The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 D
and Ta 152

by Richard A. Franks

Valiant Wings Publishing
Airframe & Miniature No.3 Second Edition

Reviewed by David Couche

Before I get into this review, I’d like to admit to an error in my previous review of the Airframe & Miniature No.7 Second Edition: The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Radial-engine Versions book. Somehow I managed to reverse the ISBN numbers in my notes. The correct ISBN for that book is ISBN 978-1-912932-08-5. My apologies for giving you the wrong details.

And now onto the second of the updated series on the Fw 190s.

This third book in Airframe & Mini’s much-acclaimed series has been out of print for a while now having been released in 2012 originally. With new Fw 190D (Eduard & HobbyBoss) and Ta 152 (Zoukei-Mura & HobbyBoss) kits now available, it seemed right to make this book available once again. This seventh book, entitled, “Airframe & Miniature No.3 Second Edition: The Focke-Wulf Fw 190D and Ta 152– A Complete Guide To The Luftwaffe’s Last Piston-Engine Fighter”, in their much-acclaimed series is back by popular demand. It now contains over 176 pages packed with vital information that no active modeller and Fw 190 enthusiast should be without.

 The new Second Edition, in addition to the original content, contains:

• Full assessments of all the new kit releases since the title's first release in 2012
• A build of the newly-tooled Ta 152H-1 from Zoukei-Mura in 1/48 scale by Steve A. Evans
• Updated kit, accessory and decal appendices
• An extra 16 pages of content in total

The book is A4 sized, on high quality glossy paper and is quite weighty. I do apologise for some of the grey areas on the sample pages but the size and quality of the binding gave some scanning problems…bad for reviewing but good for those who purchase this book.

This book contains a great wealth of period photographs of the in-line engined versions of the Fw 190 in action during WWII and includes some of the lesser known versions as well. The photographs selected are all clear and crisp in nature, with details clearly visible. There are quite a number of coloured profiles produced by Richard Caruana, illustrating the varied schemes of the Fw 190 and in liveries of the theatres of war that this versatile aircraft was used in. Complementing the photos and profiles are numerous line drawings taken from Flight Manuals of the Fw 190.

The contents are broken up into eight separate chapters, grouped into two distinct sections:

Preface

Airframe Chapters

• Evolution – Fw 190D
• The Fw 190D - series
• The Ta 152C – series
• The Ta 152H - series
• Projects and Drawing –Board Designs
• Camouflage & Markings (including Stencils and colour profiles)

Miniature Chapters

• Fw 190D & Ta 152 kits
• Building a Selection
• Building a Collection
• In Detail: Fw 190D & Ta 152

Appendices

• Fw 190D & Ta 152 Kit List
• Fw 190D & Ta 152  Accessory List
• Fw 190D & Ta 152 Decal List
• Bibliography
• Fw 190D & Ta 152 Scale plans

This book has been specifically written for the modeller so the opening preface and chapters give us the history and development in detail of the Fw 190D covering the different Jumo 213 engined versions of this aircraft. The preface is 2 pages of historical information including covering the change of the F 190 over to a Jumo in-line engine with some excellent accompanying photographs of great detail. The evolution of the D versions up to the production versions and covers 6 pages with numerous photos and line drawings to complement each other. The second of these sections is for the Fw 190D series which encompasses 14 pages.

The following chapter looks at the development of the Ta 152C series aircraft and gives us 12 pages of the multitude of versions within the C series in some depth. We then move onto the Ta 152H series with 14 pages of details, photos and drawings covering all possible aspects of these aircraft.

The following chapter looks at the more esoteric conversions and many of the versions the got as far as the drawing board but never reached the stage of being built. There are some varied and very interesting aircraft in this section.

