1/48 Italeri Ta-152

Gallery Article by David Van Wagoner on July 22 2003

 

The Ta-152 has always been a personnel favorite of mine.  The Fw-190 A series was a elegant looking aircraft with just the correct proportions.  Then Kurt Tank decided to add an inline engine and now that aesthetically pleasing aircraft was transformed into an odd looking, long-nose, short-wing freak!  Well, Kurt probably thought the same thing, so he decided to correct his grievous error by adding long, slender, glider-type wings and ended up making one of the most graceful and effective high altitude fighter of the war.  (there may have actually been another reason, but hey, it's my story). 

The kit is the well traveled Trimaster, DML, Dragon, Hasegawa, and finally Italeri rendition.  Trimaster was the first, and only company, to depict the correct wheel wells for the Fw-190D and Ta-152 series aircraft by adding the engine which was visible looking  up through them.   Given that, I thought the only way to show off  those graceful wings and beautiful lines was to make it airborne.  

Click on images below to see larger images

I won't bother going into every step of the construction, but rather, just highlight certain aspects.  First was in the construction of the wings.  They are made of very thin plastic which presents the potential for warping.  To help avoid this, I took strips of strips of heavy "evergreen" plastic and glued them from the wing-roots out as far as I could to the tips, always dry fitting, to ensure I could glue the top and bottom wings together. 

The wing-root to fuselage is not good.  Care must be taken to ensure the wings have the same dihedral in relation to the fuselage.  After you've taped it (running tape from one wing tip, over the top of the fuselage, to the other wing tip) I was left with a pretty good gap at the left rear wing root. The best way I decided to fill was to take small strip(s) of squadron plastic and slip them into the gap until the gap is all but filled.   I then used Ambroid's Pro-Weld to "melt" the plastic together, which has the effect of filling any minor gaps that remained.  One cured, I just cut off the excess strips of plastic above the join. 

For fitting the wheel well covers it just took time and careful trimming.  Small tabs of plastic were glued to the inside of the wing at the wheel well opening, in order to give the covers something to rest on.  Basic modeling clay was also used inside the wheel well in order to control and maneuver the covers to ensure the best fit before I glued them in place. 

For the stand, I traced a map of 1938 Germany and cut the shape on a scroll saw.  The rod is acrylic and can be bought in various diameters.  The attachment points are two different sized, six-sided brass medal tubes from my local hobby shop.  I took a dremel tool and cut what I needed.  The acrylic has the two male sections while the base and aircraft have the female sections.  This allows the model to be removed from the stand for transport.  Because I used six-sided tubing, I can vary the position of the aircraft.

The spinning propeller is thin, clear plastic.  I over laid the kit prop to get the proper diameter   Now, how to depict a spinning prop?  Well, there are several ways and it's just a matter of taste as to which you think looks correct.  I decided to see what the professionals do.  There are probably no better references then on box tops of model aircraft.  I finely settled  Hasegawa's Mc-202 overtaking a British Boston.  Although most artists use a simple wedge shape, I varied it a bit by giving the end a tail to show direction.  Using RLM 70, I lightly over sprayed, then sprayed heavier coats to show the prop while attempting to match the box top's depiction. 

Well, there you have it.  Hope the article helps in your next project. Until next time... 

David Van Wagoner

      

Photos and text © by David Van Wagoner