Ryan

Nice and clean, superb craftsmanship.

Nice kit. Loved the scene in Octopussy when Roger Moore coasts empty to the gas station in this thing, smiles and says “filler up please”.

Thanks Bill that's quite a compliment.

Thank you Don, yes so far very enjoyable.

One more. Ta-152 by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr

Work continues of the engine, in fact all of the parts are glued up except the exhaust. I turned my attention to the wiring grouping on the right side of the engine. ZM did a great job witht he molded harness, the pic below is kit standard. Ta-152 by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr As you can see the wiring continues to a couple of connectors or modules and then terminates. To improve the look, first I hollowed out the terminal and connectors, then using the kits ample sprue supply I stretched some appropriately sized strands. Ta-152 by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr Here is the final result, spaghetti anyone? Some of the strands are left long to disappear into the hollow engine while others direct connect to components. Ta-152 by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr Here is the whole affair loosely attached to the power plant...pass the Tylenol! Ta-152 by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr Ta-152 by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr Ta-152 by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr

Volks USA has them in stock. I know this because I overpaid for one on an auction site...a few days later they posted they were getting a restock!

Meeeeee tooooo.

Actually (3) of them if I read it correctly.

Here it be. http://www.zoukeimura.co.jp/en/sentiment/oyajiblog_100.html

I was really impatient to get to this part of the build on the engine....the ignition wires. ZM have molded half of the wires on the valve covers and the other half on the loom itself. Dry fitting the pieces together revealed an excellent fit and once glued up they joined almost perfectly. Just a dab of surface primer and a swipe of sand paper will eliminate the seam. Well done ZM. Ta-152 by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr Ta-152 by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr Ryan

Well the one pictured is only slightly larger than the kit.

Thanks guys. Here area series of shots of the lower wing and bulkhead assembly. The belly pan fit was pretty good, although I will need to level the surfaces out at some point. Taping together parts first before committing to glue is the order of the day. Larger pin marks were filled with punched disks then sanded smooth. I do like the soft plastic these kits are molded in, easy to sand and carve when needed. Ta-152 by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr Ta-152 by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr Ta-152 by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr Last pic is the MG-151 with ammo box dry fit into the wing. Ta-152 by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr

OK I have a very poor showing with completed WIP's, but this kit is very good, I wanted to share some info and pics as I build it. Here are some shots of the engine mid stream in construction. TA-152 Engine by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr TA-152 Engine by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr TA-152 Engine by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr

Very helpful thanks.

Nothing to do with wood panels but the engine in the ZM kit is fantastic, shown here mid production and unpainted. TA-152 Engine by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr TA-152 Engine by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr TA-152 Engine by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr

Excellent, I AM indeed a modeler.

Is the red salmon remark something to do with Corsair primer? Just testing my modeling credentials.

Is the large circular inspection panel under the mid fuselage made of wood? I know the tail on the sole remaining example has portions of it made of wood, are there other panels that would have been wood also? Thanks Ryan

I have the same machine, just superb.

Many thanks sir!

Me too man, you cant go wrong!

Very helpful, thanks. I wonder how one is to remove the panel once magnetically stuck on the model...I'm picturing a small screw driver jammed in the panel line in horror. It's a real question though, will the sticky side of a piece of tape pull these panels off?

Ahh so the magnet is in the frame or fuselage and the metal is in the panel?

I pre-ordered my kits too, it seems you can't pre-order the Richthofen Albatross any more, that didn't take long. http://www.wingnutwings.com/ww/product?productid=3183 Ryan