Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9

Wheel Well Insert and Engine Plug

and

Lengthened Landing Gear

Parts-R-Parts

Reviewed by Brett Green

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Tamiya's 1/48 scale Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9 is a beautifully engineered kit that almost falls together. Nevertheless, it suffers from some noticeable shortcomings. These include short main gear legs, incorrect covers over the rear of the engine inside the wheel well, incorrect centre wing lower panel with the shell ejector arrangement for a Fw 190D-13, poorly shaped upper cowl, propeller blades and spinner, and small main wheels.

The first three of these shortcomings have now been addressed by new company Parts-R-Parts.

Wheel Well Insert and Engine Plug

The first offering is a correction for the lower wing centre panel, and a plug representing the rear of the Jumo XXX powerplant.

This set comprises just three parts in resin. All parts are well cast with no visible flaws. However, the one-piece engine plug is a little rough and over-simplified. The other two parts do not suffer from this problem. The wheel well insert is better detailed than the kit part, and the centre wing panel insert is accurate for the Fw 190D-9 and nicely detailed.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images

Some surgery will be required to install these parts. The front of the cockpit tub must be removed to accommodate the engine plug. Some material will also need to be removed from the wheel well opening in the lower wing to make room for the wheel well insert, and the section between the wheel wells must be cut out to make way for the accurate ejector chute panel. All of these modifications are well covered in the single-page instruction sheet.

I have already used this set in a 1/48 scale Tamiya Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9. I found the fit of the engine plug to be very good. I detailed the engine plug with various thicknesses of fuse wire before painting and installing the part.

I used side-cutters to nibble away the raised area on the lower wing to permit the placement of the wheel well insert. Plenty of test fitting ensured a successful installation of the centre wing panel.

Lengthened Landing Gear and Doors

This four-part accessory is a simple, drop-fit replacement for the main landing gear of the 1/48 scale Tamiya Fw 190D-9. The legs will also be appropriate for the Tamiya Fw 190A-3 and F-8 kits.

The oleo scissors are cast onto the main gear legs. Each part is cast onto a wafer of resin that was very simple to remove and clean up.

The fit of the parts was quite positive. The gear legs were secured using super glue.

Despite their simplicity, this accessory does a great deal to restore the correct stance to the Tamiya Dora.

These accessories combine to address three of the main problems of the Tamiya Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9.

I used these two accessories in conjunction with the Eagle Parts Fw 190D-9 update set that includes corrected wheels, upper cowl and the entire propeller assembly. The combination resulted in a much-improved Tamiya Dora.

I will be using these accessories for all my future Tamiya Doras. I liked them so much that I immediately went out and bought another two sets!

Recommended.

Thanks to Bruce from Parts-R-Parts for the review samples.

Parts -R-Parts products are available direct from Parts-R-Parts website
or from Eagle Editions

Review and Images Copyright © 2001 by Brett Green
Page Created 22 July, 2001
Last updated 22 July, 2003

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