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Building tips for Eduard´s Weekend Edition Fw 190F-8 in 1:48


Sturmovik

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Good night guys,

This could very well be my first Eduard kit, but I would like to know what construction tips could some of you give me to make this build as pain free as possible. I´ve read several reviews, most state how detailed the kit is and how well it looks when finished, but only two point out which areas requiere extra attention to avoid ruining the model (for example, attaching piece K20 before gluing the wing spar). The model would be built with everything closed up (I thought of not adding the guns, cutting the muzzles and gluing them after the model is painted).

I would also use the instructions of the Profipack version since they´re more complete and have the camouflage scheme in full colour.

 

The model in question.

39971026854_7ee3708136_z.jpg

 

Thanks.

Edited by Sturmovik
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the  two main points about this Eduard Fw190A  family is they are really hard to build closed up,   and the fit tolerances are extremely fine, missed mould lines or  a coat of paint can cause a problem.  

 

http://imodeler.com/2013/04/148-eduard-focke-wulf-fw-190a-8/

 

http://www.hyperscale.com/2007/reviews/kits/eduard8171reviewbg_1.htm

note

Quote

Construction Tips from Eduard

As a result of test-building several kits, Eduard has pointed out several areas requiring special attention during assembly. These include the following:

  • Check the position of the completed cockpit interior to the fuselage halves. Especially the back (upper) part of the cockpit tub must be aligned exactly with line on the fuselage halves. Also the weapon bay must be carefully positioned.

  • Another important point is the wing spar (part I16) installation. In this step (page 5 of the instructions), first glue part K20 into the wing, and then add part I16. This sequence will guarantee that the wing spar will be exactly vertical to the wing bottom. This is crucial for wheel well assembly and the whole wing geometry.

  • Another sensitive point is the engine mount installation. In this point, find the exact position of the part K18 on the reverse (inside of the fuselage) side of the part H12 (wheel well). K18 fits exactly to the notch in the H12. If you glue K18 carefully to the given position, the engine block will easily assume the correct position when it is glued to the engine mount.

  • The locating holes for the main wheels are quite large. This is because the wheel fits to the axle at an angle. Use the instruction picture (page 10) to determine the exact angle of the wheel to the undercarriage leg.

  • While we are talking about the undercarriage, when you will assembly the K7 (u/c leg) to the H1 (u/c cover), the location pins on the leg will give you exact position of the hatch (H1) to the leg. This is similar to the assembly of the u/c to the wing – glue the leg to the fine locating position in the wheel well, and immediately add J30/J37 to the position in the wheel well and on the u/c leg (there is a fine location pin on the leg which fits to the small hole on the end of the tow bar). It will give you exact position of the undercarriage to the wing. This is a different system compared to other manufacturers' kits, but it delivers surprisingly good result.

 

Quote

This was a superbly detailed kit which is nevertheless a bit hung up on its BMW engine and weapons. It's designed to have everything on show via appropriate panels and an open cowling.

It no doubt looks great displayed in this way as Eduard intended for the kit.

However with my model , I wanted to keep the panels closed.

It was not too problematic; I just needed to sand the interior detail off the wing root gun panels or the panels won‘t close properly otherwise ( test fit it yourself to see what I mean ).

But the fuselage gun cowling was different; The gun tray and bulkhead needed to be eliminated. The over-wide fuselage then needed to be braced around the gun cover and carefully super glued into place. Finally, the instrument bezel had to be secured to something as the gun bulkhead was gone.

Once this little procedure had been performed, I was able to proceed with the rest of the build.

(I had previously added the brass nose machine guns from the inside of the gun cowling for them to just protrude as in the real aircraft )

 

 

test fit,  be paitient, You may want to 'tack'  the parts first to make sure of fit in the difficult areas where alignment is crucial.

 

HTH

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7 hours ago, Sturmovik said:

I guess I´ll pass on this one and buy the new A-4, or build up courage and do what it´s said above.

Thanks.

