Zaggs Ta 152H-0 - St./JG 301 'Orange' - and his attempts to keep things OOTB!

[Lucky13]

One doesn't argue with that!

 

[Zaggy]

OK, just a small update now that I am at the point where I am leaving the Engine/Gun Bay ALONE *tick, tick* and the interals are now internal...

Cockpit - considering this is the first cockpit Ive tried painting in 15 years, Im quite happy. OK, Macro photography is cruel and for some reason under the flash, the blue part of the artificial horizon looks Aquamarine, but I'm quite happy... Before putting it all in, I filled all the bezel's with Krystal Clear for that glass like look and in these pics, you'll see some of the wiring i added behind panels. While I havent seen the replacement resin cockpit for the Ta 152 I must question as to why anyone would really need it - the cockpit opening is so small and the supplied plastic parts can easily be painted leaving me wondering what you'd get with the resin pit that you dont get here?

As for straps, Im not sure yet. Part of me wants to include Aufhammer, but I have yet to decide if he'll be in the cockpit or climbing up the side...

This what the engine/gun bay looks like...

And this shows how much effort has been squandered when the lower wing covers most of the detail!


Dan

 

[Zaggy]

Argh! Look at the molding seam left down the middle of the stick! I guess that will have to come out to be fixed and repainted... Not sure how I missed that!!!!

Addendum - The first of the much rumoured Trimaster/DML/Dragon Wing fit issues; more namely the Landing Gear Bay vs the Wing Spar.

OK, I might have screwed up a little when I glued in the Wing Spar without first testing the Top of the Wings as well... The Wing Spar has be properly and accurately glued into the locators, so things dont quite line up... I guess the solution this time is to trim the Wheel Well detail by about 0.5mm; in the future I may try take a half millimetre off the locators on the lower wing section - but that's not going to cut it this time.

Will update things when the solution is sorted...

 

[Gnomey]

Coming along nicely!

 

[Zaggy]

Just looking at the first post again - maybe I should write a little blurb on the history of 1:48th Ta 152 kits; if only I had bought that Falcon Vacuform kit when I had the chance...

 

[Wayne Little]

Good stuff Dan! did that Vacform kit many many moons ago.....

...and Erich...any further updates on the JG301 Book?

 

[Zaggy]

Seconded Erich... Happy to volunteer to proof read or provide graphics/page layout services!

 

[plheure2]

You superdetailers are waaaaay out of my league. I am duly impressed Dan both by your build and your knowledge about Ta-152s. Anxious to see this one finished.

 

[Zaggy]

Well I hope it will impress - the paint scheme is a bit daunting as there will be few ways to hide any poor technique or improper finishing (ie, on the D-9 with the Gloss coat on, if you look close you can see scratches from 800grit sandpaper in places - the Matte coat should fix most of that tho). Thus "Orange" is going to need to be primed and wet-sanded to a much higher standard; its going to fun, once I get over the hurdle of the wings.

So, the wings... Well, I got rid of the locator pins (they were only throwing things off) and will need to prepare the joints with a file; both to make sure of a flat mating surface and to remove some flash in the join at the rear of the flaps. I'm thinking of getting some brass rod for inside the wings (to stop things warping) and when I do finally glue things up, Im thinking of clamping things to a 'dihedral' jig, to make sure things stay as straight as possible - there are another TEN DML/Dragon/Italeria Ta 152's here, plus an RV Resin Fw 190C-0 (V20), so if I build the jig properly, it wont go to waste (do I really need TEN Ta 152's? I dont know, but for some reason, I want some more! Do I really need Eighteen Fw 190D's also? I think I have a problem...). Yes, it means more work this time, but it'll pay off if it does the job!

Upper Surfaces I am thinking of bonding to the fuselage if I can make sure I can keep everything true - I REALLY hate working those wing root joins and bonding to the fuselage first, as per the HobbyBoss Ta 152C-1, made life SOOO much easier. First order of business is to establish correct alignment, then tape everything in place and make sure it still lines up with the lower wing (what a nightmare that would be if it didnt!!!); when that passes the plan is to add some alignment tabs to the inside of the wing and root and let that dry. Only then will we bond the wings.

In the mean time, the lower wings will be structured with some Brass Rod (on my list of things to do, today (Wednesday) or tomorrow), which I will try and get as far out along the wing as possible, even if this means shaving with a file. The rod will be set inside a guide of thin pastic strips (so I can make sure the rods are in exactly the same places on both sides), before being super glued in place. That, plus the curing dihedral jig should give us a ROCK SOLID final product - see, University and Engineering and etc, come in handy for something! hahaha...

