The Ta 152 was the last variant of the famous Fw 190. Designed also by Kurt Tank, the aircraft was planned as a high altitude interceptor against USAAF bombers.

The original Fw 190 was equipped with the BMW 801 engine, effective up to 20000ft.

The entrance of the US on the war brought in the use of heavy bombers, which could fly at 25000ft, making the Fw 190 ineffective, even more when the P-51s began to arrive. To counter this, the Fw 190D-9 was introduced, mating the original Fw 190 airframe with a Junkers Jumo 213 engine. This engine was perfect for high altitudes, but the short wings of the 190 prohibited the aircraft from climbing higher.

To overcome this problem, Kurt Tank redesigned the Fw 190, using a Daimler Benz DB 603 engine, and lengthening the wings (wingspan went from 10.51m to 14.44m), enlarging the fuselage, and giving the aircraft a pressurezation system.

Armament consisted of one MK 108 30mm cannon firing through the spinner, and two MG 151 20mm machineguns fitted on the wingroots.

The Ta 152H was the fastest piston engined fighter, capable of reaching speeds of 755km/h at 44.300ft using the GM-1 nitrous oxide system, and 560km/h at sea level using the MW-50 methanol/water injection system.

Revell's Ta 152H 3981 is the most recent rebox of a kit made by Frog in the 1970s.

The kit has finely raised panel lines, no cockpit detail other than a seat, a spinning propeller, a gear up/down option, and a pilot. The canopy is transparent enough, and fits well on its opening.

I began by separating the fuselage halves from the sprue and by gluing the seat to the right fuselage. The three pieces were painted with Revell 78, left to dry, akd glued together soon after.

The wings were next. They're divided in a single lower piece and two upper pieces. The two upper wings have two ejection pin marks that need to be sanded, or else the wing assembly will end up with gaps when glued. A test fit between the fuselage and wings revealed a gap between them, so I glued the fuselage in the middle of the wings, trying to have an even gap. Because I wanted to preserve the raised detail, I decided against using filler, and left everything as it was. The tailplanes were also glued at this stage.

Next came the propeller assembly. I realised by checking photos of the real aircraft that the propeller on the model was designed to spin to the right, so I opened the blanked hole on the other side, so I could spin the propeller to the left. The propeller was glued to its shaft, and was able to spin freely.

This assembly was left aside for painting.

I began by outlining the camouflage with a pencil, and writing down which areas needed RLM 81/82/83. Wings were painted in RLM 81 (Revell 46) and 82 (Revell 65), while the forward part of the cowling was painted in RLM 83 (Revell 68). With those colours dry, I painted the undersides with Revell 49.

After I was done with the main colours, I painted the mottling on the sides with a mix of RLM 81/82. The propeller assembly was also glued at this point. I coated the model with two coats of Revell clear varnish, and after it was dry, I applied the decals.

Decalling was uneventful, except for the part that I put the tailband on its correct position (yellow first, red second) by being lucky, because I wasn't looking at the instructions. The other issue was that the tailband doesn't fit the model, it's too short to cover the fuselage, and it wrinkles. This was also the first kit in which I used the spinner decal.

I added the landing gear. The gear is designed to hang straight down, so I trimmed it a bit to get it to have the inward rake so characteristic of the Fw 190/Ta 152 series.

I also glued the canopy in place and the landing gear inner covers, first backwards, but I corrected them after checking the painting instructions and realising I had them in the wrong position. The antennas were the last bits to be added.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Wulf_Ta_152

Francisco Santoro

25 September 2018

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