In Box Review of Trimaster 1/48th Scale
German FW-190D-12 Fighter
Kit no. MAB-102-4000
By Ray Mehlberger
OUT OF PRODUCTION, but available a few places overseas.
By Ray Mehlberger
OUT OF PRODUCTION, but available a few places overseas.
HISTORY:
The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Würger (English: Shrike) is a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. Along with its well-known counterpart, the Messerschmitt Bf 109, the Fw 190 became the backbone of the Luftwaffe's Jagdwaffe (Fighter Force).
The twin-row BMW 801 radial engine that powered most operational versions enabled the Fw 190 to lift larger loads than the Bf 109, allowing its use as a day fighter, fighter-bomber, ground-attack aircraft and, to a lesser degree, night fighter.
The Fw 190A started flying operationally over France in August 1941, and quickly proved superior in all but turn radius to the Royal Air Force's main front-line fighter, the Spitfire Mk. V, particularly at low and medium altitudes.
The 190 maintained superiority over Allied fighters until the introduction of the improved Spitfire Mk. IX. In November/December 1942, the Fw 190 made its air combat debut on the Eastern Front, finding much success in fighter wings and specialised ground attack units called Schlachtgeschwader (Battle Wings or Strike Wings) from October 1943 onwards.
The Fw 190 provided greater firepower than the Bf 109 and, at low to medium altitude, superior manoeuvrability, in the opinion of German pilots who flew both fighters.
The Fw 190A series' performance decreased at high altitudes (usually 6,000 m (20,000 ft) and above), which reduced its effectiveness as a high-altitude interceptor.
From the Fw 190's inception, there had been ongoing efforts to address this with a turbo supercharged BMW 801 in the B model, the much longer-nosed C model with efforts to also turbocharge its chosen Daimler-Benz DB 603 inverted V12 power-plant, and the similarly long-nosed D model with the Junkers Jumo 213. Problems with the turbocharger installations on the -B and -C subtypes meant only the D model would enter service, doing so in September 1944.
While these "long nose" versions gave the Germans parity with Allied opponents, they arrived far too late in the war to have any real effect.
The Fw 190 was well-liked by its pilots. Some of the Luftwaffe's most successful fighter aces claimed a great many of their kills while flying it, including Otto Kittel, Walter Nowotny and Erich Rudorffer.
The Fw 190 D-12 was similar to the D-11, but featured the 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108 cannon.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Role: Fighter
Manufacturer: Primarily Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG, but also AGO, Arado, Fieseler, Mimetall, Norddeutsche Dornier and others
Designer: Kurt Tank
First flight: 1 June 1939
Introduction to service: August 1941
Retired: 9 May 1945 (Luftwaffe), 1949 (Turkey)
Primary users: Luftwaffe, Hungarian Air Force, Turkish Air Force
Produced: 1941–45; 1996: 16 reproductions
Number built: Over 20,000
Variants: Ta 152
The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Würger (English: Shrike) is a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. Along with its well-known counterpart, the Messerschmitt Bf 109, the Fw 190 became the backbone of the Luftwaffe's Jagdwaffe (Fighter Force).
The twin-row BMW 801 radial engine that powered most operational versions enabled the Fw 190 to lift larger loads than the Bf 109, allowing its use as a day fighter, fighter-bomber, ground-attack aircraft and, to a lesser degree, night fighter.
The Fw 190A started flying operationally over France in August 1941, and quickly proved superior in all but turn radius to the Royal Air Force's main front-line fighter, the Spitfire Mk. V, particularly at low and medium altitudes.
The 190 maintained superiority over Allied fighters until the introduction of the improved Spitfire Mk. IX. In November/December 1942, the Fw 190 made its air combat debut on the Eastern Front, finding much success in fighter wings and specialised ground attack units called Schlachtgeschwader (Battle Wings or Strike Wings) from October 1943 onwards.
The Fw 190 provided greater firepower than the Bf 109 and, at low to medium altitude, superior manoeuvrability, in the opinion of German pilots who flew both fighters.
The Fw 190A series' performance decreased at high altitudes (usually 6,000 m (20,000 ft) and above), which reduced its effectiveness as a high-altitude interceptor.
From the Fw 190's inception, there had been ongoing efforts to address this with a turbo supercharged BMW 801 in the B model, the much longer-nosed C model with efforts to also turbocharge its chosen Daimler-Benz DB 603 inverted V12 power-plant, and the similarly long-nosed D model with the Junkers Jumo 213. Problems with the turbocharger installations on the -B and -C subtypes meant only the D model would enter service, doing so in September 1944.
While these "long nose" versions gave the Germans parity with Allied opponents, they arrived far too late in the war to have any real effect.
The Fw 190 was well-liked by its pilots. Some of the Luftwaffe's most successful fighter aces claimed a great many of their kills while flying it, including Otto Kittel, Walter Nowotny and Erich Rudorffer.
The Fw 190 D-12 was similar to the D-11, but featured the 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108 cannon.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Role: Fighter
Manufacturer: Primarily Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG, but also AGO, Arado, Fieseler, Mimetall, Norddeutsche Dornier and others
Designer: Kurt Tank
First flight: 1 June 1939
Introduction to service: August 1941
Retired: 9 May 1945 (Luftwaffe), 1949 (Turkey)
Primary users: Luftwaffe, Hungarian Air Force, Turkish Air Force
Produced: 1941–45; 1996: 16 reproductions
Number built: Over 20,000
Variants: Ta 152
THE KIT:
Trimaster was a Japanese scale model manufacturer based at Fujieda City, active from 1987 to 1991. The company focused exclusively on Luftwaffe aircraft .
