Focke-Wulf 19a Ente - Modified Planet 1/72nd resin kit

 

Here is the Focke-Wulf 19a Ente, as it flew in Hanworth, England, in 1931, being demonstrated to the local public.

The "Ente" ("Duck" in German, -or as the configuration is more commonly known by its French appellative: Canard), has a somewhat unusual arrangement, that was however very common at the dawn of aviation, and is used contemporarily in a variety of planes.

It is not -as the uneducated would have you call it- a "tail-first" plane. But it is, you might say, a stabilizer-first design.

The model presented here is of the only "19a", built after the original "19" crashed, killing its Pilot, Georg Wulf, a partner of course in the Focke-Wulf firm.

If you would like to add details missing in the kit, it will all be about timeline: what was present and what wasn't at what time.

For that, fellow modeler, you will have to do, as I did, some research. It's fun. And educative. And free.

I refer you to the building thread for more on that, and other additional notes on diverse aspects of the plane and kit.

As noted there, the kit has many shortcomings, some almost insignificant and some that could really impact the build adversely if not dealt with. Some are very easy to correct and some are definitely not.

May be Planet would like to address the many faults of this kit modifying the masters and perhaps re-issue this kit in the future; I am not sure how successful it was commercially (it was part of a very commendable string of kits of interesting German golden age civil planes), but I saw many built online, which is a good sign. The work needed would be extensive, though.

The fact that at some point there were on the market a vacuformed and resin kits made of  the Ente, shows perhaps some potential interest.

An excellent reference in the very interesting and well-informed German ADL site (in German):

https://adl-luftfahrthistorik.de/dok/focke-wulf-f-19-ente-entenflugzeug.pdf

Here is the step-by-step build log:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2019/11/focke-wulf-f19a-ente-172nd-planet.html

The modifications to the original kit were many, but still more can be done. The list of them is given -spread out through the process-  in the WiP. I had to commission a new set of decals from Arctic Decals, because the ones in the kit are not accurate, besides being insufficient as they do not cover all the necessary images (again, explained in the WiP).

All in all I am happy I got this somewhat dated kit of the Ente (with the caveats), and was finally able to build a model of a plane I always liked. I applaud Planet for having boldly kitted it.

Of pleasant lines and unusual appearance, it clearly stands out as an example of uncommon aviation thinking.