Eduard

1/48 Fw190 D-11/D-13 Dual Combo

Product # 8185    from Hobby Link Japan

Product Article by Dave Johnson on the Aug 30 2010

 

1/48 Fw190 D-11/D-13 Dual Combo (http://www.hlj.com/product/EDU8185)

*History*
A total of 17 Fw 190 D-11s were known to have been manufactured. This version was fitted with the uprated Jumo 213E series engine which was also used in the Ta-152 H series. Changes over the D-9 were the enlarged supercharger air-intake on the starboard side cowling and the use of a wooden, three broader bladed VS 9 or 10 propeller. The 13 mm fuselage guns were removed, and the cowling redesigned and by omitting the gun troughs was changed to a flat profile. Two 30 mm  MK 108 cannons were installed in the outer wings to complement the 20 mm MG 151s in the inboard positions. Of the 17 Dora-11s delivered, three can be accounted for. One, the best-known, was /Rote 4/ (red 4) of JV 44's /Platzschutz/  unit. While the D-11 was under manufacture, work started on the D-13 models. The D-13s were based on the D-11 design, however the D-13's were fitted with /Motorkanone/ nose cannons firing through the propeller hub.  The D-13 would be fitted with a 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon).  In all, the RLM called for 820 D-11 airframes to be built and 1,060 airframes of the D-13, stating in early 1945. It was known that 17 D-13's were more than likely built, but only two were known to be in service. 

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*The Kit*
Eduard has followed up their release of the Fw190 D-9 with the release of the D-11/D-13 Dora Dual Combo boxing. 12 Sprues contain 318 parts in clear and Eduard olivey-tan coloured plastic, a large sheet of photo etch, canopy masks and a large decal sheet. The kit contains parts to complete two models, one of the D-11 and one D-13. Some of the sprues have already been seen in the Fw190 D-9 boxing, one of the wing sprues, canopy sprue,  the sprue that contain the cockpit, and tailplanes, movable surfaces, landing gears, wheels, gear covers, and smaller components to name a couple. There are also two newly tooled sprues which contain the D-11 Wings, upper cowls, VS-9 Propeller, fuselage  half's and the Supercharger intake. Sadly there is no sprue that contains a Jumo 213E engine.

The detail of the plastic is the same as the past Fw190 releases from Eduard. The detail has been excellently tooled with full engraved crisp panel lines and finely detailed rivet rows. There are no traces of sink marks or flash on any of the parts on the sprues. It should also be noted that there no signs of plastic injection pins locations on any of the visible detail. As there is no engine to display, Eduard have include the option to have the upper cowling and the wing roots compartments open to display the machine guns. The plastic cockpit parts offer an outstanding level of detail that can be dressed up with Photo Etch parts. Surely there will be boxings of Weekend Editions of these two variants sometime .  

Eduard has nicely added a feature in their D-9 release that has carried over into this release that past Manufactures have missed. This is the open wheel well area where you can see the lower parts of the engine bay. Unforturenaly they have one small error that has got the modeling talking, which is the empty shells discard chutes opening on the lower wing. Eduard have tooled it as two separate chutes. From my references  that I have read, the D-11 and D-13 had the same exhaust canal as the Fw190 A Series, which only had one chute. This is a very easy fix, if you wish to correct it. Again you will need to check references.

As mention before, a sheet of Photo Etch has been supplied in the kit for the cockpit area. The sheet features pre-printed enhancement detail for cockpit instruments bezels, instrument faces and Seatbelt harnesses. Other items that are included are rudder control pedals, Cockpit knobs and levers. Pre cut canopy masks will make the masking and painting process a lot easier, there are also masks for the wheel hubs. There is enough supplied for both kits. The A4 sized instruction booklet is printed on 16 pages that contain the History, build process and the colourful profile art for the schemes that are supplied in this kit. The assembly sequence is easy to follow with clearly illustrated pictures, with clear callout for re-movement of detail and placement of Photo Etch parts. The paint callouts are in Gunze acrylic and lacquer ranges, but these would be easy for you to convert over to you favorite brand of paint.

The large decal sheet is excellently printed by the best decal printer in my book, Cartograf in Italy. The colours are bold and crisp without any misprints. The sheet carries marking options for a total of 5 airframes, 3xD11's and 2x D-13's.  The schemes offer some interesting German camo/mottling finishes, aswell as a captured airframe and one markings of the most famous German units, the D-11 of Lt. Karl-Heinz Hofmann, Sachsenberg Schwarm of JV 44. 

Markings are -

  • Fw 190D-11, WrNr 2200xx, Red 4, JV 44, Sachsenberg Schwarm, München-Riem, May 1945, flown by Lt. Karl-Heinz Hofmann
  • Fw 190D-11, WrNr 2200xx, White 58, Bad Wörishofen, March 1945
  • Fw 190D-11, WrNr 220014, White 61, Bad Wörishofen, April 1945
  • Fw 190D-13, WrNr 836016, V./EJG 2, Pilsen-Bory, Czechoslovakia, May 1945
  • Fw 190D-13, WrNr 836017, Yellow 10, Stab./JG 26, Flensburg-Weiche, Germany, May 1945

Again its clear that Eduard have produced another winner for the Luftwaffe fantanictics. The D-11 and D-13 kits will surely be an nice addition to any ones collection of Fw190's or late war aircraft.
I would like to thank Hobby Link Japan for supplying this review sample.

Dave Johnson

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Photos and text © by Dave Johnson