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01/27/25 A look at 1/32 Scale Aircraft Engines

In this post, I wanted to share a few images from my different 1/32 WWII aircraft. All of these are German late war airplanes. A Ta-152, Do-335, Fw-190 A8. The first two are Zoukie Mura kits and the last is the Revell kit of the Fw-190 A8/R2. In the gallery below click on any image to open them in a Lightbox.

Working with 1/32 Aircraft models is rewarding in that you get a much better feel for what was going on inside the aircraft. The cockpit details tend to be more involved and most modern 1/32 aircraft kits will have an engine. While it’s interesting to build up the engines, most of that work is hidden once you complete the kit. While many kits will offer individual engine cowling panels, I feel that leaving them open give the aircraft an incomplete look. Unless you are working on a diorama. An example of this is the Zoukie Mura 1/32 Fw-190 A4. Zoukie Mura has created a kit with amazing details throughout especially the engine. (the only thing missing are the ignition wires). However there are 7 individual panels that are used to cover the engine, and I had a lot of trouble getting all of these to line up correctly. I would much prefer the option to have the engine displayed outside the kit on a stand. With the Zoukie Mura 1/32 kits, you cannot do this as the engine is required to install the propeller.

Great Wall Hobby’ P-40 is the only kit I have found in 1/32 that allows you to have the engine displayed along side the aircraft. For the cost of all of these kits, it would not be that much to add the parts to allow this for all models in this scale with this amount of details.

Great Wall Hobby P-40 1/32 Underwing Flap details

I have moved on with the GWH P-40 by finishing out the flaps on the wings. The kit has only Photo etch for the details and this is by far the trickiest part of working with the model. Click on any of the images below to start a Lightbox gallery for better viewing.

The Photo Etch from Great Wall Hobby is very thin to start with. The sheet that all of the photo etch comes on is slightly curved so all the pieces depending on size will need to be flattened. The individual parts for the main wing flap support required by far the most complicated bending. NOTE, due to the very thin nature of this photo etch, you can get by with one re-bend but after that the part will separate. Each of the upper wing supports for the main flaps are lined up over the flap actuating rods. You can see these in the pictures in the gallery.

I first tried to use Ultra Glue to hold each part down since I knew that if I used CA I would only get one try to locate these parts. However the ultra glue did not hold well since it has a longer drying time and the flap actuating rods pushed up on the photo etched parts. I also started locating the individual supports in the wrong orientation. This become critical when you attempt to place the single large photo etch covers over them. NOTE, I believe that Great Wall Hobby made a mistake with these covers in that they made them exactly the same and they should be mirror images of each other. When you attempt to mount the part on the right side, you will find that it will not fit unless you turn it upside down, but then you lose all of the extra details in the photo etch. In the image below you can see where I had to drill a hole into the part to get it to fit. This part and the part on the left are identical, not mirrors of each other.

Close up of upper right wing support showing error in design

The individual part themselves are very tricky to work with as you are bending the top, bottom and side. Also once you have bent all of the top, there is nowhere to hold the part as you are placing it. I ended having to straighten the back top where it bends down to hold the parts.

The actual flaps also have photo etched pieces that need very careful bending, however they are much easier to place on the plastic since they are less complex in nature.

Individual main wing flap supports

One last photo to show the individual supports. Here you can see a bit more of the complex amount of bending that is required. Also note, I feel that the instructions are not very clear on how these parts are to be bent. The drawings are a bit vague so when you get to this stage of your build slow down and really look at the image of the final part on the instructions.

Great Wall Hobby P-40 Fuselage

Great Wall Hobby P-40 Fuselage
Partial finished interior of Great Wall Hobby P-40

I am gradually getting the interior finished on my P-40 by Great Wall Hobby. There is a lot of very fine detail inside this model, sadly none of which will be visible once the fuselage is completed. You can leave the outside hatch open to allow someone to get a very slight restricted view however most of the hoses and tanks will not be seen.

Great Wall Hobby P-40 1/32
Great Wall Hobby P-40 showing part of the Fuselage Interior

Now I have added the large tank which is directly behind the cockpit. If you look closely on the bottom of the fuselage, you can see all of the fine coolant and oil lines that are along the bottom of the aircraft. That these were able to be moulded so well in 1/32 scale is an impressive feat for Great Wall Hobby.