1/32 Zoukei-Mura Ta152H-0 White 7

[Thunnus]

This is going to be my next project.  A large scale Tank fighter... a Ta 152H-0, which I will be backdating from the Z-M Ta152H-1 kit.

 

I am planning on utilizing a few upgrades including:

 

1. Henri Daehne Ta 152H-1 Resin Prop and Spinner

2. RB Productions Ta 152H Photoetch Cockpit set

3. Zoukei-Mura Photoetch Exterior Set

4. Zoukei-Mura Photoetch Landing Flaps

5. Zoukei-Mura Metal Legs

 

The subject will be White 7, which has the W.Nr. of 150007.  It was Ta152H-0 converted from the prototype designated CW+CG.

I also have some other photos and a nice color profile of White 7 in Thomas Hitchcock's Ta152 book.  I tried source a set of H-0 wings and was unsuccessful so I will have to do the modifications manually, which I believe are restricted to the wing bottoms.

 

This will be my first large scale Z-M kit. I've heard many good things about the unique mindset that Z-M uses in designing model kits and it will be interesting to see how if fits with my no-panels-open approach to building.

The instructions look like a vintage pilot's manual and offers a combination of rendered drawings and photographs... very unique!

 

This particular boxing, which was the only Ta152H kit available at the time, is based on an anime series but includes everything in the original H-1 release including a full sheet of decals.

 

The decals seem to be well printed and include decals for the instrument panel and the cockpit side panels.

 

There is a smaller decal sheet with the anime-specific markings, if you want to go that route.  Also included are what appear to be pre-cut canopy masks.

 

I'll be taking a look at the kit sprues and some aftermarket goodies next.

Edited April 14, 2020 by Thunnus

[Landrotten Highlander]

am pulling up a chair

[Troy Molitor]

Just an idea for you.  

 

The kit instructions for the H-O kit mention you can order extra spruces for the kit?   Service@volksusa.com.  Maybe you can order the lower wing set directly?   The H-0 had no fuel tanks installed in the wings where the H-1 had the wing tanks installed.  There are nine prominent circle access panels per wing on the H-0’s. 

 

The H-0 instructions also mentions the upper cowling louvered cowl piece needs to replaced by D-14.  This might be on D Runner?     

PM me if I can send you any thing off the Ta 152 H-0 instructions.  

 

The prop should also be the VS9 3.6m diameter.   Looking forward to this one.  

 

Regards,

 

Troy 

[Uncarina]

John,

 

This will be great! I am looking forward to seeing this unfold. I build the H-0 kit and it was one of my favorite ZM builds. My only difficult spot was in adding the forward wing inserts to the main wing; had to do some sanding to fit. 

 

Cheers,  Tom

[LSP_Kevin]

He's back!

 

Kev

[Thunnus]

Thanks guys!  The one nagging thing about this particular build is that I'm having to backdate an H-1 kit into an H-0 when Zoukei-Mura released an H-0 kit that would've done that work for me!   It's just not available.  In fact, none of the 1/32 Z-M Ta152H kits are in stock right now.  Ah well... I've got a plan for the modification that should simplify things a bit.

 

But first, let's take a look at the sprues.  This kit is molded in three colors of plastic: metallic grey (ugh!), black (double ugh!) and clear.  I hate the metallic color because those dark flow lines running through the plastic always throw me off.  I hate black plastic because it's hard to discern details off of a black background.  The first sprue, A, is in that metallic color and houses most of the engine components.

 

Unless the engine cowling can be closed tightly without glue, I'll probably be shutting the engine off from view.

 

The landing gear hardware is on this sprue too.  The legs look nice and sturdy and the details on the wheel hubs is nice.

 

Sprue B is black and holds other internal components from the engine, the guns, the tires and the prop.  The prop blades look impressively wide.  I'll have to compare them closely with the Henri Daehne prop.  

 

The tips of the exhausts have been scooped out so I won't have to do that myself.

 

Sprue C is back to the metallic grey and houses much of the cockpit components.  I don't see the instrument panel here so it's probably in black or maybe clear.

 

Two versions of the seat are available, one with belts and one without.  I'll be using the one without and adding fabric harnesses from HGW.

 

Details on the cockpit side consoles looks pretty good.

 

Sprue D has the fuselage sides and the tail assembly.

 

The panel lines look nice and there are some rivets in prominent areas.  I am considering doing some riveting to add some visual interest to the exterior surfaces.

 

Sprue E has more exterior components such as the fuselage bottom, wing bottom, engine cowling and control surfaces.

 

Sprues F and G are the wings.

 

The H-0 did not have fuel tanks in the wings like the H-1 did and had a different configuration of hatches and ports on the wing bottom.  This is where my conversion from H-1 to H-0 will be limited to (I think).

 

The clear parts are thoughtfully wrapped in foam in a separate plastic baggy.  And yes, the instrument panel is on this fret.  I don't understand the IP as a clear part approach when the dial decal is designed to be installed on TOP of the panel, not behind.

 

The last small fret holds the optional drop tank.

[Thunnus]

2 hours ago, Troy Molitor said:

Just an idea for you.  

 

The kit instructions for the H-O kit mention you can order extra spruces for the kit?   Service@volksusa.com.  Maybe you can order the lower wing set directly?   The H-0 had no fuel tanks installed in the wings where the H-1 had the wing tanks installed.  There are nine prominent circle access panels per wing on the H-0’s. 

 

The H-0 instructions also mentions the upper cowling louvered cowl piece needs to replaced by D-14.  This might be on D Runner?     

PM me if I can send you any thing off the Ta 152 H-0 instructions.  

 

The prop should also be the VS9 3.6m diameter.   Looking forward to this one.  

