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Nearly 100 injection molded parts in tan plastic plus 2 black plastic treads. All parts exhibit crisp detail and are flash free. The muzzle of the main gun is not slide-molded so will need to be drilled out. Being a snap kit, all parts had a number of locating pins. All of them fit together without modification.
Showcase Models Australia is a relative newcomer as a model distributor in Australia (founded in 2011, according to their Facebook page) and has recently branched out into manufacturing their own kits. In May 2013, the production of the Collins Class subs was completed and the kit made it to the Showcase Models showroom and subsequently, other retailers and distributors.
A big Thank You goes to Dragon Models USA for providing this review sample to IPMS/USA.
The kit consists of 110 injection molded parts in the standard MiniArt colors; orange, maroon, black and white. All parts are relatively free of flash (some may have just a small bit around the attachment points) and are very crisp in detail.
As with the kits before it, the Country House is very well made. Being a smaller kit, assembly should not take much longer than an hour or two. A few points worth mentioning on this kit centers around the roof. As with prior offerings, the thin roof pieces seem to have a slight bow to them. Given that all of these meet in the middle, there may be some considerable use of cement or CA to get them to remain. I was able to resolve this by tacking them with a little cement and then gap filling with CA.
The Focke Wulf Fw-190 is probably one of the most modeled aircraft in any scale, mainly because it was such an excellent design and was produced in very large numbers during World War II. Although sources vary as to the number produced, slightly fewer that 1,000 of the A-4 type appear to have been manufactured during 1942 to replace the A-3, and subsequently being supplanted by the improved Fw-190A-5. Constantly upgraded during the war, the type held on until the final days, both as a fighter and as a ground support and reconnaissance aircraft. Most serious modelers are familiar with the type and its history, so I’ll refer you to other sources. There is certainly no lack of information on this aircraft, both in publication form and on the internet.
The Do-335, like many German aircraft of World War II, had a checkered development. It began its life, at Hitler’s insistence, as a high speed bomber, and only later, when Hitler was told that the Me-262 would be a better high speed bomber, was the plane’s basic mission changed to that of heavy fighter and reconnaissance.
First, Dornier used a scaled down (1/2.5) Do-17Z airframe (Goppingen Go.9) to test the feasibility of the rear mounted engine with a prop behind the tail unit. Tests showed the usefulness of the arrangement, so design began on the full size airplane. Featuring a tandem engine arrangement (which was not new to Dornier), the aircraft was a large, single seat, twin engine aircraft with two DB-603 liquid-cooled engines. The type began as a high speed bomber (Nov. 1943), reconnaissance fighter and night fighter (Jan. 1944), and ended finally as a heavy fighter (Mar. 1944). In July, 1944, the first prototypes were delivered as bombers.
