1/48 Tamiya Focke Wulf 190 A8R8

 by Tolga Ulgur

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This is my 1/48 Tamiya Focke Wulf 190 A8R8 

The Fw 190 A-8 production began in February 1944.  The A-8 was equipped with a new wooden propeller with its wide paddle-shaped blades.  Nearly a dozen Rüstsätze (Field Conversion) kits available for the A8, including the famous A8/R2 and A8/R8 models.  The Fw 190 was modified with bolt-on 5 mm armor plates on the fuselage sides to combat the heavy bombers.  Additional 30 mm armored glass panels were added on the canopy and extra glass to the windshield quarter-panels.  The outboard 20 mm wing guns were replaced by MK 108 30 mm cannons. This combination was the Fw 190 A-8/R8 "Sturmbock" (Ram).  In an effort to save some weight, the 13 mm machine guns that were mounted over the engine were often removed.

The common tactic of these heavy fighters was to attack allied bombers from the front or rear by firing their devastating 30 mm cannon at close range.  This tactic often left the 190s vulnerable, and special groups of Bf-109s were tasked to fly escort while the 190s attacked the bombers.  

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The kit is finished with the markings of JG3.  This A8R8 flown by Wilhelm Montz in the summer of 1944.  The construction of the kit is very easy.  Though it has some accuracy problems (like the diameter of the main wheels and the shortness of the main wheel leg) I tried to built it mostly out of the box.  I began with the cockpit components as recommended in the assembling guide of  the kit.  The cockpit elements are painted to RLM 66 with Gunze Sangyo acrylic paint.  The instrument panel is from the kit decal sheet.  As usual, in the cockpit I added photo etched seat belts from Eduard. 

The painting was done with Gunze Sangyo acrylics.  Upper surfaces are painted to RLM 74 / RLM 75, and the lower surfaces to RLM 76.  The mottles are sprayed by free hand due to the reference picture of the real plane taken from “Squadron signal publications- FW190 in action” book.  I replaced the kit wheels with  Eagle Part (EP#6-48) “set of wheels for Fw 190 (late)”.  It's finished by applying a matt coat from Gunze  after the artist oil paint weathering.  Finally I added some paint chipping by using silver pencil. 

Happy Modelling

Tolga  Istanbul - TURKEY

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Photos and text © by Tolga Ulgur