Subject: Re: Review/Gallery Submission - Tri-Master 1/48th Ta-152H-1
From: "Steve Bamford ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: "Chip Jean" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 7 Nov 2004 15:29:59 -0800

Hi Chip,
I just wanted to let you know your article went on ARC today.  Thanks for sending it in.   

Steve Bamford
Aircraft Resource Center
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com
 
Live like there is no tomorrow;
Love like you've never been hurt.
Work like you don't need the money.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Chip Jean 
  To: [email-masked] 
  Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2004 1:46 PM
  Subject: Review/Gallery Submission - Tri-Master 1/48th Ta-152H-1

  Gallery Template #09

  "1/48 Tri-Master Ta-152H-1" 

  by "Chip Jean"
  --------------------

        Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 01.jpg here 

      This is the Tri-Master 1/48th scale Ta-152H1, one of the first multi-media, "hi-tech" kits, this one having several frets of photo-etch, white metal parts, and metal rod. 

      I remember Tri-Master causing quite a sensation in the modeling community when they started releasing their "hi-tech", multi-media kits in the late 80's. They were ahead of their time, both in the level of detail and price. Tri-Master kits were expensive! Paying $40 or more for a kit back then was almost unheard of...at least for me it was. When it came to contests, I remember cries of "unfair" and howls of protest that these kits shouldn't be permitted to compete in the Out-of-the-Box category. However, what won out was the common sense fact that it's not what's in the box, but what the modeler does with what's in the box. This same kit was later released by Italieri, and if I recall correctly, DML/Dragon, but with the Tri-Master's white metal parts done in plastic. I don't know if either of those brands included the PE in their boxings. This kit has been around for a while, and has been reviewed thoroughly, so I'll just hit the highlights of my experience with it. 

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      In reviews of Tri-Master's Fw-190 kits, I've read about fit problems, and even though the Ta-152 has a different fuselage and wings, I half expected it to be bad fitting too. However construction went very smoothly. Parts breakdown is very conventional and fit was good all around.

      If I have any complaints about the kit at all, it's that the plastic itself was the most brittle plastic I ever worked with. I learned the hard way right at the start that nippers or cutting pliers could not be used to remove parts from the sprues. Every part I removed that way cracked or broke. Everything had to be cut from the sprues using a razor saw.

      Many of my models have a humorous or disastrous story about something that happened during construction, and this kit is one of those. Remember I said how brittle the plastic was? Well, add to that the fact that the one-piece lower wing was warped pretty badly and you have a disaster in the making. Understanding this, I was very carefully trying to bend it back into shape, using hot water and a hair dryer to soften the plastic. While in the middle of this process, one of the guys came over. He commented that if I wanted to get that wing back into shape, I'd have to bend it more than I was doing. I told him about the brittle plastic, and he said, "ahhhh, watch, I'll show you how to do it". He took the wing from me and started bending it. I said, "Hey, careful, you're gonna....." Yup, you guessed it...S-N-A-P!!!!! The wing broke. 
  > FORTUNATELY, he had the Italieri kit and brought me his wing. UNFORTUNATELY, he didn't have the wing spar that attaches to the bottom wing and runs through the back of the landing gear wells. FORTUNATELY, I had the one from my broken wing. UNFORTUNATELY, I'd already glued it into the broken wing (before it broke). FORTUNATELY, I was able to remove most of it intact. UNFORTUNATELY, the key word in the last sentence is "MOST", meaning some of it broke (remember I said how brittle the plastic was?).>  FORTUNATELY, included in my menu of kit assembler skills is the ability to form rudimentary parts with sheet plastic, which I used to fix the broken wing spar, and finally, FORTUNATELY, my replacement wing wasn't warped.

          
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       So, with the wing disaster out of the way, construction proceeded normally with no serious fit problems. The kit comes with a pretty complete engine and the option to open up the cowling, but even if you choose not to open up the doors, you should build, paint and install the engine since it will be visible through the landing gear wells. I chose to leave my cowling buttoned up since I love the lines of the long-nosed FWs and, quite honestly, because I couldn't get the @#$!{}*&^%@ photo etch hinges together correctly. A stroke of luck though, my shortcoming in making photo etch hinges displayed itself before I cut the cowling, so all I lost was one evening messing with the hinges and another making the fully detailed engine fit inside the closed engine cowlings.

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      Now, onto painting and one of the reasons I hate to do research; conflicting information. The kit instructions show RLM 76 on the bottom and sides, with RLM 81 & 82 on the top of the fuselage and mottling on the side of the fuselage, and RLM 75 & 82 on top of the wing. However, I remembered that the instructions in the Aoshima Ta-152 recommended RLM 81 & 82 on the wings. I did a little bit of additional research and found sources that claimed both; 81/82 on the wings, and 75/82.  I 'm sure some of the accuracy police out there are yelling at their monitor right now,  " Dude, it should be 82-83 " , and some others are yelling,  " I 'd have gone with 75-82 ".  What to do, what to do? Well, not being one to let conflicting research or issues of accuracy hold up a project, I painted it the way I wanted to; 81 & 82 on the wings and fuselage. I used Model Master paints shot through my Badger 150. 

       Several coats of Testors Glosscote, and the kit was ready for decals. I used the kit decals, which are typical of those from the mainstream Japanese model manufacturers; well printed, but slightly thick. They reacted well to the standard decal solvents, and once settled down and dry, looked good. I hit the model with another coat of Glosscote, followed by a wash of turpenoid-thinned oil paint, then a final coat of Testors Dullcote.

   Overall, this was an enjoyable project. It went fairly quickly, and other than the brittle plastic and wing disaster, didn't give me any problems. I'm now looking forward to doing Tri-Master's Fw190D-9 to see if it fits as badly as everyone says.

   

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  Photos and text © 2003 by "Chip Jean"