Revell 3981 Focke Wulf Ta 152H-1 (Willy Reschke)

Kit#: 03981.

Price: 4€.

Decals: Willy Reschke's Green 9.

Notes: Tailband fuselage decal doesn't fit.

History:

The Ta 152 was the last variant of the famous Fw 190. Designed also by Kurt Tank, the aircraft was planned as a high altitude interceptor against USAAF bombers.

The original Fw 190 was equipped with the BMW 801 engine, effective up to 20000ft. 

The entrance of the US on the war brought in the use of heavy bombers, which could fly at 25000ft, making the Fw 190 ineffective, even more when the P-51s began to arrive. To counter this, the Fw 190D-9 was introduced, mating the original Fw 190 airframe with a Junkers Jumo 213 engine. This engine was perfect for high altitudes, but the short wings of the 190 prohibited the aircraft from climbing higher.

To overcome this problem, Kurt Tank redesigned the Fw 190, using a Daimler Benz DB 603 engine, and lengthening the wings (wingspan went from 10.51m to 14.44m), enlarging the fuselage, and giving the aircraft a pressurezation system.

Armament consisted of one MK 108 30mm cannon firing through the spinner, and two MG 151 20mm machineguns fitted on the wingroots.

The Ta 152H was the fastest piston engined fighter, capable of reaching speeds of 755km/h at 44.300ft using the GM-1 nitrous oxide system, and 560km/h at sea level using the MW-50 methanol/water injection system.

The Kit:

Revell's Ta 152H 3981 is the most recent rebox of a kit made by Frog in the 1970s. 

The kit has finely raised panel lines, no cockpit detail other than a seat, a spinning propeller, a gear up/down option, and a pilot. The canopy is transparent enough, and fits well on its opening.

Construction:

I began by separating the fuselage halves from the sprue and by gluing the seat to the right fuselage. The three pieces were painted with Revell 78, left to dry, akd glued together soon after.

The wings were next. They're divided in a single lower piece and two upper pieces. The two upper wings have two ejection pin marks that need to be sanded, or else the wing assembly will end up with gaps when glued.

A test fit between the fuselage and wings revealed a gap between them, so I glued the fuselage in the middle of the wings, trying to have an even gap. Because I wanted to preserve the raised detail, I decided against using filler, and left everything as it was.

The tailplanes were also glued at this stage.

Next came the propeller assembly. I realised by checking photos of the real aircraft that the propeller on the model was designed to spin to the right, so I opened the blanked hole on the other side, so I could spin the propeller to the left. The propeller was glued to its shaft, and was able to spin freely.

This assembly was left aside for painting.

Painting and Decals:

I began by outlining the camouflage with a pencil, and writing down which areas needed RLM 81/82/83. Wings were painted in RLM 81 (Revell 46) and 82 (Revell 65), while the forward part of the cowling was painted in RLM 83 (Revell 68). With those colours dry, I painted the undersides with Revell 49. 

After I was done with the main colours, I painted the mottling on the sides with a mix of RLM 81/82.

The propeller assembly was also glued at this point.

I coated the model with two coats of Revell clear varnish, and after it was dry, I applied the decals.

Decalling was uneventful, except for the part that I put the tailband on its correct position (yellow first, red second) by being lucky, because I wasn't looking at the instructions. The other issue was that the tailband doesn't fit the model, it's too short to cover the fuselage, and it wrinkles.

This was also the first kit in which I used the spinner decal.

Final Construction:

I added the landing gear. The gear is designed to hang straight down, so I trimmed it a bit to get it to have the inward rake so characteristic of the Fw 190/Ta 152 series.

I also glued the canopy in place and the landing gear inner covers, first backwards, but I corrected them after checking the painting instructions and realising I had them in the wrong position.

The antennas were the last bits to be added.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Wulf_Ta_152

Hobby Boss 81704 Focke Wulf Ta 152C-11

Kit#: 81704.

Price: 22$.

Decals: One option.

Notes: Doesn´t fit as well as their 1:48 D-9.

History:

From Wikipedia: "The Focke-Wulf Ta 152 was a World War II German high-altitude fighter-interceptor designed by Kurt Tank and produced by Focke-Wulf.

The Ta 152 was a development of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 aircraft. It was intended to be made in at least three versions—the Ta 152H Höhenjäger ("high-altitude fighter"), the Ta 152C designed for medium-altitude operations and ground-attack using a Daimler-Benz DB 603 and smaller wings, and the Ta 152E fighter-reconnaissance aircraft with the engine of the H model and the wing of the C model.

The first Ta 152H entered service with the Luftwaffe in January 1945. The Ta 152 was produced too late and in insufficient numbers to affect the outcome of the war."

The Kit:

Six sprues of light grey plastic and one clear one come inside a top opening box with an attractive boxart of a Ta 152C-11 flying. Inside the box there's also a PE fret and one decal sheet. The instructions are of the booklet style, so charateristic of Hobby Boss/Trumpeter.

Construction:

I began by painting all the cockpit parts in RLM 66 (Revell 78), with an instrument panel in flat black, and a red brown cushion for the pilot's seat. The rudder pedals were painted in aluminium. Once the paint was dry, I glued all the pieces together with Revell Contacta, and left that aside to dry.

The engine was next. I painted all the engine parts in flat black, with a firewall in RLM 02 (Revell 45). Once everything was dry, I glued the engine together and let it dry.

Once the cockpit and engine were ready, I glued them to one side of the fuselage. Before closing it though, you have to glue the tailwheel. I did so and then closed the fuselage halves.

While the fuselage was drying, I began working on the wings. First, you have to build the cannons, then glue them into a wingspar, which glues at the same time to the single bottom of the wing. Once that was dry, I glued the top halves of the wings to the bottom half. I then test fitted the wings to the fuselage. There was a small gap, which was closed by gluing insde the fuselage a spreader sprue. After that, the wings were glued to the fuselage, together with the horizontal stabilizers.

Colours and Markings:

There's a single marking for the aircraft, Ta 152C-11 "Yellow 11" of JG301. I began by painting the fuselage RLM 81 (Revell 46), and then I painted the RLM 82 (Revell 65). After finishing with those colours, the fuselage received several coats of RLM 76 (Revell 49), Any mistakes with the paint were then rectified. The wings came next, and these were painted in RLM 81/82 with 76 undersides. The model was then brushed with two coats of Revell's gloss varnish in preparation for the decals. 

I began decalling by applying the JG301 fuselage bands. These didn´t fit to weel and were a tad brittle. Then I applied the rest of the decals. Once the upper sides were done, I decalled the underside of the aircraft. This consisted of two crosses with black outlines. One of them distorted while I was placing it, but it doesn't look that bad unless it's pointed out. One thing that stands out is the Swastika, which was done for a 1:72 model, so it looks too small when placed. I then brushed some Microsol over the decals, but this probably was overkill, given that the decals provided were already thin. Once the decals and Microsol were dry, I brushed the plane with two coats of Revell's matt varnish.

Final Construction:

The landing gear struts were painted in RLM 02 with silver oleos, the wheels were painted with flat black hubs and RLM 66 tyres. The landing gear doors were painted in RLM 76 on the outside and RLM 02 on the inside. Then the clear parts were masked and painted with the fuselage colour.

Conclusions:

A much welcome addition of Hobby Boss to the late Luftwaffe, they have so far released all the C variants of the Ta 152. I´m still hoping for them to release an H Ta 152 in the future.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Wulf_Ta_152