The Fw-190D-9 has always been a favorite amongst Luftwaffe kit builders. There have been models of this aircraft basically since the late 1950s with Airfix and later Lindberg and others producing this kit (and I'm talking 1/72 here, folks). It wasn't until the middle-late 1970s that a truly accurate one was finally developed. Though not perfect, Airfix did a second molding, later followed by Hasegawa and later by Italeri. All of them were fine and about all you could find for many years. The biggest problem with the Fw-190D-9 was that little was known about the units that operated the plane.

Now I'm not sure if Dragon ever did this aircraft as I have not seen the kit. Recently Academy has produced this version and with their penchant for improving on other people's molds, it is undoubtedly based on the Hasegawa kit and would be the choice for many. The kit recommended by the sheet is the Hasegawa version, but it was released prior to the Academy kit.

All but Green 2 are in RLM 82/75/76 colors. For those of you not familiar with this coding of colors, Luftwaffe aircraft generally have two upper colors and a lower color. The two upper colors are given first and the lower color last. If you see two or four numbers, the last number is always the underside color.

First aircraft is from JG 26, and has mottling only on the tail.

Next is Yellow 2 from JG 2 and should be carrying a bomb rack and 250kg bomb.

Green 2 is in RLM 74/75/76 with RLM 75 and 82 tail mottling. The unit is unknown.

A JG 2 aircraft, Yellow 11 is next in standard markings. This one has a Reich Defense band in yellow and white.

Finally, a JG 301 aircraft, again in standard markings. Blue 15 is unusual in having no tail mottling. It also carries the Red and Yellow Reich Defense band in the colors for this unit.

As with most other Aeromaster 1/72 sheets, there are common markings for all aircraft and date for three of them.

Review copy courtesy of me!

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