I got my Merit FW-190 today after also having ordered one from EC Hobbies in China
It is a beautiful model and hands-down one of the best WWII German aircraft we have in 1/18 scale, right up there with the BBI BF-109 and the 21c ME-262. I am liking the Hermann Graf livery more than I thought I would and hope Merit will eventually release more paint schemes for the plane. I will eventually get some pictures up of the model, particularly some comparison shots with other 1/18 planes...
Positives about the model:
It comes very well packed by Merit (or whoever released it). Sturdy, but attractive box and liberal use of foam padding under every wire tie.
Assembly is straight-forward: just attache the wings, horizontal stabilizers, drop tank, and propeller. Merit ingeniously uses the droptank pylon to cover a couple of the screw ports and provides two other "caps" that fit flush with the fuselage. Wings are difficult to get on, however, as I detail below...
Quality control on the Merit FW-190 is excellent. Mine has a perfect paint job with no real discernible flaws. It makes a lot of the 21c stuff look like a joke... Only the Merit Dauntlesses and some of the BBI planes come close to this quality.
I actually like the landing gear, or at least the push-rod component that extends when you lower the gear. Big improvement over what we got with the 21c FW-190D9. It is possible to have the plane sit with the correct stance (more-or-less) without modification.
Lots of functionality in terms of moving control surfaces, flaps, opening gun bay, etc.
The cockpit does have certain details that have not shown up well in some of the previous pictures, including the side control consoles.
I rather like that the canopy is completely removable - it helps with figure insertion and during aircraft assembly.
But with any great model, there are some flaws... For one, the radiator fan does not turn when the prop is spun. The lack of that feature surprised me as my little 1/48 scale Hobby Master diecast FW-190s all have the radiator fan spin when you turn the prop and it would have been easy-enough to do it with this model. Heck, the turbofan on the Merit Harrier turns!
The cockpit could have been much better. The instruments and switches are there, just nothing is really painted. Granted the FW-190 has a small cockpit so it would be hard to see them to begin with, but when I look at the fantastic cockpit detail on some of my 21c and BBI models, I can't help thinking Merit skipped out on this plane's cockpit.
The cockpit is also very tiny - so tiny that you can't really fit a figure without modification. I tried to fit the "midget" BBI BF-109 pilot, but it sat too high. I was able to fit the upper torso section of a 21c BF-109 pilot (with legs and waist removed) and it looks decent.
Lastly, inserting the wings onto the fuselage is very difficult. The fit between the two parts is very tight and it takes a bit of effort to get them together correctly. But once together, they are on tight and the model overall feels very solid.
Merit did an excellent job with this FW-190 and it was worth the wait. I strongly recommend getting one from overseas. I have no idea why these have not been released stateside just yet, but my experience ordering from EC Hobbies in China was first rate. They maintained excellent communication (in English), shipped quickly, and as Corey showed above, took great care in packaging the plane so it would arrive undamaged. I am very happy with this long-overdue 1/18 aircraft release