The Great Wall FW-189 is a really nice kit but one thing you notice about the airplane is the large expanse of windows around the cockpit. The whole procedure of masking the canopy would just about kill me and take hours of work. Now, if you are like me and like to get on with the painting, anything that will make canopy masking faster and easier is just what I’m looking for.

The Eduard masks are designed from “Kabuki” tape. This means that they are made from a really pliable tape that you can visually see is down around the edges, just like Tamiya tape. Besides all the windows and because this sheet is so large, Eduard also gives you masks for the wheels. If my counting is correct, there are 93 individual masks included on this large sheet. Can you imagine having to cut that many masks out yourself? I can’t. That kit would just languish in the to-do pile. Now, thanks to Eduard, the kit will probably see the light of day.

There are many little battles that led up to the Second World War. Some you know about most of them, but many, such as the battle over Khalkhin Gol, you know nothing about. Some of it has to do with the location, the China/Russian border in Mongolia. This is a unique look at this early air battle between the Russians and the Japanese.

Fought over barren hills and plains, the story of the Khalkhin Gol battle is marred by inconsistent data from the Soviet and Japanese sides. The Soviets call the battle the Nomonhan Incident. Both sides say the other attacked first and, despite the best research, we will probably never know who did what first. What is known is that early Soviet and Japanese Army fighters and bombers met up and had some fierce battles.

History Brief

The main German fighter at the outbreak of WW2 was, of course, the Bf109E. Playing a vital role in the early Nazi campaigns, the Bf109E was an important instrumental weapon used by the Luftwaffe, easily piercing through well defended countries like Poland and France. Dominating most of the European skies in less than a year, it was the apex leading Hitler’s Blitzkrieg.

The Product

Inside the familiar Eduard box, we find the standard has been raised again with beautiful, all new tooling, I was impressed with the excellent level of detail, superb fit, and the full-color painting guide. Plus, a color PE detail set and a canopy mask sheet are also included in the Profipack boxing. The instruction sheet is well thought out and presented in a booklet form. The decals are very nice and printed by Cartograf, and also include complete stencils.

Kit contains four marking options.

The FW-190A-7 was one of the last versions that Eduard had not covered directly, the other being the A-9. You could always build one from their Royal Class kits but never as a standalone kit. Well, Eduard has stepped up to the plate and has hit another home run.

I’ve built the A-5, F-8, A-8, and D-9, so I have some experience with this series of kits. That said, this kit is just as good as those kits and why shouldn’t it be? It contains the same parts.

The kit contains six sprues of RLM 02 plastic with minimal flash. One sprue of clear parts, two frets of photo etch, one of those being pre-painted, and a set of masks rounds out the parts. Of course, there are two decal sheets which contain markings for four aircraft. The instructions are printed on high quality paper stock. I found the instructions to be easy enough to understand.

Background

The trouble (at least for me) with pitot tubes as furnished in most aircraft plastic kits is they are normally the last part installed and the first part broken off. I build 1/48th scale aircraft and will replace the kit pitot tube with lengths of aluminum or brass tubing. I use the kit part for the proper dimensions, but do allow at least ½” extra length in the main shaft for a secure mounting within the model’s wing or nose cone.

The Company

The company Master is located in Poland, and the owner is Piotr Czerkasow, who is also a modeler. By vocation he is a mechanical engineer. The product line includes aircraft and naval accessories in several scales.

The products are distributed worldwide, including the United States, with Sprue Brothers being one of the sources.