Ta152H kit

[JohnMacG]

I see many offers on E-Bay for Revell's Ta152H kit. Is merely re-boxing of FROG's truly ancient Ta152H kit or is it something else?

[Chuck1945]

It is the Frog kit

[Work In Progress]

Regrettably so, yes.  It's not terrible though, falling into the category of "nice old Frog kit" rather than "complete horror", and if you can get one cheap and don't mind some old-fashioned detailing you can do something interesting with it.

Good example of that here

 

The Hasegawa one is Dragon, and the Kora one is Aoshima. 

There was a time when the Aoshima one could be picked up fairly cheaply but they are pricey now.

 

 

[Wm Blecky]

22 minutes ago, Work In Progress said:

The Hasegawa one is Dragon, and the Kora one is Aoshima. 

There was a time when the Aoshima one could be picked up fairly cheaply but they are pricey now.

 

 

Hasegawa never released a Ta.152.  Dragon's kit is their own.  Aoshima's looks like it was tooled by Hasegawa though.  The similarities between it and the Hasegawa 190 family of kits are remarkably similar.  I've not seen the Kora release, but if they used the Aoshima kit, it's worth getting if you can not locate the Aoshima boxing.

[Work In Progress]

3 minutes ago, Wm Blecky said:

Hasegawa never released a Ta.152.  

Yes they did, the 1/48 Dragon 

It's Hasegawa 09152, came out in 1994. 

 

As I said, the Hasegawa kit is the Dragon kit. The Dragon kit itself was before that originally the Trimaster kit, but hardly anyone remembers that now. You seem to have reversed my meaning.

Edited December 11, 2019 by Work In Progress

[Graham Boak]

The Aosima kit gives you a choice of cowlings with open or closed gills, which would benefit the Frog tooling as this part was notably poor on this, looking like a poorly formed plunge moulding.

 

I am still looking for a spare with open gills, as the Arado 240 was always seen with these open and I've only one Aosima Ta154 kit.  I can't really justify a second one.

[Wm Blecky]

32 minutes ago, Work In Progress said:

Yes they did, the 1/48 Dragon 

It's Hasegawa 09152, came out in 1994. 

 

As I said, the Hasegawa kit is the Dragon kit. The Dragon kit itself was before that originally the Trimaster kit, but hardly anyone remembers that now. You seem to have reversed my meaning.

Considering the conversation was swinging over on 1/72, I did not bother to consider 1/48... d'oh!

[Wm Blecky]

45 minutes ago, Graham Boak said:

I am still looking for a spare with open gills, as the Arado 240 was always seen with these open and I've only one Aosima Ta154 kit.  I can't really justify a second one.

Com'on, sure you can...😋

 

Say, couldn't you use the Quickboost resin cowling for the Ta.152?

Edited December 11, 2019 by Wm Blecky
typo

[Work In Progress]

30 minutes ago, Wm Blecky said:

Considering the conversation was swinging over on 1/72, I did not bother to consider 1/48... d'oh!

well, to be fair I should probably have signposted where my stream of consciousness had wandered... 

[Graham Boak]

1 hour ago, Wm Blecky said:

 

Say, couldn't you use the Quickboost resin cowling for the Ta.152?

It would certainly help the Frog/Revell version, but it has closed gills so wouldn't help me.

[Denford]

3 hours ago, Work In Progress said:

Regrettably so, yes.  It's not terrible though, falling into the category of "nice old Frog kit" rather than "complete horror", and if you can get one cheap and don't mind some old-fashioned detailing you can do something interesting with it.

Something the kit was praised for when it first appeared was that the rear fuselage extension has a constant cross section.  Difficult to correct were it not so....

[Work In Progress]

1 minute ago, Denford said:

Something the kit was praised for when it first appeared was that the rear fuselage extension has a constant cross section.  Difficult to correct were it not so....

Good point, the odd but distinctive feature that it is

[JohnMacG]

Hmmm, yes, somehow I knew it would be the ancient Frog kit.

I can remember buying this when it first appeared a LONG time ago, when I was MUCH younger....... An old friend.

I remember it as being qu7ite basic even for its time (1975-ish?). Those were the days before vac-form canopies, which the kit REALLY needs, and resin cockpits. There's also something wrong with shape of the fuselage in front of the windscreen, there's the cowling problem and the u/c needs some work. But, as said above, nothing that can't be fixed. Probably be cheaper to buy one of the other kits, tho'.

What propted me to ask about the Ta152 in the first place is a 16-page article in 'Luftwaffe Im Focus' #29 on the Ta152H's operational career (German & English text).which corrects many myths and errors abouty the 152,s (short) career.

