Hasegawa 7373 1:48 Focke Wulf Fw 190A-5 "Japanese Army"

Kit#: 7373.

Price: Can´t remember.

Decals: One option. 

Notes: Nothing noted.

From the kit´s instructions: "The Fw 190 was designed as an auxiliary fighter for the Luftwaffe´s mainstay Messerschmitt Bf 109 series. It was powered  by a radial engine, rare in a European fighter design. The Fw 190 was a brilliant design, with a robust airframe and high performance characteristics thanks to its high horsepower to weight ratio.

The A-4 model, generally considered the "definitive" A series model, was basically and upgraded A-3 fitted with a BMW 801D-2 engine with MW50 water/methanol injection apparatus capable of giving the aircraft a huge temporary boost of up to 2100hp and reach 670km/h.

New FuG 16Z air-to-air radio gear gave the A-4 an antenna wire mast on the vertical stabilizer. Some A-4 types participating in the Reich air Defense campaign were fitted with special FuG 16Z-E radios, which used a Morane type antenna mast projecting from the underside of the left wing.

The A-5 required an extension on the cowling by 150mm to compensate for the shift in the centre of gravity on its airframe, the cumulative result of all the various upgrades and additional equipment added to the A series since the original A-0. For fixed armament, the A-5 inherited the A-4´s array of two MG17 7,92mm machineguns, two MG151/20 20mm cannons and two MG/FF 20mm cannons. There were actually few "standard model" A-5s produced, while on the other hand, many variant models rolled off the production lines, fitted with various equipments and, in some cases, experimental large caliber weapons."

The Kit:

Hasegawa´s kit 7373 comes in a top opening box showing a Japanese Army Fw 190A-5 flying.

Inside the box, you´re greeted by two transparent plastic bags, the largest one containing the all the sprues, and the smaller one with the decals and transparent parts. The parts are moulded in a smooth, dark grey hard plastic.

Only one decal option is provided, and that is of an Fw 190A-5 with Japanese markings.

The instructions tell you to fill and sand two panel lines to properly create and Fw 190A-5 replica.

Instructions are of the foldable type, with 12 construction steps and a painting page for both decal options.

Construction:

I began construction by painting on the sprues the cockpit parts and by removing the fuselage halves from said sprues and paiting them separately. They all received several coats of a brush painted Revell 78, leaving them to dry before continuing the build.

With all the parts properly painted, I went on and glued the cockpit parts together with Revell Contacta, waited for them to be fully dry, and glued the completed cockpit to the right fuselage half, gluing the other half soon after.

The wings were next. I had to be really careful to not break the single lower piece while removing it from the sprue (I´m looking for a proper sprue cutter/razors, but the guy who imports them hasn´t received them yet). The wheel wells on this part were painted Revell 45 and left to dry. I also attached the access hatches for the outer wing machineguns.

While the lower half was drying, my attention went to the two upper wing parts. They were removed from the sprue and the wheel wells were painted in Revell 45 and left to dry.

With the paint of the wings dry, I went ahead and glued them together. 

The next step was to glue fuselage and wings together, but before doing that, I had to sand the right hand fuselage to allow for a good fit between the two. After some minutes of sanding, I test fitted both, and glued the wings and fuselage together.

Next came the engine assembly. I added every piece as the instructions told me, except for the cooling fan, a decision that would come to bite me later while painting the aircraft. 

With the engine section ready, I glued it to the aircraft, and went on with the build.

To complete the aircraft, I glued the horizontal stabilizers to the fuselage, the aircraft was complete, and it was ready for painting.

Colours and Markings:

The aircraft was painted in the standard Luftwaffe mid war camouflage of RLM 74/75/76 with yellow rudder and lower cowling. I then gloss coated the aircraft and added the decals, which performed perfectly. After decalling, I matt coated the aircraft.

Final Construction: 

The final stages of the kit involved painting the landing gear struts, trimming the landing gear covers (because they don´t fit inside the wheel wells if you leave them out of the box). I glued the struts to the aircraft, glued the wheels, the tailwheel, and finally I added the landing gear doors to the struts. With all that done, I let the landing gear dry for a bit, before putting the aircraft on its wheels.

Conclusions:

This limited edition kit is the same as the other Fw 190s from Hasegawa, but with different decals. Recommended.