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Fw.190A-6 Engine & Fuselage Guns (6481102 for Eduard) 1:48 Eduard Brassin We’ve just reviewed the new Fw.190A-6 kit in 1:48 from Eduard here, and it’s a great kit that will satisfy many builders straight from the box. If you’re hungry for more detail however, this new engine set will upgrade the kit with an extremely high level of detail that peels back the skin of the fuselage to expose the motive power of this WWII fighter, adding an extra focal point to your model. As is usual with Eduard's larger resin sets, they arrive in a deep yellow and black themed Brassin cardboard box, with the resin parts safely cocooned in bags, a foam sheet top and bottom, and the instructions folded around acting as extra padding. Inside the box are a large quantity of highly detailed resin and PE parts to construct a complete BMW 801 engine for the deadly Fw.190, which is so detailed due to Eduard's advanced CAD prototyping, 3d Printing and casting facilities, and their extremely talented model engineers. Incredibly, much of the detail is amalgamated into monolithic parts to reduce the number of castings, starting with the gun bay between the cockpit and the engine. The two ammo boxes have PE handles fitted, and are then glued into the single-part stepped bulkhead at the rear, which shows a triangular length of scrap resin behind that must be removed before construction. A hose it applied into a groove in the front of the bulkhead, followed by a single part that depicts the entire engine mount, attaching by its four location points astride the ammo boxes. The twin MG17 cannons on their supports are fitted to the top of the bulkhead after removing additional resin marked in red, adding wire around the bases for realism, and another resin part depicting the operating mechanism on each side. Additional wiring is added behind the gun breeches, their locations marked in colour, and their lengths given in addition to diameter. Both cylinder banks are printed as a single part, onto which the exhaust collector pipework is glued. A PE wiring loom and resin ancillary plate are added to the rear, the remainder of the exhaust tubing and clustered outlet pipes surround this, plus another wiring loom fitted to the front of the engine before the reduction housing, magneto, and optional prop-shaft are inserted, fitting several PE straps that hold the hoses and exhausts stable, and mounting a horseshoe-shaped reservoir and ancillary parts around the rear. Once completed and painted, the engine can be mated to the nose gun bay, setting it aside while the fuselage and lower wing parts are adapted to accommodate it. Red areas mark the parts of the fuselage cowling and underwing areas that should be removed, and four slots made in the skin around the gun bay to accommodate the closures, trapping the combined engine and gun bay between the fuselage halves, adding a gun trough panel with heater ducts fixed to the top of the engine, first slipping the barrels into the troughs, then mating the intake-ring to the remaining fuselage panels. The missing cowling panels are all supplied as thin resin parts, with exceptional detail, which is augmented by adding PE fasteners to the edges, and PE hinges where they join the fuselage. They are shown posed open to the correct positions, held in place by lengths of wire from your own stocks, and you can then choose to fit the kit prop on the axle, or leave it off and replace it with a resin shaft with splined ends if you prefer. There is also a resin update set available if you wish to augment the detail in that area too, which can be found by clicking here. Colours are called out during construction using Gunze H and C codes, the location of wires/hoses are printed in colour with lengths and diameters given to aid you in selecting suitable wires from your stock, which will help immensely with the complex task. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Fw.190A-6 Cockpit (6481101 for Eduard) 1:48 Eduard Brassin We’ve just reviewed the new Fw.190A-6 kit in 1:48 from Eduard here, and it’s a great kit that will satisfy many builders straight from the box. If you’re hungry for more detail however, this new cockpit set will upgrade the kit cockpit to a higher level that justifies spending extra time painting and weathering the area, which is a typical focal point of most aviation models, with the exception of drones and UAVs. As is usual with Eduard's larger resin sets, they arrive in a Brassin-themed black-and-yellow cardboard box, with the resin parts safely cocooned in bags between two layers of grey foam, and the instructions folded around acting as additional padding. Inside are a mixture of traditional cast and 3D printed 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 has a button-quilted cushion moulded-in and has a pair of pre-painted PE lap-belts added, fitting into the tub along with the control column after the removal of the tendril-like supports from the printing process, applying stencil and dial decals on the side consoles after detail-painting. The instrument panel lower section is made first, using either a lamination of two layers of PE and a blank resin panel backing, mounting a choice of resin centre sections that are used with the alternative resin panel with dials moulded-in and decals instead of using PE. In this latest set, there are levers and handles supplied as delicate 3D printed parts to be glued into recesses in the panel sides instead of shallow PE parts. The rudder pedals are also 3D printed, which gives them a more realistic look for less effort, beyond the capabilities of PE parts alone, which would have to be folded to shape. They are glued into the floor of the cockpit on their mounting posts along with the lower instrument panel that fits in place on the ends of the side consoles. A resin lever is fixed to the port side console, and the shoulder belts are laid over the top of the seat now in place, followed by building the resin gunsight with acetate glazing parts sliding into grooves in the mechanism. The completed gunsight is slotted into the upper panel, which you can build from PE and resin, or resin and decals in the same manner as the lower panel. The coaming fits over the top, and it has a cut-out on top to accommodate the gunsight that protrudes through. The starboard fuselage half has two lugs marked in red that are removed to be replaced by a resin winder handle, and once everything has been painted and decaled, the fuselage can be closed around the new cockpit, the kit forward bulkhead, and the resin coaming. The final resin part combines the pilot’s head armour and the support structure behind it in one highly detailed part, which should be detail painted according to the usual Gunze Sangyo call-outs, and has a red warning decal to be applied to the front of the head armour below the cushion, as shown in a separate diagram. That is then glued in place inside the clear styrene canopy appropriate to your decal choice from the kit. 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. Conclusion As the cockpit is one of the main focal-points of any single-seat fighter, the extra effort is well-worth expending, as the detail is finer and accurate, thanks to the capability of 3D printed parts, traditional resin, PE and decals, each with their own specialities. