Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-4 'Weekend Edition'

Construction
The interior offers sidewall and instrument panel detail either via raised detail or plain panels onto which go decals, the choice is yours. Being a Weekend Edition version, the seat belts only come as decals, but they will suffice. The gunsight is moulded in clear plastic and the engine only comprises the front portion of the cylinders, but little is visible behind the cooling fan once it is all assembled anyway. The wheel wells are quite fiddly, with the bulges (C24 & C25) and ribs and locks (C29, C31, C32 & C34) all being separate small components that have to be located into the wells. It all fits beautifully though and when it came time to join the upper and lower wings the fit remained as good. Joining the assembled fuselage to the wings had me wondering about the gun access doors at the roots, as these are moulded with the wings and have to fit into slots in the root fairings that are part of the fuselage halves, but they were a perfect fit, no filler was needed anywhere on the wings, including the underside, which is a first for any Fw 190 I have ever built (you usually need filler at the front or back of the lower fuselage joint). The undercarriage depicts the legs with the canvas gaiters and the compression linkage is separate, so you can paint and assemble each leg as a sub-assembly. I like the tail wheel assembly, as it is designed to build up at this late stage and 'plugs' into the fuselage, so you can add it after the painting, decalling and weathering stages. This combined with the separate tyres for the main wheels just goes to show that those involved in the design of the kit actually built models!  
  
Colour & Markings
There are only two options in this Weekend Edition, so I went with White 10. This was in a standard RLM 74/75 over 76 scheme and all these colours came from the Mr Aqueous Color range from Gunze-Sangyo, applied with an airbrush and thinned with Mr Levelling Thinners. The model had been primed with Mr Surfacers 1000 (grey) and I limited shading effects with the colours as I was getting back into the modelling groove after a long time away from the bench, so did not want to over complicate things. The mottling on the fuselage sides and tail were limited, as per the painting diagram in the instructions and the whole thing was sealed with Alclad II Aqua Gloss varnish. I left this to dry for 24 hours, as I wanted to do a panel wash with oils, but on doing so the next day I found to my amazement that it reacted with the gloss and softened it? I have since gone back to pure turpentine for such washes and found it not a problem, so lesson learned on that one! Alas for this build it ruined the look of the white nose area, and with decals applied, there was no way of going back - oh well, I will live with it! The whole lot was finally sealed with some old AeroMaster acrylic satin varnish, which is pretty much identical to the modern version from Vallejo in their Model Air range (they made the paints originally for AeroMaster's acrylic range). 
             
Final Details
The gun barrels, pitot, inner doors and linkage, 'Morane' mast, footstep, undercarriage, tail wheel, propeller with spinner and cooling fan and canopy all get added at the end. The canopy comes with open or closed versions, due to the hinge in the upper section that made the unit wider whilst it was open. The undercarriage legs I have to say I found a trial, as they just did not locate in a positive manner. The locating pegs on each were too insubstantial and as a result they ended up uneven - my fault I suspect, so with the next one (and there will be a next one, or two, or three...) I will take special care with this stage to ensure I get everything lined up.

Conclusion
Lovely, my initial impression about the complexity of the kit was unfounded due to superb fit. The fact you get a mass of spares parts in each kit is a bit off-putting enviromentally but if you intend to build numerous versions, many of the parts will be very useful. Although I messed up the undercarriage alignment, I already have another on the work table being built, as I really did enjoy making this one. As the Fw 190 is an all-time favourite of mine, I can see the Eduard kit being the basis of quite a LOT of builds in the near future. I can only hope the F and G-series get their attention very soon. 

Paints Used
Alclad II
White Aluminium
Aqua Gloss (varnish)

Gunze Mr Hobby Aqueous Hobby Color acrylic:
Mr Surfacer 1000 Grey
Mr Finishing Surfacer 1500 (Black)
H65 RLM Dark Green 70
H68 RLM Dark Grey 74
H69 RLM Mid Grey 75
H413 RLM 04 Yellow
H417 RLM 76 Blue
Mr Levelling Thinner

Tamiya Color acrylic:
X-1 Gloss Black
X-2 Gloss White
X-7 Gloss Red
X-22 Gloss Clear
XF-85 Rubber Black