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Best publication on the Fw-190? Your opinion needed


Doc72

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Hello everybody!

 

Which book or booklet can you recommend as the best reference of the Fw-190? I've recently noted again that my library has a significant gap when it comes to Kurt Tank's famous creation.

"Best", of course, is a debatable and highly subjective category. What I am looking for is a publications that tells the different versions apart and contains a lot of (WWII-era) photographic material. I am less interested in pilots' stories, surviving examples in museums or profile drawings (if not backed up by photos). Also, the radial-engined versions and the fighter-bombers in particular are of greater interest to me than the Doras/Ta-152.

What would be your recommendation?

Thanks in advance!

Ole

 

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Valiant Wings Publishing  Airframe & Miniature No.3  Fw190D & 152,   also  Airframe & Miniature  No.7   Fw190   Both Second Editions . 

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Yes, I can second the Valiant Wings , Airframe and Miniature No. 3 the updated second edition, should give you a lot of what you ask for,  I was going to suggest the Classic Publications  3 volume series by Smith and Creek ,until I looked at their availability and prices on Ebay and Amazon,  OUCH!  

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20 minutes ago, Roman Schilhart said:

I would recommend Kagero's "Fw-190" series.

Features plenty of original b/w shots.

Has become my one-stop-reference for all my Fw-190 A/F builds.

 

Hi Roman

I got their volume on the 190A, F, G and S versions for Christmas. As you say, some great pictures, but some of the captions are wildly inaccurate sadly. There's quite a few mistakes in there. The pictures are excellent, but some background knowledge helps when teasing out the supporting information

Best

 

SD

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3 minutes ago, SafetyDad said:

...but some of the captions are wildly inaccurate sadly. There's quite a few mistakes in there.

 

Oh really. I always thought the Kagero book had more accurate infos than the Vaillant book (which I also have).

 

 

 

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20 hours ago, Hal LH said:

Yes, I can second the Valiant Wings , Airframe and Miniature No. 3 the updated second edition, should give you a lot of what you ask for,  I was going to suggest the Classic Publications  3 volume series by Smith and Creek ,until I looked at their availability and prices on Ebay and Amazon,  OUCH!  

 

Might be worth waiting a little while - Classic (Ian Allan) have reprinted a number of their harder-to-find titles recently. You've just gotta be quick when they appear!

 

My go-tos on the 190

 

The Classic series 3 vols

Try here  https://www.whsmith.co.uk/search?q=Fw190&cgid=ALL for MUCH better prices

 

SD

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4 minutes ago, Roman Schilhart said:

 

Oh really. I always thought the Kagero book had more accurate infos than the Vaillant book (which I also have).

 

 

 

Sadly yes. Their technical information seems very strong, but they are a bit wayward with unit identification at times.

 

Two examples:

they refer to a collection of end-of-war airframes on p134 as 'possibly IV/JG51' when JaPo and Eagle caption these as JG6, and on p165 where the JG54 badge is described as 'originating from an area where the residents had green hearts'. Surely a translation problem with that? 

 

But, as I say, excellent pics and technical information (on the BMW engine and the Nachtjager version for example). These little errors let it down unfortunately. 

I appreciate your enthusiasm for the book - just trying to be constructive. A good choice for a supporting volume, but perhaps not the one-stop resource?

 

SD 

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2 minutes ago, SafetyDad said:

Sadly yes. Their technical information seems very strong, but they are a bit wayward with unit identification at times.

 

Two examples:

they refer to a collection of end-of-war airframes on p134 as 'possibly IV/JG51' when JaPo and Eagle caption these as JG6, and on p165 where the JG54 badge is described as 'originating from an area where the residents had green hearts'. Surely a translation problem with that? 

 

But, as I say, excellent pics and technical information (on the BMW engine and the Nachtjager version for example). These little errors let it down unfortunately. 

I appreciate your enthusiasm for the book - just trying to be constructive. A good choice for a supporting volume, but perhaps not the one-stop resource?

 

SD 

Thank you for detailled explanation of the issues!

I mainly use the Kagero publications for technical details.

As you say, they contain some very useful drawings, including alterntaive weapons, and their positioning.

I will take all other captions from the book with a grain of salt, now!

 

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Just now, Roman Schilhart said:

Thank you for detailled explanation of the issues!

I mainly use the Kagero publications for technical details.

As you say, they contain some very useful drawings, including alterntaive weapons, and their positioning.

I will take all other captions from the book with a grain of salt, now!

 

 

Thanks Roman - appreciated. I agree.

 

SD

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Thanks for your hints! I had also thought about the books from Rodeike because I own the Rodeike/Prien book on the Bf-109, which I like a lot. Rodeike's FW-190 unfortunately is difficult to get at a reasonable price. 