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Fw-190A-6 ProfiPACK (82137) 1:48 Eduard Introduced in 1941 to combat the ever-improving Spitfire, the Fw.190 was intended to supplant the Bf.109 if it reached a development plateau, or to run alongside it as a stablemate if it could continue to be improved. Its powerful twin-bank radial engine was installed with a close-fitting cowling on a small fuselage, and was initially equipped with an oversized, ducted prop-spinner to keep the engine cool, which was discarded early in development in favour of a fan that ran on the prop's drive-shaft to push air over and between the cylinder heads, also facilitating oil cooling. It was also given a wide-track landing gear, which reduced the likelihood of a nose-over, a problem afflicting both the Bf.109 and its opponent the Spitfire, due to their narrow tracked gear and poor forward visibility over a long cowling. When it first encountered Spitfires, the Fw.190 gave the RAF pilots a shock, as they were expecting Bf.109s, not these agile new aircraft. It caused a frenzy of development at Supermarine, which was just part of the leapfrog game played by both sides throughout the conflict. The initial A-1 production version was equipped with a BMW 801 engine, and by the time the A-4 was signed off, it had two 7.92mm guns in the cowling, and a pair of 20mm MG151 cannons in the wing root, all of which were synchronised with the prop's motion, in turn mated to a more powerful version of the BMW engine. There were several equipment fits used in the many variants that gave the Würger (Shrike) additional weapons and capabilities, including a pressurised cockpit, rocket tubes and reconnaissance cameras. The A-6 was a natural progression of development that started reaching service in mid-1943, with an increased armament that included MG17s in the engine cowling, two 20mm MG 151 cannons in the wing root as before, and another identical pair just outboard of the landing gear bays. The wings were also lightened whilst improving their strength, leaving space for extra ammunition for the two wing-mounted cannons, in an effort to increase their success in downing the bomber streams that were attacking German industry on a daily basis by that point in the war. The Kit Since the initial tooling of the Fw.190A series airframe in 2007, there have been numerous reboxings, additional parts and re-releases of other variants, plus tooling upgrades as time went by. Eduard's Fw.190 today is a great kit, and has stood the test of time well over the last decade, the moulds amended and improved to keep it current. The ProfiPACK boxing of this variant includes extras to improve on the already excellent detail, and arrives in a gold-themed box, which is adorned with a dramatic and emotional painting of the iconic Butcher Bird in night fighter guise, engaged with an ill-fated Halifax bomber, which has its two inner engines on fire, although the mid-upper gunner is still bravely fighting on. Inside are five grey/blue sprues, one of clear parts, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, a small sheet of kabuki tape masking material (not pictured), two decal sheets and the instruction/painting guide, printed in colour on glossy white paper. Due to the modular nature of the sprue design and layout there will be a fair quantity of spare parts left after construction, which are marked on the diagrams with pale blue overprinting. Construction starts in the cockpit, which is augmented with pre-painted PE side consoles and instrument panels, but also retained are the decals that can be applied to flat panels, as well as the engraved styrene panels for those that prefer to paint their details manually. The tub includes the sharply tapering rear deck, to which you add the rear bulkhead cheeks, control column, seat, plastic or PE rudder pedals, pre-painted seatbelts and sundry other parts in styrene and PE. The cockpit sides have details moulded-in that are improved by adding PE parts to the areas that will be seen within the finished compartment, detail painting them according to the instructions accompanying each part. To close the fuselage, the cockpit assembly with upper instrument panel that has the same choices as the lower is inserted along with a bulkhead that closes the front of the tub, two exhaust inserts with L and R engraved into the cowling, and the two-part engine assembly, which is only an approximation of the front row of cylinders, as little will be seen once the cowling, prop and cooling fan is in place. The lower wings are full span, and has a spar fitted that runs to the ends of the gear bays, with detail on the face visible through the apertures. This is augmented by the wheel bays, various ribs and the cannon barrels that protrude through, with the upper wing surfaces added after painting of the bay roof detail that is engraved into their underside. The completed wing assembly is then offered up to the fuselage, and the missing sections of the cowling with exhaust stubs, gun barrels and troughs are added to the top and bottom of the nose, adding the instrument coaming to the front of the cockpit cut-out, either adding a small PE part into a recess, or making the same part from scrap styrene and a decal if you prefer. The two-part intake ring finishes the front cowling, and the flying surfaces are glued into place, including separate rudder and ailerons that can be posed deflected, and fixed elevators that slot into the sides of the tail. The tyres provided for the main gear have separate hubs front and back, and fit onto the peg on the ends of the struts, with separate oleo-scissors and captive bay door parts, the latter with a choice of two styles. The retraction gear is installed along with the leg in the bay on the inner side of the leg, and the centre doors fit to the central bar that splits the bays either closed, or opened with a strut holding them in place. The tail wheel slots into a two-part yoke and slides into a socket under the tail, a crew step, aerial and D/F loop for most decal options, gun barrels and pitot probes are installed, then the three-bladed paddle prop is completed with spinner and fan behind it, with a peg at the rear fitting into a corresponding hole in the engine front. Two styles of open and closed canopies are provided, and are outfitted with head armour, PE grab handle and armour support before being added to the airframe along with the windscreen part. The last touch is to add the gear-down indicator pegs to the tops of the wings, which are made from tiny PE parts, and for the night fighter options (F&G), a series of antennae are made from PE strips with circular bases that are applied to the wings and fuselage as indicated, fixing styrene flare hiders to the side-mounted exhausts. A belly-mounted fuel tank is made from two halves, and is mounted on a long, four-part pylon that fixes under the fuselage on two pegs, where another set of antennae for the night fighters are shown in blue. If you are rigging the aerial wire to the tail, remember that if you pose the canopy open, the wire can appear relaxed, although many photos also show it taut, so check your references. Markings There are seven decal options on the sheet provided, with the common stencils on a separate sheet as is common with Eduard kits. Which decal option you choose informs your choice of options whilst building the kit, so make your choice early to avoid confusion and potential mistakes. From the box you can build one of the following: Fw 190A-6, WNr. 550375, Lt. Heinz-Günther Lück, 1./JG 1, Deelen, Netherlands, August 1943 Fw 190A-6, WNr. 550461, Oblt. Helmut Radtke, 5./JG 54, Immola, Finland, Summer 1944 Fw 190A-6, WNr. 550453, Hptm. Friedrich-Karl Müller, Stab /JG 300, Bonn-Hangelar, Germany, October 1943 Fw 190A-6, Fw. Günther Josten, 1./JG 51, Bobruysk, the USSR, January 1944 Fw 190A-6, WNr. 550473, Fw. Walter Nietzsche, II. /JG 300, Rheine, Germany, Summer 1943 Fw 190A-6/R11, WNr. 550143, Oblt. Fritz Krause, 1./NJGr 10, Werneuchen, Germany, January 1944 Fw 190A-6/R11, II. /JG 300, Lobnitz, Germany, Autumn 1943 All the decals are printed in Czechia, have good registration, colour density and sharpness, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the edge of the printing. The stencils are catered for on a separate sheet, with a page of the instructions devoted to their placement, away from the markings options to avoid clutter. As always with Eduard, the Swastikas are provided in two parts on the body of the sheet to comply with local regulations regarding this contentious symbol, and can be brought together to create the symbol if you are striving for historical accuracy and it is permitted in your nation. Conclusion The surface detail on the kit is excellent, with lines of finely engraved rivets adding to the visual appeal (yes, we know rivets aren't holes, but this technique works for most of us though). Add the extra PE detail, and quite a fun set of decal options (I particularly like the night fighters), and you have a winner on your hands. The box art is also striking, so don’t forget that there is a large print of the artwork available to buy without the necessary text and other clutter of the box top. Very highly recommended. Kit EduART Print Review sample courtesy of