As for Superdetailing plheure2, just wait and see what I come up with once I have built some confidence again!
i) Ta 152E-1 with all the engine covers off (Dragon Ta 152C-1 + Aires Engine + Quickboost Exhausts and Flaps and a LOT of home made Etched Metal and Plastic Parts!)
ii) Fw 190D-9 601088 "Black 1+~", with engine covers off, gun covers off, etc, as it was being rebuilt in 1945 (Probably the Tamiya kit + EagleCals + Verlinden + Aires Guns and again, a LOT of Home Made)
iii) Fw 190A-8/R11 "White 9" - I have a thing for night fighters too, so am going to scratchbuild all the night fighter mods and might open some bays up
iv) Me 262B-1a/U1 "Red 10" - Recently picked up a VERY cheap Dragon Me 262B-1a/U1 with the Verlinden update included (to fix the engine intakes) - thinking about REALLY going to town on that!
v) Fw 190D-14 or D-15 - using the DB603 cowl from the Ta 152E-1 project, scabbed onto a Dragon D-9 to represent one of the D-14/-15 that were modifed, but never delievered

And I havent even gotten to the Eduard Fw 190D's yet

So many ideas! In fact, there is probably 5 years of modelling sitting here next to me (excluding the 1:72 Ta 183 'What if' hardened shelter diorama plan, which is probably 6 months right there)... No, must focus on a maximum of 2 projects at a time!


D

 

[Zaggy]

BTW Wayne, you dont have another of those Falcon Ta 152 Vacuform kits?

 

[Zaggy]

Been busy again the last few days, but have been working on colour. Its taken a few goes, but I think I cam up with a Mixing of RLM23 and RLM27 that I was happy with, then transfered that to a larger mixture.

My logic is that JG 301 wore a Rumpfband of RLM23 Red and RLM27 Yellow and of course the Staffeln also used those colours for Tactical Codes, thus quantities of both colours would have logically been on hand and the ideal starting place. So I started mixing and painting on scrap with plstic card until I was happy; this occured at approx 70% red, 30% yellow, +/-5% or so - I wasnt focused on accurate measures yet. Then with that scrap plastic in hand, went paint shopping and ened up with a slew of reds, oranges and yellows, plus a blue - just in case I needed to shade that red slightly. But that was not to be; the final large scale mix was painful simple.

Into a new, 22mL Lifecolor Acrylic LC55 (FS 12246 Gloss Orange), I added 10.5mL (+/- 0.5mL) of Lifecolour Acrylic LC06 (FS 31302 Matte Red and my match for RLM23) and voila! Done! I would have preferred to use another gloss colour, but they were out of Gloss Red - either way, my sample card appears to be drying up as a very glossy satin, hardly distinguishable (gloss-wise) from the gloss orange next to it.

This is going to be BLINDING when done!!!


D

 

[Zaggy]

OK, well I admit I had my doubts about all these 'horror-stories' about the Ta 152 wing; I have heard all manner of stories in my life, where people claim this and have experienced that - most of which are usually quite easy to over come. I'm beginning to think maybe the Ta 152 Wing Stories have not been exaggerated! The tops don't quite fit the bottom, the bottom doesnt quite fit the fuselage and the joined wing sections dont quite mate at the wing root.

I'm sitting here a bit mentally exhausted by this... I have sanded, test fitted, measured, jigged, clamped, test fitted, measured, flexed, spacered, clamped, jigged, measured, etc, etc, etc; and I still haven't glued a thing! On the positive side (I guess) it has become apparent the ONLY way to do this is going to be wing tops -> fuselague, then mate that assembly to the lower wing. The issue will be the THIN strip on the upper wing halves that forms the trailing edge behind the flaps - this will be the key alignment device. Perhaps I will clamp the lower wing into place, in order to use that as a guide on how to position the wing top, being careful to glue on the centre of the joint; once that has hardened, come back and glue the front and rear of the join from inside the wing.

I suspect once I get this first Ta 152 done, the rest will be easier!

 

[Crimea_River]

Well, there won't be anyone who can say the colour will be wrong. Hope you get the wing sorted.

 

[fubar57]

Great job Zaggy. Regarding your comments on Macro photography. From now on, before posting anything here, I will take a picture and study it. It seems to be a second set of unforgiving eyes that will always show my mistakes after I've given myself a pat on the back. Keep up the great work.

Geo

 

[Zaggy]

I wouldn't bet on that, mate! This is looking like one of those colours that EVERY MAN AND HIS DOG are going to have an opinion on. Still, I've tried to be as scientific and logical as possible nased upon:
i) the Crandall statement that both Cescotti and Aufhammer both picked the 75% Red 25% Yellow colour independantly (as being the closest match Crandall could show them), the profile that is provided in a) the Hitchcock Ta 152 book, b) the EagleCal Ta 152 decal sheet #EC-134 and c) the CMK 'Special Drawings' Fw190D/C Ta152 book;
ii) the FS number provided by EagleCals and Hitchcock, being FS21310 (which I am assuming to be FS595b), which despite being stated as just an approximation, I felt was a different colour to that shown in the profiles (see -> FED-STD-595 Federal Standard 595 Colors FS 21310, ) and,
iii) my gut, based upon mixing what I feel are the best two matches I have for what would have been the two source colours.

