There's exciting news from Great Wall Hobby - a quarterscale Uhu due for release in a few weeks' time!

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

That's Great news


Cheers Nick

Hmm, I am not really happy about this ....

I like to see a well done Fw 189 and I think the chinese kit will probably be an easier build than the ICM kit, but I do not like the attitude that is behind this. Smells a lot like the hefty competition that you already have on the armour sector and I am not sure companies like ICM can withstand such attacks....

just my two €cent

all the best

Steffen

Hi Steffen

That's certainly one aspect of our hobby that never changes. I've been re-reading a lot of my old Scale Models magazines from the 1970s, and even then a recurring theme was "You wait ages for a kit of a particular subject and now two have appeared almost simultaneously!".

I actually spent the last several years half-expecting to hear Eduard announce a '189 - it just seemed such a suitable subject for them, or maybe even Revell-Germany... Considering the lead-time necessary in designing a kit like this, it's impressive that Great Wall/Lion Roar have kept it under wraps so successfully. They've obviously learned that lesson from Tamiya and Dragon.

Whatever, with what look set to be two very fine '189s appearing this autumn, I can't see me ever digging my second old MPM short-run kit out of its packing case in the Stash. I built one when it first came out, and the Karo-As vacuform before that... I guess I've got a thing about keeping Owls as pets! I might even break my vow and do Blogs of these new kits...

All the best

Rowan

Hi, Steffen!
The GWH Fw-189 has been in development ever since last year. In spring there were rumours about the ICM kit and the process was halted. When the rumours did not substanciate in an actual release date, the development was picked up again. When again news of ICM's development came on the project was too far processed: Test shots were already in the making
For Lion Roar/GWH who started producing kits not even 3 years ago, every kit is a risk. ICM is already an established name in the community, while this is the first plane kit ever from GWH. ICM has a much wider range than GWH. I doubt hat ICM will take more damage from this parallel development that GWH will. Now the GWH kit will be shipped soon, how far along is the ICM kit?

I don't know what's not to like about the attitude: GWH sees a subject not covered by other makers and goes for it. Ultimately this is made for the benefit of the maker and the modeller alike. Remember this is not Trumpeter trying to take the market by rushing an ill-researched item into the shops. GWH can hardly ask every other maker before starting their own development.
So far GWH model kits are of great quality and excellent value for the experienced modeller. I expect this one to be no different: GWH used original handbook material and all relevant books to support their release, in hope to get it as authentic and as pleasing as possible.

... but maybe that's what modelling is today: Firstly there's a lot of complaining about not getting this-and-that item as a plastic kit and then there is a tidal wave of complaint as soon as some maker tries to satisfy the demand. None in community has yet seen the kit in the flash, how can anyone make a even an educated guess about it?
Makes me shake my head...

By the way, there will be more model planes coming form GWH. Please be prepared that these will be items that may be or may have already been covered by other makers accidentally, incidentally or even intentionally. So, please don't be disappointed.


Cheers,
Guido

Hi Guido

Thanks for the insight!!!

I had not heard of any aircraft kit from GWH yet. Sadly I do not really understand how the chinese companies are connected (or not) and thus I - maybe hastily -assumed GWH belongs to the Trumpeter/HobbyBoss/Bronco/Chinese Military/whoeverelse conglomerate.

As for attitude .. it is not important in which direction you read it (ICM GWH), I am not a fan of releases of the same subject at the same time ... one trying to beat the other out of the market. This case instantly remembered me of the Trumperter vs. Dragon/Tristar battle in the armor sector. So maybe it is like you say, just a accident.

I did not say anything about accuracy! IMHO there is no "perfect" kit and all manufacturers fail in one or another aspect (be it minor or "fatal" ). We will see how the manufacturers transform plans into models. I do expect the GWH model to be an easier build than the ICM ... but again: we will see if that becomes true... So how does my comment make me shake your head?

viele Grüße aus dem Süden

Steffen

Hi Guido

Many thanks for explaining the background to this kit - it was a real surprise to me when I found the announcement in my e-mail this morning.




Yes, I noticed that the Fw 189 is kit #L4803 and my immediate question was what are #L4801 and '02? Very intriguing.

