Eduard 1/48 Fw 190F-8
By Jacob Russell
The Plane
The Focke-Wulf FW190F-8 was a dedicated ground attack variant of Kurt Tank’s legendary Wurger (Butcher Bird). It was based on the A-8 fighter, and featured additional armor built into the airframe and strengthened wings to carry a wide range of stores beneath them and the fuselage centerline. A primary visual difference between the A-8 and F-8 was an absence of wing guns on the latter. In the cockpit, the F-8 differed from the A-8 in that it was fitted with a rectangular panel below the instrument panel with switches for arming bombs and associated equipment.
The Kit
The kit is based on Eduard’s earlier A-8 kit and it comes well packaged in a sturdy cardboard box. The parts count is high: 405 parts, plus Eduard’s trademark Express Masks. There are 235 plastic parts on 9 sprues, 40 of which are not applicable to the F-8.
228 parts are molded in a medium brown plastic and 7 are molded in clear plastic. Included on this sprue are the early “flat” and late “blown” canopies.
2 brass frets-one of which is pre-painted-contain 170 photo-etched parts.
The quality of the plastic parts is excellent and the fuselage and wings feature very subtle rivet detail. The ailerons and rudder are molded separately. The ailerons have restrained fabric detail. The kit includes two sets of mainwheels, smooth and treaded, and also single piece and multi-piece tailwheels to choose from. The cockpit is highly detailed and the modeler can choose either plastic or photo-etched instrument panels.
The instrument faces on the plastic panel are blank, reminiscent of a Tamiya kit.
There is a very minor amount of flash on some of the smaller parts. There are no visible ejector pin marks on external surfaces. Shrinkage is confined to areas where there is a corresponding internal slot for a tab to hold another part - for example to locate the cockpit tub in the forward fuselage halves.
The engine is a multi-piece, highly detailed model unto itself. Individual exhaust stacks and the complete engine mount are also included. The wing bays for the cannon can be posed open. The cover for the fuselage machine guns can be displayed open as well.
A comprehensive set of underwing stores in included. This includes SC50, SC 250, SD 250, SC 500, AB 250, and AB 500 bombs, two types of MK 103 cannon, and Panzerschreck and Panzerblitz rockets.
A droptank is also included. The Express Mask set is for the canopy, windscreen, mainwheels, and the trailing edge of the open wing cannon bays.
There are two decal sheets, one of which is for a complete set of stencils. The other decal sheet is for five decal options:
1) “Yellow K”, SG10, Czechoslovakia, May 1945
2) “Black 7”, 5./II.SG77,Czechoslovakia, May1945 (this plane carried Panzerschreck rockets)
3) “Red 10”, I./SG 4, Piacenza, Italy, June 1944
4) “Yellow 2”. 9./SG 77, Czechoslovakia, May 1945
5) “Yellow 14”, W.Nr. 584592, Neubiberg, Germany, May 1945
This is a complex kit, which will reward the patient modeler.
Accuracy
I didn’t bother to check the kit against scale plans, although I have a good set to hand in one of my Kagero FW190 monographs, because to me it looks every inch like an FW190F-8.
Conclusions
This is a top quality kit. I have no doubt that a patient and competent modeler can produce a highly detailed and accurate model right out the box. The high parts count, in conjunction with the large number of very small, photo-etched parts, means that this kit is aimed towards, and most suitable for, the experience modeler. Highly recommended. Nice work, Eduard!
References
1) Focke-Wulf FW190 Volume III, by Krzysztof Janowicz, Kagero Publications, 2005.
2) Osprey Modeling Manuals #20: Focke-Wulf FW 190, by Rodrigo Henrnandez Cabos and Geoff Coughlin, 2002.
3) Focke-Wulf FW190A/F Walk Around #22, by Malcolm E. Laing and E. Brown Ryle, 2000.