 

Regards,

 

Troy 

 

Thanks Troy!  I've shot an email to Volksusa but am not holding my breath.  I've done some pre-planning on the underwing modifications so it shouldn't be too difficult to make the changes.  H-0 kit seemed to be a little bit more than an H-1 kit with new wings.  All of the sprues seem to have been revised or tweaked in some way.  My D sprue, as you can see above, does not have the new D-14 part.  I'll have to live with the H-1 version.

 

 

1 hour ago, Uncarina said:

John,

 

This will be great! I am looking forward to seeing this unfold. I build the H-0 kit and it was one of my favorite ZM builds. My only difficult spot was in adding the forward wing inserts to the main wing; had to do some sanding to fit. 

 

Cheers,  Tom

 

Thanks for the heads up Tom!  I'll keep the forward wing inserts in mind when I get to that stage.

 

 

32 minutes ago, LSP_Kevin said:

He's back!

 

Kev

 

Yeah baby!  And I've got quite a few more proposed projects on the To Do List including: a Bf109G-6/AS using AMUR Reaver's cowling, a G-14 (non AS) if I can get the older AMUR Reaver G-6 cowling, and a Big Tail Fw190D-9 as Brown 4.  Hopefully, I can keep the momentum going!

[Troy Molitor]

Hey John,

 

I just moved back to SoCal this past weekend from Singapore.  Oh man the jet lag is killing me.  If you need the D14 part sent to you to cast your own part just let me know.  The decals I might also be able to help out.   I’m liking Green 4.    

Looking so forward to your project.  

 

Regards,

 

Troy 

[chrish]

Pulling up a seat with the rest of the guys.

I had a issue fitting the assembled engine with its attached bearers to the fuselage, not sure if it was something I did wrong or not but figure it might be worth putting out an advisory that I had trouble.  

[Thunnus]

1 hour ago, Troy Molitor said:

Hey John,

 

I just moved back to SoCal this past weekend from Singapore.  Oh man the jet lag is killing me.  If you need the D14 part sent to you to cast your own part just let me know.  The decals I might also be able to help out.   I’m liking Green 4.    

Looking so forward to your project.  

 

Regards,

 

Troy 

 

Welcome back to the jungle, Troy!  It's cold isn't it?  Thanks for the offer but I don't know the first thing about resin casting.  If you could take some photos of D-14 next to E-17, maybe I could modify E-17 to be acceptable.  And a scan of the number "7" would be all I need since I'll be cutting masks for the markings.  A scan of the entire decal sheet and the dimensions of the sheet would be helpful!  Thank you!

 

 

32 minutes ago, chrish said:

Pulling up a seat with the rest of the guys.

I had a issue fitting the assembled engine with its attached bearers to the fuselage, not sure if it was something I did wrong or not but figure it might be worth putting out an advisory that I had trouble.  

 

I'll have to be careful with all of the internals, I know.  I built the 1/48 scale Z-M Ta152H-1 kit and all seemed fine until it was time to fit the external panels and they were just a little bit off.  I think slight errors along the way add up to parts not fitting if one is not careful.

[Thunnus]

Here are the upgrades that I'm looking at for this build.  No resin (yet) but a ton of photoetch stuff.  The PE can be really fiddly and I'm not married to using it if the benefit/hassle ratio isn't in my favor.

 

First up is Henri Daehne's resin prop for the Ta152H-1. I'll be showing better photos of each of these upgrades as the build progresses.  I'm assuming that it is another beautifully represented prop and spinner combination from a true master.

 

I bought a set of metal legs because I was leery about the insert-and-twist sequence to install the landing gear legs.  I don't like working with all-metal legs as I have problems with getting paint to stick so I'm hoping to get a set of those composite, steel tube/resin cast legs that I featured on my Bf109K-4 build... stay tuned!  I also elected to pick up RB Productions Phototech Cockpit set.  I am not impressed with the photos I've seen of kit instrument panel and wanted to replace it.  Of the two options, this one seems like a bit more work since you have to stack individual instrument bezels onto the panels.  But I can paint the components to match instead of relying on that funky Eduard pre-painted color.

 

Brass flaps are a nice touch if you don't mess up the folding sequence and that is easy to do.  Attachment of brass doors and flaps can be fiddly too so if I'm successful with all of that, they'll be added. I'm not sure what the Exterior set offers besides thinner landing gear covers and cowl flaps... I just threw them into the cart when I bought the legs and flaps.

 

So getting into the actual build, let's talk about the differences between the H-1 and H-0.  The LSP review of the Z-M Ta152H-0 kit includes a diagram of the differences, which are relegated to the bottom of the wing.
 

 

Using a CAD program, I developed masks for the H-0 hatches and ports.  The detailed drawings that I first used didn't match the model so I ended up scanning the model part and then grafting the H-0 hatches and ports from the drawings onto the scan. If you look at the photo of the wing bottom closely, you can see the residue of a mask that was placed on the wing and then removed.  

 

The masks will help me orient the hatches and ports without guess work.  The smaller ovals and rectangles can be scribed using standard templates.  The larger rectangular hatch is a bit more complicated due to the non-standard shape.  Another handy use for the masks I've made is that I can use them as a template to cut scribing templates out of brass sheet.

 

The plan is to fill in the appropriate panel lines and hatches first.  Then I can use the masks to place the scribing templates.  The large template will be glued into place using a bit of CA glue.  After scribing, I can pop off the template and clean up the glue with debonder.

[Scale32]

Hi John, great thought process and use of tools for non standard applications.

 

Cheers Bevan 

[rigor]

where does one fine the Henri Daehne's props 

[Gazzas]

Wow, looking forward to this one, John!

[Beaconroot]

Can't wait see this one progress. Looking forward to it.