A Wulf in Lion's Clothing - A Captive Ta 152H-1 +++FINISHED and RFI Posted+++

[Dunny]

Lovely work Mark. I'm even more convinced that I need a mask cutter in my life, particularly given my recent Spitfire shenanigans. Great work mate and most inspiring,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[mark.au]

And, this evening's progress on the first stage of the process - I think the pics speak for themselves;

 

 

 

 

 

The keen eyed among you will have spotted the overspray on the fin in the composite pic above.  another advantage of the acrylics I use is that they wipe away with a damp cotton bud.

 

That's it for tonight, next session I'll begin on the overpaint.

 

Cheers

 

[Dunny]

Right, that's it. I wants one

[AliGauld]

Once again stellar stuff.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[FalkeEins]

 

 

...just catching up with this again. That's some very neat work. Having just built a Ta 152 H as well I must admit to being a little more intrigued by the upper surface wing pattern than the lower surfaces, especially the starboard. AFAIK there wasn't an 'official' scheme for the Ta 152 H, although this one is given in the Hitchcock book..

 

 

.....doesn't seem to correspond with what can be seen on the image below as there appears to be a 'V'-shaped area of dark green where the roundel is extending down to the flap ...even allowing for perspective and over-painting this seems to be in the mid-wing position. 

 

 

 

....and while its a long way away, here's the only port side view at Farnborough I've seen. As you'd expect the area around the exhaust appears to be more extensive .

 

 

 

[jackroadkill]

9 hours ago, mark.au said:

the first stage of the process - I think the pics speak for themselves

 

It's lucky for you that you live in Oz, or I might well be turning up at your front door every couple of weeks with demands for your template design and cutting services!

[mark.au]

5 hours ago, FalkeEins said:

.....doesn't seem to correspond with what can be seen on the image below as there appears to be a 'V'-shaped area of dark green where the roundel is extending down to the flap ...even allowing for perspective and over-painting this seems to be in the mid-wing position. 

Excellent observation, thanks.  I think the “V” shape of 81 will be quite simple to insert on the starboard wing.

 

Thanks to all for the comments.

[mark.au]

Some minor progress today, once again the pics can do most of the talking…

 

 

I adjusted the camo on the starboard wing but left the port alone.

 

Next, I worked on the overpaint,,,

 

 

I deliberately left the middle of the cross overpaint the way you see it as it’s quite clear in the photos that it wasn’t properly covered before the roundel was painted.

 

After several attempts, I was able to make a mask for the WkN.  I couldn’t manipulate the interior masks for the 6 and the 8 so I’ll add them by brush next.

 

 

Once again, the pic shows the incomplete coverage of the overpaint on the port side so I replicated that with the mask.

 

We have a few family things on over the next few days so progress will stall now until the weekend.

 

Cheers.

Edited April 19, 2022 by mark.au

[AliGauld]

Incredible.

The attention to detail is wonderful.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[bigbadbadge]

Looking good Mark. Great work. 

Chris

[heloman1]

On 4/18/2022 at 4:47 PM, FalkeEins said:

 

 

...just catching up with this again. That's some very neat work. Having just built a Ta 152 H as well I must admit to being a little more intrigued by the upper surface wing pattern than the lower surfaces, especially the starboard. AFAIK there wasn't an 'official' scheme for the Ta 152 H, although this one is given in the Hitchcock book..

 

 

.....doesn't seem to correspond with what can be seen on the image below as there appears to be a 'V'-shaped area of dark green where the roundel is extending down to the flap ...even allowing for perspective and over-painting this seems to be in the mid-wing position. 

 

 

 

....and while its a long way away, here's the only port side view at Farnborough I've seen. As you'd expect the area around the exhaust appears to be more extensive .

 

 

 

We had a similar selection of captured German aircraft near what would become the Military Museum in Johannesburg. Then a certain section of the community complained and the aircraft were towed away and scrapped. We do have a coupe that have survived.

 

Colin

[heloman1]

Wow Mark, those masks have worked a treat, good on ya mate,

 

Colin

[mark.au]

19 hours ago, AliGauld said:

Incredible.

The attention to detail is wonderful.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

Thanks Alistair, it’s a curse! 😄 

 

16 hours ago, heloman1 said:

We had a similar selection of captured German aircraft near what would become the Military Museum in Johannesburg. Then a certain section of the community complained and the aircraft were towed away and scrapped. We do have a coupe that have survived.

