W.A.R. Replica Fw-190 Question

[fightersweep]

Hi all;

 

Not strictly WW2, but it's sort of an Fw-190...

 

I need a 1/72 W.A.R. Replica Fw-190 for a collection that I'm building at the moment, but I'm a bit lost with the scale. Most online sources say that these aircraft are half scale replicas, but some say they are 60% scale replicas. Does anyone know for certain what scale they are? Working on half scale, I tried a Revell 1/144 Fw-190 figuring this is what I would need for a 1/72 half scale replica aircraft, but it just looks way too weenie. I know the full size W.A.R. replicas are small, but this looks far too small. I tried an Airfix 1/100 Quick Kit Fw-190, but that looks too big. Not sure which would be the best route to take. I'm looking at trying to model G-WULF that was on the airshow circuit many moons ago.

 

Thanks in advance...

Steve

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

I am pretty sure it was half scale. I seriously thought about building one, but got a Rand KR2 project for next to nothing instead.

 

Specifications 

Crew: 1

Length: 16 ft. 7 in 

Wingspan: 20 ft. 

Height: 5 ft. 0 in 

Wing area: 70.0 sq. ft. 

Empty weight: 630 lb. 

Max takeoff weight: 900 lb. 

Fuel capacity: 10 US Gallons

Power plant: 1 × Continental O-200 air cooled flat-four, 100 hp

 

[fightersweep]

Hi Jamie;

 

Many thanks for the reply and info. So working on the dimensions for a Fw-190 A-8, the length is 29 feet 5 inches, and the wingspan is 34 feet 5 inches. So it would seem that the W.A.R. replica is just over half scale. Perhaps the quoted 60% replica is a bit nearer the mark. I was having fun earlier trying out a 1/72 pilot figure in the Revell 1/144 Fw-190. He didn't fit!  I might still use the Revell kit though. It only needs a little fettling to look like a W.A.R. replica.

 

Thanks again;

Steve

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

You might find a bit of fettling necessary on the pilot! In reality the rudder pedals are on the back of the firewall and the seat base is on the rear wing spar.

 

The scale thickness of the canopy may be an issue also.

 

Best of luck with this

[MDriskill]

It doesn’t appear to me that the replica is consistently proportioned throughout, so simply using a smaller kit may not be the answer.

 

In particular the cockpit and canopy area look bigger, which would make sense. The real aircraft’s cockpit could hardly accommodate most normal adult humans at 60% of its original size!

[fightersweep]

Hi MDriskill;

 

Thanks for the reply. Yes! The replica does seem to have different proportions to the original, and is of course a different aircraft in it's own right. Totally agreed on the canopy too, but to be fair, for a little replica, it's not bad at all. I have a couple of 1/144 kits and a 1/100 scale kit. I'm hoping to have a go at utilising parts from the kits where possible, but if it comes to it, I'll just have a crack at a scratchbuild. Either way, it's going to look so small parked amongst all those 1/72 builds that close enough will do for my purposes. I don't think I will wait around for a kit manufacturer to bring a W.A.R. Fw-190 out. 

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Whether or not anyone is interested remains to be seen, but War Aircraft Replicas had a range of designs that were infact all the same design. It consisted of a sitka spruce and birch ply square section fuselage structure akin to Bristol Fighter in appearance with firewall, standard engine mounts and Lycosaurus O-200 flat 4 on the front. The wing and tail design consisted of wooden spars and some master ribs plus a home-buildable retracting undercarriage design that was unique-ish to each sub-type.

 

On top of that, the builder glued high density foam and carved this to the shape of the aircraft he was building. Fibreglass cowling and a blown canopy completed the arrangement.

 

Available were:

Hawker Seafury

P47 Thunderbolt

Fw190

F4U Corsair

 

I heard there were half-made plans for a slightly bigger scale T6 / Harvard and many sketches for Bearcats etc.

 

They lost their approval to do aerobatics in the UK after someone pulled the wings off a Seafury. There was a single P47 I knew of which lived at Scone, Perth for a long while. It was sold down south but the new owner had some sort of accident and drove it through a fence. That alone could make him sound like an idiot which probably isn't the case but I don't recall the details. At any rate the fence wire wrecked the wood and foam construction of the little Jug.

 

There was G-WULF above for a while and maybe one other Fw190 in the UK.

 

I don't think any Corsairs ever came to the UK, but in the US where these designs came from I read that every single Corsair built had been involved an accident of some sort. Those who had flown them said they were vicious little buggers.