Pacific Coast Ta 152

[PJP]

As some of you will remember, I have been wrestling with this one for the group build for some time. I'm now in the finishing stages, so I attach a few pictures of the paint job and progress so far.

I hope to complete by the end of the month.

It hasn't been easy. I chose a particularly difficult model for a beginner and had I known, I'd have picked another.

There was a lot of thick flash around the edges, almost as if the moulds were slightly misaligned and I struggled to make the wing sufaces line up anywhere near each other so lots of (amateurish) filler.

Please comment on progress so far.

Any suggestion on how to fabricate (very simple please) a broken off and lost 20mm cannon barrel would be helpful.

Like a number of you, I needed a lot of external supervision so I took the liberty of enclosing a picture of the build managers, who also contribute much to the lack of time to model!

Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions.

Peter





















[ATTACH]24528.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]24529.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]24530.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]24531.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]24532.IPB[/ATTACH]

[stona]

It looks to me like you are winning! Easiest way to do a cannon barrel would be with a piece of brass tube of the relevant diameter,most model shops stock it. I'm afraid I can't remember the correct size off the top of my head. I'd do the other side as well,it'll probably look better than the kit ones anyway!

I would defer to your "build managers". I expect that when they say it's Thursday,it's Thursday,even if it's Wednesday.

Cheers

Steve

[Ian M]

Looking good to me!

Love the managment.

Ian M

[Guest]

If you cannot get some brass tube (best if you can) then either plastic tube or the cheapest and not the best option wold be to stretch some sprue to the thickness you need. Brass tube looks better though. If you have any of the plastic glue that has a fine metal tube for 'precision application' maybe you could get away with using that. It, and brass tube can be easily cut by laying it on a flat surface and rolling it with your craft knife blade. A few rolls back and forth and you will get a clean cut without squashing the tube.

[tr1ckey66]

Hi Peter

The build looks to be coming along very nicely. I like your choice of subject matter too. Is the Ta 152 the last incarnation of the FW190? If so then this model kind of rounds off the GB quite well!

I agree with the brass tube suggestion. BTW you can get this stuff on ebay in the model section (Toys & Games) - just measured the canons on my 190 with a micrometer and they're 0.8mm. The brass tube definitely improves the look of the canons anyway so it may be a happy accident breaking one of them off!

Look forward to seeing the Ta 152 finished.

Cheers

Paul

[stona]

Is the Ta 152 the last incarnation of the FW190? Cheers

Paul

It was the final development of the Fw190 series. It was given the prefix Ta to recognise the designer Kurt Tank. It was ,sadly for the Luftwaffe though luckily for us,too little,too late.

Cheers

Steve

[PJP]

Ta 152 - last of the line

My reference works say that there were about 250 made, numbers are unclear at this stage of the war apparently, of which most were destroyed by bombing/strafing rather than in combat, largely due to fuel shortages.

Like you, I find it a very attractive looking aircraft.

As Steve (Stona) says, the designation Ta is in recognition of the work of the Fw 190 designer Kurt Tank.

There is an unsupported story by Tank that while flying one of these, he was attacked by two Mustangs which he evaded by opening the throttle and out accelerating them. Apparently it could hit 470 mph flat out, so it's maybe as well it wasn't available in numbers!

Steve, thanks for the tip about the brass tube. (Sorry I mean Paul). Thanks for measuring up the cannon.

It'll be an ebay job when I come back from dog walikng.

Cheers

Peter

[stona]

There is an unsupported story by Tank that while flying one of these, he was attacked by two Mustangs which he evaded by opening the throttle and out accelerating them. Apparently it could hit 470 mph flat out, so it's maybe as well it wasn't available in numbers!

