The Fw 190D series was a development of the successful Fw
190A/F series powered by the air-cooled BMW 801 radial engine.
To answer a requirement for a high altitude interceptor, Kurt
Tank realized that the radial engine was going to have cooling
problems operating at combat power in thin air. The answer
was to adapt a liquid-cooled engine and his first choice was
the Daimler Benz DB603, but was forced to use the Jumo 213
instead. While retaining the appearance of an air-cooled engine
(and a long one at that), the new cowling housed the V-12 engine
with a round radiator occupying the entire face of the cowling
intake.
The first full-production of the 'Dora' series was the Fw
190D-9, armed with a pair of MG131 13mm machine guns above
the engine and two MG151 20mm cannons in the wing roots. The
Dora was a formidable fighter, though it came too late in the
war to make a significant impact. Many of these aircraft were
lost to pilot inexperience coupled with the aircraft's stability
in certain flight regimes (especially at take-off and landing).
The Kit
I'm not sure what is more impressive here - the detail and
versatility of the Eduard tooling or the fact that the $39.95
MSRP is the same as it was when the original Fw 190A-8 was
released several years ago. You definitely won't find many
kits this detailed at this price in any scale!
Like most kits in Eduard's line-up, this kit is molded in
brownish-gray styrene and presented on five parts trees, plus
an additional tree of clear parts. In contrast,
Tamiya's 1/48 Fw 190A-3 kit only has three parts trees (plus
a clear tree) and each of these three 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 featuring
their excellent color printing process creating lots of details
in fine print right on the parts.
One thing you'll note when comparing this kit to the previous
Fw 190A and Fw
190F releases, this kit has fewer parts trees. One reason
for this is that the kit doesn't have an engine sitting inside
the nose that you wouldn't otherwise see with the model assembled.
Unlike the radial-engined variants where the cylinders are
visible around the large spinner, all you see down the face
of this cowling is radiator. Perhaps there will be a version
of this kit released with a Jumo engine in the future, but
that wound come at a higher price.
The second reason you have
fewer trees in this kit is that the Dora didn't carry a wide
range of external stores. The aircraft has a centerline pylon
which typically carried an external tank or a bomb, both of
which are in this kit.
One other thing to note is the fatal flaw of most Fw 190D
kits in every scale - the main wheel wells. Most kits have
the main wheel wells boxed in like most every other fighter,
but the Fw 190D series had the forward portion of the main
wheel wells open so you could see up into the rear of the cowling.
Actually, it was to allow more air to move through the cowling
at low airspeeds, especially with the landing gear down. If
the modeler corrected these kits to open up the main wheel
wells, you'd then have the problem of having everyone see up
into the empty cavity of the model's nose...
Eduard has done their great usual job of engineering this
kit. While they didn't waste effort on the engine since the
cowling is closed up, they did engineer the details between
the firewall and the rear of the engine so you can see up through
the underside of the aircraft at the rear of the engine, supercharger,
motor mounts, and ammo canisters. Likewise if you opt to leave
the gun hood open, you'll see the MG131s on their mounts with
the ammo cans and part of the engine as well. Very nicely done.
Among the features of this kit:
Detailed cockpit w/color photo-etched parts
Detailed rear engine bay w/Jumo and gun tray
Positionable gun hood
Positionable gun doors for the wing root bays and MG151s
Positionable ailerons
Positionable rudder
Choice of open or closed cowl flaps
Choice of spinner
Choice of blown or flat canopy
Positionable canopy
Choice of external tank or bomb on centerline station
Paint masks
Markings
Markings are provided for five aircraft:
Fw 190D-9, White 12, 5./JG 301, Bad Langensalza, Germany,
May 1945
Fw 190D-9, Black 1, IV./JG 26, 1945, as flown by Oblt.
Hans Dortenmann
Fw 190D-9, Stab/JG 4, Frankfurt am Rhein Main, April 1945
Fw 190D-9, Red 18, I./EKG(J), Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, May
1945
Fw 190D-9, Stab/JG 6, Prague-Rusin, Czechoslovakia, May
1945
The decals are nicely printed with all of the distinctive
markings, national markings (including politically correct
and complete versions of the swastika), and a VERY complete
set of maintenance stenciling. A sheet of the yellow-tape masks
included as well.
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! I really hope that Ta 152 is still on
their to-do list!
This kit is definitely recommended!
My sincere thanks to Eduard for
this review sample!
