1\48 Tamiya Fw 190 vs. Eduard Fw 190.

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sturmbock44

Banned
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Nov 5, 2012
California
I wanted to post a question to anyone who has built Eduards Fw 190 kit or knew someone who has. What did you think or hear about it? did you have trouble with anything. because i bought three eduard Fw 190A-8 r2s. and one Fw 190 D11 in 1\48 . I built one of the A8 R2's from Eudard and i found it to be horrible as far as it comes to fit. the detail when all parts are still on trees is very impressive rivet detail and panel lines are great.I know some of the problems could be from me but i just had to see before i built another. As i got into it i found the photo etch set makes fast cockpit that looks great but when you go to place the tub in the cockpit it doesnt fit right , you really cant get the result you need if you move it to where it should be according notches on fuselage walls. next problem the braces in the wheel bays are made up of like 12 or more peices that fit vaguely and will dictate fit to come for wings and magine gun ammo cans, if placed wrong , and in my opinion the lack of a tight joint engineered or exact instructions invite disaster in my opinion. next problem the deck for the two MG131 in the cowl doesnt fit right and can be glued in any number of positions, do to bad fit. but now this one wont allow your upper instrument panel with armour shroud with revi gunsight to fit properly. so if this is glued wrong your upcoming engine, instrument panel and the instrument shroud wont fit either. next problem was the engine detail even if you wish to display it which allows you to do a pretty sweet engine if you add some to it but i didnt want to. The engine supports are easy to screw up because of the way they fit vaguely in a small dip on fire wall instead of a hole on an angle or atleast a better joint. if the engine goes in crooked then your prop is screwed. next problem so they closing up the gun bays and and engine cowling should be a breeze but they fit horribly if you wish to close it up. ... mg 131s have to be hacked down to get cover on... cover doesnt fit width wise so i had to heat i up a little bit to spreat it like 3mm. when you have wrestled the cowl on . its time to cry when the magnetto with spinner joint right behind the cooling fan fits way too far out! (regardless of engine squarness this would have happened anyway) when prop and fan are installed they stick entirley out of the cowl. i had to take a lot off of the back of the magnetto to get it to all fit right. landing gear fit in a real loose position so you have to have a good feel for Fw 190 stance or it can go wrong again.

Im to the point now on the kit where i just need to figure out how i want to make a shroud for the top intsrument panel work its so horribly screwed up it will just drop in the cockpit if you go to put it where it should be its got a gap on both sides thats huge which is funny cuz the wing roots fit well , i would expect it to not fit if something was spreading the halves that bad. . . i got so disgusted with making things work ill admit what could be blamed on me i understand but it really this kit has a lot of parts that fit loosely or vaguely and they dictate things to come if arent in perfect position. and like i said with nothing locking into place or a good joint its all up to you what happens it seems. anyhow i painted and did some weathering and tried to find some fun in it again.
A8 still needs small parts like pitot tube, aerials, gun barrels, paint tail gear, flat coat and fix stupid shroud i want to spray some 76 light blue over my elevator post shading... i got it way to dark its like preshading dark.

Ill share pics of my Tamiya Fw 190 F-8 which i built along side of this Eduard one but the tamiya one was a joy to build i did find that even with DML Fw 190 landing gear my F-8 still sat a hair lower . later i read on another modeling site tamiyas wheels are slightly smaller and improper stance caused most problems with the height of the spinner. . . in my opinion i found there wasnt a big difference between the length of DML Tamiya or Eduard gears or tires size. To end this i think the Tamiya Fw and DML 190 may not have the engine and weapon detail but fit way better in my opinion. surface detail is the onlything you get with the eduard oh yeah with more detailed wheel bays.
F8 Just needs gun barrells , gunsight, and minor supports for open bays . minor touch up to exhaust with more charcoal wash. when i ever get both of these finished ill post more detailed pics and more info i got a DML 1\48 comet i have at a similar stage too which was fun to build . ill post it when ever its done too these are my current three models i have going right now.
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blue 13 pit.jpg
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forgot i got to fix the antenna mast on the tail too. this F8 sat around in a box for like 9 years before i came back to models .
The F-8 pics which was way more fun and my favorite out of the two...
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I did Eduards A 8 and D 9 both great kits but over engineered and more suited to having everything open
So if you wish to close all the hatches and covers it is very easy to go wrong !
 
