DML 1/48 FW Ta 152-C "Awkward Turkey"
Oct 26, 2024 17:37:03 GMT -5
406 Silverado, deafpanzer, and 3 more like this
Post by Mike on Oct 26, 2024 17:37:03 GMT -5
This is actually my Father's kit, but he was gracious enough to let me build it. He admits he doesn't have the skills for this build so this will be my Christmas present for him this year. After all, hours of effort count for something, right?
First, my impressions of this kit are a mixed bag. I believe this kit started out as a Zukuei Marui kit at some point. Dragon decided to add their own sprues to the kit to make it a C model and there are some issues because of it. You start with a fairly basic cockpit with just enough detail and the seatbelts are PE but it's steel PE and I really don't think I'll get good results with them so I left them out. I'm already having issues with super glue and paint sticking to the parts and my trust is blown. After the pit is completed you have to cut off the entire nose and add a Dragon replacement nose which has better definition and less bits of flash on the parts. Then the instructions have you add a portion of the internal bracing but I found out later in the build that the instructions don't have you place this part correctly. So, moving on. (heavy sigh) There's more.
The Dragon replacement nose has some nice detail and definition but nothing is included for the nose cannons at all. I used some rando hypodermic tubing for blast tubes and moved on. As careful as I was with cutting the old nose off there are still fit issues (surprise) with the new nose fitting correctly and if you're not paying attention you'll end up with the nose bent slightly upward which really makes the plane look even more awkward. In the end I still had to use some PPP to fill in the gaps.
Because of the wrongly placed interior bracing the smaller gear bay doors don't actually connect to it as the instructions would have you believe they should. So the actuator arms just sit up there in empty space, just existing. But wait, there's more! The wing spar placement is also in the wrong place and too far back to make any conceivable difference so the landing gear strut retractor arms don't connect to anything either. At least for that issue I was able to make some styrene brackets for them to connect to. This area of the model is what it is. Thanks for the great instructions Dragon.
Because Dragon made new upper wings, but not lower wings, the wing machine gun fairings are still present and there's a panel line that doesn't exist on the bottom wing that is present on the upper wing. (forehead slap) Easy enough to fix with putty and scribing. Obviously this kit is not meant for beginners.
It took me over three hours to drill out the exhaust manifolds and you can't add them at any time after the nose is replaced. Like many other parts of this build I'm just going to have to deal with some creative masking and trickery to paint this model effectively.
I just got done masking the canopy parts before I took these pictures and once some glue dries for the front wind screen I'll see how it looks with some primer on it. The wing fairings were a bit odd and to keep the proper shape I used some sprue glue so I didn't lose the shape under putty and sanding procedures. This did cause quite a bit of re-scribing to happen and I hope I got it all straightened out so I won't have to return to that area and I can just move on to a fun paint scheme without issues.
First, my impressions of this kit are a mixed bag. I believe this kit started out as a Zukuei Marui kit at some point. Dragon decided to add their own sprues to the kit to make it a C model and there are some issues because of it. You start with a fairly basic cockpit with just enough detail and the seatbelts are PE but it's steel PE and I really don't think I'll get good results with them so I left them out. I'm already having issues with super glue and paint sticking to the parts and my trust is blown. After the pit is completed you have to cut off the entire nose and add a Dragon replacement nose which has better definition and less bits of flash on the parts. Then the instructions have you add a portion of the internal bracing but I found out later in the build that the instructions don't have you place this part correctly. So, moving on. (heavy sigh) There's more.
The Dragon replacement nose has some nice detail and definition but nothing is included for the nose cannons at all. I used some rando hypodermic tubing for blast tubes and moved on. As careful as I was with cutting the old nose off there are still fit issues (surprise) with the new nose fitting correctly and if you're not paying attention you'll end up with the nose bent slightly upward which really makes the plane look even more awkward. In the end I still had to use some PPP to fill in the gaps.
Because of the wrongly placed interior bracing the smaller gear bay doors don't actually connect to it as the instructions would have you believe they should. So the actuator arms just sit up there in empty space, just existing. But wait, there's more! The wing spar placement is also in the wrong place and too far back to make any conceivable difference so the landing gear strut retractor arms don't connect to anything either. At least for that issue I was able to make some styrene brackets for them to connect to. This area of the model is what it is. Thanks for the great instructions Dragon.
Because Dragon made new upper wings, but not lower wings, the wing machine gun fairings are still present and there's a panel line that doesn't exist on the bottom wing that is present on the upper wing. (forehead slap) Easy enough to fix with putty and scribing. Obviously this kit is not meant for beginners.
It took me over three hours to drill out the exhaust manifolds and you can't add them at any time after the nose is replaced. Like many other parts of this build I'm just going to have to deal with some creative masking and trickery to paint this model effectively.
I just got done masking the canopy parts before I took these pictures and once some glue dries for the front wind screen I'll see how it looks with some primer on it. The wing fairings were a bit odd and to keep the proper shape I used some sprue glue so I didn't lose the shape under putty and sanding procedures. This did cause quite a bit of re-scribing to happen and I hope I got it all straightened out so I won't have to return to that area and I can just move on to a fun paint scheme without issues.