[72modeler]

If you can score an old Hasegawa Fw-190D-9 or the Italeri Fw-190D-9, either one would be a pretty good source for detail parts- prop, spinner, undercart, canopy (bulged hood) and cowling. You would need to correct the wheel bays (Which were open actually, exposing the accessory section.) and build some sort of cockpit, and of course, scribe the major panels, but if you have those spares or can get them cheap enough, it doesn't take a  lot of effort and you can get a pretty decent model and hone your modeling skills at the same time. I don't know why, but I always seem to enjoy taking a Frog kit and making something out of it- seems like a lot of the modelers on BM do, too, as there have been some pretty amazing RFI's posted! I say go for it- if not, you can always score an Aoshima kit, which can be found on a certain auction site in the $23-27 USD range. Might be able to find one at a vendor's table for less and avoid shipping cost.

Mike

[Work In Progress]

3 hours ago, JohnMacG said:

 

I remember it as being qu7ite basic even for its time (1975-ish?).

Try 1968

[John Hassall]

There was a very good detailing article on the Frog Ta152 and a Fw190A kit back in the late 70's in the old 'small sized' Scale Models mag  IIRC. that produced a very smart rendition of the 152 as I recall the 190A scrubbed up quite well too. Alas I no longer have those magazines I do remember that the cowling needed to be reshaped quite a bit along with the old argument about the wingtip shape?

 

And then theres this from Hyperscale.  http://www.hyperscale.com/features/2000/ta152hgi_1.htm

 

 

Edited December 12, 2019 by John Hassall

[NorthBayKid]

5 hours ago, Work In Progress said:

Try 1968

Tempus fugit!

[Wm Blecky]

I scooped a FROG Ta.152 off eBay recently as I only wanted the display stand that came with it.  Other than the display stand, for the life of me, I can not understand why anyone would waste time or money on the FROG kit.  Other than the Aoshima kit, none are worth spending money on in 1/72.

[Tomas Enerdal]

That is the rational answer.

However, I will never stop to be filled with wonder and joy when I see miracles be performed with old or bad kits. The example on hyper scale puts a big smile on my face, Mr. Irvine seems to have had a lot of fun, and the sense of accomplishment he must have felt when finished! That pic of a 1/72 model looks more like a super detailed 1/32 kit. This is very inspirational for me, even if I mostly model from the latest, most detailed kits, and spend far too much on aftermarket. Thanks for sharing!

[Johnson]

There's a certain amount of nostalgic charm in the old FROG kit, as Steve ably demonstrated during the FROG GB:

 

On 12/11/2019 at 9:36 AM, Graham Boak said:

The Aosima kit gives you a choice of cowlings with open or closed gills, which would benefit the Frog tooling as this part was notably poor on this, looking like a poorly formed plunge moulding.

Absolutely right Graham. The FROG cowling is quite easy to modify, if one can be bothered, as I did when the kit came out! But if you're after accuracy much better to track down the Aoshima kits.

Edited December 12, 2019 by Johnson
Grammer!

[Fernando]

Hi, gentlemen,

 

I understand Ta.152H had closed wheel well bays unlike 190D-9?

 

Thanks,

 

Fernando

[invidia]

I have an old scale models magazine from 1973 with an article on how to improve this kit.

[72modeler]

1 hour ago, Fernando said:

I understand Ta.152H had closed wheel well bays unlike 190D-9?

Nope- they are open like the D-9- see the photo in the attached link; scroll down to see theimage. There should be other photos in the Schiffer book mentioned, if you can find one or look at one. You might also  go online and search for Ta-152 resin wheel bay detail sets, as you can find excellent photos of 1/48 and 1/32 sets and can use the photos as a reference  for making/detailing your own. Aries always has great photos of their sets assembled and painted that make excellent modeling references!

Mike

 

https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/27588-ta-152h-1-new-pieces/

[Johnson]

Hi Mike,

 

Interesting link, thanks.

 

A bit odd the suggestion of an engine plug shield. Jerry Crandall's input was very useful and cleared things up. But I didn't know that the screen in the supercharger input scoop had been added by the Americans, which is a bit of a b****r as it's included in the 1/48 Dragon/Italeri kit - and I used it! I just had a look and I don't think it will be easy to remove.

 

Anyway, moving on, I took some pics up into the engine bay of the NASM Ta 152H-0 back in 1998, which might be useful if anyone wants to add the engine details. They can be found on my website here:

 

https://fockewulfta152h0.wordpress.com/2018/02/07/focke-wulf_ta152h-0/

 

They're down the bottom somewhere, just scroll down. And you will also see an excellent shot of the screen in the supercharger input scoop! 

 

Cheers,

[72modeler]

@Johnson

 

Awesome photos- thanks for sharing them! I will definitely use them when I start my Aoshima kit! Much obliged, podnuh, as we say in the Lone Star State!

Mike