Fw.190A-3 Weekend Edition (84205) 1:48 Eduard Introduced in 1941 to combat the ever-improving Spitfire, the Fw.190 was intended to supplant the Bf.109 if it reached a plateau in development, or run alongside it as a stablemate if not. Its powerful twin-bank radial engine was installed with a close-fitting cowling and was initially equipped with an oversized, ducted prop-spinner to keep the engine cool, which was discarded early in development in favour of a fan that ran on the prop's drive-shaft to push air through over and between the cylinder heads, which also facilitated oil cooling. It was also given a wide-track landing gear that reduced the likelihood of a nose-over, a problem afflicting both the Bf.109 and Spitfire, due to their narrow track and poor forward visibility. When it first encountered Spitfires, it gave the RAF pilots a shock, as they were expecting 109s, not these agile new aircraft. It caused a frenzy of development at Supermarine, which was just part of the leapfrog game played by both sides throughout the conflict. The initial A-1 production version was equipped with a BMW 801 engine, and by the time the A-3 was signed off, it had two 7.92mm guns in the cowling, and a pair of 20mm MG151 cannons in the wing root, all of which were synchronised with the prop's motion, in turn mated to a more powerful version of the BMW engine. There were several equipment fits used in the many versions that gave the Würger (Shrike) additional weapons and capabilities, including a pressurised cockpit, rocket tubes and reconnaissance cameras. The A-3 was fitted with an upgraded BMW 801 D-2 engine that gave performance another boost, retaining the 20 mm MG 151/20E cannon from the A-2 as well as many other similarities that was evidenced by production records making very little distinction between the A-2 and A-3 variants. The A-4 was a natural progression of development that started reaching service in mid-1942, with a specification broadly similar to the A-3 that came before it, with similar mission-specific sub-variants and field modification packs available to it. Armament was extended by another pair of 20 mm MG FF/Ms just outboard of the landing gear bays, with barrels projecting from the leading-edges of the wings, and access for loading and maintenance from beneath. The A-4 was later replaced by the A-5 that had an extended nose that moved the centre of gravity forward to permit it to carry more munitions, followed in due course by the 6, 7 and A-8, which became the definitive variant of the A series. The Kit Since the initial tooling of the basic A series airframe in 2007, there have been numerous reboxings, additional parts and re-releases of other variants. Eduard's 190 is a great kit, and has stood the test of time well in the interim, and the moulds have seen additions that keep it current. This Weekend Edition concentrates on the already excellent plastic details, and arrives in their blue-themed box, which is adorned with a painting of a brace of Butcher birds engaged with a couple of Spitfires, hard at work trying to get behind each other. Inside are five grey/blue sprues, one of clear parts, two decal sheets and the instruction booklet printed in colour on glossy paper, with profiles for the decal options on the rear pages, plus space for some notes after the stencil diagrams. Due to the pick-n-mix nature of the sprues there will be a fair quantity of spares left after construction, which are marked on the diagrams with a pale blue overprinting. Construction starts in the cockpit, which has decals applied to the side consoles and instrument panels, adding a centre console with another decal, applying more decals for the seatbelts. The tub includes the sharply pointed rear deck, to which you add the rear bulkheads, control column, seat with separate cushion, rudder pedals, and sundry other parts, some fixed to the cockpit side walls moulded into the fuselage halves. In order to close up the fuselage, the cockpit assembly is inserted along with a bulkhead that closes up the front of the tub, two L & R labelled exhaust inserts in the cowling, and the engine assembly, which is only an approximation of the front row of cylinders, plus the reduction gear bell-housing, as not much will be seen once the cowling is in place. The lower wings are full width, and have a spar fitted that runs to the ends of the gear bays, with detail on the forward face visible through the openings. This is augmented by the dimpled wheel trays, various ribs and the cannon barrels that protrude through, with the upper wings added after painting of the bay roof detail that is engraved on their underside. The completed wing assembly is then offered up to the fuselage, and the missing sections of the cowling, gun barrels and troughs are added to the top and bottom of the nose. A two-layer ring finishes the front cowling, and the flying surfaces are glued into to place, including separate rudder and ailerons, plus fixed elevators. Two types of tyres are provided for the main gear, which have separate hubs, and fit onto the peg on the ends of the strut, with separate oleo-scissors and captive bay door parts. The retraction gear is installed on the inner side of the leg, and the centre doors fit to the central bar that splits the bays. The tail wheel with split yoke and separate tyre slots into the rear, crew step, more wing-mounted gun barrels and pitot probe are installed, adding a wire antenna from your own supplies under the fuselage for some decal options. Then the broad three-bladed prop is completed with boss-front, spinner and fan unit behind it, with a peg at the rear fitting into a corresponding hole in the engine front. Different open and closed canopies are provided, and are outfitted with head armour and support before being added to the airframe along with the fixed windscreen part. If you are rigging the aerial wire to the tail, remember that if you pose the canopy open, the wire can appear relaxed, although many photos also show it taut, so check your references. Markings This Weekend Edition gives you a generous four decal options (you used to get just one), with plenty of variation between them, which should appeal to a wider audience than those of yesteryear. From the box you can build one of the following: WNr. 223, Hptm. Hans Hahn, CO of III./JG 2, Beaumont le Roger, France, June 1942 WNr. 216, Oblt. Karl Borris, CO of 8./JG 26, Wevelghem, Belgium, July 1942 Oblt. Wolfgang Kosse, 1./JG 5, Herdla, Norway, October 1942 WNr. 2259, Oblt. Günther Josten, 1./JG 51, Lyuban, the Soviet Union, autumn 1942 The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion The Weekend Edition is a more choice-filled proposition than it was years ago, and the detail of the kit is excellent, extending to a riveted exterior and finely engraved panel lines. Whether you can build one in a weekend is down to you, but you can try! Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Zoukei Mura is developing a series of 1/32nd Focke-Wulf Fw.190A & Fw.190D kits. Source: https://www.facebook.com/cybermodeller?hc_location=timeline V.P.

