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My first build will be this ICM kit - I do love a twin boomer! Not too many parts in the kit, though they do look quite nicely moulded (lots on fine detail) Scalemates reckons it's a fairly recent moulding (2016), let's hope it all fits together well. The instructions seem clear enough and the decals should hopefully be fine (look a bit thick but not too many of them). I have a couple of aftermarket bits - some window masks to make my life easy with all that glazing and so PE to make my life hard! I'll be doing one of the in-box schemes, not sure which yet.

Focke Wulf Fw 189C/V6 "German Attack Plane" (SH72432) 1:72 Special Hobby The Fw 189 won the competition in to replace older reconnaissance type with the Luftwaffe beating the Ar 189 and Bv 141. The type went on to become the Luftwaffe's standard tactical recon platform. The aircraft features a central fuselage pod heavily glazed, with twin booms leading back to the tail, the front of which housed the engines. The Luftwaffe looked at expanding 189 production and called for a training version, attack version and a maritime version with floats. Only 2 prototype attack versions were built, and the single float version was never finished. Along with the prototype Fw 189B trainer two more B-0 aircraft were built, followed by 10 B-1 aircraft. As well as for training the aircraft were used in the Liaison role, though little is really known on this. The attack version featured a much smaller central pod which was armoured to protect the crew. Testing proved the view for the pilots was very bad, and the aircraft was underpowered. The Kit This is a rebox of the MPM kit with parts for the attack version and new decals. Construction starts with the small central pod. The basic seats for the pilot and gunner are added t the floor along withe control column and instrument panel. The floor is fitted into the rightside pod and the rear defensive machine gun added. The pod can then be closed up and the small cockpit glazing can now be added. Each of the twin booms can now be built up. There are front and rear bulkheads for the gear wells which support the gear well roof. At the front the engine face goes on, and to the left side resin intakes are added. Its now time to add the fuselage pod and the wings together. The lower wing is in three parts; a centre section and the two left/right wings. The upper wings are in left/right and attach to the fuselage pod, a hole will need cutting to accommodate the attack pod. A small clear resin gunsight is included which goes in front of the kit windscreen. The twin booms fit on to the underside with the centre section joining on one side and left/right sections on the other. The tail will also need putting in between the booms at the same time! This does look like it will need some time and patience to get everything aligned correctly. Once all of the main structure is assembled the landing gear needs making up and installing in each boom. The last things to do are to install the props and the tail wheel and s couple of small PE parts including an aerial. Markings The glossy decal sheet is printed in house and looks sharp and in register. There is only one decal option NA+WB. Conclusion It is good to see this released. The kit will take some fettling im pretty sure off, but once assembled it should look the part. Recommended. Review samples courtesy of

After I got back to building kits, I got lured by this striking boxart and bought the most horrible plastic kit I have seen in the last... er, actually ever. This. The kit is a definite dawg. Horrible. I´m not one of those guys who can fix things like this and make the more recent Ju 88 kits pale when compared to it, when it´s done. To be honest I don´t even have the kit anymore in my stash as a "kit"; I do have all the parts left but they are thrown in my spares box, and I thought they were there for good... before they´d be thrown in the bin! So, all you Airfix Golden Years People, look what you´ve done. It´s alive and kicking again! Fortunately I do have some spares from more modern Ju 88 kits to either replace the worst parts of this kit (all the "clear" parts that is) or avoid using them at all (dive brakes and racks) by converting it to a MTO C-4 night fighter from Sicily. For that purpose I have this decal scheme from AIMS decal sheet Ju 88 Experten: Well the rules say the fuselage and wings should be original, and in my plan they mostly would do that. But I won´t even try to make the famous silk purse out of this; if I finish this at all, I´ll be happy. We´ll see... V-P

