Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-5
ProfiPACK

Eduard, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brad Fallen

Eduard's 1/48 scale Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-5 is available online from Squadron

It is now over eight years since Eduard launched its 1/48 Focke-Wulf Fw 190 family of kits. 

Brett Green reviewed the first kit in the series, the Fw 190 A-8, in October 2006, followed by the A-5 several months later. 

Since then Eduard has produced kits of every major Würger except the Fw 190 G, many in a variety of boxings. 

The popularity of the original Fw 190 A-8 kit has seen it re-released on several occasions, most recently in January 2013; Eduard has now done the same with the Fw 190 A-5.

Martin Novotny’s great box art for the original A-5 kit – of Walter Nowotny in combat with Soviet P-40s and LaGG-3s – has been carried across to the new release. 

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Thumbnail panels:

The same applies inside the box, where with two small exceptions the contents are identical to the 2006 version. 

• The first difference is in the colour of the plastic, with most of the parts moulded in Eduard’s newer grey styrene compared to the olive brown of old.  The exception is the single piece lower wing, which is in the older colour.  This isn’t just a peculiarity of the review kit, as Eduard’s website photos of the kit parts also show these as grey except for the lower wing.  Regardless of the colour, the parts are cleanly moulded with very little flash.  Surface detail isn’t as fine as that on Eduard’s more recent kits, but it’s still impressive.  The smaller parts are also well detailed.  The interiors of the gun cowl and wing gun panels are good examples here, with no carelessly placed ejector pin marks to mar the delicate mouldings.  (This is a subject at the front of my mind as I tackle the wheel wells of Airfix’s new 1/72 Blenheim Mk.I kit.)

• The transparencies are also well moulded, clear and reasonably thin.  As with all Eduard’s 1/48 Fw 190 kits, different width sliding canopies are provided to allow you to accurately portray your model with an open or closed canopy.  The late model bulged canopies are not required for this kit and will be welcome spares.

• A fret containing pre-painted and unpainted photo-etched parts, most of which are destined for the cockpit.  As usual with Eduard’s pre-painted photo-etch, the detail on the parts is much better than most modellers could achieve with a paintbrush.

• A sheet of yellow pre-cut tape canopy and wheel masks, which will make painting these areas of the model much easier.

• A 16-page A4 booklet, containing clearly illustrated step-by-step assembly instructions and full colour, four view painting and marking guides for each of the four featured aircraft.  It’s worth remembering that Eduard’s 1/48 Fw 190s – particularly the A-series kits – are not ‘shake and bake’ models and require careful, precise assembly to avoid alignment problems.  Eduard’s instructions only hint at this (in relation to fitting the wing spar), but the company has released some specific construction tips that Brett Green included in his original A-5 review here.

• Two decal sheets – a larger sheet containing all of the national insignia, codes and individual markings, and a smaller sheet of airframe stencils.  The main sheet is identical to that in the original release, but the stencils are dated ‘2011’ and – with a slightly different layout to the equivalent sheet in the 2006 kit – represent the second minor difference between the releases.  Both sheets feature crisp printing and good colour density, and have no apparent flaws.

• A one page A4, grey scale stencil placement guide, with instructions on the reverse side for applying the canopy and wheel masks.

Marking Options

The featured Fw 190 A-5s are unchanged from the original kit:

• W.Nr.410004/‘Black Double Chevron’, flown by Hauptmann Walter Nowotny, Commander I./JG 54, Orel, Russia, Autumn 1943.

• W.Nr.5851/‘White Double Chevron’, flown by Hauptmann Egon Mayer, Commander III./JG 2 ‘Richthofen’, France, Spring 1943.

• W.Nr. unknown/‘Yellow 7’, flown by Unteroffizier Walter Kohne, I./JG 1, Deelan, Netherlands, July 1943.

• W.Nr. unknown/‘Black Chevron/Circle’, flown by Oberleutnant Rolf Strohal, Stab I./JG 1, Deelan, Netherlands, April 1943.

It’s good to see this kit available again from Eduard.  The combination of high quality plastic parts, pre-painted photo-etch, canopy masks and four colourful marking options make this the most comprehensive 1/48 Fw 190 A-5 kit on the market.  Due to their complexity Eduard’s Würgers aren’t for beginners, but with care can be built into convincing replicas.  If you’re up for the challenge and didn’t pick up one of these kits the first time around, I highly recommend that you do so now.

Thanks to Eduard for the sample

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2014 by Brad Fallen
Page Created 4 December, 2014
Last updated 4 December, 2014

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