After mixing, I setted on FS22246 Orange being the closest match, however the LifeColor version of FS12246 I felt was a bit too yellow once I got it home and compared a sample to some colour chips... So I measured and added FS31302 Red (the closest LifeColour match to the suggested FS21310) til I got what I felt was right. Ironically, now that I compare the resultant colour, I find it probably is (slightly) closer to my chip of 21310 than it is to 12246; either way, its hovering in the middle somewhere!... If youve a properly calibrated monitor, compare the two -> FED-STD-595 Federal Standard 595 Colors FS 21310, 12246

Right now, the Ta 152 is clamped into a jury rigged jig (try saying that 10 times after a few vodka's!!!), with a 5-7mm long piece of wing root join curing. I figure, once that has cured, I can getly flex/clamp the remainder of the root to get the best seam possible. Its going to be a slow process I think, but as above, once I have figured it out once, I should be ok with the other nine Ta 152H's I seem to have amassed. I wonder if the Dragon Ta 152C kits have the same 'issue'???

I think the next project will be one of the two or three Tamiya D-9's I have - these things supposedly 'build themselves' and with the verlinden kit installed, most of the area's of concern should be masked; though I might look into some of the Eagle Radiator cowls, which are supposedly very good!

 

[Zaggy]

@Fubar - macro photography is one of my favourite forms of the art; you can do amazing things with a leaf or flower or whatever and get amazing textures and shapes... apply it to you freshly painted and assembled cockpit or engine bay and its enough to make you want to sob and slash your wrists. I've come to the conclusion also that it is a useful tool, but realistically it shows up so much more than the Mk.1 eyeball will EVER see and thus is probably an unrealistic goal to set ourselves. That said, if you look at work by ppl like Wayne here, I dont see any of my issues in his photo's!

Perhaps everything he builds is twice the size of the stated scale? ie: when he says Aoshima 1:72 Ta 152H, he's actually building the ZM 1:32 Ta 152H, or his 1:48 Fw 190A-8 is some sort of Trumpeter 1:24 Fw 190A-8? Or perhaps Wayne is just REALLY SMALL, like 1ft tall and thus he is able to better work on small stuff

Dan

 

[Zaggy]

Success!!! With one wing at least. If I can mate its opposite as accurately and neatly as this, I will be WELL CHUFFED! So, what did I do? As mentioned previous, with the lower wing section gaffa-taped in place (yes, I said Gaffa-tape, so I could flex and push and prod, etc), I marked some alignment marks inside the wing upper surface through the wheel wells and used a small piece of tape to just hold that top surface in place against the fuselage, giving me a chance, once the lower surface was off, to check it all out...

Then I flipped things over and rested the fuselage on a piece of 25x50mm pine, resting the fuselage on the 'deck' behind the cockpit before TAPING the fuselage down. Using balsa, tape, pegs, pens, scrap plastic, I jigged the wing generally into place and only glued the middle most 5-7mm of wing. The first go was with super-glue, but that went off way too fast, so it was back to solvent glue after cleaning that up! When the glue dried I inspected, was happy and repeated this at the rear of the wing root, this time using a small clamp to make sure alignment was ok - I only glued about 4-5mm this time. Once THAT had dried things were carefully untaped and flipped over - I braced the wing to the correct dihedral with some masking take and inspected... I noted the front of the join had spread a little, so using my hands as clamps, gently flexed it back and dropped a small drop of super glue in place... Then I sat back and admired it!

After a peaceful few minutes, I whipped off the tape (to find things RIDGID!!! I'm leaving that alone right now!! ) and finished the join up by painting more solvent glue into it, from the underside...

Yes, I scribble on my models; things like what needs checking and aligning and Left/Right - helps me remember stuff

Once the other wing is on and both the exterior and interior main gear bay joints are sorted, I'll paint and apply decals. As you'll see in pictures of the NASM Ta 152H and Late Fw 190D-9's, bare metal can often be seen with its alloy codes still on it; normally 'structural' alloys are printed in Red, 'non-structural' in black. In the case of the Ta 152H, from what I can gather, the wing upper surfaces are skinned in 3126.9 (red) (it appears some of the wing ribs are also tagged in red); while things like the engine cowls are in 3116.5 (black). So, again its decal making time - but after the second wing goes on...

D


Addendum - Right Wing is slowly curing now... A few dots of super-glue, the rest in solvent and a brace of masking tape...

 

[vikingBerserker]

Very nice.

 

[Zaggy]

Yep, just dry-fitted the lower wing section... Upper-wings -> Fuselage is very definately the way to go. From the results of the dry-fitting, it lookas if things are going to end up fairly neat.

Zagg's Trimaster-DML-Dragon-Hasegawa-Italeri Ta 152H-1 notes:

1. Lightly file all mating surfaces
2. Forget about the locating lugs - make your own tabs after test-fitting. And get rid of all lugs and holes for the exhaust stacks - its the only way to make the fit right!
3. Glue fuselage in two sections i) rear fuselage, use the right angle at the rear of where the lower wings fit, for alignment of the bottom seam; and ii) forward fuselage, use the radiator area to clamp and align based upon the top seam. Insert cockpit afterwards.
4. As time consuming as it is, attach upper wings to fuselage, using the leading edge as the point of alignment. Glue in short sections.

Dan

 

[Zaggy]

As I mentioned in the D-9 thread, I've decided to work on a scribing template for the Ta 152H; I figure since I am making a H-0, I may as well try and rescribe the odd wing panel that differentiate a H-0 from a H-1.