Best fw190 in 1/48?

[Rabspat]

Ok i did a search on here but this has never been asked or i searched the wrong thing.

Anyway i watch Hitler: Rise of evil and enjoyed it and thought that i don't have any German WW2 stuff. The only thing i built was a BF109E for the BoB GB a few years ago which my Gran took to display.

Anyway i decided that i do a FW190 in 1/48 and discovered there is quite a few companies doing them now. So who does the best FW190? I am thinking either a A-8 or A-5 not sure but def a A model.

[junco]

I would go for the Hasegawa 190A8 for ease of build, although the Eduard is also nice but not as easy to build.

Rgds

Neil

[mozkar]

Tamiya for A-8, Eduard for A-5...

[Troy Smith]

Tamiya for A-8, Eduard for A-5...

hmm, general consensus is the Hasegawa are the best, the Tamitya has some errors, and the Eduard are apparently tricky.

Also accurate, but requiring a little work, are the Trimaster/DML/Dragon Fw 190's, the Dragon version was reboxed by Revell and now by Italeri (for about 25 quid!!) but seen them go cheap on ebay and has a big decal sheet.

The Revell boxing also turns up. For info on the Dragon kit, and how to solve it's 'problems', see here
http://modelingmadness.com/review/axis/luft/cleaver190a8.htm

Tom Cleaver is a sharp reviewer, more of his builds in the link below

If you are not detail obsessed, Otaki/Arri did a good but old A8, from the early's 70's but with recessed panel lines and good shapes, which was reboxed by both Matchbox and Airfix in the 80-90's

If you like some work, the 60's vintage Monogram A-5 is accurate in outline, but has raised panels and no wheel wells.

http://modelingmadness.com/kitindex/kitindexf2.htm has various reviews, you can see them made up and make up your own mind.
Bear in mid you might get the old Otaki kit in one of it's boxings for a fiver or less when you read the review, and correct wheels can be founds as spares in i think the Hasegawa A4 (has early and later types)

more reviews http://www.hyperscale.com/reviewskits_1.htm

One area worth paying attention to is the landing gear and it's alignment. see

http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/fw190landinggear_1.htm
http://clubhyper.com/reference/fw190landinggear_2.htm

and for a beautifully built kit with this exact problem...http://modelingmadness.com/reviews/axis/luft/snazel190a8.htm ....up on tip toe.

Hannants do the True details seat mentioned, which is probably all you need to jazz up the cockpit.

hope this does not put you off, worth reading through the various builds and info, I have got a couple of the hase kits and Revell and Italelri boxings of the Dragon kit.

HTH
T

[keefr22]

... the Dragon version was reboxed by Revell

Are all Revell 1/48th FW 190's the ex-Dragon kit? Or did they ever issue the old Monogram kit too? If the latter do you know how to tell which boxes contain the ex Dragon kit? More specifically, do you know whether Revell kit # 4536 FW 190G-8 A8/R8 is the ex-Dragon?

TIA

Keef

[Troy Smith]

Are all Revell 1/48th FW 190's the ex-Dragon kit? Or did they ever issue the old Monogram kit too? If the latter do you know how to tell which boxes contain the ex Dragon kit? More specifically, do you know whether Revell kit # 4536 FW 190G-8 A8/R8 is the ex-Dragon?

TIA

Keef

Keef

The Revell kit # 4536 FW 190G-8 A8/R8 is definitely the ex-Dragon kit.

This is also the basis of the current Italeri kit, which has a small etched fret added. (same as the Dragon) Do check http://modelingmadness.com/reviews/axis/lu...leaver190a8.htm hints to a making an easier build.

I never heard of a RoG rebox of the Monogram Fw190, but I have seen a Promodeler boxing of it.

HTH

T

[keefr22]

HTH

T

Yes, it helps a lot! Many thanks T!

K

[Gaston]

Hasegawa 1/48th FW-190A-5/6/8s are near-perfect except for the narrow-chord prop which is better on the Tamiya kit.

The Tamiya is not bad looking but is very inaccurate around the canopy and especially the windshield. It does makes a "false" good impression, and the cowl ring fits the Hasegawa kit better than the Hasegawa part itself(!), and the narrow prop is better too.

Dragon would be excellent but the cowling is 1/50-1/51 scale and is difficult to assemble.

