Hasegawa

1/48 Focke-Wulf Fw190A-8 with Gun Barrels and Pitot Tube

Kit Number: JT94:2400 - aircraft; QG17:1000 - Guns & Pitot

Reviewed by  Perry Downen, IPMS# 44000

MSRP: Kit: $38.95; Guns and Pitot: $16.95 Dragon Models Web Site: www.dragonmodelsusa.com The first order of business is to thank Hasegawa for furnishing such a nice kit to review. Thanks also for supplying a nice set of aftermarket machine gun barrels and pitot tube for the kit. As with most kits construction of step 1 begins with the cockpit. Assembling the 8 or so parts was no problem. Decals are provided for the instrument panel and side consoles. With a little care the end result is first-rate. For some reason there were no seatbelts supplied, either molded into the seat, on the decal sheet or furnished as a photo etched item. I bought a set of Eduard Luftwaffe Seatbelts (#49 002) that worked out quite nicely.

The next few steps called for assembling the wings, the fuselage and mating the two. An excellent fit all the way around resulted in very little filler and seam smoothing. It is not clearly indicated, but the outboard machine gun ports on the leading edge of the wing must be installed before the wing halves are joined. Failure to do this, as I found out, results in trying to make them fit from outside the wing - tedious proposition. It is at this point in the construction process that I installed the after market cowl mounted machine gun barrels. These little works of art are turned brass with the ends of the barrels machined out slightly. They fit perfectly to the cowl and wing mountings. The detail of the brass barrels is so much better than the barrels supplied with the kit. The competitive builder will find these a must.

The engine and cowling construction follows next. As with the wing/fuselage construction, the excellent fit of parts results in a nice finish. The only word of caution here is to be careful handling the fragile pushrods part (E25). With the aircraft nearing completion I noticed that the nice instrument panel was all but hidden inside the cockpit. The engine detail was also mostly blocked from view within the cowling and behind the fan. Keep this in mind as you decide how much additional detail you want to add.

At this point I painted the model in the scheme of JG2, Kommodore, Major Kurt Buhligen in France, June 1944. The decals were of excellent quality and the register was dead on. I was slightly disappointed, however, in the transparency of the decal on the spinner. The black of the spinner overpowered the white of the decal. The installation of the landing gear assemblies, drop tank, propeller, cockpit canopy and remaining miscellaneous small parts completed the construction. The installation of an antenna in the bottom of the wing required that I drill a small hole that was not there. Having broken off one landing gear strut twice, I'll say that care must be taken around these spindly structures. The end results are a very nice aircraft that was a joy to build. It will make a nice addition to the shelf. I can highly recommend this kit for anyone, even those of modest modeling skills. Again, I offer my thanks to Hasegawa for the kit and machine gun barrels.

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