Fw-189 differences between Mk's 1 & 2?

[Ham Hands]

Hello.

Would anyone know what differentiates the Mk 1 variant from the  Mk 2?

 

Many thanks.

[Work In Progress]

Not an expert but really just the guns according to this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Wulf_Fw_189#Variants

[Jure Miljevic]

Hello Ham Hands

If you are asking about differences between A and B versions: Fw 189 B was a training version (no armament, solid nose etc.) which never got beyond research and evaluation phase. Otherwise, as Work In Progress said, Fw 189 A-2 had twin MG 81 Z machine-gun in both tail cone position and dorsal turret:

 

 

Fw 189 A-1

 

 

Fw 189 A-2

Take a look at this and other Fw 189 pages from WarBird Photos site for more photos.

On A-2 they also switched from drum to belt-fed armament and dorsal turret had armoured glass added:

 

 

Also, Fw 189 A-2 had shell casing ejection chutes installed under the fuselage:

 

 

However, many A-1s had their armament upgraded to A-2 standard in the field, so twin machine-guns do not necessary indicate the latter version.

I hope it helps. Cheers

Jure

[Ham Hands]

Thanks guy. I accidentally bought A1 decals for my A2 bird.

 

I note the rear canopy differs. Plus the information regarding the shell-casing chutes...

 

Perhaps I will buy an A1 as well? I have always loved this aircraft. (As a kid I built the Airfix version, alongside the B&V 141. 

 

I have loved ugly ducklings ever since. 🤣

 

Thanks again. HH.

[Jure Miljevic]

Ham Hands, which brand of kit in which scale are you building and which decals did you get? Cheers

Jure

[Ham Hands]

Hi Jure.

 

GWH 1/48 Fw-189 A-2.

 

HADMODELS Fw-189 A-1.

 

 

Edited April 23, 2019 by Ham Hands

[Jure Miljevic]

Hello Ham Hands

I do not have this kit but after examining various web photos of plastic trees I believe one can build A-1 version out of A-2 kit, although this requires some modifications. To see if there is a way around it I browsed trough my books to find photos of aircraft Hadmodels provides decals for. There are several photos of Hungarian F0+55, but none of them shows dorsal or tail turret. Unfortunately, I could not find a dozen or so Hungarian magazines I have, in which a series of two or three articles about Fw 189 had been published. Otherwise, some Hungarian Fw 189 apparently had MG 15 in dorsal turret and MG 81 Z in tail turret or vice versa. There are two or three photos of VVS machine which is described as either A, A-1 or A-2. To me it looks like she has twin-barreled machine gun in dorsal turret, protruding through regular and not armoured glass but I am not certain about it. The situation with Slovak air force plane is more or less the same. There are two photos of H1+BI, and they seem to appear in just about every book about Fw 189. Unfortunately, these photos had been taken some time after her crash landing and the aircraft had her armament removed and was missing most of her transparencies. I found no photos of +A.

Not much of a help, but hopefully somebody with better knowledge on the subject will chime in soon. Cheers

Jure

[Ham Hands]

Thanks very much, Jure.

 

As it happens I organised my stash earlier today and discovered an MPM Fw-189 A. So I now have both.

 

When I get some time I will photograph each kit so as to compare.

Edited April 25, 2019 by Ham Hands