Eduard is by far the worst 1/48th FW-190A offered in the last 20 years, with a fully tubular cowl, laughable cowl ring and terrible canopy, but makes for a nice-looking "all open" kit with the sliding canopy off, mg hatch flipped over the windshield, and the silly (current "Fluegwerke" newly-built 190A8N-derived) cowl parts off.

Gaston

Edited November 27, 2010 by Gaston

[Gary Adams]

Hasegawa 1/48th FW-190A-5/6/8s are near-perfect except for the narrow-chord prop which is better on the Tamiya kit.

The Tamiya is not bad looking but is very inaccurate around the canopy and especially the windshield. It does makes a "false" good impression, and the cowl ring fits the Hasegawa kit better than the Hasegawa part itself(!), and the narrow prop is better too.

Dragon would be excellent but the cowling is 1/50-1/51 scale and is difficult to assemble.

Eduard is by far the worst 1/48th FW-190A offered in the last 20 years, with a fully tubular cowl, laughable cowl ring and terrible canopy, but makes for a nice-looking "all open" kit with the sliding canopy off, mg hatch flipped over the windshield, and the silly (current "Fluegwerke" newly-built 190A8N-derived) cowl parts off.

Gaston

By far the easiest and best over-all "impression" of an A model FW190 is the Hasegawa series. A fault with them IMO is shape of the Aileron and trim tab. Very ingenious engineering of the wing/fuselage joint that makes for an easy build.

To me the most noticable fault with the Tamiya kits are the "sit". The LG legs are compressed way too much and the wheels are undersized.

While I do not the Eduard kit is the "worst", it has its faults as pointed out above plus a rather noticeably thick tail fin at the fus joint. Very fiddley build, doesn't shake together like the Tamiya and Has kits.

Cheers,

[dahut]

Id suggest the Tamiya kit offers the best all around value for the money, between fit, engineering and cost.

I like the Dragon/DML/Italeri myself, although it is a bit fiddly.

The absolute "best" is generally conceded to be the Hasegawa.

PS. Again, Ill cast a vote for the ARII/Otaki model. If you after the look of a "Wuerger" to fill a gap, and are not arsed with an obedience to fidelity, it will do. It is also low cost.

It has excellent surface detail, although the cockpit is dead basic. Best to keep the canopy closed on that one.

Another Shrike that will be overlooked is the ancient Monogram version. It is nothing like todays wunderkits and you will have to deal with the raised lines. But it can be had for cheap, offers a passable cockpit and allows you to build many versions from one box - 7, I think. Up close it is nothing to sing about, but on the shelf it suffices.

BOth of these are long OOP, so will needs be sought on the used market/ebay.

[Troy Smith]

PS. Again, Ill cast a vote for the ARII/Otaki model. If you after the look of a "Wuerger" to fill a gap, and are not arsed with an obedience to fidelity, it will do. It is also low cost.

It has excellent surface detail, although the cockpit is dead basic. Best to keep the canopy closed on that one.

http://modelingmadness.com/reviews/axis/luft/jamison190.htm

has a build here. As this is site is Britmodeller, was reboxed by Matchbox and Airfix at points. (as were quite few more 1/48 Otaki originated moulds, eg P-40, Mustang, Corsair, Hellcat, Spitfire VIII)

Another Shrike that will be overlooked is the ancient Monogram version. It is nothing like todays wunderkits and you will have to deal with the raised lines. But it can be had for cheap, offers a passable cockpit and allows you to build many versions from one box - 7, I think. Up close it is nothing to sing about, but on the shelf it suffices.

BOth of these are long OOP, so will needs be sought on the used market/ebay.

the old Monogram has a load of underwing stores, but the cowling is for the 7.9mm guns only, so can only build A5 and A6 easily. no wheel at all either!

Saw one today in LSA Models in Hove for £5 if anyone wants one.

HTH

T

[dahut]

http://modelingmadness.com/reviews/axis/luft/jamison190.htm

has a build here. As this is site is Britmodeller, was reboxed by Matchbox and Airfix at points. (as were quite few more 1/48 Otaki originated moulds, eg P-40, Mustang, Corsair, Hellcat, Spitfire VIII)

the old Monogram has a load of underwing stores, but the cowling is for the 7.9mm guns only, so can only build A5 and A6 easily. no wheel at all either!