All the best

Rowan

One thing to remember is also how wide the companies distribution system are. I remember when the ICM Mustangs came out everyone was 'why it's not like we don't already have Tamiya and Accurate Miniatures kits' Then a little later you'd see an Eastern European modeller who'd talk about how hard it was to find Tamiya or how much they cost locally. So ICM still will have the local market and I doubt they will be priced identically in many markets, so one or the other will have something that'll make it sellable in any given market. Cheaper in Asia vs Europe (or vice versa), more detailing for those who are into that - and are willing to pay for it . North America will be the interesting market to see which one arrives first and sells. But I suspect we may not be the targeted market. Few Mustangs probably sported Fw-189 kills on thier scoreboards.

And I give them credit, I did not pick up anything on them doing aircraft. Though I wonder if they will branch out beyond Luftwaffe subjects. When I think of thier armor stuff I think of Wehrmacht subjects.

matt

I have to agree with Steffen here that I really do not like that, in the current relatively slow rate of new 1:48th scale later-era WWII releases, we get two of the same subject at the same time!

I do not think that it is competitive malice however: It is simply a symptom of the current unimaginative approach to modelmaking that dominates most manufacturers: IE: What has not been done before? Let's do it!

Inevitably, the number of such "obvious" not-done subjects is getting smaller, resulting in silly collisions such as this one...

The attitude that I don't like is that instead of asking mechanically: "What is major in importance and characteristic in appearance, while being not too large and sporting a swastika, that has not been done before?" They should instead ask:

"What is historically important has been done poorly or a very long time ago?"

Practically the only very important subjects that are undone in 1/48th WWII are almost all large or somewhat largeish aircrafts, and there would be no risks of "collision" with those either...: Il-4, C-54, C-46, Ki-67, Ki-59, Ki-21, Stirling, Yokosuka P1Y, Tu-2, SB-2 and many more...

But big subjects are apparently precluded, as are those not so big subjectsdevoid of swastikas that are also not fighters... So redundancies such as these are bound to occur as makers fall over each other to cover everything non-big that is also German...

In addition, the huge rate of release of serious "mainstream" 1:32 scale subjects is now making every 1:48th scale WWII aircraft release something relatively more significant, given the consequent slower pace in 1:48th releases...

I am an avid purchaser of any new 1/48th scale later-era WWII releases, and yet I cannot remember the last new aircraft release I was recently interested in purchasing as it came out, except for the Eduard Me-110G... Only the Zvezda La-5FN, the Hasegawa Ki-45 and FW-190A-5/6/8 come to mind, and all those are from around three years ago...

A rapidly increasing stash is the least of my worries nowadays, especially with dull or inaccurate releases like the Tamiya Stork or the AZ Ki-48 "Lily"...

Despite this, the large glass areas do make the FW-189 exciting from a modeling point of view.

Sadly, even from the test shots here, it is already apparent to me that the model we are now getting has a "harsh" facetted look in the crew nacelle that fails to capture some of the "roundness" of the original...

It will likely be considered far too early to make such pronouncements, but some details of the all-important canopy also appear poorly handled: Look at the roundness of the upper curve of the vertical center side glass: Look at how much "squarer" that upper "corner" looks on the model. It contributes to making the whole crew nacelle look too tall and too narrow.

In addition to this effect, the whole crew nacelle DOES look like it is too tall and too narrow, but I would be cautious about this until better matching photos are available...

It does not look too promising for the crew nacelle at least... Note that the MPM kit had the tail booms tapering as a straight flat-sided "points", without any of the actual aerodynamic plan-view "swelling" present on the real thing... It is very unlikely such a crude mistake was made here...:

http://www.cybermodeler.com/news/images/lion1.jpg

http://www.warbirdphotographs.com/LCBW6/FW189-15f.jpg

The good thing about colliding releases, is that we will now get to see another try at that crew nacelle!

Here at least the airframe looks very well done, so just a good crew nacelle would save the day...

I will be waiting for the ICM release to see how well they do it...

No worries of my stash exploding for some time yet it seems...