The Camouflage and Markings section (9 pages) provides schemes used by the Luftwaffe in the various theatres and stages late in the war. This includes some great historical reference photos of these aircraft as well as a detailed set of drawings of squadron markings, cowl and RVD band markings as well as theatre marking, which are all in colour. It then moves into 7 dedicated pages of Richard J Caruana produced colour profiles and stencil data drawings, as well as many other interspersed through the pages giving you, the modeller a great range to reference your builds from. There is one extra special list in this section, which I have included in the scans, of a list of factories producing the Fw 190D-9’s and a few 11’s and 13’s, the W/Nr’s at each locations, the paint scheme for each factory and details of insignia from each one. This is a very useful reference for the Luftwaffe modeller.

This brings you to the end of the general sections and onto the more modeller specific sections as a series of Miniature Chapters.

The first of these chapters is a look at Fw 190D series kits. This 21 page section looks at a range of more popular kits in 1/144, 1/72, 1/48 and 1/32 scales from some of the major manufacturers such as Academy, Airfix, Eduard, HobbyBoss, Italeri, Revell, Tamiya, Zvezda, Dragon, Hasegawa and Trumpeter and many others in a good deal of detail including how the model parts are presented such as wings, fuselage, tailplanes, propellers and canopies as well as decal schemes provided.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Thumbnail panels:

The next section on ‘Building a Selection’ section of the book of 23 pages with many photographs of stages of construction, covers the specially commissioned kit builds, showing construction of the following;

• Hasegawa 1/72 Fw 190D-9 by Libor Jekl
• Tamiya 1/72 Fw 190D-9 by Libor Jekl
• Aoshima 1/72 Ta 152H-1by Libor Jekl
• Eduard 1/48 Fw 190D-9 by Steve A Evans
• HobbyBoss 1/48 Ta 152C-0  by Steve A Evans
• Zoukei-Mura 1/48 Ta 152H-1 by Steve A Evans
• Hasegawa 1/32 Fw D-9  by Steve A Evans
• Zoukei-Mura 1/32 Ta 152H-1 by Steve A Evans

The next mini chapter is one of ‘Building a Collection’. This is a series of annotated isometric 3D line drawings by Jacek Jackiewicz detailing the differences between the various development and production airframes of these Fw 190 and Ta 152 series. This is a detailed section of 15 pages with drawings within it. You will not be needing to find any more details on any specific version and variant in other reference material as it is so comprehensive.

Following along then is the ‘In Detail’ chapter of 24 pages of excellent visual references for these version incorporating walk around photographs from surviving aircraft in museums, historical photographs from flight and maintenance manuals as well as still more isometric 3D drawings, especially of the many versions of the engine cowls. Information in this section is presented in itemised sections such as cockpits, engines, wings and so on. Again, incredibly and comprehensively detailed. These sections have provided that special emphasis for details that will be of most interest to modellers.

Finally we hit the Appendices, again specifically for modellers, lists all Fw 190D & Ta 152 kits available, 4 pages of them, 5 pages of aftermarket accessories and a further 4 pages of aftermarket decals produced in all scales. The wealth of produced kits and associated products proves the high degree of interest in these aircraft.

It’s good to see that there is also a bibliography of 2 pages including all previous book titles for the Fw 190D & Ta 152, so you may chase up further information for your references.

To finish up this great book is a gatefold section of drawings in 1/48 scale by Jacek Jackiewicz on heavy non-glossy paper with full drawings of a Fw 190D-9(s) on one side of the foldout and the Ta 152H(s) on the other side of the foldout. Not only do we have comprehensive tradition 4 views but we are supplied with sectional views, which are very useful at times.

This book has been deliberately produced for the modeller, providing an absolute wealth of reference photographs and detail, profiles and anything else one could wish for to produce and accurate Fw 190D versions as well as the Ta 152 versions. To say this book is comprehensive would be an understatement. I can’t recommend this highly enough to all wishing to build a late Fw 190D or Ta 152 in any scale.

Thanks to Valiant Wings Publishing for the sample.

Review Copyright © 2019 by David Couche
This Page Created on 3 November, 2020
Last updated 3 November, 2020

Back to HyperScale Main Page

Back to Reviews Page