Focke Wulf Fw 189-A2

[Mike]

Focke Wulf Fw 189-A2

1:48 Great Wall Hobby

The Fw189 was designed by Kurt Tank prior to WWII as a short range observation and reconnaissance aircraft, with excellent all-round visibility being a prime requisite. It won the contract in competition with designs from Arado and Blohm & Voss (their asymmetrical Bv. 141). It entered service in 1940, and production continued until 1944.

The aircraft was popular with crews due to its manoeuvrability and rugged design, and it could often out turn fighters to escape destruction. There are also stories of 189s returning from missions with parts of the tail and boom blown away, a testament to its durability.

The kit is Great Wall Hobby's first foray into building aircraft kits, and I was very interested to see what was in the box, as I have a fondness for their AFV kits already. On opening the lid of the box, I was greeted by a foam protective bag around a large sprue of clear parts, underneath which were five sprues of mid-grey styrene, all separately bagged. Another bag contains the decal sheet, a sheet of canopy masks and a small fret of photo-etched (PE) metal parts. The package is completed by a color printed instruction booklet and separate full color painting guide. A large glossy brochure containing details of current and forthcoming products is also included in case you're not familiar with their excellent lineup of kits.

Of course I had to open the clear sprue first, as such care had been taken to keep it safe from harm. The parts are large, thin and very clear, with fine raised detail for the framing, which should make it simplicity to mask, especially with the included sheet of self-adhesive masks, which are all numbered to a key on the instructions. Masking doesn't really scare me for some reason, but I know a lot of people look at these greenhouse style canopies and shudder, so this should take the majority of that fear away. Good idea, GWH! A spare set of nose glazing is included and marked out as unused, so it seems likely that another version is on the cards at some point - the armed recon version perhaps?

Moving onto the grey sprues, the first thing that strikes you is the level of detail on all of the parts. The long slender wings have panel lines of varying thicknesses depending on what is being portrayed, and the tiniest of rivet detail where appropriate. The joint between the outer and inner wing is also cleverly handled, running along a panel line, with strengthening plates hiding a good proportion. Careful gluing and reinstatement of the panel line will give a seamless finish. The inner wing contains the lumps for the booms and engine nacelles, with delicate access panels engraved on the surface. The boom/nacelle combination is built up from two halves, and assembles under the inner-wing topside, ensuring perfect alignment of the two booms. The inner tail "plank" sits between the two booms, and should further strengthen the assembly.

The engine nacelles are both open at each side to allow the modeller to prop the cowlings open to display the included pair of argus 410 engines, which have PE wiring harnesses, exhausts and engine bearers included in the parts list. The detail on these parts is excellent, and should satisfy all but the most demanding of super-detailers. The prominent hinges of the cowling are nicely rendered, and provide a strong joint between them and the nacelle.

Flaps can be depicted dropped, and a PE liner is included for the underside of the wing, should you decide to do so. The flaps extend along the middle of the wing under the fuselage blister, and the liner extends all the way along.

The flying surfaces are also posable, including the horizontal tail, and the fabric surfaces are sharply depicted. They are perhaps a little too well defined, but a coat of primer and a light rub with a sanding sponge will soon soften them up.

The cockpit on this aircraft is housed under a giant greenhouse of a canopy, and as that canopy is crystal clear, it's going to be on view, so it'd better be good. The answer to the question of course is - it is. The floor is well detailed, with raised treadplate in the walkways, ribbing detail on the insides of the fuselage, with an insert blanking off the wing root. Here though there are a few shallow ejector pin marks, as well as a few raised ones, but they should soon disappear under some filler, and a small square of wet'n'dry glued to the end of a stick should ensure you don't damage any of the surrounding detail.

It is a fairly simple cockpit by nature, but all of the controls are there, including a nicely moulded instrument panel with decals provided to enhance its look. PE rudder pedals are also included, as well as seatbelts for the three crewmen. The pilot's seat has another ejector pin mark on the front, but again, nothing that can't be filled and sanded, or hidden behind the supplied belts.

The 189 has a rear-mounted machine-gun in the pointed clear fairing at the back of the fuselage bubble, and a ring mounted "turret" on the top rear of the canopy that holds twin-MGs with a double ring-sight supplied as a photo-etched part. Neither of these are slide-moulded, so the barrels are blank ended, and ripe for replacement by aftermarket if you can find them. Hardly a gripe, but worthy of note.

The main gear bays are set into the booms just behind the engine firewalls, and have moulded in rib detail again, together with some more prominent ejector pin marks. These will take more shifting, but given their location, and the presence of a nicely detailed set of gear parts and tyres with flat-spots moulded in, not too much of them should be seen even if you decide to leave them.

