Fw 190A-8/R8 "Black 8"

This is my second attempt at the 1/48 Eduard Fw190A-8. Since this was not my first Bar-B-Que, I knew what to watch out for and where to take a little extra time and the results were much better. I will skip the review of the kit because I have previously done this, and will let you just look at the photos. I detailed the engine and compartment, added the applique armor at the sides the cockpit with some thin, pliable metal sheets and although not seen in the photos, lowered the flaps as well as repositioned the elevators. Everything else is pretty much stock.

The markings were Unteroffizer Will Maximowitz's mount from 11/IV/JG 3, June 1944 once again provided by Aeromaster. I liked the nose markings and think that it highlights the engine detail well. I think this is the best model I have done so far. I think that I want to try some other Eduard Fw190s, specifically the D version; this is quickly becoming one of my favorite kits.

Ju 188E-1 "KG 66"

This is a quarter-scale Dragon/DML kit that my dad gave me for Christmas one year. I have always liked the look of the 188 and was excited to work on this model. I had previously worked on a Dragon Ju 88C and was fairly confident that I knew how to work around some of the quirks of this kit (one of them being the bulges at the wing roots). I bought an Eduard color, self-adhesive photo-etch packet for the cockpit thinking that it would have a better mount for the 20mm cannon, but this was not the case. However, the photo-etch still improved the cockpit and I stuck with the photo-etch cannon-mount supplied by Dragon.

I wish that I could have found some more colorful markings of this subject, but was stuck with either the kit decals (all options had this basic scheme) without swastikas, or go with an Aeromaster set that had the swastikas. Since I'm a stickler for having swastikas on aircraft that historically carried them I went with the Aeromaster set. The paint scheme was fairly easy and there were only six decals to apply so finishing this model was a breeze. I added some small bombs from my Eduard Fw190 kits and some large 'blockbuster' bombs from a Monogram He111 kit to add a little bit of visual interest to the model. All-in-all, I like this kit, but again, wish that there were some more colorful options available at the time. I may redo this model later if something better comes along.