They both look great, but if anything the Eduard kits are known to be rather complicated and tricky. Is guess for ease of assembly the Tamiya kit would work best, for super detailing the Eduard kit is the obvious choice. I'm generally not one to go nitpicking on minor accuracy details, so I can't really comment on that...both look like Fw-190 to me
 
I did Eduards A 8 and D 9 both great kits but over engineered and more suited to having everything open
So if you wish to close all the hatches and covers it is very easy to go wrong !

Exactly what Rochie said, if you want to pose a kit open with the engine, gun bays etc your going to love the Eduard kit (I love it!:D) if you want to close everything, then we might have issues (Somebody gonna get hurt realllll bad!)

Since the Tamiya kit has no engine, its easier to close up items, hence the better option for someone who doesn't really want to display the engine :)
 
The thing is, a real Fw-190 had badly fitting access panels, check out the old "Wings of the Luftwaffe" video. Now, this doesn't excuse the oversize gun covers, but it is fairly easy to sand them to fit. Better than undersize, anyday! I have built both Tamiya and Eduard's offering and prefer Eduard.
 
I haven't built an Eduard version, but have built a couple of the Tamiya kits. Obviously, the Tamiya kit virtually builds itself, whereas the Eduard seems to have been designed to have all panels and hatches open.
When the Eduard series of '190s were first released, all reviews and build reviews, were of the opinion that the Eduard kit was great for (and designed for ) a model with open panels, especially the wing root gun hatches. From what I've seen, and read, all build attempting to have closed panels run into fit problems. I spent a lot of time researching the Eduard kits, as I planned a two-aircraft diorama and, as I didn't require any open panels, I opted for the Tamiya kits . Seemed a bit pointless using a kit designed to have all panels open, built with closed panels, and paying the extra for something not required, when a more than acceptable result could be achieved with the Tamiya kits.
 
Heck, didn't know that! Must admit, I bought two of the Tamiya kits, about four weeks apart, and it had a price rise from around £17 to £22 in that short space of time!
 
the eduard weekend editions are about £12 at the minute you still get all the plastic and for that price you can get a set of decals for the same price as a Tamiya kit on its own !!!!!
worth the fiddly constuction if you ask me
 
Got an Eduard D-9 in the stash so have not experienced the build yet. Tamiya A-8 went together very well. Love your finished models.
 
thanks for the positive feedback. im sure if i built it open things would have been better but i really didnt want to do two detail kits at once cuz i knew i would bog down on both even worse than i have. I have a D-11 im going to give it a try and see what i learned from the first one i guess. i just remember hating it so bad i had to cry about it. did anyone have the problem with the top intrument panel shroud not being anywhere near wide enough to cover entire width of the front windscreen area? and it has nothing to do with open or closed features. and my pit wasnt wedged in either becuase it fit in the indents provided... oh well just curious.
 
ok then im glad to know its not something i did. that was the most disappointing thinking i was done with problems. only to find out it was gonna keep fighting me till the end. oh well well see how their D-11 goes. looks to have similar engineering though. im putting my other A8 far far away in the stash for now.
 
Some good info here. Worth looking at Eduard as a cheaper option, and I'll remember about that panel shroud!
 
just had a look.

eduard Fw190 A8 #8429 £13.85
Tamiya Fw190 A8 #61096 £24.76

though dont feel to bad Dogsbody the Eduard Bf110 E weekend kit is now £18.08
but the Eduard D-9 weekend kit is only £13.06

all at modelhobbies
 
the price was what got me to buy three Eduard kits having never seen many built or reviewed at the time. DML, trimaster and Tamiya 190s go for cheap on Ebay if you wait for the right auction. just an idea. eduard kits i think are what caused the price to go down on them. hundreds of the eduard kits are always up for auction.
 
ill have to take your word for it on the 65 percent increase. because i wasnt building models when tamiya released anything that ive built , but what i can say is i usually buy them in auctions. Fw190 F-8 , A-3 and Bf-109 E4 i probably spent 15-18 US dollars. bigger kits like He 219 Do 335 A12 i got for 24$ and 18$ . some people love ebay some people hate it... i love it i cant tell you how many new models i got for way less than retail.
 

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