The tail wheel is housed in a bay in the horizontal tail, and the detail in the well is excellent. The wheel and strut is similarly nicely moulded, and the bay door is built from a small piece of PE that you fold to shape along a recess in the part. If you decide to model your 189 with the gear up, some bracing of the part inside the bay would be wise.

A quartet of 50kg bombs are supplied as one piece units, and are surprisingly nicely moulded despite this. You will need to open up some holes on the undersides of the wings to attach the bomb racks, so doing this sooner than later will prevent you searching for the blanks with a strong light later in the build. Another nice touch is the inclusion of a crew access platform for the cockpit crew, and a ladder for the rear gunner. The platform builds up from 11 parts, and as one is supplied on each of the two identical sprues, one can be used elsewhere. Two wheel chocks are also supplied, built up from three parts each, and a solitary crewman in a standing pose is provided, in a slightly bent position, as if he is considering getting into the cockpit. He is made from 8 parts, including a rather bulky looking parachute pack, separate feet, head and arms.

The decal sheet is moderately sized, in good register with what looks to be excellent color density. The Swastikas for the tails are provided in parts to get around the law in some countries, and from this sheet you can build one of two aircraft:

• 5D+FH 1(H)/31 Russia 1942 in a green splinter pattern over lichtblau, yellow wingtips and tail bands
  
• 5D+CK (Werk Nr 2317) 2(H)/31 Russia 1943 in a white distemper winter scheme with yellow wingtips and tail bands
  

Paint callouts are given in Gunze Hobby Color numbers, with names by their side to assist in conversion to your favourite brand.

Conclusion

This kit is far from what you'd expect for a first release in the genre from any company. It is an excellent model with no rough edges, and the detail is on a par or above some of Tamiya or Hasegawa's recent releases. The surface detail, as well as the sensible breakdown of parts will assist the novice, and the simplicity of the PE parts shouldn't deter.

Apart from those few ejector pin marks mentioned in above, it's a great kit, with little else to moan about, and a number of nice inclusions that add value to the kit. It certainly hits the spot as far as this reviewer is concerned, as I remember building the little Airfix kit as a boy, so have a fondness for this unusual looking aircraft.

Retail price is £34.99, which is about par for a kit of this quality, and it should be available now from Airbrushes.com here, GWH's UK importers and purveyors of all things airbrush related.

Review sample courtesy of:

[T-Tango]

Nice looking kit Mike, are you going to build it? If so keep us posted.

[Mike]

But of course I'm going to build it - ASAP, if not sooner. Just need to get some paint & decals on the wings from my Global Hawk, then that's off the bench

[Paul A H]

A good move from GWH to include masks with the kit - that canopy could have put a lot of modellers off otherwise. Looking foward to seeing this one built!

[Andy K]

Oo-er....I really NEEEEEEEEEEEEED this kit now after seeing those pics.

[Doug Rogers]

With that level of detail, I'd say that's a fair price.

[Mike]

With that level of detail, I'd say that's a fair price.

Aye - I'd agree with that. I need to get a wriggle on with the Global Hawk build and then I can crack on with this

[tango98]

Hey Mike,

With regard to the GWH Fw 189, does the kit include the main camera and all of its associated mounting kit and the additional hand held camera which were carried by these aircraft?

I did have a look the the sprue shots above but couldn't decide whether or not some of the square shaped bits were meant to represent these items.

Cheers

Dave

Reason for edit: text content duplicated.

Edited November 28, 2010 by tango98

[Shar2]

I'm not usually a builder of German aircraft but this looks really nice and the right scale too.

[Antoine]

Many thanks, Mike, very nice and interesting review.

It was not on my shopping list, but I've corrected this...

[Sebastien]

Hi,

You'll see a WIP there : http://www.master194.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=57204

It's in French, but I don't think the pics need subtitles.

Cheers,

S.

[denstore]

I need to get this one. I've loved the strange look since I found my brothers newly finished 1/72 kit about 35 years ago. Need I say that it took him years to forgive me...

[avro683]

Hi,

You'll see a WIP there : http://www.master194.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=57204

It's in French, but I don't think the pics need subtitles.

Cheers,

S.

I got a virus warning when I tried to access this, which is a shame as I'm sure it would prove very useful.

Tony

[avro683]

Great review Mike. With this and the new Vixen, this could be an expensive month!

Tony

[tango98]

It certainly looks a gem from that build review on the French site and it also answers the question I posed earlier that it does include the Rb 50/30 camera and, a fair representation of its mounting frame.

As avro 683 says - what with this, the Sea Vixen and the 1/32 Ar 196, the coming month looks to be an expensive one on the model front!

Cheers

Dave

[AnonymousAA74]

It is a great kit. You'll need to replace those bulged tyres though as the daft buggers went and bulged their rims out too!

[B_Bogus]

Great to see this, and it's definitely going on my 'must have' list.

I just missed out on the MPM version a few years ago, and had to settle for the 'B' trainer instead.

Cheers