Trimaster 1:48 Fw 190 A-8/R-11
Formed by a number of ex-Hasegawa employees, Trimaster was active from 1987 to 1991. During that time the company produced some of the first “mixed-media” kits with photo-etch, metal tubing and white metal parts along with molded styrene. They focused solely on Luftwaffe subjects, and their kits were some of the most detailed and expensive of their time, the latter factor being instrumental in their early demise.
This is a nightfighter version of the Fw 190 A-8, one of very few that mounted the FuG 217 J-2 Neptun radar with external antennas. It also featured flame dampers over the exhausts and a 300 liter belly fuel tank. The use of single seat planes as nightfighters was not generally successful mainly due to the heavy workload it placed on pilots.
The kit was built OOB and painted with Mr. Color acrylic lacquers (RLM 02, 66, 75 and 76) and Model Master enamel (RLM 74). The entire paint job, with the exception of the black fuselage panels, was airbrushed freehand. The radio antenna is invisible mending thread. The radar dipoles are telescoping rod and tubing supplied in the kit. Decals are from Owl (individual plane markings) and Aeromaster (stencils). The model depicts (as far as I know) the only photo-documented A-8/R-11, “White 9” flown by Ofw. Günther Migge of the Wilde Sau unit 1./NJGr. 10. I was fortunate to have a number of period photographs of the plane furnished to me by my friend and Luftwaffe expert George Morrison of New Hampshire. One of these photos showed the upper wing camouflage colors reversed from the normal pattern, so I painted them that way. I completed the build in April 2022.
Cheers, Pip
Thirty years later, still the best "second choice" (now that Eduard's 2nd genration Fw-190s are out). That they got grabbed and released by Italeri and Monogram/ProModeler among others demonstrated the kit's inherent quality.
Nice work on this.
Thank you, Tom!
Beautiful crisp modelling Pip. Such fine detail & beautiful photography. What more could you ask for?
Thank you Tony!
Yet another amazing result, Pip!
A lovely Wurger!
Thank you Spiros!
Nice result, Pip, shame the company didn’t survive.
Thank you George!
Really nice! The A's are my favorite 190's - I like their pugnacious look more than the D's.
Thank you Greg!
Fine looking 190!
Thank you Dale!
Many thanks to you, Pip, and your friend George Morrison for showing us the reversed wing colors. Your build is excellent, and this new information makes it even more special. Seeing all those aerials and gun barrels so well aligned is another special treat! Did you make a conscious decision to use the MM 74 rather than Mr Color, or was it just what you had at hand?
Thank you Christopher! I did make a conscious decision to use MM for the RLM 74 because it was a better match to my Merrick/Hitchcock chip.
This Wurger looks excellent, Pip @seawinder
Never heard about Trimaster, but they seemed to deliver great kits, at least in combination with your skills this one turned into a beautiful build.
Thanks John! As Tom Cleaver mentioned above, many (most) of the Trimaster kits were re-run first by DML and later by Italeri. DML provided the same photo-etch stuff, but they replaced the white metal items, which included landing gear struts, with injection molded styrene. Unfortunately, the styrene Fw 190 struts had the axles perpendicular to the struts, which put the wheels at incorrect angles.
Nice, unusual butcher bird Pip. Very clean work too. I like it a lot.
Thank you Ben!
Nice build Pip. Excellent finish.
Thank you Clark!
Great result on your build Pip! Love the free hand camo contrasted with the sharp black panels. Excellent build
Thank you David!
Beautiful "Butcher Bird" Pip @seawinder!
Thank you Gary!