This kit came in a shrink-wrapped tray and lid type box.
The box art is a color photo of the model made up. It is in a wave pattern of grey-violet and green, above a light-blue undercarriage. It has a black spinner with a white spiral on it. It has black and white fuselage bands, a yellow fuselage number 12 outlined in black, skeletal German crosses. It is carrying a large black bomb under its belly. No swastika is shown, so as to keep the kit politically correct in countries where it is sold that have outlawed this symbol.
One side panel has 4 color walk-around type photos of the model made up in the box art scheme, followed by Trimaster's address in Shizuoka, Japan. Copyright of the kit is 1988 and it was made in Japan.
Trimaster was a Japanese scale model manufacturer based at Fujieda City, active from 1987 to 1991. The company focused exclusively on Luftwaffe aircraft .
This kit came in a shrink-wrapped tray and lid type box.
The box art is a color photo of the model made up. It is in a wave pattern of grey-violet and green, above a light-blue undercarriage. It has a black spinner with a white spiral on it. It has black and white fuselage bands, a yellow fuselage number 12 outlined in black, skeletal German crosses. It is carrying a large black bomb under its belly. No swastika is shown, so as to keep the kit politically correct in countries where it is sold that have outlawed this symbol.
One side panel has 4 color walk-around type photos of the model made up in the box art scheme, followed by Trimaster's address in Shizuoka, Japan. Copyright of the kit is 1988 and it was made in Japan.
The other side panel begins with a color photo of the decal sheet (deleting the swastikas that are on the decal sheet). The PE frets and metal parts are shown also. This is followed by features of the kit in 6 languages, including English.
Inside the box is a profile of the aircraft.
WHAT'S IN THE BOX
The kit contains 4 light-grey trees and a clear tree in a sealed clear cello bag, 3 steel PE frets, white metal parts and some steel rods, each in sealed cello bags and in a cardboard compartment stapled to one end of the tray, the decal sheet and the instructions.
The instructions is a single-sheet that accordion-folds out into 8 pages in 8" x 11" page format.
Page 1 begins with a black and white photo of the model made up in the box art scheme, over the history of the FW-190D-12 in 6 languages, including English.
Page 2 has CAUTIONS about the kit in a column down the left side of the page and international assembly symbol explanations in the 6 languages, from the right side of the page and across pages 3 through 6 there are many un-numbered assembly steps.
At the bottom of pages 2 and 3 is a suggested listing of paint colors to use.
Pages 7 and 8 is the marking and painting instructions, with the history repeated in the 6 languages.
There are 5 side views, 3 top views and a bottom view.
The first side view is the box art scheme twice. (already described above) Once with the large bomb loaded and the other with it off. It is an aircraft with JG-26.
The kit contains 4 light-grey trees and a clear tree in a sealed clear cello bag, 3 steel PE frets, white metal parts and some steel rods, each in sealed cello bags and in a cardboard compartment stapled to one end of the tray, the decal sheet and the instructions.
The instructions is a single-sheet that accordion-folds out into 8 pages in 8" x 11" page format.
Page 1 begins with a black and white photo of the model made up in the box art scheme, over the history of the FW-190D-12 in 6 languages, including English.
Page 2 has CAUTIONS about the kit in a column down the left side of the page and international assembly symbol explanations in the 6 languages, from the right side of the page and across pages 3 through 6 there are many un-numbered assembly steps.
At the bottom of pages 2 and 3 is a suggested listing of paint colors to use.
Pages 7 and 8 is the marking and painting instructions, with the history repeated in the 6 languages.
There are 5 side views, 3 top views and a bottom view.
The first side view is the box art scheme twice. (already described above) Once with the large bomb loaded and the other with it off. It is an aircraft with JG-26.
The second side view is of a FW-10D-13 version with a yellow fuselage code - + - 13 outlined in black. It is in the same camouflage as the box art scheme. It is with JG-26 too.
The third side view is of a FW-10D-9. It too is in the same camouflage scheme as the first 2 and with JG-26. It has a fuselage code in black of 10 + -.
The fourth and fifth side views are of more aircraft with JG-26 in the same camouflages. One has the black fuselage code of 10 + I and the other has
14 + -.
14 + -.
Trees are alphabetized.
Light-grey letter A tree holds: wings, elevators, cockpit floor, main wheels and doors, pilot figure (16 parts)
Light-grey letter A tree holds: wings, elevators, cockpit floor, main wheels and doors, pilot figure (16 parts)
Light-grey letter B tree holds: individual prop blades, spinner, wheel well compartment (19 parts) One part is blued-out in the parts tree's illustrations as being excess and not needed to complete the model.
Light-grey letter C tree holds: a fuselage half, cowling, bomb half and its mount etc. (7 parts)
Light-grey letter D tree holds; the other fuselage half, other bomb half, drop tank, nose top panel etc. (6 parts)
The clear tree holds the canopy parts (2 parts)
The white metal parts consists of: landing gear legs, tail wheel, exhaust pipes etc.
The steel PE frets are next. This is an extensive set and includes the instrument panel, radial engine guard, etc.
Finally is the lengths of 3 diameters of steel rod.
Finally is the lengths of 3 diameters of steel rod.
The decal sheet completes the kit's interior. It includes swastikas and stenciling.
The kit has great detail, however, no pilot figure is included. Detail is engraved and flaps are all molded solid.
Highly recommended.