Revell 1/72 Focke Wulf Ta 152H

REVELL 1:72 FOCKE WULF TA 152H

Reviewer: Steve Papworth (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 13 February 2003

Kit Details:

Revell Germany Kit No. 04180 - 1/72 Focke Wulf Ta 152H

The Aircraft:

The Focke Wulf Fw190 came a long way from its initial design in 1937 by Kurt Tank. Tank designed a radial engine fighter, which on debut in 1941 outclassed anything the allies could put against it. The Fw190D or ‘Dora’ was the basic Fw190 airframe fitted with a liquid cooled engine and a lengthened fuselage. It is the ‘Dora’ that the Ta 152 evolved from. In 1944 the Luftwaffe High Command recognised the need for a ‘high altitude’ fighter to counter high flying allied bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Kurt Tank had the Fw190 Ra-2 and Ra-3 designs planned however they were considered sufficiently different to warrant redesignation. The Luftwaffe had deemed the designers name, rather than the manufacturers name formed the designation, therefore the final variant of the Fw190 became the Ta (Tank) 152.

The initial 20 Ta152s were manufactured from existing Fw190 airframes. These went for operational testing and having proved operational the Ta152H went into production in October 1944 at the Focke Wulf facility at Cottbus. The Ta152 was powered by a Jumo 213E 12 cylinder liquid cooled engine with two stage supercharger. This engine produces 1750 Hp at take off and the aircraft had a maximum speed of 472 Mph at 41.000 feet with GM1 boost. The fighter was armed with one 30mm engine mounted Mk108 cannon and two 20mm wing mounted Mg151 cannon. About 150 were produced at Cottbus until the facility was over-run by the Russians in 1945. The Ta152 entered squadron service with JG301 in late January 1945 and whilst designed as a high altitude fighter it was mainly used guarding the landing circuit for Me262 jet fighters. Luftwaffe pilots considered the Ta152 as their best fighter of the war. The Ta152 continued flying until the cessation of hostilities scoring victories against Hawker Tempest, P51D Mustang and Soviet Yak 9 fighters.

The Kit:

This kit is another from Revell Germany. Now I find Revell Germany generally to be the equal of Hasegawa and other higher priced kits but this one is the exception. The kit consists of 27 injection moulded parts in green plastic, plus a clear canopy. The panel line engraving is acceptable but a little heavy in parts. The other components of the kit can only be described as basic. There is a seat and pilot figure which sits on a tab with the pilots head sticking through a circular hole! No other cockpit detail is provided. The undercarriage is a simple three part construction with the oleo legs moulded into the wheel well covers.

Instructions:

The instructions are a four A4 page document which contains the basic construction details and two colour schemes, both for aircraft of Geschwaderstab (Staff-Squadron) of JG301. There is no history or any detail provided of the aircraft with the exception of two sentences on the outside of the box.

Construction:

This is a basic kit. There are 9 steps detailed in the construction commencing with gluing the pilot to his seat. Painting steps are included but I’ll admit to being perplexed because the pilots head pokes through a circular hole in the cockpit and you can’t see much through the hole! The second stage involves attaching the spinner and propeller through the cowling. Don’t bother to look for any detail there its non existent. The undercarriage is assembled next. The following steps detail assembling the fuselage, followed by the wings. The top half of the wings assemble into a single bottom section. The part fit here isn’t good but only minor filling is required. The next two steps details assembling the undercarriage and fitting the wings to the fuselage. A big word of caution here, the interior of the fuselage is clearly visible through the wheel wells. (Shades of Airfix!) These holes should be blanked off with card if you don’t wish to view the lack of cockpit detail from the wrong side! The wings fit acceptably when viewed from the top. The aircraft is finished by assembling the cockpit armour plate and canopy.

Painting/Decals:

Two sets of painting instructions are detailed on the back page of the instructions. Both are for aircraft from the Geschwaderstab of JG301, the first being ‘green 4’ and the second ‘green 3’. The paint colours are given as Revell colours but can be easily replaced with Humbrol or any other brand of your choice; both paint schemes are similar and use the same colours.

Green 4 was the personal Ta152H of Oberfeldwebel Walter Loos.

Walter Loos – (www.luftwaffe.cz)

Walter Loos was born in 1923. Following flight training he joined Jg3 in January 1944. His first victory was a B17 on 1 March 1944. He joined Jg301 in 1945 following instruction duties. He shot down 38 aircraft in total, four of these were Soviet Yak-9s which he shot down in ‘green 4’ between the 24^th and 30^th April 1945. On 20 April 1945 he was awarded the Knights Cross. I believe he survived the war but have not confirmed that.

Overall:

I have read some unconfirmed reports that Revell obtained some Frog moulds. This kit is so much more basic and inferior to other Revell Germany kits I have built that I’m assuming this is a re-boxed Frog kit. However I needed a Ta152 to complete my Fw190 collection and this one when built with some skill and care is an acceptable example. However those wishing to purchase a detailed and accurate kit should look somewhere else.

Note: the following related reviews links have not been updated since early 2000's - more kit reviews of this aircraft may now be on SMAKR, not reflected below. Refer to the Index for other kits of this type.

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