Fw.190A Seat w/Integral Belts PRINT (6481038 for Eduard) 1:48 Eduard Brassin Eduard’s 1:48 Fw.190A kits are well-crafted, but now we have a technology that can create parts with exceptional detail and fidelity that simply makes a drop-in replacement for focal points of the model. Although this set arrives in a flat package, the directly 3D printed parts are safe inside a clear plastic clamshell box inside, which also has a sticky pad inside to prevent the parts from rattling about during shipping and in storage. The parts are 3D printed resin, attached to the base via thin tendril-like fingers that are easy to cut off and sand the remnants away, leaving them ready for action. Consisting of a single part on its own base, the new seat is a direct replacement for the kit part, and has the seat belts and base cushion moulded/printed-in. The belts are naturally draped over the shell of the seat, and due to the technology used in 3D SLA printing, there are gaps engineered where the four-point belts curve around the sides and back of the seat, offering an enhanced realism that improves on previous methods for depicting belts that have gone before. All the supports are located on the rear and underside of the seat shell, so that clean-up will be easy, the modeller simply ensuring that the slightly raised location points are removed where they might be seen or may impinge on proper fitment of the part. Once sympathetically painted, the seat will be a fine focal point of the cockpit of your next Fw.190A project. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Greetings everyone. If possible, I would like some help from my friends on the forum. I'm building a Ta-152 in 1/32 scale from Zouke-Mura, although the kit is good, I would like to improve it. Unfortunately or fortunately, I am one of the fans of using rivets. I'm looking for images that can help with applying the rivets. The biggest reference I could have is the edition of the book about the Ta-152 made by the publisher KAGERO. It will take a while until I get the book. Anyone who can help, I would be immensely grateful. Cheers from Brazil.

