Eduard probably raised a few eyebrows some months ago with their bold announcement of a new series of 1/48 scale Fw 190s. Having virtually cornered the market with their high quality WW1 models, Eduard now seem determined to take on the Big Boys in the highly competitive area of mainstream WW2 kits.

Eduard has been developing a range of Fw 190s for some time, with the Fw 190A-5, A-6, A-7, A-8 and A-9 planned as basic releases, plus subvariants such as the A-8/R-2 and R8 Sturmjäger, and A-6/R-11 Nachtjäger.

Eduard are promising the most accurate Fw 190 kits yet released, and are not going for the "modular" approach which has caused much debate over other major manufacturers' recent releases. The kits will include a detailed fuselage gun-bay with the complete machine gun installation and also 20mm cannon bays in the wing-roots.

The first release - probably an A-8, is planned for this summer, with an A-9 hot on its heels.

Included here are Eduard's original CAD artwork for the kit, along with a photo of an early test-shot of the actual parts.

All images are copyright and used with kind permission of Eduard.