Fw 190 A-4 Cockpit

[Leo Etgen]

Hi guys

I am wondering if someone here with extensive knowledge of the cockpit of the Fw 190 could help me with a question I have. I am hoping to backdate the 1/32 scale Hasegawa Fw 190 A-5 with the Montex Fw 190 A-4 conversion. For what I have read online at Hyperscale and other modeling web sites both of these are excellent but the Hasegawa kit has several areas that could use improvement such as the cockpit. I have already purchased the Prop and Spinner and Tailwheel and Yoke sets in resin by Eagle Editions to address those deficient areas of the kit. However, the only cockpit detail set that I find available is for a Fw 190 A-8. The Montex conversion comes with a new instrument panel but would the A-8 cockpit set be accurate for an A-4 as it is? Many thanks.

Horrido!

Leo

[109k-4]

Dear Leo,

All Fw190 cockpits have 3 section instrument panels. While the upper and lower section of the A-4 and A-8 were very similar, the middle section was different. The main difference was the places of instruments. I do not have my files with me, but as far as I remember the A-4 middle instrument panel was very similar to A-3. You can find some photos of the A-3 cockpit elsewhere on the internet.

[Leo Etgen]

Hello 109K-4

Many thanks for your post. I was thinking that most likely no one was going to respond so it was very nice to see your input. I was able to find some nice additional information at the LSP Forum coming from a fellow named Scott S. who converted the Hasegawa kit to an A-3 the hard way - scratchbuilding it. Nevertheless, his information is still somewhat confusing as in one post he writes:

"I did some research on this for my A-3 conversion and what I came up with is there are four cockpit versions for Fw 190. The A-3/A-4 share the same layout, the layout for the A-6 has A-3/A-4 consoles and the main instrument panel of the A-7, the A-7 has a different left console from the others the right is the same as the A-8 and the A-8 is different from all other models. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of an A-5 cockpit but since the A-6 is pretty much an up gunned A-5 this will be the way I will go for mine in the future."

http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/in...28&hl=fw190a-4

and in another post he writes:

"I used the A-5 Eduard cockpit set but scratch built the upper instrument panel and left side console to match the early Fws, the wheels are True Details and prop and spinner are from Eagle."

http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/in...106&hl=scott+s.

Thus, my question now is if the left console of the A-3 and A-4 was different from that of the A-5 and A-6. From looking at the Eduard Fw 190 A-5 interior detail set and the instrument panel supplied by Montex it is easy to see that as you mentioned the middle section of the instrument panel is indeed different while the top and bottom sections are identical. It is a pity that one will not be able to use the middle section of the Eduard detail set as it would look so much nicer than the Montex instrument panel and Hasegawa instrument decals. I think the best thing to do would be to go with the Hasegawa supplied cockpit dressed up with the Eduard interior detail set but use the Montex supplied instrument panel. At any rate, many thanks for your helpful post.

Horrido!

Leo

[Leo Etgen]

Hi guys

Since this is a rather well viewed topic I thought I might update it with what new information I have discovered regarding the cockpits of the various Fw 190 A-series fighters. Concerning the instrument panel this remained the same for the A-1 through A-4. The A-5 through A-7 used a revised instrument panel with new instrumentation and arrangement. The A-8 and A-9 had a considerably different instrument panel than the previous versions. Concerning the consoles the A-1 through A-3 had the same left and right consoles. The A-4 through A-6 used different left and right consoles than the preceding versions. The A-7 had a simplified left console but identical right console as the previous versions. The A-8 and A-9 had a further simplified left console and considerably revised right console. Any comments or corrections will be most welcome and I hope this helps any one interested in modeling the early Fw 190 A-series fighters.

Horrido!

Leo