Eduard

1/48 Fw 190A Nachtjager

Kit Number: 1144, Dual Combo, Limited Edition

Reviewed by  Andy Renshaw, IPMS# 35806

MSRP: $79.95 Website: www.eduard.cz Eduard jumped into the Luftwaffe kit foray several years ago with their FW 190 A series of 1/48 kits. All new tooling, they feature many options most modelers were crying for in plastic. Items like a detailed cockpit with photo-etch parts, full engine, open gun bays, and a plethora of weapons options made these kits well received. However, with many options come many more potential trouble spots and now the kits enjoy a love-hate relationship between modelers. Much was my experience as well. In the Box First, the technicals of the kit itself. In the large box, you get a total of 20 sprues, two frets of color photoetch, a set of masks (enough for 2 aircraft), large full color instruction booklet, and lastly a small lapel pin with the "Wild Sau" emblem of Jagdgechwader 300. Out of those 20 Sprues are three sets of fuselages and upper wings, and no less than four lower wings! Basically, with what is in this box you can build any of the FW 190 base variants from an A-5 through A-8 (and maybe others with proper references and small modifications).

The sprues are all done in a tan plastic that is easy to work with. Though the overall detail is great and crisp, the signs of the mold age are starting to show with a little flash present in some spots. Even with both kits complete, you will have lots of parts leftover, including canopies, wings, fuselages, and other bits.

The decals are printed by Cartograph and are beautiful. In construction I discovered that the white and yellow areas are very opaque and react very well to standard setting solutions. You get a total of six marking options and enough stencils for two complete aircraft; however you actually almost have enough for four aircraft as they give you both a black and white version of most stencil data, so plenty left over for other FW projects!

Marking options:   [A] A-5 10./NJG 3 'Nachtjagdkommando 190', Aalborg-West, Denmark, Winter 1944   [B] A-6 W.Nr.550445, Major Hajo Hermann, Stab/JG Herrmann, Bonn-Hangelar, August 1943   [C] A-6/R-11 'Neptun' II./JG 300, Lobnitz, Fall 1943   [D] A-7/R-11 'Neptun' Lt. Klaus Bretschneider, 6./JG 300, Rheine, March 1944   [E] A-8/R11 'Neptun' Fhj. Ofw. Gunter Migge, 1./NJGr. 10, Werneuchen, 1944   [F] Oberst Walter Grabmann, Jagdfliegerführer Holland & 3. Jagddivision, 1943-1944 Construction: Being an experienced modeler, I didn't think anything of building two of these at the same time. This was also my first time building an Eduard FW 190 kit as well. Combining my enthusiasm with the complexity of these kits was setting myself up for some frustrating modeling, but onward. Before starting you will need to decide which two aircraft you want to build, as the instructions call out different parts and assemblies for each version. A couple of notes to start with. First out of the box you can build both the A-7/ R-11 and A-8/ R11 unless you are ok with using the plastic parts instead of the color PE parts for some of the cockpit, as Eduard only gives you enough color PE for doing one of those two. No big deal, as most folks won't notice, and with careful painting the plastic can look just as good as the colored PE. Also note that Eduard calls out the wrong fuselages, and it appears they transposed the "C1,C3" with the "A1,A2". The options should be: A1,A2 - Marking A,B,C,D,F C1,C2 - Marking E The difference being in the additional access panel on the starboard side toward the rear of the fuselage. This also corresponded with the additional panel on the underside of the wing aft of the centerline pylon (which the instructions do call out correctly). This panel showed up on the A-8, and not on previous variants. Another small error is the placement of the Neptun FuG 217 radar aerials on the underside of the wing which are used in marking option C and D. The kit has the mounting holes molded outboard of the shell ejection ports, when they should be inboard of them. I simply used a small piece of tape, marked the spacing of the antennas, then moved the tape to the correct location and then used the marks on the tape to drill new holes in the wing. After deciding that I was going to do option D and E, construction started with the cockpit. I decided that I was going to build one of my aircraft with the canopy shut, and the other open, so the open one received the color PE parts and I left off the shoulder harness to display hanging outside of the cockpit. The other I neatly completed everything with no issues. Weither using the plastic or PE parts, the cockpit builds into a very nice detailed assembly and I would be hesitant on using money on any aftermarket in this area.

