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Zvezda Fw190 A4


Adam Poultney

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With my build of Eduard's 1/72 Fw190 finally seeing some significant progress, I was thinking about Zvezda's snap kit of the aircraft. I have built Airfix's kit which I'm not a fan of (and have a second in the stash), Eduard's one is nice and an interesting build but most of that detail isn't really seen once it's all together, although the nice surface detailing on the outside can be seen quite well, and it takes me ages to build one of their kits... 

Are there any significant disadvantages to Zvezda's kit, I'm not bothered about interior detail being more basic in this scale, that would look bad next to the Airfix or Eduard kit on the shelf? 

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I haven't finished mine yet but I like both the Zvezda Fw 190 and Bf 109F.  Sharply moulded, nice surface detail, beautiful fit and with surprisingly minimal compromises to permit click together assembly.  It will look very nice, especially next to the Airfix Fw 190A-8 because it doesn't have wing trailing edges a scale 6" thick.

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Hi Adam

 

I finished mine about a month ago and was going to post it on the board but haven't had time to take the photos and upload them yet.

 

Some notes about the kit -

 

In general it's a nicely detailed kit and the cockpit detail is adequate for my tastes.

 

A note on the version - This is a late A-4 with solid wheels and exhaust louvres rather than slots which will limit the subjects you can model. If you're just doing OOB it should be ok assuming Zvezda did their research correctly. I had to replace my wheels with some resin ones to get the early style "A3" wheels.

 

The spinner is too long - the props might be a bit thick too - I replaced mine with Barracuda resin items.

 

There were some sink marks in the wing roots (bottom) and wing tips. I fixed the first but didn't notice the 2nd until final painting and left it (It's not that obvious)

 

The  canopy isn't standard clear plastic material - I didn't use mine replacing it with a spare Hasegawa canopy. I did the same with the pilot head armour.

 

I also replaced the pitot and cannons but this isn't really necessary for a standard build.

 

PS - I also got rid of some of the "snap fit tabs" a I thought they might foul precise fits when gluing.

 

Hope this helps

 

Michael

Edited by Michael louey
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7 minutes ago, Michael louey said:

The  canopy isn't standard clear plastic material

 

That's interesting - while I actually have the Zvezda Fw 190, I haven't built it, but I have done 2 or 3 of the Zvezda 1/72 Yak-3 in the same "easy assembly" series. What I noticed with them is that the canopies are not made of typical brittle, plasticizer-free, clear styrene, but rather something more like acetate in terms of flexibility, and yet, unlike acetate, the material Zvezda used can be glued with the same adhesives or solvents you'd use for styrene. I discovered just how flexible this plastic is by accidentally stepping on one of the canopies - it flattened out quite nicely, but didn't crack. I did, but the canopy remained intact, just not usable. I'd post a photo, but I still haven't repaired or replaced my camera. Anyway, my conclusion is that this plastic compound, whatever it is, was chosen for these kits so that the canopies would be less likely than styrene to be damaged by the careless handling of a novice builder. Just not the careless stepping-on by a supposedly experienced builder.

 

John

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I have built 2 of them and if you accept them for what they are they are a quick, fun build. I replaced the pitot and gun barrels and would have replaced the spinner (which is the most obvious flaw being too long) if I'd had spares. The pilot figure is very nice if you use them in your builds. If you got them cheap enough then there is nothing to have any regret over. They are better than the Airfix kit which has oversimplified and wrong details for sure.

I reinstated the photos on my builds just the other day (at your behest Adam :) ), the one in the desert scheme is pants due to a bad clear coat ruining the paintwork but the JG1 one turned out ok IMO.

 

IMG_1503_zpscad3cd45-M.jpg

IMG_1520_zpsa413f21d-M.jpg

 

Duncan B

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built one, here's a couple of pics. Quite a neat kit but a little pricey for what it is. I didn't really like the way the fuselage sits on top of the wing giving a lovely seam where there wasn't one on the real machine. And the wheels need replacing as here as noted above. The JG 1 'devil in the clouds' badge on the decal sheet is incorrect too..

 

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and an old tool Airfix A-8 (as an A-6 in 2./JG 2 night fighter scheme..) with an Eduard A-5, right.

 

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20 hours ago, FalkeEins said:

 

I didn't really like the way the fuselage sits on top of the wing giving a lovely seam where there wasn't one on the real machine.

 

 

Same thing on the Zvezda 1/72 Yak-3 - oddly, the seam is very near to a panel line, so I don't understand why they didn't design the joint between the wing root and the fuselage to fall on that panel line instead of creating a situation where you need to fill the seam without damaging the panel line, if you get my drift.

 

John

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