Saw one today in LSA Models in Hove for £5 if anyone wants one.

HTH

T

Im prowling around for anARII FW-190 myself. My favorite Monogram version is the long barreled 30mm cannon variant. Oddly Ive found little information on them and I dont know if they ever went into production. But they look mean as all get out. Nice bit about the 7.9mm guns. Thank you.

[Gene K]

Hello Troy,

I came across this old thread researching 1/48 FW 190 kits. Do you have any updated opinions and or observations?

Thanks,

Gene K

[Troy Smith]

Hello Troy,

I came across this old thread researching 1/48 FW 190 kits. Do you have any updated opinions and or observations?

Thanks,

Gene K

Hi Gene

Not really, though Eduard are planning on retooling thier Fw190A kits I believe, and I wouldn't be surprised if Hobby Boss do some of the A series in the future.

The Otaki/Arri kit is still available though, from Japan cheap though. The Promodeller G kit mentioned is not the old Monogram kits reboxed, but one of the DML/Dragon kits.

Did you just want info on the A models, or D models as well?

cheers

T

[Niles]

Regarding the old Monogram kit, one word: no.

My 48th scale aircraft modeling days go back to the end of the 1950s when there weren't any acceptable kits. When the Monogram Fw-190 came out in the early 1960s along with a Spitfire IX, and a Bf109E it was like the salvation of the modeling world. Compared to anything we had previously they were marvels.

I remember the Monogram 190 appeared in the 1960s the year after my summer project was scratch building a 1/48 Fw190A-8 from a set of comprehensive plans published in the British magazine AeroModeler by one of the distinguished British aero researchers and draughtsmen of the day, whose name I unfortunately don't remember. After that summer of poring over photos and drawings of the 190 while building I was quite prepared to give Monogram's model thorough scruitiny when it appeared.

There were two errors in the outline of the Monogram kit that for me were serious enough that I had to correct them when building the kit. The first was the length of the cowling. Beginning with the A-5 the engine mounts were moved forward about six inches resulting in the cowling being lengthened by that amount on the A-5 through A-8. The Monogram kit had the shorter cowling of the A-1 through A-4. That's about 1/8 inch in scale and to me the short cowling was very noticeable. I built my first Monogram 190 as an A-4 because of that. On subsequent builds I lengthened the cowling. The other issue was the slope of the bottom of the cowling. On the Monogram kit going forward from the wing root the line of the bottom of the cowling slopes upward toward the aircraft centerline. This is noticeably incorrect.

There are other issues. The Monogram kit was a great kit when it when it first appeared in the 1960s and raised the standards considerably for those long gone days, but it's been superceded by much better offerings.

[dazdot]

If you are looking for a hasegawa kit I think parabat has some for sale in the buy sell section.

I personally like the eduard kit as it's a,available b, detailed c, gives lots of decal options out of the box but, and its a big but

The tail is too thick and it's a tricky build I've built 3 now and have finally got my head round it

Edited June 18, 2015 by dazdot

[tempestfan]

The Arii kits are (or were a couple of weeks ago) available for slightly more than 5 € plus s&h (no idea to what it amounts - and how good their service is) from Hobby Plaza Japan. Most other ex-Otaki 48ers and the ex-LS gems are also very cheap there.

[NPL]

As usual, checking Hannants you find several Hasegawa kits, although most noted to be in short supply. One version is, however, listed as a newcomer to the list. So it should be available.

[Troy Smith]

Regarding the old Monogram kit, one word: no.

My 48th scale aircraft modeling days go back to the end of the 1950s when there weren't any acceptable kits. When the Monogram Fw-190 came out in the early 1960s along with a Spitfire IX, and a Bf109E it was like the salvation of the modeling world. Compared to anything we had previously they were marvels.

I remember the Monogram 190 appeared in the 1960s the year after my summer project was scratch building a 1/48 Fw190A-8 from a set of comprehensive plans published in the British magazine AeroModeler by one of the distinguished British aero researchers and draughtsmen of the day, whose name I unfortunately don't remember. After that summer of poring over photos and drawings of the 190 while building I was quite prepared to give Monogram's model thorough scruitiny when it appeared.

