Focke-Wulf Fw 190F-8 'Weekend Edition'
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Kit ReviewIt’s not often I get to build 1/72nd scale fighters for Valiant Wings, that is firmly in Libor’s lap, so when I do, it’s nice to build something with a bit of quality about it.
For our preview of this kit visit here.
The Kit
Baring the awful art on the lid, the box itself is neat and quite sturdy, protecting the plastic inside. That plastic comes on three sprues of medium grey-coloured plastic and a single sprue of clear parts. You also get a 12 page instruction booklet, with 8 pages of assembly drawings and two pages of full-colour art for the two versions on offer. The first page is sprue layouts and safety and paint stuff, while the last page is a very helpful stencil placement guide. The instructions are well drawn and it looks like all the parts are positively identified, with paint references along the way. The paints are all Gunze, either Mr Color of the Mr Aqueous Hobby Color varieties. The plastic is very nicely formed, with only a little flash and the detail, both raised and recessed is very well done indeed. Some of the smaller parts have prominent mould-seams to deal with but it’s no big problem. The clear parts, including separate parts for open or closed canopies, are very cleanly moulded, with good clarity and sharp framework. The kit is finished off with the two-part decal sheets, one with national and individual aircraft markings, while the other has all the stencils on it. The decals look to be well up to the usual excellent Eduard standard, with good colours, sharp edges and perfect printing.
Construction
This starts with the cockpit and I have to admit to cheating a bit this time by using the Eduard pre-painted interior set which was specifically designed for the “weekend” kit; #73589. This has the interior, fully painted, as well as standard parts for some of the exterior bits, mostly bomb fins. The plastic parts in the box are common sprues for a whole range of Sub-types, so be careful with the build process and make sure you get the right part for the job. The basic fit and finish of pretty much all the bits is just about faultless, although care is needed in getting some of the small parts aligned properly. Make sure you follow the instructions and there should be no problems. The detail is very fine and looks the business and even though there are some simplified bits, they are fully in keeping with the much smaller scale.
Most of the options in this kit concern the weapons and exactly which load you want it to carry but there is plenty to choose from, not only on the centre-line rack but also under the wings. There are bombs and canister munitions of various sizes, rockets on two types of rails and the drop tank of course.
Colour & Markings
The two marking options in the box couldn’t be more different. One is in a mucky looking SG 2. Machine from Hungary in 1944 with a broken distemper, while the other is an aircraft from Stab III./ SG 10, Czechoslovakia 1945, which is an over-painted green aircraft, complete with yellow ID bands and tail. To be perfectly honest, despite its diminutive size, the paint process was just as long and complicated as a larger scale kit just more fiddly! Not my cup of tea I have to confess but the finished result using the paints quoted on the instruction sheet certainly looks the part.
The decals work really well over a coat of gloss varnish, settling down very well and with almost no silvering. You have to watch the tiny stencils very carefully or they will lift and not bed down properly but it’s nothing that a little setting solution can’t handle. As you can see from the pictures, they really do look the part and are as accurate as anything I’ve used, so well done Eduard.
Final Details
The final construction of things like the weapons and undercarriage is all relatively straight forward and with positive locations for all the parts it’s done pretty quickly. I opted to add a few wires on the undercarriage units as they are quite exposed and even in the smaller scale it’s not much of a problem to do.
The final finish is a near flat varnish, a few touch ups around the freshly positioned canopy and an aerial wire made from 1lb fishing line to make this one complete 'Butcher Bird'.
Conclusion
I love the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, it’s got such presence to it but I’m afraid in this scale that presence is all but lost for me. That’s not a criticism of the kit at all, which is fantastic. It’s got great detail and builds beautifully and with the simplified 'Weekend Edition' box being this cheap it’s great value for money as well. With it being this small, you could fit loads of the things onto your shelf and they would all look gorgeous. My heart lies with something bigger but if 1/72nd is your scale then you’ll love this kit!
Our thanks to Eduard M.A. (www.eduard.com) for the review sample.
Paints Used
Alclad 2 Lacquer:
ALC 313 Klear Kote Matte
Gunze Mr Aqueous Hobby Color:
H12 Black
H68 RLM74
H69 RLM75
H70 RLM02
H413 RLM04
H414 RLM23
H416 RLM66
H417 RLM76
H423 RLM83
Tamiya Acrylic:
X-22 Clear Gloss