Gaston

... why does it shake my head?
Well, after more than a year development GWH finally lets out the news and –having had the privilege to follow the development and research- one is very exited. At the same time one wonders how long it'll take until a "but"-posting comes up. It's pretty frustrating to see that already the second reply to the initial posting is such a "but"-posting. It's something I'll never understand (and thus makes me shake my head), but has become an almost natural reaction in the modelling community wherever you look.
Assuming that a maker has to “fail in one or the other aspect”, as Steffen put it, is indeed a quality statement, IMHO. However, this is the first time that I hear complaining that a kit may be “too easy”, I’ll give you that. We are being spoiled by more and more kits in gradually increasing quality, but interestingly there is not more satisfaction, but growing malcontent.

The air for new developments is getting thin. There are but a few items that are
- historically significant,
- well researched,
- had not been released in a satisfactory quality,
- and seems to have promising market chance.
Without the chance of a reasonable return on investment in a reasonable span of time, there is no way that any one maker will go for a subject. With a shrinking number of opportunities it is only natural that parallel releases are bound to happen more frequently. I am convinced that within the next decade the number of producers will shrink at least by 50% due to that fact.

As for the crew nacelle: The original nacelle is indeed facetted at the front and not round what so ever. All frontal window parts of the crew nacelle were arranged angular. Rounded parts are only to be found on top corners of the canopy and at the cone at the back. The width-height ratio of the nacelle is correct measured against every available plan and picture. Please be aware that the nacelle seems to be somewhat short, because a part of it had to be cast in clear plastic.

Excuse my rant against ranting. I didn’t want to step on anyone toes.

Cheers,
Guido

Here are a few more pictures fyi

Hi again Guido

Many thanks for the extra pictures. The shapes certainly look very good compared with the details in MBI's book. I can hardly wait to see the kit "in the flesh", so to speak!

All the best

Rowan

Hi Guido

Ich schreib mal auf deutsch, da Du offensichtlich die Absicht hast mich miszuverstehen. Ich habe nicht und wollte Nichts in der von Dir avisierten Richtung kritisieren. Um das noch mal klar zu sagen, mir ist das scheiß egal wer hier wem versucht zuvorzukommen und ob überhaupt! Ich finde es einfach nur schade, dass zwei Hersteller mit dem gleichen Objekt um die Käuferschaar buhlen. Insbesondere, da es sich nicht um eine 109, 190, P-51, Spitfire oder dergleichen handelt, wo der Gesamtpool deutlich größer ist.

Du misdeutest meinen Hinweis auf die leichtere Baubarkeit des Modells aus China vollständig ja verkehrst es geradezu ins Gegenteil. Dies schein mir fast schon absichtlich zu sein.
Die ICM Modelle sind bisher durchweg ziemliche Herausforderungen, die nur gerade so am Short-run vorbeischrammen. Was aus der VRC kommt ist meistens gut konstruiert und trotz Detailreichtum (oder auch fehlerhafter Recherche/Umsetzung, z.B. HB Hellcat in 48) sehr of leicht - also gut - zu bauen. Ich weiß nicht was Du mir da unterschieben willst und warum. ich finde es aber beschissen!

Danke für Deine Aufmerksamkeit.

Gruß

Steffen

Been after 1/48th FW189 for a while and this one looks nice, just wish had a price on it, and hope i can afford to buy it in the end, as the cost of kits just gets dearer and dearer each week and my pockets are not bottomless!

Dear Steffen,
it's funny you feel attacked by me. If that is so, I repeat: I do not want to step on anyone toes here. It's ranting about kits in the pre-release stage, I am getting so tired of.
Guido

Well, why do I feel attacked, because you directly connected your response to mine:




This "but" was not aimed against you or GWH just a comment which you took to attack me. And if you insult me over several lines and then put a "if you feel attacked it is your own fault" line in the end does not make that better.

I understand you are personally involved in GWH or this Fw 189 project and thus try to protect it. There's no bad thing in that but do not give my post a different meaning than it had just to get more publictity (or whatever) ..

Steffen

Dear Steffen,

I still fail to see where I ever attacked you.
You've been ranting. It's a matter of fact. I am tired of it. That's what I rant about. Why so thin-skinned?
I am quite certain that the moderator of this forum would have interfered, if there was any offense of board rules.



