Eduard 1/48
Focke Wulf
Fw 190A-5

Background

We had the pleasure of reviewing the first release of the Fw 190 series, the A-8, back in October. The review quoted the background history directly from the Eduard instruction sheet as it was concise and put the entire Fw 190 series into context. Since the same background narrative is provided in this kit as well, you can go here to see the history and the A-8 as well.

The Kit

When I returned from a last-minute trip over to the UK last week, I found a package waiting from the Czech Republic - the Eduard Fw 190A-5 kit was here! Building on their first release, the A-8, this kit uses the same sprues as the previous release with the exception of one tree - the extra upper wing halves used by some of the Fw 190A-8s featured in that release. Other than that one tree, the remaining sprues for the A-5 are identical to the A-8.

This kit is molded in brownish-gray styrene and presented on seven parts trees, plus an additional tree of clear parts. To put that into context, the Tamiya 1/48 Fw 190A-3 kit only has three parts trees and a clear tree. Each of the three Tamiya parts trees are only 2/3 the size of the Eduard trees. In other words, the Eduard kit provides quite a bit more detail than Tamiya.

By definition, the kit comes with a set of Eduard photo-etch, and this kit features the new color printing process with lots of details printed in color right on the parts. This set provides the detail differences from the first release that go into the cockpit. As with the first release, this set will really set off the level of detail inside that cockpit too.

The kit is designed with modelers of all skill levels in mind. For example, the cockpit side consoles have details pre-molded in place, or you can remove the detail and use the color photo-etched parts instead. The choice is up to you and your comfort level. Another example - the rudder pedals. These are provided in styrene and photo-etch, your choice. In other words, you don't need the photo-etched parts to complete this kit if you don't want to use them. Nice touch.

Aside from nice photo-etched details, what is it about this kit that will make you want to eBay or raffle off your current Fw 190 kits? Well brace yourself, the kit comes with options that you used to spend big money for in aftermarket resin conversions. These include:

• A fully detailed gun bay in the nose complete with detailed machine guns and ammo canisters
• Positionable gun hood
• The most detailed main wheel well I've seen in an Fw 190 kit (so far)
• Optional open gun bays in the wing roots.
• THE most detailed BMW 801 in styrene. This beauty has both banks of cylinders highly detailed and complete with the cooling fan and rear accessory packs
• A touch of innovation - a special jig is included to install and properly position each of the eight engine stacks that exit along the sides of the fuselage
• The top and sides of the cowling are separately molded so you can pose the panels open, removed, or buttoned up (which would be a shame to hide all that detail inside)
• The main gear struts are molded to be fool-proof for getting the right 8 degree angle offset of the main wheels to the strut and for getting the struts positioned properly on the wings. I'm looking forward to see how that works!
• Two different styles of tailwheel
• Two different canopy options

The ailerons and rudder are separately molded and positionable, but the elevators are molded in place. You'll have to do some surgery to position these. The landing flaps are also molded up, but while the instructions don't mention this, there are some details molded into the inside of the flap wells in the upper wing halves and cut lines are molded into the lower wing to make flap removal simple. I suspect that the Royal Class will offer photo-etched flaps with all of the details in the future.

Armament options include:

• Centerline bomb
• Centerline external fuel tank
• Underwing W.Gr.21 rockets and separate launch tubes (so you can depict your bird armed or expended)

One comment on Eduard's packaging. Some of the parts trees are individually bagged while others are two-trees-per-bag. In the latter case, the engineering of this solution is elegantly simple. When two trees are designed to be bagged together, one receives four-to-six pins molded on the frame that plug into four-to-six holes molded into the other frame. The two trees are locked together so they won't rub together during shipping and damage smaller parts whilst inside the bags. Simply brilliant!

Markings

Markings are provided for four aircraft:

• Fw 190A-5, Commander I./JG 54, Orel, Fall 1943, as flown by Hauptmann Walter Nowotny
• Fw 190A-5, Commander III./JG 2, France, Spring 1943, as flown by Hauptmann Egon Mayer
• Fw 190A-5, Yellow 7, I./JG 1, Deelen, The Netherlands, July 1943, as flown by Unteroffizier Walter Kohne
• Fw 190A-5, Hq I./JG 1, Deelen, The Netherlands, April 1943, as flown by Oberstleutnant Rolf Strohal

Two sheets of decals are provided, one for the distinctive unit markings and national markings, the other with a VERY complete set of maintenance stenciling.

You can also see a sheet of the yellow-tape masks included as well. According to the parts map at the beginning of the instructions, only 17 parts are not used in this kit at all. There are others that are optional to the variant you're building, but this kit does not scrimp on detail!

Conclusion

I can see why Eduard was so confident with the production of this kit. Once you see what comes in this box, you'll want several of these kits!

This kit is definitely recommended!

My sincere thanks to Eduard for this review sample!