The kit I'll be working with is the "Rudel" boxing of the newest tool 1/32 Hasegawa 190D-9. This scheme is actually quite appealing to me... I think I'd have considered doing it if I had not shelled out for the Eagle Cal sheet.
This will be a full meal sort of deal with lots of aftermarket stuff thrown into the mix. Most significantly is the MDC cockpit. There are some choices in this department with aftermarket resin sets from MDC, Eagle Parts, Aires and Cutting Edge as well as an Eduard photo-etch set. I chose the MDC set because it comes with a set of instrument decals and offers the choice of pre-made photoetched belts or crafting your own belt using individual buckle pieces. I'll go into each AM set in separate posts.
On to the Hasegaw frets... the main fuselage is sans tail. This is because Hasegawa also released a "big tail" version of the Dora that was fitted with the large surface Ta-152 tail unit. The kit gives you a choice of open or closed cowling flaps.
Molding quality looks excellent... sharp and refined. The instrument panel dials are nicely detailed but I've grown not to like this approach to IP's. The raised molding allows for detailed painting but the look is quite different from real instruments that are behind flat glass dials. I prefer Eduard photoetch or applying punched decals into recessed instrument faces.
The Hasegawa gun cowling has been criticized as inaccurate. This is one Dora feature that is apparently hard to get right. Hasegawa's rendition, like Tamiya's 1/48 Dora, falls into the "voluptuous" category featuring an exaggerated "cleavage" between the two gun housings. On the other extreme is Hobby Boss's 1/48 190D series which you might call "flat chested". I'll be replacing this with the Eagle Parts corrected resin piece.
Scribing is recessed and very crisp. Something new that I am going to attempt for the first time is to give this Dora a rivet job. I picked up a riveting tool (Radu) and am eager to try it out. I considered it for the Ta 152 but I thought it'd be easier on a bigger scale aircraft like the Dora.
This fret holds a combination of cockpit details and various control surfaces and miscellaneous parts.
The cockpit detail is nice but not the most detailed. The seat has a nice pad but no seatbelts. The MDC cockpit should provide all of the missing details... assuming it FITS!
I've seen criticisms of the tail wheel unit online and there are a few aftermarket options available. Hmmm... I think it looks fine. Ideally, you'd like to have a separate wheel but I think it'll look pretty good after careful cleanup and painting.
The landing gear covers has good detail on the inside. I haven't noticed any sink marks or ejector pin marks in obviously visible areas. It looks like the landing flaps might have a few subtle pin marks that might need to scrubbed up if the flaps are to positioned down.
The wing sprue... nothing out of the ordinary except the blank panels in the middle of the wing bottom. Perhaps something to do with the bomb-carrying option of the Rudel 190? Flaps are separate but the other control surfaces are molded in place.
A couple of smaller sprues... the tail unit and one holding the wheel well details. Similar to the Zoukei-Mura kit, the wheel well is integrated into a wing spar. The molded details are nice and sharp.