By the way, I don't feel offended by your allegations of wanting to create publicity.


Cheers,
Guido

You have no idea and it has nothing to do with this topic, but as a matter of fact you attacked me!

But lets settle this now. If you want to discuss this further shoot me a PM or email (addy is in my profile).

all the best

Steffen

... this is a hoot...
Anyway!... back to modelling:

Rowan-
I haven't seen any of the frames in the flesh, yet. They are on their way and I hope they are good as the photos promise. Hope to have them soon.

Cheers,
Guido


PS.: I would like to avoid spreading rumours, so to make clear about my participation in making this kit: I helped to collect information and references here in Europe and I help to distribute samples to magazines in Europe. I don't get any say in any of the production stages, but sometimes are asked to offer opinions. I do not test-build in pre-production. I profit nothing from this besides getting an complete kit from the first production to review in parts and build, which I impartially do. (i.e. if the kit is crap, I let you know!)

Great news! This kit looks great and seems to have some very nice details.

It will be interesting to see what marking options are included in the kit. Hopefully one of them is for the Fw 189 from the Finnish front with the very unique camouflage. Sorry, I do not have a picture electronically.

More version are bound to follow. That Fw 189 night fighter will be interesting

On the question on several kits of the same aircraft being released at the same time I fail to see the problem. Competition is (almost) always a good thing.
If the model companies know a competitor will release a kit of the same aircraft, the quality of all the releases will increase as competition kicks in and the prices will go down. If only one company is producing a FW 189 - this will lead to a higher price and lower quality for sure.

Anyway, it will be good to see it for real as Rowan says.

Hi Rowan and all,

Very interesting news indeed. Thanks for sharing. Thanks also for the extra explanation Guido...

The kit looks very nice and seems to have a lot of diorama potential. Ironically, to accompany the kit, many will probably use the fantastic Luftwaffe Personnel sets made by... ICM.

Jean-Luc

True if you dont count the time for collecting plan material, handbooks, etc., a part on which I started in late August last year.
Anyway, I think, from what I can see in the pictures, it came out nicely. I hope it comes together as nicely as GWH artillery does. I can't wait to get my hands on the sample.

Cheers,
Guido

Thanks for the info, Brian. Interesting regarding the masks included and the problems during pre-production.

This is turning into a must have item....

Quote, Guido hopp: "All frontal window parts of the crew nacelle were arranged angular. Rounded parts are only to be found on top corners of the canopy and at the cone at the back."

-----------------------------------------

I am very willing to believe the overall crew nacelle cross-section is accurate; the lack of "roundedness" I referred to is visible here in the upper corners as you say:





Even if this error goes uncorrected in the actual moulds, if it is any consolation, this kit is still far superior in accuracy to Tamiya's flat-bellied Fi-156 Stork....

This "roundedness" error is not quite a deal-breaking error for most modelers... The model seems exceptionally well-executed in many other areas, and the problem could stilll be fixed by a skilled modeler....

Note however that even if the manufacturer had the right crew nacelle cross-section dimensions information, it is still a matter of product execution that the available information was respected: Nothing in kit production can be taken for granted...

I don't agree that the accuracy quality of modern 1:48th kits is improving: The Tamiya Stork or even their P-47D demonstrates it is still very much unpredictable, with only the amount and quality of details showing a steady improvement...

I happen to be a modeler interested only in the general shape of the subject, and this has not improved a lot recently with notable exceptions (Hasegawa FW-190A-5/6/8, Zvezda Me-109, Eduard I-16, Me-110)...

The Hasegawa Ki-45 and Eduard Hellcat are riddled with errors...

I still think it is a rotten shame that with so many non-swastika subjects left uncovered, makers are colliding nose-to-nose over yet another swastika item...

The economics seem to dictate a preponderance of swastika items, and maybe they are right: For me I have always found the German schemes difficult to replicate and unattractive compared to many neglected Russian or Japanese Army subjects...

Am I really the only one that hates to do mottling? (Though the FW-189 does seems to have had little of it...)

Gaston