Focke Wulf Ta.152C-1

[Mike]

Focke Wulf Ta.152C-1

1:48 HobbyBoss

The Ta.152 began life as a variant of the Fw.190 in order to improve the aircraft's high altitude performance. One of the three sub-types was selected for further development, and became the Ta.152. In typical Nazi style however, the RLM requested three types from this initial design. The C variant didn't have the high-altitude extended wing and didn't see service, although several prototypes were made. The H-model was the only variant produced in quantity, and saw service in limited amounts due to there still being plenty of quirks to iron out of the new design. The C was heavily armed, with one 30mm MK108 auto-cannon, and four synchronised 20mm MG151s set in pairs in the upper nose cowling and wing roots. The large DB603 engine gave the aircraft plenty of power, but it required a rear fuselage insert to compensate for the offset in centre of gravity.

The new kit from HobbyBoss arrives in a small top opening box, and contains seven sprues of mid-grey styrene of varying sizes, plus a clear sprue, a small fret of Photo-Etched (PE) parts, two decal sheets, and instruction manual with separate full colour painting and decaling guide.

First Impressions

Although it is quite a small box, the fuselage takes up a lot of the length, and the resulting model will have a wingspan of almost 23cm and length of 22.5cm. The surface detail is restrained, and with only a limited number of rivets placed where they are most prominent. Construction looks to be straightforward, and the single piece lower wing makes for easy installation.

The Kit

Opening the box and perusing the larger parts immediately gives you a good impression of the sleek lines of this advanced propeller driven fighter. Construction of course begins with the cockpit, and there are a pleasingly large number of parts here, leading to a very nicely detailed office for the pilot (not supplied) to sit in. The instrument panel is made up from two parts, and has nice raised detail representing the dials and other instruments, with a decal provided in case you don't fancy painting all of those instruments separately. Forward of here is the aft part of the engine bay, which although it will disappear from view for the most part, is just visible through the main gear bays, so some painting will be required to give the area some depth. There is a surprising amount of detail in this section, made up from 11 parts.

The cockpit and engine "rear" are sandwiched between the fuselage halves along with the tail-wheel, which looks ripe for being knocked off by the clumsy modeller… a.k.a. me. There is no engine supplied with the kit, but the forward face of it is visible at the front of the cowling, in the shape of a finely slatted annular radiator just behind the prop. There are two cowlings supplied - one with closed cowl flaps, and the other with them open. The open flaps are very nicely moulded, and have thin trailing edges to give an element of scale thickness to the parts. The spaces between the flaps have a little unavoidable flash at the tip of the V-shaped gap, so a little careful trimming with your sharpest blade will result in a better look to the parts.

The forward top fuselage fits in front of the cockpit to the rear of the cowl, and into it slot a pair of MG151 20mm cannons. The engine exhausts slide into the slots in the side of the airframe, so could be left of until after main painting is done. The large supercharger intake is a single slide-moulded part, but will need cleaning up, as there is flash in the intake mouth, where the two mould parts met incompletely, and there are two prominent seams down each side, as well as the two sprue attachment points in the middle of the seamlines. Whether this saves the modeller any time is moot, but the intake lip is smooth and nicely circular, which is definitely a good thing. A small PE part attaches just above the middle of the exhausts on the port side, which is presumably a baffle to prevent exhaust gases from being sucked into the supercharger and ruining its efficiency.

The wings are in typical single engine fighter style, with a one-piece lower and two part uppers. A long spar affixes to the lower panel, extending out to the ends of the main gear bays. Through this, two MG151/20mm cannons are pushed, with their muzzles sitting proud of the wing's leading edge. Sadly, most of the cannon detail will be lost when the wing is closed up, as the breech and ammo feed is behind the spar, so completely invisible. The remainder of the wheel bay then butts up against the spar, which makes up the rear sidewall of the bay and holds the whole thing rigid. The bays themselves have a few additional ribs with lightening holes added, which results in a pleasing bay with plenty of potential for additional detailing. Once the wing uppers are added, the flaps and ailerons are attached to tabs on the trailing edge of the wing, and can be posed at any angle to give your model a more candid look. Don't forget to offset the control column in the cockpit if you do, or someone will notice and chastise you. When the wing is complete, it is offered up to the underside of the fuselage, and here you should of course check your fit before proceeding, to ensure the best possible seamline. The seam with the fuselage underside has been synchronised with panel lines, so clean-up should be minimal.

The clear parts are presented on a small sprue, and clarity is good here. The parts are thin and crystal clear, with sensibly placed sprue gates, and the main canopy is moulded in two parts, facilitating posing the canopy open without any cutting.

The main landing gear legs are each single parts, with the oleo scissors built in, and the retraction jacks affix half way up the legs, the other ends mating with a hole in the gear bay wall. Tyres are of the un-bulged style, and are made up from two halves with the outer face of the hub moulded into each. Hub detail is good, so careful alignment of the radial tread will result in a good looking wheel, which you can sand a flat-spot into to give it a more realistic stance. The main bay doors attach to the back of the gear strut, and the inner doors fix with small pegs into the gear bay. A choice of underwing aerial, the retractable crew step, loop antenna and a small blade aerial complete the build nicely.

The decals are printed in-house, and comprise of two sheets, the smaller of which contains just the cockpit instrument panel and side console decals. These are nicely done and will enhance the look of the cockpit if you don't feel like painting it all individually. The main decal sheet covers the national markings, squadron markings and stencils for one aircraft, which was Prototype V6, marked VH+EY, the initial airframe for the C-1 series. It sports a high demarcation scheme of freehand splinter RLM75/83 over RLM76, with a little mottle on the tail, and an extension of the upper surface under the white fuselage Balkenkreuz. It also has metal central wing panels on the underside, typical of the later war haphazard painting of assemblies due to the shortage of supplies and the distributed nature of construction.

Decals are clear, have good colour density and are in register, but under magnification, some "jaggies" or stepping of the printed pixels is evident on the V - partly due to the sharp angle of the sides. The Swastikas are printed in halves, so will have to be carefully joined if you are to apply them. Provision of the oft-seen red trim tab markings is a nice touch, as although it would be simple to paint the tabs red, applying the white lettering would be impossible for us mere mortals.

Conclusion

The Ta-152 isn't one of Germany's most well-known fighters, and could easily be mistaken for an Fw-190 by the uninformed. It does however represent the pinnacle of WWII German piston engine fighter design, and its sleek lines and purposeful looks are quite appealing - certainly to this modeller.

Sure, there could have been more detail supplied, but the kit works to a price-point, and does it very well. It is certainly a good basis for further detailing, and it's almost certain that aftermarket companies will supply any upgrades that you don't feel confident to tackle in scratch-building.

The C-0 and C-11 versions are also available from Hobby Boss, which gives the late war Luftwaffe modeller plenty to go at.

Review sample courtesy of

[Terrain Safe]

Looks really good. Only £14.99 as well! What a bargain but sadly the stash has grown too much recently so will have to wait for a while as my wife is getting a bit too vocal!