Thanks Pin! Pepelatz is to release a 1/72nd Focke-Wulf P.281 resin kit - ref. PPZ7206 Source: https://www.facebook.com/pepelatzmodels/posts/1334533360252276 Box art & 3D renders V.P.

Ok this is part two of a new project that I have sort of been hinting about and the base components have been photo bombing. Again I blame Arnold for this rash of “unusual” builds. Basically this is a “what shall I do with the left-overs” build, but after having a look at what will be involved a far more substantial build than the Arado one. One of the big issues was to the layout of the undercarriage and to where to fit it! With the two engine pods for the BWM’s there is no room for undercarriage. I could have gone with something exotic like a bicycle mains with outriggers but that does suit the look I’m after. But I now have a cunning plan that will be revealed a bit further down. Ok a bit of a mock-up to see what it will look like, it’s workable and a bit odd. It will be an all metal body so a whole lot of new panel lines will need to be done…oh what fun that’ll be!!! So first off the wing, this will be the whole wing and engines leftover from the turbo-Prop build. Like the Jumo Arado the wing actually sort of fits the fuselage, which will make stitching this together a lot easier. I’ve cut the Arado’s wing to suit the wing cut out of the 154, this gives me the correct (?) position for the new wing. I’ll need some packing to get the wing to sit at the right height. With it all together now (well held together by tape anyway) I can new get a good idea of how she will look. I will use the tail plug for the 154-A2 mod kit. The nose is still quite stubby but I am thinking about extending time a wee bit from behind where the RO sits, maybe enough to have the pilot level or just in front of the intakes. Plus I will not be using the FuG-220 antenna array, instead I will use the extra resin FuG-240 “dustbin” I had from the Arado P5 build. Seeing this is a Luft46 aircraft it’ll need a more modern radar! I don’t have any photos to show but it is the perfect size an looks amazing! Ok now for the main gear, after lots of thinking and looking in the spares box I ended up coming back the Arados main gear. With very little moding of the gear bay it fits perfectly! So some quick marking up using the Arado as a guide and one hole later we have it! Looks pretty sweet and are in a similar position to the Arados. So this is a doable project, a bit more complex than her sister, plus she will have a new resin cockpit. Most of the work will be getting the wings to fit and on, plus re-profiling. This won’t be a quick project at all, this one will take time but should be lots of fun as well. TrickyRich Aviation Werks is now in full production mode!! Business logo on the way!

I really like these early Luftwaffe flying boats, so when this one appeared on evil bay I couldn't resist it. Really nicely moulded parts. Having never built a Planet kit before I'm looking forward to this one. Cheers Pat

Dragon's Fw 190D-9 has been replaced by the Hobby Boss kit, a much superior offering with much better fit all around. I had bought Dragon's kit in order to have Gerhard Barkhorn's decals. The kit itself has many moulding defects, big gaps around the fuselage/wing section (which is solved by adding a spreader bar aft the cockpit), the propeller blades don´t have locating tabs, the aircraft sits too high on its gear because of a manufacturer idea, it comes with steel PE parts which are nigh impossible to cut from their sprue with a regular hobby knife, etc... I decided to paint the model as Oskar Romm's aircraft, which in reality had the old Fw 190 canopy instead of the blown one. The model was brushpainted with what I thought were the Revell equivalents of RLM 82 and RLM 83 (Bronze Green 65 and RAF Dark Green 68).

Airframe Detail Number 6 – Ta.154 Moskito Valiant Wings Publishing Kurt Tank was a gifted engineer and created a number of successful designs for the German war effort during WWII, with the Moskito being one of his less successful due in part to circumstances beyond his control. The original design was intended to use the least strategic materials as possible, and the fuselage and wings were instead constructed mainly from laminated wood that was bonded by a phenolic resin for strength. The prototype was flown in competition with two other designs and achieved a very high maximum speed, but it was unarmed and had no military equipment fitted at that stage. When it finally flew with this in place, it slowed the aircraft appreciably by as much as 75km/h (47mph), which eroded its advantage over the competition, and when the factory making the resin was bombed out of existence, an inferior glue was used. This led to mid-air breakups due to the failure of the bonding, and it was also found to be corroding the wood, further weakening it. Ernst Heinkel's hatred of the competitor to his troubled He.219 didn't help, and the project was cancelled with only 50 airframes extant. There was an attempt to reuse them as piloted flying bombs to disrupt the Allied bomber streams (after the pilot had bailed out), but as far as records go none were actually used in combat. Another option considered was to remove the front end, replace it with a large explosive charge, and fly it into the bomber stream with an Fw.190 atop on a trestle. The German name for these types was Mistel, and this too never proceeded. This book, by author Richard A Franks, with profiles and plans by Richard J Caruana, and example model produced by Steve A Evans is perfect-bound as usual and consists of 64 pages within a card jacket, printed on glossy paper stock throughout. It is number 6 in the Airframe Detail series that concentrates more on the aircraft in question, with just a short section to the rear with an example build of the large scale HpH kit in 1:32. The book is broken down into sections as follows: Introduction 1 Technical Description Detailed coverage of construction and equipment 2 Camouflage & Markings Colour side profiles, notes and photographs 3 Big-Scale Moskito A build of the 1:32 kit from HpH by Steve A Evans Appendices i Ta.154 kits ii Ta.154 accessory & mask list iii Bibliography Inside there are masses of photographs, diagrams and profiles, all of which are contemporary in black and white due to that being the predominant film format of the day. The profiles are distributed through the 2nd section of the book, and show eleven airframes, backed up with photos of the real thing nearby. The sheer level of detail given within the pages is perfect for the modeller, and will be of use to anyone from novice to super-detailer, with some of the photos showing the interior, sub-assembly layout, the catapult seat that was the forerunner of the ejection seat, but wouldn't have been a very nice experience for the poor pilot, although preferable to hitting the ground at hundreds of miles per hour with your stricken aircraft. Steve Evans' build of the huge HpH kit shows what can be done to the model, and results in a lovely example that anyone would be pleased to have in their collection. From a modelling standpoint there is plenty of scope for building and painting one of the other smaller scale kits such as the 1:72 Hasegawa or Revell kit, the 1:48 Revell offering that shares heritage with the Dragon/Trimaster kit, which may explain the fit issues some people have when building it. Conclusion Another Excellent volume from Valiant, and an interesting one personally (maybe why I have such an inconveniently large stash?) as I have a fondness for those "might-have-been" German WWII projects, as well as a 1:48 Revell kit in the stash somewhere. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Fw.190A-3 Landing Flaps (48980 for Eduard) 1:48 Eduard As usual with Eduard's Photo-Etch (PE) and Mask sets, they arrive in a flat resealable package, with a white backing card protecting the contents and the instructions that are sandwiched between. Eduard landing flaps use an ingenious technique to achieve excellent true-to-scale flaps using few parts, and requiring the modeller to simply remove the retracted flaps from the lower wing, plus scrape the upper wings to accommodate the thickness of the completed bays, all of which are shown in red on the instructions. Each flap bay is constructed in the same manner, by twisting and folding over the attached ribs to create a 3D shape, with extra parts added along the way. The bays glue to the inside of the upper wing and the flap is folded up and attaches to the rear wall of the new bay. Repeat this for the other side, and you're almost done. The bays have a "dimpled" panel in the small central section, and after pressing the details through with the tip of a ball-point pen, these are inserted and glued in place. Review sample courtesy of

