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Zvezda Focke Wulf 190A4 snap fit 1:72


Hairtrigger

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I've just watched a YouTube built of this model and the quality of the castings and detail looked very good.

Has anyone built one of these?  I see Hannants are doing them and etched parts and resin wheels available.  For £7.99 looks a good purchase.

Any info much appreciated.

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I'm slowly building one.. or better, I've built one very quickly and then let it languish with a first coat of paint. I know, I must finish this model !

Anyway, this has been one of the best kits I've built in some time ! While it's relatively simplified compared to standard kits and is designed to snap-fit together, Zvezda managed to retain a very good level of detail, with only a few areas that a serious modeller may want to address. Personally I only modified the wheel wells by eliminating the wall between left and right side. I also replaced the inner gun barrels with brass tubes but only because one broke (this is one of the problems with these simplified kits, parts like this are moulded with the wings and can be damaged during assembly). Same for the pitot tube

Fit was superb, with practically no filler needed anywhere,  only some light sanding was required on the wing leading edges to eliminate a mould line. Surface detail is very good and both cockpit and wheel wells are quite nice.

The wheels are the only annoying detail that Zvezda got wrong, as they supplied the type used by later variants and not the correct A1 to A-4 type. True Details and others have replacement sets, cheap enough.

I've also read that one of the decal options supplies may be suspect, but having planned a different aircraft this didn't bother me. I've not checked accuracy but online reviews seem to be positive on this aspect.

Overall the Zvezda 190 has been one of the kits that I've enjoyed most and I'm a bit disappointed that they haven't issued many other kits in this series. They have a 109F and a Stuka in 1/72 and a couple others in other scales, had they done a whole series of WW2 fighters to the level of this 190 I'd have bought many more.

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I would also address the very thick propeller blades. They are made with wargamers and children in mind. Not a big deal - they can be sanded down or replaced from spares box.

Also, keep in mind that Zvezda offers a late series production A-4, which had later type air intakes in the side panels - this is important when choosing the correct painting scheme. (Eduards recent 1/48 kit might be a good reference for that matter as it has the same sides).

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1 hour ago, BallsBuster said:

I would also address the very thick propeller blades. They are made with wargamers and children in mind. Not a big deal - they can be sanded down or replaced from spares box.

Thanks for that tip: I hadn't noticed but will see if any of the spare props in the Eduard 1/72 kits are suitable replacements.  Designed for wargamers and children they may be (and certainly there are simplifications) but for sharpness of moulding, delicacy of engraved detail and precision of fit, they blow the recent Airfix 1/72 A-8/F-8 kit clear out of the water: no grotesquely overscale trailing edges here!  If Russian toys for children are this good, I wouldn't want to come up against their tanks.

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On 4/12/2018 at 5:52 AM, Seahawk said:

Thanks for that tip: I hadn't noticed but will see if any of the spare props in the Eduard 1/72 kits are suitable replacements. 

OK, I am admittedly WAY too picky where Fw 190's are concerned, but...

 

The early-style metal blades in the Eduard A-5 and A-8 series kits are correct for the A-4, and quite accurate in shape, but also rather on the thick side! Easy enough to refine them, though.

 

The old Hasegawa kit prop is also very good, and Eduard of course offer a very nice "Brassin'" replacement.

Edited by MDriskill
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On ‎4‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 10:52 AM, Seahawk said:

If Russian toys for children are this good, I wouldn't want to come up against their tanks.

😁Zvezda's 1/72 tanks are absolutely superb. I cannot recommend them high enough. Their figure sets blow everything else out of the water...

With regards of Fw-190, for me, personally, this kit was a bit of disappointment, after their previous Yak-3 and Bf-109F kits. Although, I agree it is very good.

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I built this kit a few years back when it first came out. I enjoyed it, it's a little compromised on some details but the only thing other than the wheels that I didn't like was the shape of the spinner, it looked a little too pointy to me.

 

Duncan B

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On 4/8/2018 at 12:30 PM, Hairtrigger said:

I've just watched a YouTube built of this model and the quality of the castings and detail looked very good.

Has anyone built one of these? 

ZvesdaFw190A4ShelfBEST.jpg

 

..an excuse to show off mine, in the markings of a I./JG 1 machine. The build was trouble-free and although some of the detail might be a bit soft the overall impression of the finished model is quite nice.  The usual areas of concern for me on a 190 kit are of course the rake of the gear legs and the areas around the top engine cowling and the gun bays on the Hasegawa and Tamiya kits. None of this was a problem with this kit. The only real issue for me was the complete lack of detail on the lower cowling/exhaust area. The way the inner gear doors simply plug in is ingenious. Nicely patterned too. Issues of dihedral and gaps at the wing root are cunningly avoided by having the fuselage rest on top of the wings, which makes for an slightly unsightly join where there was no panel line on the real aircraft. The cockpit head armour needs some additional scratch-built parts and as everyone has noted the solid-hub wheels were replaced with some True Details early-type treaded wheels with the correct hub detail. I used a combination of kit decals and the Sky Fw 190 sheet. The Zvezda decals performed more than adequately and there’s some neat stencil detail too. I even used the nicely detailed pilot figure, which must be a first for me. I haven't bought another one as a little on the pricey side in comparison, especially as it really needs those replacement wheels ..

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Looking in my display cabinet I can see that I've actually made 2 of them, one straight out of the box and one with aftermarket wheels and pitot. I used aftermarket decals for both though.

 

Fw190A46JG204_zps5bf0ef45-M.jpg

IMG_1507_zps5794d43d-M.jpg

 

It is a shame they aren't a little cheaper as they would be a great way to use up all those spare deals I have.

 

Duncan B

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18 hours ago, BallsBuster said:

Keep in mind that Zvezda's clear parts do not react well with Tamiya tape. At least in my case, and I tend to build models for very very long time, the tape's glue melted the canopy...

 

That's interesting - I don't know what Zvezda uses as the plastic in their canopies, but it's not styrene, at least, not in the child-oriented snap-together series. I damaged the canopy on the 1/72 Yak-3 and discovered that I could mash the thing almost dead flat without it cracking as styrene would, so the plastic is very tough, like acetate, but it glues like styrene. I suppose this is intended to make the canopies more durable in the hands of young novices.

 

John

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  • Mike changed the title to Zvezda Focke Wulf 190A4 snap fit 1:72

That's interesting about the canopy, John. I have the Yak-3 kit (per your recommendation, no less!), and it's a very nice kit that's going together very easily. I've also built their Bf 109F-2, which other than the surprising lack of the upper wing panel lines, is also a very nice kit. I'd love to see them do an Il-2 in this line (I have the Easy Assembly Hobby Boss Il-2, which isn't a bad kit, but it does have some mistakes that I suspect Zvezda wouldn't make). At any rate back to our regular programme and good luck on the Fw 190, Hairtrigger!

 

Regards,

 

Jason

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1 hour ago, Learstang said:

 I've also built their Bf 109F-2, which other than the surprising lack of the upper wing panel lines, is also a very nice kit. 

Veering off-topic here, but apparently at least some 109F’s had those joints filled smooth. Zvezda’s astonishing 1/48 kit also has “slick” wing tops. 

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