Come on anyone, a new Ta 152H?

[Red Dog]

When Hobby Boss released their 1/48 Fw 190D series (D-9,10,11,12 & 13) and then the Ta 152C-0 & C-1 kits, I was eagerly awaiting a Ta 152H to follow, but no.

 

With only the elderly Trimaster (also boxed by Dragon & Italeri) and the more recent Zouki-Mura offerings I would have thought there was a market for it.

The Trimaster version is apparently quite hard to build and is not readily available in any of its boxings.

The Zouki-Mura while a being a superb kit, with all the bells and whistles, open hatches with internal structures, complete engine etc. As great a kit as it is, I'm just not after all that detail, and of course with that detail comes the price tag.

 

With Hobby Boss's very decent and easily buildable Fw 190D series and early Ta 152's, the natural progression would have been to add a new fuselage with the extended wing to produce the production version of the Ta 152 in the form of the H-0 and H-1.

Having gone so far with the Fw 190D and Ta 152 why not finish the line?

 

Had some great fun building 3 of HB's D-9's, 1 x D-11 (had to add the upper wings', square gun panel and lower wings' rounded one for the mid span MK 108's), 1 x D-12/R14 (Torpedo armed version), with a D-13 and a Ta 152C-1 still in the stash.

I have 4 of Eduards superb Fw 190D-9's, but for a fairly quick and easy build and a way to show off a few interesting paint schemes, the HB versions were the obvious choice.

 

So Hobby Boss or anyone for that fact, where's the next 1/48 Ta 152H?

 

[Welkin]

We don't have a Spitfire XI, XIV, XVIII or 21 in 1:48 scale.

 

Do we really need yet another Ta-152?

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Red dog ... yes it would be nice to see a Ta-152H. It would be nice to see a lot of types a correct F4u-4 would be awesome. But in the model making business its all about how many of these can i sell ? And truth be told a very very rare sub-type such as the Ta-152 is lucky to have more than one kit molded of it. As there weren't all that many made by the end of war. The Ta-152 was an Great aircraft and Kurt Tank a brilliant designer. Its just very limited in scope. One would think since you're a modeler. By your own statement you have already corrected the other Fw-190D inaccuracies. One would think you might attempt to correct/scratch build the parts to modify an earlier Ta-152 C type into the H-type. If it turns out very good you might also condider moldong and casting them for others to use. Possibly even myself.

Edited August 5, 2017 by Corsairfoxfouruncle

[Seawinder]

The Trimaster/DML/Italeri IMHO is not especially hard to build (I've done one), and copies of the DML boxing are pretty easy to find and not terribly expensive on eBay.

[Jure Miljevic]

Hello

I agree with Seawinder. And there is plenty of AM stuff available or adaptable for this kit, so most of Ta 152 H models I have seen had had everything hanging out. Cheers

Jure

[MDriskill]

I agree entirely with Red Dog's logic!

 

If you look through the Hobby Boss catalog, they have an interesting habit of covering a wide variety of variants once they pick a general 1/48 subject. They have covered no less than 11 "long-nose" 190's so far, including all the late rare D-11/12/13 variants with 2-stage Jumo engines, 4 iterations of the barely-existent Ta-152C, and even the one-off V18 "Kangaroo" turbo prototype. Their approach to the Me 262 (12 variants so far!), Grumman Wildcat, F4U Corsair, and other types has been similar. "Market demand" may mean something different over at Hobby Boss HQ, than for most of us, LOL...

 

In that light, it would definitely make sense for them to play out the string with a Ta 152H--easily the most striking-looking of the whole FW line, and one that saw squadron service. And I agree it would be nice to have a kit that is less pricey and more accessible than the Zoukei, or various old Trimaster-based kits. We didn't "need" Hobby Boss's D-9 either, but it's proven very popular for the reasons Red Dog mentioned.

Edited August 7, 2017 by MDriskill

[Mike]

16 hours ago, Welkin said:

Do we really need yet another Ta-152?

If we there's a market for one, yeah we do.  There's no real heirarchy for kits that "deserve" to be kitted, as it's all a subjective thing from us modellers.  I could say that all new kit issues are subservient to my wish for a 1:48 Stirling, which a LOT of people would probably disagree with.  Just cos someone doesn't share your need for this or that kit, doesn't mean they can't wish.

 

In reality, the ZM kit is not mainstream, the Trimaster kit is old & 'orrid, and HB have the basic moulds for the fuselage.  Creating a new set of wings shouldn't hurt too much (unless I'm over-simplifying the differences), so it would be an easy mark to portray.  I was waiting for one, but ended up getting the ZM kit as I was desperate.  Still haven't built it though!

[gingerbob]

30 minutes ago, Mike said:

I was waiting for one, but ended up getting the ZM kit as I was desperate.  Still haven't built it though!

 

That pretty well sums up all these "Why haven't they done XYZ!?" cries in the wilderness!

[Mike]

It's a depressing fact of life that my love of different types of aircraft far outstrips my likely time on this earth :depressed:

[gingerbob]

Yeah, I know what you mean, Mike.  On the other hand, it would be sad to reach some point in life where you think, "Huh, I've done everything I ever wanted to do, there's nothing left I want to do/try."

[Mike]

Very true... my, we're getting deep this Sunday, aren't we?

[Greenshirt]

3 hours ago, gingerbob said:

"Huh, I've done everything I ever wanted to do, there's nothing left I want to do/try."

 

It happens. I'm on my second career after 33 years in the Navy. I could have stayed longer but, "...there's nothing left I want to do..." so I moved on. I hope to have at least one more career before they sew me into my hammock. 

 

But on the topic of models: I cannot imagine reaching that point. My fingers will be too arthritic, my eyes too cloudy, or my mind too feeble before I could ever do or try all I desire. 

[Red Dog]

Thanks MDriskill and Mike, exactly.

HB do seem to cover a multitude of variants of certain aircraft (even one offs and prototypes) as MDriskall pointed out but have missed the Ta 152H which saw production (though in small numbers) and of which they have molds for most of the parts already. Logical I thought.

 

Just airing a thought that may ring true for others.

 

Concur, at my current rate of completing models, I'll still be here for a while to complete the stash let alone any new kits that come out that I simply must have.

 

 

 

Edited August 7, 2017 by Red Dog

[Antti_K]

Hello Red Dog!

 

I started to build a Ta-152 H-0 using Tamiya FW-190 D-9 and Hobby Boss Ta-152 C. A lot of Milliput, sanding, cutting, scratch building... A conversion that at first looked very simple turned into some "serious" modelling. I didn't want to buy the Zoukei Mura kit, as I don't build my models with everything "down and open". Kits that have these features tend to be difficult to build in ready for flight configuration. For that reason I would love to see a Ta-152 H in 1/48 scale. How about it Tamiya? You've already made a beautiful Dornier Do-335...

 

And yes, I would also love to have a "high quality" (Tamigawa) Spitfire Mk. XIV or F-4U 4 in the same scale. Not to mention Supermarine Swift or Scimitar...

 

Best Regards,

Antti