The next series of steps cover the gun deck and then sandwiching the cockpit and fuselage gun assembly into the fuselage. As I learned the hard way, this is a critical part of the kit and very careful alignment is key. Take your time, check, and double check it all. If it doesn't fit right, then check again! Now if you don't want to show off the fuselage guns and want to model the hatch closed, you must eliminate the guns and trim down the mounts so you can fit the hatch flush. Cut the barrels off the gun and glue these directly into the hatch with the right amount of barrel protruding past. The wings assemble with out any trouble and the landing gear bays come out very nicely detailed. I suggest cutting off the gun barrels as they will make removing the seems and smoothing over the leading edge difficult. They can either be replaced after filling and sanding is done or replaced with another medium of your choice, such as tubing or aftermarket barrels. While working on the upper wing, if you plan on doing the wing root gun hatches closed, to close the hatch and deal with its fit now before gluing the upper and lower wings together. I dealt with it far into assembly and it was a bit more difficult. The engine is a beautiful piece of work, and includes full exhaust, ignition harnesses, and all cylinders. A super detailer could use this as a great basis. One item that needs attention is the cooling fan blades, part J39. When complete this stands a bit too far forward in the cowling. I didn't realize this till far into the construction, but a way to fix this is to shave off about 1 mm from the front of part K5. The cowling, thou in three parts, goes together well and I suggest assembling it with the cowl ring to facilitate proper alignment.

Once I got this far, I started dealing with the large issues that needed putty and sanding. Most of this came from my lack of ensuring proper fit early in construction, and the error compounded thorough the wing root and fit of the cowl to the fuselage. Also I dealt with the fit of the wing root gun access panels. After much filing and sanding, I finally got a finish I could live with. Again, take your time when assembling the kit! There is zero tolerance for sloppy fit and alignment, and though that makes for a more challenging build, it also means that careful attention to these basics at the beginning will bring an exact fit upon final assembly. The rest of the model was assembled with no problems, and then I prepped for painting. The canopy masks worked great, and were a perfect fit. They made this tedious task extremely simple and I was done masking both canopies in about 15 minutes. The one I wanted closed I permantly glued to the fuselage, while the other was just tacked on with white glue for removal later. A quick note about the radar antennas. The FuG 217 aerials are provided in very fine photo-etch which when mounted, becomes prone to bending. Though I ended up using the etch parts on mine, I will probably use some other material on future builds with the FuG 217, such as some nylon paint brush bristles or another flexible stiff material that will give if knocked, but not permantly bend or break.

I was also a little disappointed in the FuG 218 antennas on scheme E. Eduard molded these in solid plastic and this would have been much better done in a stainless steel PE or molded with holes through the mount to insert some fine wire. The plastic renditions are quite thick, and though they look ok, I will probably end up replacing them at some point. Painting and Finish Ready to paint I started with the underside color on both using Model Master enamels RLM 76 Hellblau (Light Blue) working this up most of the fuselage side and tail. Then freehand, I painted the lighter of the topside colors, RLM 75 Grey over the entire top of the wings and horizontal stabilizers, then also using the excellent profiles in the instructions, carefully painted the portions of the upper fuselage the required it. I also pulled a little of this color down into the sides of the fuselage in some mottling. Loading up with the last camo color, RLM 74, finished off the patterns and molting. Note that the cowl of option D does not have any RLM 74 on it. After this had dried for a day, I masked off for the red and yellow portions of option D and the black exhaust areas of option E. These I sprayed using Vallejo acrylics, which are excellent. Done with all the major painting, the models were set aside for a full day to dry, and then coated with Future for decals and a light wash. As mentioned before, the decals are excellent and went on with no trouble. I was impressed that the white areas of the crosses were opaque enough to place right over the camouflage and you can not see through them at all. After the decals were dry, some final pin washes and an overall flat coat completed the painting. Final details were picked out, canopy masked removed, and an aerial wire added with ez-line. Conclusions: In the end, I ended up with two nice additions to my Night fighter collection. The key with these Eduard kits is taking your time and making sure everything is test fitted, aligned and properly placed. The few small errors in the kit are more of an issue of research and references, and do not keep the kits from being built into fine models. I recommend this kit for the experienced builder, who will take the time and attention these kits deserve, and be able to overcome obstacles in construction if necessary. The end result is a great looking FW 190, though the process to get there can sometimes be a bit challenging. However is that not what drives us to become better modelers? Thanks to Eduard for the review sample!