Ta152C-1 Revisited

[Bruce_Crosby]

Hi Guys,

 

I didn't mean to cause offense but comparing apples and oranges?

 

When I built the first Ta I knew there was something wrong with the basic model from PCM but didn't know what.  In the couple of months since then I've read everything I can find, a lot of it contradictory, so my conclusions are best guess.  I'm coming from the position of being a tech in the RAF many years ago, not as a modeller per se. So I want to know what that lump is, why it's there, what it does and how it does it.  The shape of the rad cowl as modelled by PCM just didn't add up at all, opening the shapes would make huge gaps, not very useful when you want all the air into the annulus and thru the radiator segments.

 

 

[Bruce_Crosby]

Hi guys,

 

Next up is guns.  The kit wing guns are worse than dire and the two on the cowling aren't there at all!  Good starting point then! I've chopped up the guns from QuickBoost set for the A-7/A-9  as its the same items for the Ta-152 C-1.

 

The gun rear has this beam that fits in a slot on the Hasagawa spar

 

 

A bit of chopping for now!

 

 

Test fit into the wing, seems OK so far.

 

 

But it will be a dog to get the guns into the wing once it's assembled, if they go in before that they chance getting knocked off.  So I chopped off the resin barrels, drilled out the stubs and added new brass tube barrels. This way the guns can be painted and fitted, the wing assembled and the barrels pushed in thru the front wing holes. The wider resin tube aft of the brass isn't actually part of the gun, it's a debris guard for when the undercart retracts and will be painted 02. The big lump at the rear isn't part of the gun either, it's the clamping fixture on the spar.

 

 

The cowling gun troughs ere blanked at the rear so I drilled out and inserted some more brass tube. Obviously I trimmed off the sticky outy bits!

 

 

The cowling was test fitted a few days ago, in fact before i got involved with hacking up the wings.

 

 

Regards,

 

Bruce Crosby

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bruce_Crosby]

On 6/17/2022 at 3:30 AM, John Stambaugh said:

Wise move with the metal pins to locate the undercarriage. 

 I recently finished PCM's Fw190A and although not impressed with the exterior; the resin makes the kit.

Will follow your build Bruce.

Thanks for sharing. 

 John 

 John, after this I added another pin in the back of the leg hinge point which now fits quite nicely into a tiny hole in the spar.  It locates a lot better, making it easier to fit the actuator too. I seriously thought about making the retraction work, using more telescoping brass tube for the actuator.  But if you play with it and make working features and do Brum-Brum and Rat-at-at-at noises, then it's a toy not a model!

[dennismcc]

The joys of building PCM kits, I'm on my third in a row with a fourth ready to come online, but they did fetch out some very interesting subjects so I can't complain too much, it's also taking me back to the modelling basics which is a good thing (I think).

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Gazzas]

Hey nice work!  I built one of these too....   but with less dedication to detail.

[dodgem37]

Nice details.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[Bruce_Crosby]

Hi Guys,

 

Some colour on the Ta152 at last.  It's only the cockpit and not much at that.

 

 

After a bit if Black PLW and some dry brushing with a paler grey.

 

 

Some colour on details.

 

 

 

As you can see, nowhere near finished.

 

Regards,

 

Bruce Crosby

 

 

[Bruce_Crosby]

Hi Guys,

 

I've done a bit of work on the Ta and the three Bf109 builds, so here's the relevant bit for this aircraft.  The kit IP has a resin base then a colour etched set of panels supplied by Eduard. I've done a very basic assembly, airbrushed some AK Interactive Ultra Matte varnish over it to kill some of the printing artefacts then added Micro Krystal Klear on the gauge faces.

 

Here's the IP before today's work. you can clearly see the print artefacts.  Yes, it really isn't that blue either!

 

Photo taken before the Krystal Klear has actually dried fully so some milky bits visible.

 

 

Regards,

 

Bruce Crosby

[Bruce_Crosby]

Hi Guys,

 

I added the IP supplied in the kit, minus a few of the micro sized do-dads.  The seat belts in the box are early issue Eduard colour etch so a bit clunky, I've put in belts from Eduard's Luftwaffe belt set.  OK, so HGW would be more realistic but I'm not up for hours of struggle and anguish, never mind the cursing and swearing.

 

 

The red outer dial Bezel was fixed in place with more Krystal Klear.  For once I managed to get one bezel off the fret without ruining it.

 

 

That's it!

 

Regards,

 

Bruce Crosby

[Bruce_Crosby]

Hi Guys,

 

This time it's adding rigid brake pipes to the undercarriage legs.  Usually they were routed between the leg and the door, behind the door attachment bolts.  First photo is the leg as supplied (with my brass pin mods).

 

 

Small vee notches cut behind the attachment bolt faces.

 

 

Here's my rat tail files.

 

 

I used the rat tails to deepen and round off the vee grooves.

 

 

Plastruct 0.6mm rod cemented into place as the rigid pipes.

 

 

The effect of pipes behind the fixing bolts.

 

 

Later I will add twin flexibles, one to the brake nearest the leg and the other to the axle to run thru to the outer face brake.

 

Regards,

 

Bruce Crosby

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[nmayhew]

Great technique with those files - looking good!

[Bruce_Crosby]

Hi Guys,

 

More fiddling with the Ta152. Almost nothing fits first time so lots and lots of fiddling, cutting, sanding and correcting.  This may not look like much work but it's days of messing about, swearing and general frustration.  But that's half the fun of a short run kit, you just have to do it!

 

First up, the resin engine insert for the wheel well.

 

 

Then I finally put the wing sections together.  Easy to type on the computer but a real dog of a job in real life.  A lot more tape used than seen here, plus clamps and clips. It was a case of a bit of glue and clamp a section, then move onto the next section.  Took forever!

 

 

Motor gun tube from old Contrail tube. Brilliant stuff!

 

 

 A tiny amount of Mr White Putty on the starboard leading edge.

 

 

Gun camera added to the port wing.

 

 

PCM's prop blades aren't quite right, trailing edge too wide at the root. Left is revised, right is kit original.  At greater pitch, the trailing edge would bind on the radiator cowling.  

 

 

All three blades modified.

 

 

And that's it so far.

 

Regards,

 

Bruce Crosby

 

[Bruce_Crosby]

Hi Guys,

 

Some minor bits on the Ta152C. I added the oxygen compensator from plastic disks. originally I painted it blue but wiser heads intervened and told me otherwise So Thanks Roy Sutherland and Klaus Herold.  Then I dropped the cockpit insert and the IP flew off, so that one more little rebuild.  Then I noticed the throttle lever had pinged off at the same time, so I made another one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope this passes inspection.

 

Regards,

 

Bruce Crosby