 

Colin

That’s such a shame, in that context a museum’s purpose is to remind ourselves of what happened, not to ignore it because it’s distasteful.

 

16 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Looking good Mark. Great work. 

Chris

 

16 hours ago, heloman1 said:

Wow Mark, those masks have worked a treat, good on ya mate,

 

Colin

 

Thanks Chris and Colin, much appreciated.

 

I managed to fit in a sneaky paint session to prep for the roundels after the family activities the next few days.

 

 

Starting top left, I used RAF Dark Green for the overpaint areas on the uppers wings (I used Ocean Grey for the others).  Top right I had a faux pas where at some point I’ve knocked off the PE glare shield over the starboard exhaust.  I can’t find it so will make one and attach it at the end of the build.  Bottom both sides I finished the WkN on both sides and also overpainted the Reich Defence Bands.  It’s all clear coated to ensure a good seal to the masks when I paint the roundels and the “AIR MIN II” over the weekend. 
 

Cheers.

 

 

[bigbadbadge]

Nice work Mark,  good to see the paint effect progressing. 

Chris

[Dunny]

Looking good Mark. Impressive that the Cricut can get down to such fine resolution as the WkN,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[Johnson]

On 4/18/2022 at 3:47 PM, FalkeEins said:

Having just built a Ta 152 H as well I must admit to being a little more intrigued by the upper surface wing pattern than the lower surfaces, especially the starboard.

I hope you don't mind me posting this in Mark as I too was intrigued by the upper surface of this plane and it drove me to my 'shelf of shame' where my Ta 152 H has been languishing for about 3 years. I was pleased to see the similarities between our starboard wings, though my port wing is a bit different, I'll have to have another look at the photos.

I probably ought to complete my build, doesn't look as bad as I remembered. I wasn't entirely happy with the mottle, a bit too heavy I thought.

 

But inspired by your build in captured form I'm thinking of building the surviving Ta152H-0 in the USA, as the RAF painted it after capture;

Which would be an interesting photo interpretation exercise to say the least...

 

But enough of this hi-jacking your thread!

 

Keep up the good work Mark.

 

Cheers,

[PattheCat]

Great work! Camo, markings, overpainting ..... all excellent.

[FalkeEins]

On 4/21/2022 at 2:19 PM, Johnson said:

I hope you don't mind me posting this in Mark as I too was intrigued by the upper surface of this plane and it drove me to my 'shelf of shame' where my Ta 152 H has been languishing for about 3 years. 

 

 

 

 ..found this after a bit of a search in a Jap 'Luftwaffe Day fighters' monograph....three Ta WNr. including 150168... and their different upper surface patterns  

 

 

[Troy Smith]

On 21/04/2022 at 14:19, Johnson said:

But inspired by your build in captured form I'm thinking of building the surviving Ta152H-0 in the USA, as the RAF painted it after capture;

Which would be an interesting photo interpretation exercise to say the least...

 

There are a couple of color shots  later in the US which may help

 

note the underwing crosses

 

Interesting discussion here https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235013626-ta-152h-colours-is-there-a-definitive-answer/

 

which maybe of interest?

 

[mark.au]

On 4/21/2022 at 1:34 PM, Dunny said:

Looking good Mark. Impressive that the Cricut can get down to such fine resolution as the WkN,

It really is a remarkable machine, the capabilities of which I haven’t really scratched the surface of yet.  Definitely worth the cost of acquisition.

 

On 4/21/2022 at 11:19 PM, Johnson said:

I hope you don't mind me posting this in Mark as I too was intrigued by the upper surface of this plane and it drove me to my 'shelf of shame' where my Ta 152 H has been languishing for about 3 years. I was pleased to see the similarities between our starboard wings, though my port wing is a bit different, I'll have to have another look at the photos.

I definitely don’t mind!  The port wing is a bit of a punt, I based mine on Jerry Crandall’s profile in Eagle Cal’s decal sheet.

 

On 4/21/2022 at 11:19 PM, Johnson said:

I probably ought to complete my build, doesn't look as bad as I remembered. I wasn't entirely happy with the mottle, a bit too heavy I thought.

You should absolutely finish it, it would be such a waste to leave such nice work incomplete.

 

On 4/21/2022 at 11:19 PM, Johnson said:

Keep up the good work Mark.