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-8, Wk. Nr. 170393, from 6./JG 1, mostly a reconstruction built from original parts, located at the Luftfahrtmuseum, Hanover Germany. Pics taken by Chris Jephcott.

Wk. Nr. 584219, a Fw 190 F-8/U1 converted into a two seat unit as a VIP transport for Jagdfliegerschule 103. Captured by the RAF in Norway and later flown for testing purposes. Currently located at the RAF Museum in Hendon, England. It is the only known two seat Fw 190 in existence. Pics thanks to Mark Mills.

Wk. Nr. 836017, a Fw 190 D-13 from 1./JG 26 as flown by Major Franz Götz. After capture labelled FE-117 and later donated to the Georgia Tech University, but fell into disrepair. Later restored in Germany by William Flugzeuge and returned to the Champlin Fighter Museum in Mesa, Arizona. It was later donated to the Museum of Flight in Seattle, when the Champlin museum closed. Is now on display in Everett, Washington as a part of Paul Allen's Flying Heritage Collection. The aircraft has been restored close to flyable condition, but it will not be flown because it is the only surviving D-13. As part of the Champlin collection the engine was run on several occasions. Pics thanks to Mark Mills.

Fw.190A-4 Photo-Etch, Masks & Decals (for Eduard) 1:48 Eduard Launched to coincide with the release of their new Fw.190A-4 kit, which we reviewed here, Eduard have created a host of sets that can be used to improve on the already impressive level of detail found in the box. There are so many sets that we will break them down between Photo-Etch (PE) and resin Brassin sets, and once posted, we'll cross link them for completeness. As usual with Eduard's Photo-Etch (PE) and Mask sets, they arrive in a flat resealable package, with a white backing card protecting the contents and the instructions that are sandwiched between. The decals are in a ziplok type bag, stiffened by a cover sheet and a piece of white card to keep them safe. Fw.190A-4 Upgrade Set (48937) This PE sheet is bare brass, and builds upon the detail of the kit and included PE that comes with the ProfiPACK boxing. It contains a canopy latch for the cockpit; ammo chute details; additional gear bay sidewall skins; new dual-layer gear leg covers with brake hoses and tie-down loops; bomb shackle details; gear bay retraction jack parts (including additional hosing); gun port surrounds; cockpit armour support, raised strip on the canopy and a frame that attaches to the outside of the windscreen. Seatbelts STEEL (FE863) In case you don't already know, they are Photo-Etch (PE) steel, and because of their strength they can be etched from thinner material, which improves realism and flexibility in one sitting. Coupled with the new painting method that adds perceived extra depth to the buckles and other furniture by shading, they are more realistic looking and will drape better than regular brass PE. Fw.190A Landing Flaps (48936) Eduard landing flaps use an ingenious technique to achieve excellent true-to-scale flaps using few parts, and requiring the modeller to simply remove the retracted flaps from the lower wing, plus scrape the upper wings to accommodate the thickness of the completed bays. Each half of the flap (bay and flap itself) is constructed in the same manner, by twisting and folding over the attached ribs to create a 3D shape. The bay glues to the inside of the upper wing and the flap attaches to the rear wall of the new bay. Repeat this for the other side, and you're almost done. The bays have a "dimpled" panel, which is laminated to the bay after pressing the details through with the tip of a ball-point pen, and in this instance the flaps fold up simply into a roughly triangular profile, with a strip running through the middle, the location for which is shown on a scrap diagram. Masks (EX565) Supplied on a sheet of yellow kabuki tape, these pre-cut masks supply you with a full set of masks for the canopy, with compound curved handled by using frame hugging masks, while the highly curved gaps are in-filled with either liquid mask or offcuts from the background tape. In addition you get a set of hub/tyre masks for the wheels, allowing you to cut the demarcation perfectly with little effort. Fw.190A Stencils (D48029) If you have a kit with no stencils from Eduard or another manufacturer, have stuffed up your existing set (we're only human afterall), or are looking for spares in case you do, this set of the stencils included with the kit will be of interest. It is printed to Eduard's usual high standard in Czechia (the new name for the Czech Republic if you didn't know) and comes with a colour diagram that shows where each one should go on the airframe. Brassin Resin Sets for Engine & Gun Bays These additional sets can be found in a separate review here to save your scrolling finger. Review sample courtesy of

Hi! Just finished this one. Excellent kit and a joy to build Kit manufacture: Hasegawa 09856 Scale: 1/48 Type: Focke-Wulf 190F-8 Extras used: Eduard seat belts Paints and colours used: Gunze RLM colors Best regards Rune Norway

Source: http://old1.trumpeter-china.com/a/en/product/fly/1_72_Series/2013/0831/2482.html 1/72nd Focke Wulf FW.200 C-3 Condor by Trumpeter - ref.01637 V.P.

