Top Flite

Since the Top Flite folks came out with a FW190D9, I told myself "finally.." a good quality affordable kit. But there's something not exactly right about this kit. It looks very funny and, eh, un-Focke Wulf like. After a closer examination, I've discovered the following:

	Outline is close to scale, except for the Tail surface areas (too big) and rear-fuse plug extension (too smooth)
	Wing is too thick at the edges and too thin at the root. Also, its about an inch to far forward.
	Cowl is completely wrong
	Air Scoop is certainly not from the FW190D9 era.. Not even close
	Cockpit is a joke.
	Retracts are too short and don't sit at the requisite 74 degree angle. Also, they sit too far back in the wing itself. Can you say major wing re-design?

There have been several attempts into making this bird more, ah, FW190D9 like. One very well documented attempt is by Mr Wulfman who did a piece for RCM on how to "scale" a FW190D9 ready for competition. Unfortunately, Steve is no longer making the scale parts anymore for the Top-Flite kit, I have them since I practice "Scarfology" ... Maybe a plea to Steve to resume making the parts available to build the Top Flite a bit more realistically is called for...