The Tamiya FW190 builds up quite well despite its age but I'm not sure whether its too fat or thin or if the pilot liked pork knuckles. If you can find the Italeri TA152, it's a nice kit to build too(I believe it's a reboxed Trimaster).
Other than the FW190s and BF109s there aren't many single seat german fighter kits out there, maybe the TA145 and the Do335(The tamiya one is nice).

I'm not going to comment on their accuracy, as I know very little about Axis birds, but both Eduard and Tamiya have FW-190s and Bf-109s in 1:48 in their lineups.

I haven't built any of them, so perhaps someone else on the boards can give you some insight into the kits themselves.

-YL

In German 1/48th single-engine fighters, only recently has accuracy really improved:

2008-released 1/48th FW-190A-5/6/7/8s series by Hasegawa are the only really accurate FW-190As ever offered by anyone. Canopy windshield width is correctly 2 scale inches narrower than Eduard/Tamiya (by over 1 mm, 5.1 mm vs 6.2), matching relic measurements made in Hungary, and the Hasegawa blown canopy's profile is correct unlike the Eduard's kit very imaginative work of historical fiction... Hasegawa's cowling has the correct chord unlike Tamiya, the correct diameter unlike Dragon, and the correct upper half taper unlike Eduard...

2010-released Zvezda 1/48th Me-109Fs, made from actual factory blueprints, are the only really accurate Me-109s ever offered, and this by an extremely wide margin...

The Eduard FW-190D-9 has a too-thick tail, unlike the more correct Dragon tail, but is said to be quite a bit more accurate in the nose than the Dragon, and could benefit from the adaptation of Hasegawa's perfect A-8 blown canopy/windshield, to replace the utterly ridiculous Eduard effort...

Why this has so far never been done, on what is the most visible part of an otherwise excellent model of a cult subject, I can't quite figure out...

Dragon's Ta-152 is not terrible, but has extremely thick wing leading edges...

Tamiya and Eduard's FW-190As are the least accurate German fighters available, and should be avoided IMHO, though Tamiya's prop is much better than Hasegawa's.

Gaston

Back from the dead.

The F6F-3 Hellcat is next in line, and I'm getting excited.

Anyone have experience with the Tamiya aerosol colors for aircraft? Specifically the navy blue and insignia white colors that are supposedly for the USN? I also picked up Model Master Intermediate blue #4744.

Were the transitions between colors soft or hard?

How far off base will these colors be accuracy wise?



Also, how do "you" do the exhaust streaking/marks from the engine cowl? Color, technique, etc would all be useful for this aircraft rookie.

Thanks again.

Hey Jesse.

There are 2 ways that I do my exhaust staining. If the staining is very light on a new or well cared for bird I use the Tamiya Weathering pastels which come in a small tray with an applicator, there are quite a few varieties and each has 3 colours.
If I want to do mild to severe stains I use Tamiya "Smoke" acrylic, highly thinned, and build up the effect with a #1 tip on the airbrush until I get the level I want. Sometimes I will add some red/brown or black to the smoke to vary the tone.

Hope this helps, D

Thanks Damian.

Who else has input?