There were two errors in the outline of the Monogram kit that for me were serious enough that I had to correct them when building the kit. The first was the length of the cowling. Beginning with the A-5 the engine mounts were moved forward about six inches resulting in the cowling being lengthened by that amount on the A-5 through A-8. The Monogram kit had the shorter cowling of the A-1 through A-4. That's about 1/8 inch in scale and to me the short cowling was very noticeable. I built my first Monogram 190 as an A-4 because of that. On subsequent builds I lengthened the cowling. The other issue was the slope of the bottom of the cowling. On the Monogram kit going forward from the wing root the line of the bottom of the cowling slopes upward toward the aircraft centerline. This is noticeably incorrect.

There are other issues. The Monogram kit was a great kit when it when it first appeared in the 1960s and raised the standards considerably for those long gone days, but it's been superceded by much better offerings.

Got to disagree. The plans are most likely wrong.

Dug out Monogram kit, and the A. Bentley plans published in Scale Model in 1978, and the kit is an excellent match on those plans, the needs more dihedral, and the spinner is a bit conical, otherwise amazingly good match shape wise.

Note Bentley later helped with the new build Fw190's,and his plans are famed for their accuracy, his work is the basis for the new Airfix Spitfires and Hurricanes.

site here

http://www.albentley-drawings.com/

and

http://www.albentley-drawings.com/drawings/focke-wulf-fw190/fw190-a5-a9-fg/

It's basically an A-5 OOB, which limits it's use.

yes, raised panel lines and rivets, and no wheel wells, and has been superseded, but still would make an excellent shelf model or one inflight with a minimum of work.

a rescribe and some added detail and bits, and it's the basis for a very accurate model. Bear in mind many of the new kits need this treatment for accuracy too.

cheers

T

[brewerjerry]

Hi

Whats the revell/monogram G-2 like,I got one free a while back,but put it in storage as I am not really into late war luftwaffe.

will it make an older version or is it the old kit ?

cheers

Jerry

[Adam Maas]

Hi

Whats the revell/monogram G-2 like,I got one free a while back,but put it in storage as I am not really into late war luftwaffe.

will it make an older version or is it the old kit ?

cheers

Jerry

The G-2 is based on the A-5 (in fact it is a redesignation of the A-5/U8 long-range fighter/bomber modification) and therefore is fairly close to an actual A-5 aside from the lack of cowling machine guns, outer wing cannon and an excess of underwing stores.

It's a mid-war aircraft, not a late-war. A-5's were built during 1942-43 and the G-2 was concurrent production to the A-5.

[Troy Smith]

Hi

Whats the revell/monogram G-2 like,I got one free a while back,but put it in storage as I am not really into late war luftwaffe.

will it make an older version or is it the old kit ?

cheers

Jerry

Hi Jerry

if it's this kit,

http://www.kitreview.com/reviews/fw190g2reviewbg_1.htm

It's a rebox of the DML/Dragon kit. If it's got engraved panel lines it is for sure.

Note the links in this post http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/59375-best-fw190-in-148/page-1#entry639368

about construction and gear alignment.

[brewerjerry]

Hi Jerry

if it's this kit,

http://www.kitreview.com/reviews/fw190g2reviewbg_1.htm

It's a rebox of the DML/Dragon kit. If it's got engraved panel lines it is for sure.

Note the links in this post http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/59375-best-fw190-in-148/page-1#entry639368

about construction and gear alignment.

Hi

Well from memory thats the box lid in the link

cheers

jerry

[2996 Victor]

Bump!

 

I'm looking for an early Fw190A-series in 1/48 to start my Luftwaffe collection, so I was wondering if there were any new, i.e. since 2015, developments? I presume the Eduard kits now available are re-tools with the errors ironed out?

 

Any thoughts/suggestions welcome.

 

Cheers,

Mark

[Troy Smith]

15 minutes ago, 2996 Victor said:

I presume the Eduard kits now available are re-tools with the errors ironed out?

AFAIK,  yes. I have not seen any wailing or gnashing of teeth over these. Note there are numerous variations in the early A series boxing, I got the Royal Class when Creative still did weekly deals, and picked some relevant overtrees when Eduard did a free post offer, so spent some time on the Eduard site working through the boxings.