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 01/01/2021 at 9:12 PM, Doc72 said:

Thanks for your hints! I had also thought about the books from Rodeike because I own the Rodeike/Prien book on the Bf-109, which I like a lot. Rodeike's FW-190 unfortunately is difficult to get at a reasonable price. 

I just recieved the Rodeike book from berlinerzinnfiguren (German version though) for the normal price, not some of the insane prices seen on ebay and other book search sites.

 

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I know it isn’t helpful that much but ca. 3 years ago at least Vol. 1 and 2 of the Classic Books could be had for ca 25 quid each, from places like Book Depository, Blackwell‘s etc. The prices for most from the series are rather gaga, regrettably. 262 Vol. 4 must have leaves of gold in it. If you can find them at a reasonable price, go for them. The Rodeike book is also very good, but new copies seem to have sold out in Germany- they have a fixed cover price of € 58.80 (at which I bought mine when long out of print and used ones were approaching 100). Closest you can get is a webshop in Austria at € 60.50, but plus postage, possibly double VAT etc.  A month earlier it would have been cheaper!

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On 1/1/2021 at 2:35 PM, SafetyDad said:

These little errors let it down unfortunately. 

I appreciate your enthusiasm for the book - just trying to be constructive. A good choice for a supporting volume, but perhaps not the one-stop resource?

 

SD 

.. Even if you never read a word of the text (mostly translated/corrected by myself) or attempted to decipher the photo captions ( nothing to do with me) the Kagero volume is miles ahead of anything else out there if you want decent pics and drawings at a sensible price.  A lot of images are from one or two well-known expert ‘collectors’ and haven’t appeared anywhere else. Unfortunately they aren’t always correctly credited.  Rodeike took my breath away when I first got it on publication although the paper quality is terrible...

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12 hours ago, FalkeEins said:

.. Even if you never read a word of the text (mostly translated/corrected by myself) or attempted to decipher the photo captions ( nothing to do with me) the Kagero volume is miles ahead of anything else out there if you want decent pics and drawings at a sensible price.  A lot of images are from one or two well-known expert ‘collectors’ and haven’t appeared anywhere else. Unfortunately they aren’t always correctly credited.  Rodeike took my breath away when I first got it on publication although the paper quality is terrible...

 

Point taken. I would wholeheartedly agree that the pictures are excellent as I said above.

 

SD

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On 12/31/2020 at 6:14 PM, T-21 said:

Valiant Wings Publishing  Airframe & Miniature No.3  Fw190D & 152,   also  Airframe & Miniature  No.7   Fw190

Both of mine have very well worn corners and edges from the numerous times I get them out to check them for info.

Covers all variants including prototypes with changes to each airframe, their colours and markings (if info/photos are available), Walkaround photos of restored aircraft and wartime photos of different areas of aircraft, a few builds of different scale kits, a very comprehensive review of all kits available, plus decals and accessories and a few some colour profiles.

Very comprehensive and reasonably priced (against some others which I'd love to have but $$$)

 

If you need more info on contents just ask.

 

Cheers

Red Dog

 

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Thanks. Yes, I had looked at this before. It doesn't seem to be available as a Ebook via the German Apple shop. But I guess the original paper edition is still available on the internet (second-hand or used).

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Hallo

Well, actually there are lots of books around. Like from each major WW2 type.

As a modeler and technician over decades, I got sometimes lost in contradictorily statements.

So I switched to original manuals. Flight and engine manuals.

As well as literature written by pilots who flew this aircraft. So also noted is Eric Brown.

Many of these manuals are free to download!

 

BMW 801 Handbuch

 

FW-190 Handbuch

 

Happy modelling

 

 

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Just noticed you @Doc72 are located in Germany (not visible when posting from the phone), so double VAT etc will not be a problem if you order from Austria. I can recommend the Rodeike book which has extensive captions to the mostly large photos, but it's not one stop shop. I probably should not mention the JaPo paperbacks - they aren't one stop shop either and possibly a bit dated, but I think all JaPo books contain the fruits of a lot of original research; anyway, you need a lot of luck to get any of the older JaPo books at a reasonable price. I personally would really like their Dora camo books, but I'm simply not prepared to the money asked if and when one becomes available (just like the completely unrelated Chenel/Moreau/Liebert Mirage books vol. 1 to 3). 

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On 1/1/2021 at 2:24 PM, SafetyDad said:

 

Might be worth waiting a little while - Classic (Ian Allan) have reprinted a number of their harder-to-find titles recently. You've just gotta be quick when they appear!

 

My go-tos on the 190

 

The Classic series 3 vols

Try here  https://www.whsmith.co.uk/search?q=Fw190&cgid=ALL for MUCH better prices

 

SD

Drat!

Deliver to UK only AND dispatch time 1-2 weeks, which means they have no stock and will order it from publishers or wholesalers.....who have no stock either....

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