One-Piece Cowls
Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-2 through A-9 
Focke-Wulf Fw 190 F-8/G-8

Cutting Edge Modelworks

Reviewed by Brett Green

HyperScale is proudly sponsored by Meteor Productions

M.C Escher was a graphic artist who was most famous for his optical illusions. He depicted objects that seemed to make sense when the viewer looks at the whole picture, but that reveal impossible relationships when examined in detail. There were stairways that led nowhere, waterfalls that ran in different directions simultaneously and other geometric conundrums.* 

It occurred to me that the toolmakers at Trimaster must have been inspired by Escher when they designed the five-piece cowl for their 1/48 scale Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-8. Each part seems to make sense when viewed on the sprue, but they just don't work together in three dimensions! I have wrestled with several of these cowls over the last decade and I have not found an easy way to align the parts with each other or, more importantly, with the flimsy wing root and exhaust panels on the side of the fuselage. 

The problem is compounded by chronic fit problems at the wing root. 

The original troublesome engineering of the Trimaster kit has carried over to the boxings by Dragon/DML, Shanghai Dragon, Hasegawa and Revell of all their 1/48 scale Fw 190A, F and G variants.

So with Tamiya's Fw 190A-3 and F-8 kits available, is it worth persevering with the older Trimaster/Dragon kits? I believe it is. They are all different variants, so some conversion will be required to depict the desired version. Furthermore, in my opinion, a carefully assembled Dragon kit captures the look and sit of the Würger better than the Tamiya kits. 

Cutting Edge has come to the rescue with two new releases. They are one-piece resin cowls, totally replacing the puzzling plastic pieces.

Two sets are available. One is destined for the 1/48 scale Fw 190A-7 to A-9 variants (also suitable for the Revell Fw 190G-8 and rare Trimaster F-8 kits); and one for 1/48 scale Fw 190A-2 to A-6 Würgers (appropriate for the Dragon/Hasegawa Fw 190A-4 and Dragon/Shanghai Dragon A-5 kits).

With the relatively minor task of filling the gun troughs, CE's 48286 set can also be adapted to the Revell and Dragon Fw 190G-2 kits.

Two separate cowl guns are also supplied. This will simplify painting. The barrels are also drilled out at the end. Each set is rounded out with a replacement resin gunsight. 

Detail on the resin cowl is generally crisper in comparison to the old-mould kit parts. Some detail has been added too, most notably around the cowl hinges and on the bottom of the port engine cowl. The resin is impressively thin on the inside of the cowl where the kit exhaust ejector stacks must be installed Overall casting quality is as high as we would expect of Cutting Edge.

The only real challenge is the removal of the large casting plug on the front of the cowl. Great care is required not to remove too much material. I used a razor saw to remove the plug close to the front of the cowl ring and did intrude slightly into the front of the ring. A few minutes with a sanding stick and some Mr Surfacer will fix the problem, but next time I will spend a little more effort scribing and cutting slightly away from the front of the cowl ring, and use a sanding stick to finish removing the waste.

Click the thumbnails below to see the larger images of the cowl with the plug removed before cleanup (left), and with the kit armoured cowl ring fitted (right). The cowl awaits another application of Mr Surfacer and more sanding before completion.