Peter

Not entirely unsupported.The story appeared in "Kurt Tank,Focke-Wulf's designer and test pilot" by Wofgang Wagner and is the story of an "on the deck escape" sometime in the autumn of 1944.For various reasons this is very improbable. However the incident is mentioned by technical director Nallinger in a Daimler Benz report of 27/2/45. This implies to me the incident was early in 1945. Tank himself said he was flying at 7000m at the time of the incident. Given the date and Tank's own testimony,along with a little knowledge of the test beds he was flying it is a reasonable assumption that he was in either the V7 or V8 prototype at the time. Both were fitted with the DB603 engine and had the MW 50 injection system. They were capable of 720 Km/h at 7000m making the story at least plausible.

There is no corroboration from any allied accounts but if no shots were fired an encounter report would not normally be filed. The allied pilots would not have been aware what they were chasing. A long nosed Fw190 (or Ta 152) was usually called just that, a long nosed 190. I have seen them mis-identified as Bf109s in some encounter reports.

BTW total Ta152 production (including prototypes) was 40-45 aircraft. There were never more than 15 operational at any given time,usually only a handful. Your reference is a long way out.

Ain't the Luftwaffe fun.

Cheers

Steve

[PJP]

Ta 152 production

Thanks for the update on production numbers. Just re-proves what we already know, which is always to use more than one reference source, and in my case, look for something more recent than the early '60s!

Peter

[stona]

Thanks for the update on production numbers. Just re-proves what we already know, which is always to use more than one reference source, and in my case, look for something more recent than the early '60s!Peter

True enough Peter, a tremendous amount of information has emerged since the "fall of the Berlin wall" for obvious reasons. I also think more photographic evidence emerges ,somewhat sadly,as the wartime generation passes on and families either sell or otherwise make material available. This has certainly been the case with Luftwaffe pilots' "flugbuchs" or log books for example.

Of course the problem with multiple references is that they often conflict! That's why I put the figure vaguely at 40-45,most peoples' favourite is 43 but I'm happy sitting on my fence.

I've no idea where the figure of 250 came from. Even adding in production of the various Fw190Ds won't get you anywhere near that total!

Don't forget to keep us posted with your progress.

Cheers

Steve

[PJP]

Ta 152 colour help

Anybody offer me an idea of the colour of the propellor blades?

The vague instructions offer no help here!

Peter

[Guest]

Generally they are black but I like to use Revell Anthracite which is a very, very, very dark grey. They also get a bit worn so don't be too fussy about a showroom finish on it.

[tr1ckey66]

Hi Peter

The Eduard instructions for my FW190 D calls for either black or RLM 70 which is black green for the spinners and propeller blades. My 190 A8 - 'Blue 13' also called for RLM 70 so I'm guessing this was a popular colour choice for propellers! Steve may have more info on this as I think, at this stage of the war, the Germans were painting their aircraft with whatever they had - whitewash, creasote, artex, nail polish (I jest but you get the idea)

Also, got you a URL for the brass tube

MBT2M Micro Brass Tube 0.8mm X 0.2mm X 305mm (3 pcs) on eBay (end time 09-Jul-10 15:59:02 BST)

Cheers

Paul

[PJP]

Ta 52 Cannon and propellor

Thanks or the cannon tips gentlemen. Ordered brass tubing yesterday lunchtime, just unwrapped it when I got in from a dog training session. Full marks to Aston Merchandising (TerraScenic Hobbies).

Minimal backlash from Senior Management, so I'll see how far I can get towards a finish on the Job.

Thanks to all especially Graham, for the tips.

Peter

[stona]

The propeller blades on the Ta152 would almost certainly be RLM 70 (black/ green). I'd be very surprised to find a black propeller on any Luftwaffe aircraft late in the war. Hamilton was supplying blades to Germany pre-war (for the USA) and they would have been black. I've seen them on images of German civil airliners, soon to be converted to more sinister use!

The German's were painting their aircraft in some unorthodox schemes due to material shortages and inconsistent paint colours but propellers are very carefully made and balanced,including painting ,for rather obvious reasons.

There were extremely detailed instructions for the finishing of propeller blades which I have but can't access at the moment (I'm in Prague today) but I'm 99 percent sure of RLM 70.

Cheers

Steve