1/48 Pro Modeler Focke Wulf Fw 190G-2/-3

Gallery Article by Alan Williamson on Oct 10 2003

 

History  
The Fock Wulf was considered by many to be the best propeller driven fighter used by the Luftwaffe during W.W.II. The Fock Wulf Fw 190 was first designed during the late 1937, and the first prototype, designated the Fw 190V1 made it’s first flight on June 1st 1939. It was powered by a fan-cooled BMW 139 engine, which produced 1,550 horsepower.  

The prototypes that followed were eighteen Fw 190A-0 pre-production aircraft that were used for service evaluation. The Fw 190A-1 were the first production version and these began to roll of the assembly lines in the late 1940’s. A BMW 801c engine powered these, producing a maximum of 1,600 horsepower, the Fw 190A was proven to be superior to the British fighter in service at that time. The Fw became unofficially known as the Wurger, which meant “Butcher Bird.” The Fw 190As were primarily designed for the use of interception and air superiority missions.  

The Fw 190G was developed on the original Fw 190A airframe, and it was optimized to perform the fighter-bomber role. This version of the FW 190G first entered service in North Africa late in 1942. For the most Fw 190G’s were assigned to the Eastern Front, and took part in the battles against the Russians.  Other FW 190G’s were assigned to units in Sicily and Italy on the Southern Front, and a few operated on the Eastern Front. 

In order for the Fw 190G’s to perform the fighter-bomber role they were fitted out with the ability to carry bombs and external fuel tanks under the fuselage or wings. The landing gears on the Fw 190G’s were also made stronger in order to support the heaver ordnances whilst on the ground. The Fw 190G could carry almost 4,000 pounds of external stores, which could be loaded on the stations beneath the wing and fuselage. Internal armament consisted of two 20-mm MG 151 Cannons mounted in the wings and the Fw 190G was powered by a BMW 801D-2 radial engine capable of producing 1,700 horsepower for take off.    

 

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The Kit 5949  
Pro Modeler / Revell have supplied the modeler with a very high detailed kit, consisting of nice crisp panel lines and detail. Note not for the faint hearted this model is quite challenging to build. Pro Modeler has added addition parts in this kit for slightly different Fw 190Gs, however a point these extra parts are note mention in the instructions so some knowledge or reference will be need to make up other models of the FW 190G. Pro Modeler has given the modeler a chose of four different squadron markings for their Fw 190G as well as photos and tips allocated in the instruction book for further help in assembling the kit.

Construction
This model was built OOB with the exceptions of seat belts and antenna wire. A word of advice you will require putty, a file and some sand paper in order to construct this kit, there are a lot of fit problems with the cowling and wings as I and a friend that built his kit at the same time as each other found out. The cockpit comprises of a few very fiddly bits with the instrument panel and pedals and a very small tub. A word of advice when joining the fuselage halves together it might be wise not to glue the bottom halves of the fuselage as I and my friend found out when it came time to join the wings there was a huge gap between the fuselage and wigs assembly. I found that the best way to close the gap was to pries the fuselage open whilst adding the wings in order to seal the gap this work for mine and my friends kit. But had I known before hand I would not have glued around the fuselage when sticking the two halves together. Another extremely fiddly bit I found when building this kit was that of the headrest, brace, bulkhead and guide assembly, witch with the canopy assembled with these parts will or should I say should allow the modeler to open and close the canopy, but that lasted me about ten seconds.   

Painting and finish  
Like many of my models I sprayed the entire fuselage and wings in Humbrol metal cote followed with gloss clear, once that was comprised I started the with the color scheme. I then gave it the old chipped affect. Followed by gloss clear and then the decals it’s finished as an Fw190G stationed at Deblin-Irena, Poland, early to mid 1944. After the decals I applied some more gloss clear then a matt clear, followed up with a pastel wash to give it a grimy dirty worn look an then finished it up with more matt clear to seal it up.

Photos  
The photos were taken with my digital canon camera; the dust is not part of the finish lol. Thanks to my mate Peter whom together we worked out the best way to construct this kit.  

Alan Williamson

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Photos and text © by Alan Williamson