Thanks, much appreciated.  I intended to continue the work immediately I hit “Submit Reply” on this post

 

On 4/21/2022 at 11:19 PM, Johnson said:

But inspired by your build in captured form I'm thinking of building the surviving Ta152H-0 in the USA, as the RAF painted it after capture;

 

Thanks.  Great choice on your one, it shows some interesting differences to the one I’m representing, would be a nice comparison when done.

 

On 4/22/2022 at 12:35 AM, PattheCat said:

Great work! Camo, markings, overpainting ..... all excellent.

Thanks Pat.

 

3 hours ago, FalkeEins said:

 

 ..found this after a bit of a search in a Jap 'Luftwaffe Day fighters' monograph....three Ta WNr. including 150168... and their different upper surface patterns  

 

 

Oooh, that’s interesting too - if I’d seen that a week ago I would have redone the port wing to match as it looks so striking.  I wonder what the source is?  I’m a bit disturbed by the call-out for 82 on the nose though, it quite clearly isn’t 82 on the real thing.

 

34 minutes ago, Troy Smith said:

which maybe of interest?

 

In general, everything you post is of interest, Troy.

Back now from a couple of day’s  hiking in the Kosciusko National Park, including the summit of the highest peak in Australia (it’s a grander phrase than it is a feat of mountaineering).

 

 

 

Cheers.

[mark.au]

A two hours paint session under my belt, and the results are in.  Here's how it looked before the unveiling, always a tense moment!  Oh, and as you can see, I'm a serial re-user of tape, there's at least three uses of almost all the pieces I remove from the roll... 

 

 

...unmasked...

 

 

 

 

I thought there might be some interest in the process I used because it applies to all vinyl masking, not just homemade ones.

 

• Top Left; I always start from the outside and work my way in, whether it's Luftwaffe, US or RAF markings (or any other, for that matter).  So, the first mask is the outside one.
• Top Right; I applied the blue focussing on where it needs to be - I don't cover the entire space with it.
• Mid Left; Then I place the next mask, the one covering the blue and then mask the gp between it and the next outer mask.  Notice though, that there are tiny gaps still in the corners of the masking so...
• Mid Right; ...I made sure to mask them too before applying the next colour, again focusing on where the white will end up, not the entire space.
• Bottom Left; the final colour applied masking in the same way to ensure the joints between the masks are covered.
• Bottom Right; the result.  I didn't have any bleed through in the six roundels and two fin flashes applied.

As a general rule, spray so that the paint hits the model nearly dry, work in thin coats and spray perpendicular to the mask edge(s).

 

So how does it stack up to the original?

 

 

 

Not bad at all I think.  I'm happy with it as it is (there's a couple of small differences to the original that's I'd do differently next time such as the grey overpaint needs to be a bit more rounded and I put just a little too much white into the port fuselage roundel leaving the black portions of the cross less pronounced than on the real thing); and there's one minuscule bleed through at the 10 o'clock position on the upper port wing roundel which will be very easy to fix.

 

Next will be the stencil decals - can't paint those - and then some weathering.  I've also got to [re]paint the wheel wells and get around to the undercarriage and finish off the propeller.  I won't paint the spinner red, as that was [I believe] added for the Farnborough show, so it'll be its original colour which I haven't confirmed yet.

 

Thanks for following, cheers.

 

[heloman1]

Serial tape re-user, really! However, I used to be a timber hoarder, off cuts from jobs, until I realised, I was spending more time looking for a piece that would do the job than cutting a new piece!

That all came to an end, when I moved down from Johannesburg to the coast and then downscaled again. However, I'm into hoarding cardboard boxes now, you ever know when a box will come in handy!!!

Great work on the new/overpaint markings , loving your work.

 

Colin

[AliGauld]

Nicely done with the markings and thanks for the tutorial I will attempt something similar when i get a bit braver.

Now, speaking as a person born in Aberdeen I see absolutely nothing wrong with reusing the tape.

It just seems natural to me. 

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[bigbadbadge]

Great job Mark,  I like the effects through the roundels,.  It is looking fantastic.

I  am the same with Masking Tape  I use it several times too.  I think as modellers we are good at reusing stuff and recycling bits in general for modelling, I keep loads of bits that will be handy, especially for my Railway models.

Chris

[Fritag]

7 hours ago, mark.au said:

a couple of day’s  hiking in the Kosciusko National Park,

 

Now that looks stunning.  Very envious.  Is it far from where you live Mark?  Although ‘far’ is p’raps a relative concept with a different meaning in Australia to the UK!

 

You’ve incorporated and mastered the cutter beautifully!.