COBI's Focke-Wulf Fw 190 F-8 is a 1:48 model built from 170 blocks, 19 cm long with a 22.5 cm wingspan. The propeller and ailerons move, the wheels fold on rubber tires, and a 500 kg bomb mounts under the fuselage. All markings are printed; no stickers.
One lever instead of five
A fighter pilot in 1941 flew an aircraft and managed an engine at the same time. Throttle, propeller pitch, mixture, supercharger gear, ignition timing, cooling flaps β six controls, all interacting, all needing adjustment as height and speed changed, while also fighting.
Kurt Tank's team gave the Fw 190 a KommandogerΓ€t: a mechanical and hydraulic computer, about the size of a bucket, mounted behind the engine. The pilot moved the throttle. The device set everything else, continuously and correctly.
It is difficult to overstate what that was worth. A novice in an Fw 190 got the engine's full performance without knowing anything about engines, and an experienced pilot got his attention back for the fight. Nothing else in the war had it; Allied fighters still had separate levers in 1945.
The F
The F-8 is the ground-attack version: extra armour under the cockpit and engine, two 20 mm cannon rather than four, and racks for bombs. It replaced the Ju 87 Stuka in the assault role from 1943, because by then a dive bomber could not survive and a fighter-bomber could.
WΓΌrger β shrike β was the type's official name. A shrike is a small predatory bird that impales its prey on thorns.
Specifications
Pieces: 170 Β· Scale: 1:48 Β· 500 kg bomb included Β· No stickers
Model dimensions: 19 Γ 22.5 Γ 7.5 cm (7.5 Γ 8.9 Γ 3.0 in)
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