FW 189A-1 1:72 ICM The Fw189 was created by legendary Focke Wulf designer Kurt Tank prior to WWII. Its intended role was as a short range observation and reconnaissance aircraft, with the requirement for excellent all-round visibility giving rise to the distinctive shape and extensive cockpit glazing. It won the contract by beating off competition from Arado and Blohm & Voss (the latter with their asymmetrical Bv. 141). It entered service in 1940, and production continued until 1944. The aircraft was popular with crews due to its manoeuvrability; it could often out turn fighters to escape destruction. It was tough as well, and there are stories of 189s returning from missions with parts of the tail and boom blown away. The Fw 189 is the latest all-new tooling from Kiev-based outfit ICM. Inside the very sturdy top-opening box are two largish sprues of light grey plastic and one clear sprue which together hold a total of 170 parts. The airframe is covered in crisp, recessed panel lines which look very good indeed, and the mouldings are crisp and clean. The instructions are an A4 stapled booklet which has been printed in colour and the decal sheet is clear and well printed. The overall impression is of a well-executed kit which looks as though it should be enjoyable to build. Construction begins with the central wing section and cockpit. The lower part of the central wing is moulded as a single span, complete with recesses for the main landing gear bays. Onto this part, the flaps, cockpit floor and fuselage sidewalls can all be added. The cockpit itself is nicely detailed, which is just as well as a lot of it will be on show under that greenhouse canopy. Interior detail includes the crew seats, rudder pedals, control column (moulded in two parts), radio gear and a large number of spare magazines for the defensive machine guns. The instrument panel fits to the top of the frontal canopy glazing, which is itself made up of four parts. It's inevitable with a model like this, but great care will need to be taken when assembling both this and the remaining eight parts of the canopy so as not to get messy glue smears over the clear plastic. Your patience will be tested to the limit when it comes to masking the expansive canopy, but there is good news in the form of a set of pre-cut masks on the way from Eduard. Look out for our review soon. Once cockpit/fuselage has been assembled, the upper panels for the inner wing can be fitted. The remaining steps in the construction process are essentially a sequence of sub-assemblies, starting with the landing gear bays. These areas behind the engine nacelles but ahead of the tail booms are separate parts, which makes for more complex construction but better detail. The tail booms themselves are split vertically and benefit from separately moulded rudders, while the tailplane has a separately moulded elevator and a neat tail wheel assembly. The engine nacelles are another sub-assembly, and are made up of two main parts, split vertically, with a separate radiator face, exhaust, frontal cowling, propeller and hub. As with the rest of the flying surfaces, the outer wings feature separate control surfaces. The landing gear is next, and is just as nicely detailed as the rest of the model. Each of the main gear legs is comprised four parts, while the wheels are split vertically and have separate mud guards. Step 63 in the instructions brings the fuselage/centre wing section together with the engine nacelles, tail booms and outer wings, leaving you with a more-or-less complete Fw189. All that remains to do then is add the finishing touches, such as the landing gear doors, the odd antenna mast or pitot tube and the four bombs and bomb shackles that fit under the outer wings. Three options are provided on the decal sheet: • Fw 189A-1 5(H)/12, Poltava, June 1942; • Fw 189A-1 11(H)/12, Russia, Summer 1942; and • Fw 189A-1 1(H)32, Finland, March 1943 All three aircraft are finished in RLM 70/71 over RLM 65, with the third aircraft finished in a temporary winter distemper over the top of the camouflage. The decals look excellent and include a smattering of stencils. Conclusion There haven't been all that many kits of the distinctive FW189 over the years, but ICM's new effort looks to be the best of them by quite some way. The mouldings are high quality, there is plenty of detail and surface structures are fine and crisp. Overall this is a well executed and carefully designed kit which is rich in detail. The only real drawback is the complexity of the clear parts, but there is no way around this if the desired outcome is an accurate and well detailed model. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Photo Etch detail sets for ICM Fw 189A-1 1:72 Eduard With the ink (pixels?) barely dry on our review of ICM's all-new Focke Wulf Fw 189A-1, it's both surprising and encouraging to see Eduard have been so quick off the mark with some upgrade parts for what looks to be an already very good kit. Eduard have released two sets of photo etched parts – one general set and one for the landing flaps – as well as a set of pre-cut masks. I imagine the latter will sell very well indeed, given the intimidating nature of the Uhu's glazing. Fw 189A-1 1:72 Eduard This first set comprises two frets of parts. In the usual Eduard style, one fret is pre-painted while the other is plain. Included on the pre-painted fret are harnesses for the crew seats, a new multi-layered instrument panel, console and parts for the control column. Also on the fret is a whole host of parts for the cockpit sidewalls. Turning to second fret, Eduard have provided replacement magazines for the defensive machine guns, as well as ring and bead gun sights. A fairly modest number of extra details are provided for the rest of the airframe, but the landing gear legs and bays benefit from a handful of extra parts, and the elevator control linkage is replicated in brass too. Fw 189A-1 Landing Flaps 1:72 Eduard In typical Eduard style, these flaps make extensive use of folds rather than lots of parts, which helps make construction relatively painless. You'll need to pay close attention to the instructions though, particularly when it comes to cutting away the corresponding parts of the kit's wings as Eduard's instructions are less than precise. You'll also need to provide a plentiful supply of plastic rod in order to finish these off. Fw 189A-1 Pre-Cut Masks 1:72 Eduard In keeping with their other pre-cut mask sets, this set contains masks for all of the transparent parts, as well as the main and tail landing gear wheels. For a model with a huge amount of complex glazing like this one, they are a great time (and stress) saver. Conclusion ICM's Uhu looks great in the box and I can imagine a fair number will appear in the Ready for Inspection forum over the coming year. It's handy therefore that Eduard have been so quick to market with these upgrade sets. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Good afternoon colleagues. everything was built here: http://scalemodels.ru/modules/forum/viewtopic_t_26413.html