Id go ahead and build it Sturmovik. Use it as a learning experience. And a good way to practice filling & sanding techniques & materials. Ive built a number of Eduards weekend series kits in both 1/48th & 1/72nd. Theyre some great kits to build. 

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On my one, the wing ribs inside the wheel wells were moulded slightly misaligned. They all needed cleaning up on the mating surfaces with a sanding stick or else the upper wing halves wouldn't close with the lower wing piece along the leading edge.

 

The wing root cannon bay hatches are crap as well if you want to build them closed. I fitting mine to the wings first, but that caused more problems. I ended up cutting away all the internal cannon bay stuff to let the wings and hatches go vertically up into the fuselage, but the hatches needed plasticard braces added below them so that the lower wing half would force them up into location in the fuselage - they'd sag otherwise and refuse to close up.

 

It looks decent now it's all together, but I'd be lying if I said I looked forward to building another one. Models should be easy to build closed up and clean. They should need to be re-engineered to model them the way they looked 99% of the time.

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In my experience it really wasn't that bad - built the A-5 kit in 2010 or 2011 and I just followed Brett Green's pointers from the review on Hyperscale and it came together wonderfully. Did open up the wing/fuselage gun bays so didn't have to struggle with trying to close them but other than that I really didn't think this kit was particularly difficult.

 

- Elger

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4 hours ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

Models should be easy to build closed up and clean. They should need to be re-engineered

I believe that Eduard addressed these issues with there new early “A” series Focke-wulfs. Ive read some reviews that say they're much better/easier to build than the older kits. I will have to purchase one to know for sure though. 

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38 minutes ago, Sturmovik said:

@Corsairfoxfouruncle I´ll give it a try when I have some free time. In the meantime, I´ll write down on paper what was written here.

@Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies just to know, did you follow Eduard´s instructions for the closed wing cannon bays?

 

Partly, as in I did cut the wing skins. I also chamfered the cutout in the wing and then chamfered the hatch edges too.

 

Where I deviated is gluing the hatches to the wing first before attaching wings to fuselage. I did this because I'd already read countless complaints that it was extremely difficult to get a good fit trying to fit them afterwards as per the instructions.

 

I suspect Eduard know this kit is a bit of a pup because they did indeed retool it after a very short life. Most companies would expect a lot more than a decade between toolings.

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7 minutes ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

Partly, as in I did cut the wing skins. I also chamfered the cutout in the wing and then chamfered the hatch edges too.

 

Where I deviated is gluing the hatches to the wing first. I did this because I'd already read countless complaints that it was extremely difficult to get a good fit trying to fit them afterwards.

 

I suspect Eduard know this kit is a bit of a pup because they did indeed retool it after a very short life. Most companies would expect a lot more than a decade between toolings.

What do you mean by "chamfered"? Could you show me a picture of what you mean?

 

By reading the instructions, I think I may procede as follows:

1) Build the basic forward bulkhead and leave pieces H5/H6/H20/H21/H18/H19 in the sprues.

2) Open the holes in the wings for the SC50 bombs.

3) Glue piece K20 first and then the wingspar, to get a good alignment.

4) Open the areas Eduard mentions to add the hatches in the closed position, and not glue pieces I14/J3 and I15/J3.

 

Maybe by doing that and following the other advices, I may be able to fully close the aircraft. Luckily it doesn´t have PE.

 

Eduard wasn´t counting for (a lot of) people to want their aircraft fully closed, so they went and retooled most of it, mainly the engine and the uper halves of the wings, which now come with the hatches in the closed position.

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Sturmovik,

 

I have built a couple of original Eduard Fw190’s. Both were primarily closed up (at least the majority). They are both linked in my signature block if you care to take a look. The builds do require attention as tolerances are tight. Personally, I don’t think they deserve as bad a reputation as they get. I am, however looking forward to the newly moulded kits.

 

Regards,

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@Kahunaminor this is exactly what I was after, a full step by step build of Eduard´s model. It doesn´t look too difficult with that. I think you got a good fit of the gun covers by not adding the guns Eduard provides.

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