Hasegawa 1/72 FW-190A-6 'Galland', previewed by Scott Van Aken

The A-5 was developed after it was determined that the Fw 190 could easily carry more ordnance. The D-2 engine was moved forward another 15 cm (5.9 in) as had been tried out earlier on the service test A-3/U1 aircraft, moving the centre of gravity forward to allow more weight to be carried aft. I mention this as the A-6 version was based on this variant.

The A-6 was developed to address shortcomings found in previous "A" models when attacking U.S. heavy bombers. A structurally redesigned and lighter wing was introduced and the normal armament was increased to two MG 17 fuselage machine guns and four 20 mm MG 151/20E wing root and outer wing cannon with larger ammunition boxes. This was the last of the 'small' cowl gun 190s with later variants having MG 131s in that space, requiring the area above the guns to be bulged.

The Hasegawa 1/72 FW-190A kit is by no means new. I have at least three dozen different boxings of this and the 190D kit. This boxing is one of the second generation of 190 kits that Hasegawa has molded and is considered by many to be the best available in this scale. I've built several of these kits and they have been good builds with almost no hassle.

This issue is pretty much your basic A-5 boxing with fresh decals for the box art plane. The molds have held up extremely well and this kit had no sign of flash or sink areas. it does have ejector pin marks on the one side of the wheels, but those are easily handled and of no real consequence. While the type specific sprues are for the 190A-5, externally there was no difference between them.

You'd also expect this one to have a decal for the instruments and you'd be right. Though the clear, two piece windscreen/canopy can be posed open, the cockpit of the 190 is so tiny that little will be seen. However, there are a number of nice aftermarket cockpits if you are so inclined to spruce things up. Your things under the fuselage is limited to a drop tank. You also need to open up some holes for the tank mount and for the upper wing cannon bulges.

The instructions are your basic FW-190A-5 with an addendum sheet included for the decals for this boxing. Galland's plane was in the standard RLM 74/75/76 scheme. The decals are nicely printed, but are 'old school' in that the whites are actually off-white. A nice addition is that the yellow lower cowling area is provided as a decals, though you may wish to paint this area instead. Still, despite their age, they should still be usable.

KIT #:	00268
PRICE:	1200 yen when new
DECALS:	One option
REVIEWER:	Scott Van Aken
NOTES:	2001 limited edition