The earlier sets dealt mainly with the A-4, which you can read about here.  As always it's a modular approach, and you can choose what you use, with a guarantee that it'll fit your model just so, as it's by Eduard for Eduard.

 

As usual with Eduard's resin sets, they arrive in the familiar Brassin clamshell box, with the resin parts safely cocooned on dark grey foam inserts, and the instructions sandwiched between the two halves, doubling as the header card.  The larger sets are encased in an oblong box, with the resin parts safely cocooned on dark grey foam inserts, and the instructions sandwiched wrapped around, providing extra protection.

 

 

Fw.190A-3 Cockpit (648357)

Consisting of resin, PE, decals and a small sheet of clear acetate film, the largest part of which is the cockpit tub with the aft decking and side consoles already moulded in.  The separate seat is prepared with its cushion and a set of pre-painted PE seatbelts, and fitted to the tub after the removal of some moulding flash that is indicated in red (already removed in the pics).  Resin control column, resin and PE rudder pedals, and the instrument panel are made up next, with the latter having the choice of using the PE panel with pre-printed dials, or a detailed resin part over which you apply a decal of the instruments.  Your choice!  The panel fits on ledges at the front of the side consoles, and the resin gunsight with PE and acetate parts slides into a groove in the upper panel.  The cowling fits over the top, and it too has cut-outs that need clearing of flash beforehand.

 

To fit the new cockpit inside the fuselage a pair of plastic wedges are removed from the inside, to be replaced with a detailed PE and resin trim wheel.  The assemblies should then fit neatly within, alongside the kit bulkhead, assuming you aren't taking advantage of any of the other sets I'll be mentioning in this review.  The set includes the opening mechanism and the pilot's head armour, which has a warning decal added to it after painting.  The interior roll-over frame is resin, and has delicate PE bracing wires linking to the rear, all of which fits inside the canopy after painting.  The canopy then installs as normal.

 

 

 

 

Fw.190A Propeller (648366)

In order to fit this prop, you'll just need to shave the front off the housing at the front of the kit engine, before creating the prop on its jig, with separate central boss and blades, which fit snugly into the jig and should just lift out once the CA is dry unless you've overdone it.  A PE template fits to the back of the boss to mark the centre-point for you to mark and drill a 2mm hole, after which the PE is discarded.  The adapted kit part has a small resin pin added, and the prop with a choice of two types of cooling fan (large blades & small) is fitted to the tip of the pin protruding from the engine.  If you wanted to portray a maintenance diorama there is a resin prop-shaft included with a detailed spindle that fits into either the kit engine, or one of the new resin engines that are out (648352 & 648335).  A new spinner finishes off the set.

 

 

 

 

Fw.190A-2 (648379) and Fw.190A-3/4 (648367) Undercarriage Legs BRONZE

These two sets are functionally identical, but differ in the design of the inner gear bay cover detail.  There are two cast bronze legs in each box, with four gear bay doors, consisting of two captive main and two inner doors that hinge along the aircraft's centreline.  The casting of the bronze is superlative, and far better than white metal, as well as being much stronger.  If you are planning on loading up your model with resin cockpit, engine, gun bay, etc., these may be just the ticket to support all that extra weight.  Take your pick based on the variant you're modelling.

 

 

Fw.190A-2 (648379)

 

 

Fw.190A-3/4 (648367)

 

 

 

Fw.190A Control Surfaces Early (648371)

This is simply a new set of control surfaces with tab fitting that drop in place instead of the kit parts, benefitting from the fine detail that resin is capable, as well as super-fine trailing edges.  There are elevators, ailerons and a rudder unit in the box, with attachment points for casting running along the leading edge, which will mostly remain unseen after construction.

 

 

 

 

Fw.190A Pitot Probes Early (648373)

This inexpensive set contains three resin pitot probes on a single casting block with a pair of rails on the sides to protect them from damage.  The resin is quite flexible, and provides excellent detail, which is achieved by the addition of a small extension past the end of the probe to ensure complete filling of the narrow cavity and avoid bubbles.  You can see that section in the photo at the tip of the arrow I have added.  They're not as strong as a metal one, but you're also not likely to skewer yourself with a resin one.  Having three on hand will be useful if you have a Royal Class boxing, or just for spares.

 

 

 

Review sample courtesy of

[FlyingBins]

Hello, I received the kit Eduard 648357 Fw 190A-3 cockpit 1/48, but ... it seems to me that reproduces the interior of an A-1, especially for the side port console, someone has noticed that?

 

Bye

Edited October 28, 2018 by FlyingBins