Eduard Fw.190A-5 Advanced BigSin (SIN64843 for Eduard)

[Mike]

Fw.190A-5 Advanced BigSin (SIN64843 for Eduard)

1:48 Eduard Brassin

 

 

In case you're unaware, Eduard's BigSin sets are a great way to purchase all the sets you want for your model whilst availing yourself of a bulk purchase discount that can be quite tempting.  The set arrives in a large cardboard box with the BigSin branding and a sticker in the top left that details what's inside.  Within the box the sets are all cocooned between two layers of grey foam with the resin in bags, while the Photo-Etch fret is still bagged in its flat resealable retail packaging.

 

The set is designed to detail and open up much of the airframe, and includes a complete engine set, nose gun bay, wing root gun bay and propeller set, plus the general PE update set to detail the rest of the airframe.

 

 

Fw.190A-5 Engine & Fuselage Guns Set (648408)

Inside are a raft of engine parts in superb detail. I recently built one for the A-4 and reported the fit is astonishingly good.  You can build the parts into sub-assemblies for painting, and if you approach it in a modular format the initial hesitancy of all that detail painting soon goes away.  There are 22 resin parts, and sheet of Photo-Etch (PE), and only a small amount of trimming of the kit fuselage and lower wing panels is required, all of which is covered in the instructions.  Placement of parts is important due to the accuracy of fit, so test-fit carefully and remove any paint from the mating surfaces to obtain the best, strongest join.  The two guns mounted in the cowling behind the engine are also included, with a highly detailed bay part between the engine and cockpit.  With sympathetic painting and weathering the final result is unmatched by styrene moulding.

 

 

 

Fw.190A Wingroot Gun Bays (648356)

This set permits the modeller to depict the wing root gun bays open, which first requires the removal of a portion of the upper wing from the kit parts, as indicated in red on the instructions.  The lower wing is then fitted with blanking plates for the cartridge chutes and new resin barrels before attention turns to the new bay inserts.  These have the gun breeches added along with a short length of 0.2mm wire from your own stock, arranged as per the scrap drawings, which helpfully have an arrow indicating the direction of flight.  The bays are then inserted into the prepared aperture in the upper wing, and a PE bay lip is attached to the plastic to finish it off neatly.  A small section of the lip that locates the wing spar will need removing, after which the wing halves can be mated and later in the build/painting the bay doors can be added to the lip that is moulded into the bays for a good strong joint.

 

 

 

Fw.190A Propeller (648366)

In order to fit this prop, you'll just need to shave the front off the housing at the front of the kit engine, before creating the prop on its jig, with separate central boss and blades, which fit snugly into the jig and should just lift out once the CA is dry unless you've overdone it.  A PE template fits to the back of the boss to mark the centre-point for you to mark and drill a 2mm hole, after which the PE is discarded.  The adapted kit part has a small resin pin added, and the prop with a choice of two types of cooling fan (large blades & small) is fitted to the tip of the pin protruding from the engine.  If you wanted to portray a maintenance diorama there is a resin prop-shaft included with a detailed spindle that fits into the resin engine.  A new spinner finishes off the set.

 

 

 

Fw.190A-5 Upgrade Set (48949)

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.

 

 

 

Conclusion

After applying all this extra detail to your model, you will have an Fw.190 that not only weighs a ton, but is pretty much at the leading edge of detail and looks like you could hop in and taxi away.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of