Eduard Fw 190A-8 1/48 Review | Model Kits Review

So here I’m pleased to present the Eduard Fw 190A-8 Focke Wulf on my 1st attempt to a diorama. Some preliminary work-in-progress pictures were shown here a few days ago. This Eduard model kit # 8173, is a nice addition to your German’s Luftwaffe collection as a stand alone kit, although in my humble opinion, with the level of detail, this kit screams for a diorama. The kit comes with nice photo etched detail, pre-cut mask for the clear parts and markings for 4 aircraft:

* Blue 13, Maj. Walter Dahl, Stab/JG 300, Jüterborg, Germany – December 1944
* White 2, Uffz. Julius Händel, 13./JG 54, Poland – August / September 1944
* “Erika”, Blue 8, Uffz. Dietrich, 12./JG 5, Herdla, Norway – Spring 1945
* White 6, Lt. Gustav Salffner, 7./JG 300, Löbnitz, Germany – March 1945
* Black 10, W.Nr. 380352 , 2./JG 11, Darmstadt – Spring 1945

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This kit has a very nice detailed engine that would be a shame to close it in the engine compartment. The engine took most of the building time and there is room to detail it even more. A word of caution, make sure you dry fit your cockpit tub. A slight misalignment here will be reflected on the engine mount thus having a misaligned propeller that wont rotate freely. Included is a template (part 12) so you can align every single exhaust pipe (8 of them, 4 on each side). Make sure you use it but don’t glue it, it will be discarded afterwards.

I had to hold the front of the aircraft from the inside with Tamiya masking tape to paint it. That way I could pull everything apart to display the plane’s engine. This is where most of the building time was put but it was worth it in my opinion. The overall kit fit is very good with little gaps to fill in with putty. The model was completely painted with Model Master Acryl colors using an A470 double action airbrush from AZTEK.

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The figures and ladder are from previous kit builds, specifically the Cyber-Hobby 1/48 Me262A-1 / U4 Bomber Interceptor, kit # 5567. The Kettenkraftrad is the Tamiya kit # 32502 1/48. The clear parts were clear and clean enough that I didn’t even had to dip them in Future clear gloss.

Final Verdict

The Eduard 1/48 Fw 190A-8 is a very nice kit for the money, you get lots of details with room to scratch build some more. This kit will not only test your model building skills, but the engine will test your patience even more. Take your time, study the instructions, be prepared to think out of the box while assembling this kit, it will make a nice representation of the famous Focke Wulf 190A-8 and nice addition to your 1/48 scale aircraft shelf.