1:32 Fw 190A-5

The fifth A version and the longer nose

On the A-5 form the designers moved the engine mounting about fifteen centimeters forward. It was not about power but about balance: the BMW radial thereby got farther from the center of gravity, which had previously shifted to the rear because of the growing armor protection and armament. The aircraft was built in 1943 and became the basis for a whole range of factory conversions, from night fighters through torpedo carriers to machines with armament reinforced under the wings. Above the engine it still kept a pair of fast-firing machine guns of 7.92 mm caliber, that is the lighter kind, which the later versions replaced with stronger weapons.

What the package holds

The set contains two masks for the glazing for both sides of the part, three masks for the national insignia and two metal barrels corresponding to the light machine guns mentioned.

A thin barrel is among the hardest parts

A lighter weapon means a narrower barrel, and that is exactly the situation where injection molding runs into its ceiling. The molten material has to flow into the mold, so below a certain wall thickness the part either fails to fill or comes out as brittle as a hair. Turning goes the opposite way: the material is taken away from solid stock, and the thinner the wall, the better the difference from the kit part shows. A metal barrel can therefore be as slender as it was in reality and still carry itself. On this aircraft this detail is moreover often the only thing by which the fifth version can be told at first glance from the later ones.