Alley Cat 1/48 FW-190D broad chord tail

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Alley Cat FW-190D “Big Tail” conversion kit

For some reason, Colin of Freightdog Models and Ali of Alley Cat seem to be controlling my modelling activities at the moment. They just seem to be releasing stuff which I want to build.

A case in point is the Alley Cat’s recent release of conversion kit to replace the fin of the Eduard 1/48 FW-190D with a large Ta-152 fin. I am just putting the finishing touches to a standard 190D but as soon as I saw this on the A2Zee Models website, I just had to build one. Having received the conversion kit yesterday, I shall start the model at the weekend.

During the latter part of the second world war, a small number of FW-190D aircraft were built with a Ta-152 style metal tail. It is unknown whether this was a deliberate design decision or whether the tails were used because of a lack of standard 190D tails. However, the big tail provides a very different look to the aircraft and the four aircraft that I have identified are very interesting and colourful.

The conversion is a single resin part. It comes with the casting block still attached but the block snaps off easily and cleanly. Clean up is minimal. The surface detail comprises very fine engraved lines which are easily the equal of those in the kit. The kit itself will require minimal preparation. Simply saw off the tail at the joint line where the tail joins the parallel fuselage extension and plug in the new conversion part. There is a substantial plug cast onto the resin tail, so the joint will be very strong indeed.

And that’s all there is to it! The tailplanes and rudder come from the Eduard kit. I can’t see the conversion procedure taking more than fifteen minutes.

I was very pleased with the resin part when I first saw it, but when I looked a little closer I was even more pleased. The part revealed something which I had never realised about the 190D tail.

When the 190D was designed, the fuselage was extended to counterbalance the long nose. As the Dora was only intended to be an interim version pending the introduction of the Ta-152, no effort was made to smooth the fuselage extension. It is simply a parallel-sided plug matching the cross section of the fuselage at the joint line between the fuselage and the tail. The tail assembly was bolted to the rear of the extension plug. This makes for some interesting profile changes in that area which some 1/72 scale kits have missed completely.

I was under the impression that a standard 190A-8 tail was used for the 190D, but that is incorrect. The 190D tail was actually increased in area by the use of a rudder post extension. This was also a parallel sided plug, leading to further cross-sectional changes on the fin. If you have an Eduard 190A and 190D, compare the two fins. You will see that on the A-8, the triangular panel on the port side of the fin is immediately adjacent to the rudder post, while that of the 190D has the flat extension piece. It’s easy to miss if you don’t know that it is there.

Now let’s look at the Ta-152 tail. There is no rudder post extension. I had always assumed that the large tail on the Ta-152 was intended to increase the fin area. However, it is likely to have been to simplify production due to the removal of the rudder post extension. The fin area remains the same. A Dora fitted with a big tail will actually be slightly shorter than a standard aircraft.

I was quite astonished to find this out and so I did some research on the net. The Alley Cat fin is perfectly accurate – something about which I never had any doubts.

I have seen a couple of conversions on the net were the modeller has simply extended the leading edge of the fin and faired it in with putty. This is an easy option, but the removal of the rudder post makes such a conversion somewhat more difficult – all the more reason to use the Alley Cat conversion kit.

So, that’s the actual conversion dealt with. But Alley Cat doesn’t stop there. A small sheet of decals is also included. These comprise the codes and werke nummers for two aircraft. The intention is that the rest of the required markings are sourced from the excellent Eduard kit decal sheet.

The two aircraft are:

Black 6+|, W/N 500645 of 3/JG2 in May 1945. This aircraft has a yellow/white/yellow Reich defence tail band.

Yellow 6+|, W/N 500648 of 3/KG(J)27 in April 1945. The unit was a bomber unit that had converted to fighters in a last–ditch attempt at air defence. Such units were denoted by a Reich defence band which was quartered, in this case in green and white, making this a very attractive option. This aircraft was shot down in combat with USAAF P-51s on 1st April 1945.

Colour profiles of the two options are provided on the instruction sheet.

Having done a bit of research, I have found that there were at least four aircraft with this tail, all in a contiguous batch of Werk Nummers.

W/N 500646 was Black 3 of JG 300 with a blue/white/blue Reich defence band.

W/N 500647 was Brown 4 of II/JG26. This aircraft has a black/white Reich defence band and one of those eclectic colour schemes that indicate that it was assembled from sub-components built in different factories.

All four of these aircraft would make a very interesting and colourful collection – and of course now that I’ve thought of it, I just have to do it!

Thanks go to Ali and his colleagues (the resin master was by Phil Edwards while the decals and artwork was by Alan Southcombe) for an excellent, extremely simple and very highly recommended conversion set. I’m looking forward to whatever Alley Cat have in the pipeline next…

This conversion kit can be obtained from A2Zee Models.

Edited April 13, 2010 by Enzo Matrix

[Antoine]

Many thanks for your in-depth review, Enzo.

Very interesting.

Any advice on the instruction sheet about the camo used on the underside?

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Any advice on the instruction sheet about the camo used on the underside?

Just what is shown on the profiles in my review (taken from the A2Zee Models website)