Oh dear this one come up so quickly it caught me by surprise I still thought I had another month to go before this one! I’m the first to start a thread but I think this will be to just grab a space as I am still so far behind on other projects!! A 1/32nd SWS Ta-152H-1!!! Not a scale I normally work in but for some aircraft you just have to go large and this is one of them! I have so wanted to build one of these or any SWS model for so long, this will be my third attempt to. The first was to be an Ho-229, I pre-ordered one but had my money stolen by a dodgy dealer (there’s a whole thread on BM about these scum bags!), the second a Ta-152H-1 like this but it was lost by evilBay’s “Global Package Loosing System”, least I got my money back from that! So this is the third attempt! I would love to say such an amazing model will be straight form the box, it should be…..but I have a few plans for it! No outrageous mods, will leave that for other builds, just some PE flaps and interior plus some Master brass barrels. No idea of a scheme as yet but she’ll be a factory fresh one for a change…..maybe! Not a lot to her so all the work will be getting the details and finish right……

Gosh I had trouble figuring out what to build for this GB, it's safe to say I have changed my mind many times, right up to the stage where I had almost finished this starting thread. I had been already to build an Hs-129B-3 (75mm version) and full AM bits and pieces including vector resin engines! But I was doing some final research as I was writing up the thread when everything changed. For some reason I was never quite sure if the Fw-190D’s were used against the Soviets and to what level and thought it would be a bit hard on the research side…..but I was wrong (there were actually even some of the big wing Ta-152H’s were used as well!). So with this new info at hand I can happily go back to what I had really wanted to build, a Dora! So the base will be Tamiya’s lovely Fw-190 D9, excluding the Su-7, this will be my third Tamiya fighter in a row, I love these models. I normally like to throw lots of AM stuff at my builds but this time I’ll only use just one….. …and what an AM kit it is! Full engine, cockpit and gun bay detail kit…that should keep me busy for a while. The for the scheme I’ll probably do “White 12” from JG301 using the Cutting Edge decal sheet........ ....................though I am very tempted to build one flown by one of the following Russian front aces; Oberleutnant Oskar Romm IV/JG3 – 92 kills Oberleutnant Gerhard Michalski Geschwaderkommodore JG4 – 14 kills (73 in total) Oberst Hans-Ulrich Rudel Geschwaderkommodore SG2 (Legendary Ju87 pilot) - 9 kills Major Gerhard Barkhorn Geschwaderkommodore JG6 – 301 kills

