Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-8
ProfiPACK

Eduard, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Glen Porter

Eduard's 1/48 scale Fw 190 A-8 is available online from Squadron.com

Almost every plastic manufacturer has released a 1/72 scale Fw 190A and they have been getting better and better.

Eduard was a notable exception but they’ve now corrected that situation in no uncertain terms so I won’t go into the history of the aircraft as it’s been done to death.

A few months ago I reviewed Airfix’s 1/72 scale Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-8 and opined I thought it was the best on the market, although still not perfect. I wondered what Eduard, who had announced a similar model, would come up with. My thoughts on the Airfix kit haven’t changed but boy, does the Eduard example ever overshadow it!

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Thumbnail panels:

Surface detail is very crisp and fine with recessed panel lines and selected rows of rivets.

There are two main sprues, ‘A’ and ‘C’. Not sure what happened to ‘B’ but it may possibly be a weapons sprue for an F or G kit to come later.

‘C’ has the fuselage halves, upper and lower wings, tail planes, ailerons, rudder and gun covers. Three parts are not for use in this kit. ‘A’ covers the rest of the grey coloured parts, all 118 of them but then there are 30 not for use in this one. ‘D’ is the clear sprue and you may wonder why there are 8 parts for a Fw 190? Well, you’ve got a windscreen, two armoured glass panels, a gunsight and four sliding canopies. Four? Yes four, two blown and two standard. As the Fw 190 canopy is opened, it narrows so Eduard have given us separate canopies for open and close because they are different widths. This is something Eduard have done in the bigger scales for some time now and it’s good to see them carry it over to our scale.

There is a photo-etched fret for the likes of instrument panels and seat harnesses but you don’t have to use it if, like me, you don’t like the medium.

There is also a sheet for canopy masks which I must confess I haven’t tried yet.

Questions

I’ve only been able to find one issue and I’m not even sure that it is a fault.

I am told the only correct nose gun cover in Braille Scale is that found on the Hasagawa A-8. This was one of the items that were criticized in the Airfix kit when it was released and I’m afraid the Eduard cover is almost identical to it and the Revel’s cover.

If this is correct, and I cant confirm it, and if I may use a human anatomy analogy, the Hasagawa item is like a well proportioned but ordinary male while those from Revell, Airfix and Eduard are like body builders complete with steroid muscles.

Innovations

I thought that the Airfix kit was good with all they did in their A-8 but this kit by Eduard walks all over it.

It’s not a kit you will want to put together in a hurry although I can’t see anything that I couldn’t handle and I’m pretty fumble fingered these day in my dotage. Just take your time and read the instructions carefully.

Marking Options

Decals are the usual Eduard excellent quality with markings for five aircraft.

The options on the Cartograf-printed decal sheet are as follows:

• “A” is a IV/JG 5 A-8, blue 8, from Herdla in Norway, spring, 1945, in the three greys with Erika written below the cockpit.

• “B” is another A-8, blue 13, flown by Maj. Walter Dahl of the Stab/JG 300, in the three greys scheme and a red fuselage band and white spiral on the black spinner.

• “C” is the aircraft flown by Uffz. Julius Handel of IV/JG 54, Poland Aug/Sept 1944 in the three greys with a yellow spinner and cowl under side. White 2 also had a 13 staffel/JG 54 Indian head on the port side below the canopy.

• “D” Yet another A-8, white 6 flown by Lt. Gustav Salffner of 7/JG 300, Lobnitz, Germany, March, 1945. This aircraft is in the late war colours of RLM 83 over 76 on the fuselage and 83/75 or 83/81 on the wings with the late war JG 300 blue and white fuselage band.

• “E” is last of all a reconstruction of an aircraft found abandoned at Darmstadt after the war. Black 10 is in the late war colours 81/83/84 in the text above the artwork but then shows it in 81/83/76 in the artwork with no sign of 84. Another case of the left hand and the right being on different pages. This aircraft carries a yellow fuselage band and fin/rudder top.

A separate decal sheet with stencil markings is also supplied.

Most modellers agree, there is no such thing as the perfect kit but apart from the question mentioned above, Eduard's lovely 1/72 scale Fw 190 A-8 comes about as close as we can expect.

Airfix made too many mistakes although none of them were deal breakers in my opinion and the Airfix kit didn’t really need any more detail but Eduard gave it to us anyhow.

Unless Eduard change that gun cover, if in fact it is wrong, I don’t think we will see a better Fw 190 in the near or even distant future.

Thank you Eduard and looking forward to the Spitfires. Wow!

Purchased by reviewer from Hannants.

Text Copyright © 2015 by Glen Porter
Images Copyright © 2015 by Brett Green
Page Created 27 October, 2015
Last updated 28 October, 2015

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