THE DRAGON: Who’s he that seeks the Dragon’s blood, And calls so angry, and so loud? That English dog, will he before me stand? I’ll cut him down with my courageous hand. With my long teeth, and scurvy jaw, Of such I’d break up half a score, And stay my stomach, till I’d more. -- Christmas Play of St. George and the Dragon, as collected by William Sandys, F.S.A., in Christmas-tide - its History, Festivities and Carols, 1852 This shall bestride the sea and ride the sky. Thus shall he fly, and beat above your nation The clashing pinions of Apocalypse, Ye shall be deep-sea fish in pale prostration Under the sky-foam of his flying ships. When terror above your cities, dropping doom, Shall shut all England in a lampless tomb, Your widows and your orphans now forlorn Shall be no safer than the dead they mourn. When all their lights grow dark, their lives grow grey, What will those widows and those orphans say? -- G K Chesterton, The Turkey and the Turk,1925 Only Hope was left within her unbreakable house, she remained under the lip of the jar, and did not fly away. -- Hesiod, Works and Days "A cross-Channel invasion was not, as it happened, how I had visualized the war would be won... If anything, I had imagined some gigantic, climactic duel of aircraft, in which Spitfires without number would have overwhelmed the Germans first in the sky and them on the ground. But if a cross-Channel invasion it was to be, that was an end to it... They were going to win. The Germans were going to lose." -- John Keegan, Six Armies in Normandy From 1941 to possibly as late as 1943, the Luftwaffe's dragon, their butcher bird, their Würger (shrike), the Focke-Wulf 190 was the terror of Europe's skies. You don't need me to tell you that. If you're here, you already knew. Small, fast, heavily-armed and armored, it was a formidable foe for Allied fighter pilots and bombers alike. In a head-on attack, the Fw190A-8 brought four 20mm cannon and two 13mm heavy machineguns to bear; the eighteen-year-old nose gunner of a B-24 (like the one flown by my great-uncle on D-Day) could reply with two 0.50in machineguns to defend not only his own life, but the lives of his ten crewmates. For a horrible year and a few months beyond, the Fw190 seemed to have finally ended the Spitfire's ascendancy, but of course, as it ultimately proved, and as anyone who knows birds could tell you, the merlin is larger, more beautiful, and more deadly than the harsh-voiced shrike. The aircraft I'm building is Werknummer 170393/Yellow 11 of 6./JG1, flow by Fw. Alfred Bindseil, who had five victory claims (B-17, Spitfire, two P-51s, and a B-24), including a P-51 whose tail he severed with his prop. Bindseil survived the destruction of Yellow 11 when he force-landed it after encountering marauding P-47s on 31 May 1944, but met his destiny near St. Lo on 20 June 1944 in Werknummer 731091/Yellow 4, or SO I THOUGHT. Eduard has Bindseil's death as 20 June, so I pulled the combat reports for that date from the National Archives, only to discover he was killed in action on 20 JULY, probably in combat with Spitfires of 441 and 602 Squadrons (among them the great J E "Johnnie" Johnson, my boyhood hero, a dragonslayer for the 20th century and a man who I regard, without a trace of irony, as a great man and a genuine hero). 20 July was a bad day for JG1; though a total of three Spitfires were awarded to Oblt. von Kirchmayr (two) and Obfw Flecks (one), bringing their scores to 20 and 14, respectively. Let me emphasize here: no Spitfires were lost. However, ten JG1 Fw190s were destroyed and seven pilots were killed in combat with British and Canadian Spitfires on this day.. Now, all this being said, I did some archival research on 20 June , and it would be a pity for it to go to waste. On 20 June a low altitude patrol of Spitfires from 317 (Polish) Squadron, operating with 131 Wing, encountered Fw190s, possibly part of a Frie Jagd from I and II/JG1. On this date and in this place, Wing Commander Julian Kowalski (a Battle of Britain veteran of 302 Squadron) claimed a probable Fw190 as did Flight Sergeant Longin Winski, though the latter's claim was upgraded to a confirmed victory based on eyewitness testimony from a USAAF Lt. Gamble (possibly P-47D pilot Richard C. Gamble). Kowalski settled in Britain after the war and died in 1986; Winski appears to have died in May of 1946, apparently in the crash of P-47D 44-20867 in Austria; he was twenty-five. "I noticed a FW.190 breaking cloud on my port and flying East to West. I attacked and the e/a then turned South. I was then astern and at 200 yards: [sic] from him. I fired two long bursts from all armament from dead astern and level with the FW.190 and he started to burn. I saw black smoke coming from him and gave him two more long bursts. Then another Spitfire got between the e/a and myself. I was forced to break off the engagement. A moment later I saw the e/a turn on his port wing and dive vertically apparently out of control. The height of combat was 2,500 feet. The e/a dived into clouds which were at 2,000 feet, leaving a heavy trail of black smoke behind him. I did not follow him owing to low base of cloud...I CLAIM 1 F.W.190 PROBABLY DESTROYED." -- W/CDR Julian Kowalski, AIR 50/127/13 "I then looked around and saw another FW.190 on my port, I was flying south at the time, and I followed him in and out of cloud. I got in a long burst of cannon and m/g from 5-10 degs: from 250 to 200 yards: I saw hits along the wings and fuselage and he began to emit black smoke. He again dived into cloud and I followed. When he came out again I gave him another long burst from all armament and still more black smoke came from him. He turned left towards No. 3 landing strip (USA) and I lost sight of him in cloud." -- F/Sgt Longin Winski, AIR 50/127/34 It would have been nice if Eduard had given me the proper date, since each combat report PDF from the National Archives in Kew costs about $5 US, but it was still very satisfying to read about Fw190s getting shot down. I'm using the Eduard 1/72 kit, from their Royal boxing -- it has a confusing set of sprues to enable you to model different types of Fw190A-8, but some careful reading has what I need ready to go. I should be starting pretty soon, I hope.

Kora Models (http://www.lfmodels.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1_5) is to release a family of 1/72nd Focke-Wulf Ta-152V-3/V-5/H-0 & H-1 injected plastic kits with resin set, decals and injected canopy. Box art Ref.KPK7201 - Focke-Wulf Ta-152V-3/V-5 with Kompensierscheibe Source: http://www.lfmodels.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1787 Ref. KPK7202 - Focke-Wulf Ta-152H-0 "JG 301" Source: http://www.lfmodels.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1788 Ref. KPK7203 - Focke-Wulf Ta-152H-1 "JG 301" Source: http://www.lfmodels.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1789 V.P.

After the D-9 (http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234930559-148th-focke-wulf-fw190d-9-by-hobbyboss-release-february-2013-sprues-pics), D-10 (http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234944110-148th-focke-wulf-fw190d-10-by-hobbyboss-release-september-2013-sprues-pics), D-11 (http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234946466-148-focke-wulf-fw190d-11-by-hobby-boss-released/), D-12 ( http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234971437-148-focke-wulf-fw190d-12-by-hobby-boss-released/) and Fw.190D-12 R14 (http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234975667-148-focke-wulf-fw190d-12-r14-new-variant-by-hobby-boss-released/) next HobbyBoss 1/48th F***-Woulf will be a Focke-Wulf Fw.190D-13 - ref.81721. Release is announced for late August 2015. So should be available in the best hobbyshops in September-October. Source: http://www.hobbyboss.com/index.php?g=home&m=article&a=show&id=44&l=en Box art V.P.

My first completed build in 2016, another Focke Wulf Fw-190 from Eduard's Profi Pack. Added photo etch landing gear covers from Eduard Set and decals from Aeromaster (Butcher Birds #72001). Photo of the original aircraft here: http://www.jg300.de/fw-190a-gelbe-1-7-oder-17.html Gun barrels from Master Model. Painted with acrylics from Gunze/Mr.Hobby. Photographs: Wolfgang Rabel, IGM Cars & Bikes Cheers!