In-box Review of the Revell 1/72 Focke Wulf Ta 152 H

 

Unboxing and review of

- Revell 1/72 Focke Wulf Ta 152 H -

a peek inside the box.

    Time for another review. This week, it's the Focke Wulf Ta 152 H in 1/72 scale by Revell. The Ta 152 was an evolution of the fantastic Fw. 190 and was meant as a high altitude, high speed bomber interceptor. Whilst not the prettiest German built aircraft of WWII (in my opinion). It was a very capable aircraft. So let's take it down to the bench and see if Revell gave this aircraft the attention it deserves.

Box art

the front of the box.

    The box art features a Ta 152 H diving through a formation of what looks like B-17s, successfully hitting the portside engine of one of the bombers. Not the most exciting artwork, to be honest. For a scene that's supposed to look dynamic, it looks very static. Perhaps, it would have worked better if the scene would have featured the Ta 152 during it's attack run rather than after. The artwork of course, is not a reflection of the kit inside. But it does help sell kits. And a kit with a more exciting artwork, will obviously sell  more copies than one with a boring artwork.

    In the top left corner we have the Revell logo followed by the name of the aircraft. Below the logo is the scale of the kit along with the mention that this is a plastic kit, written in a few different languages. Below that are the measurements of the completed kit. In this case; a fuselage length of 14.8cm and a wingspan of 20.2cm. Giving this aircraft an almost modern glider like look. It's also what allowed it to be a formidable high altitude interceptor.

    Below this is some text that reads; aircraft illustration, referring to the image on the right. And below that is the item number, 03981. In case you want to get a copy of this kit for yourselves.

one of the long edges.

    On the first of the long edges we are taking a look at, we have a very brief history of the Ta 152 H written in a few languages. Then we have have a short description of what's inside the box along with the most basic colors needed to complete this model. These are also written in a few languages.

other long edge.

    On the opposite side we are told that the kit contains an unassembled kit written in a few languages, a barcode, contact info for Revell GmbH, and a copyright of 2013. That is most likely the date this kit was re-boxed and not the actual tooling date. Knowing Revell, this is most likely a much older kit than that.

short edge.

    On the short edges we have pretty much the same information as on the front along with a skill level of 3. However, in Revell's case skill level means absolutely nothing as they link the skill level with the number of parts in the kit. The higher the "skill level" the more parts there are in the box. But does in no way reflect the actual, physical skill required to build the kit. So, you could buy a kit with a skill level of 2 with say 20 parts but be a challenge to build due to fi issues. At the same time, you could have a level 5 kit with 150+ parts that almost falls together like LEGO. So, yeah, the skill level is very rarely a good indication of build difficulty when it comes to Revell kits. All this information is mirrored on the other side as well.

back of the box.

    On the back we have a few other kits from the Revell range you might be interested. as
well as a teaser of Revell's paints and other scale modeling supplies. On the right, at the top, we have recycling information and bellow a description of Revell's skill system. I like the inclusion of the other kits, as this might give you some inspiration for what to buy next. Since this is an older kit, the offerings displayed here might or might not still be available.

Inside the box

inside the box.

    Inside the box we have our bag of sprues, the instruction manual, a health and safety leaflet and decals. So let's take a closer look at the contents, starting as usual with the paperwork.

Documentation

health and safety leaflet front.

health and safety leaflet back.

    First up we have a health and safety leaflet containing useful information to stay safe whilst handling sharp and otherwise dangerous objects. This is written in a few different languages spread across the two sides of the paper.

instruction manual.

    The instruction manual is printed in black and white, so already not my favorite. On the front we have the same artwork we've seen on the box, only rendered in black and white. Below that, is a short operational history of the Ta 152H written in both English and German. This is a bit more in depth than what we've seen on the box. And as usual, I highly recommend giving this a quick read.

quick build tips.

    On the inside, we can find some quick build tips, very useful if you've just started out, or are still a beginner. At the bottom, there are a handful of illustrations demonstrating the points covered above in text.

build symbols.

    Then we have a short section on the symbols you'll come across throughout this leaflet along with a short description of their meaning in several languages.

paint callouts.

    This is followed by the paint callouts, with paint codes given for Revell's own acrylic and enamel paints, but of course you can replace these with the equivalents from your preferred paint manufacturer.

spruee maps.

    Then we have the sprue maps. Always useful to see where a certain part might be as well as to make sure you are not missing any parts.

cockpit and propeller assembly.

    Then we are on to the building steps, starting off as usual with aircraft kits with the cockpit. This is a very simple process, you only need to glue the pilot figure onto the seat. Then we move on to assembling the propeller which comes in four parts; the spinner, the prop blades, engine cowling and a retaining pin. By the looks of it, with careful glue application, you can have the propeller spinning freely.

landing gear assembly.

    Then we move on to assemble the landing gear. A fairly simple affair, just slide the wheel onto the "axel" then glue in the hub. Once again, with careful glue application, you could have the wheels rolling freely. This has to be repeated for the other landing gear.

air filter assembly.

    Next we need to assemble the air filter which comes in two halves. It makes no sense to me why Revell decided to mold this part in two halves, but they did.

cockpit, fuselage and propeller assembly.

    Then we need to sandwich the "cockpit" between the two fuselage halves and add the propeller to the completed fuselage.

wing assembly.

    Then we need to assemble the wings and cannons. You just simply sandwich the top and bottom halves, making sure to add in the cannons before gluing everything together. Then we need to secure the wings with a couple of clothes pins or similar whilst the glue dries and hardens.

wing to fuselage assembly.

    Next we have to attach the wings to the fuselage, add the horizontal stabilizers, the air filter, radio antennas, and inboard landing gear bay doors. But you have the option to also display this aircraft with the gears raised in which case, you can skip the gear bays doors as you have separate parts for a raised gear configuration.

adding the landing gear to the aircraft.

    Then we move on to installing the landing gear and tail gear. Once again, if you wish to have the aircraft displayed with the gear raised, you can completely skip this step.

raised gear configuration.

    This is a more straight forward process as you have separately molded parts for this configuration. Of course, if you want this configuration, you can ignore some of the assembly from the previous two steps.

cockpit canopy assembly.

    Lastly, we need to install the canopy actuator and canopy itself. Unfortunately there is no option for an open cockpit configuration without modifying the clear canopy part.

painting guide.

    Then we are on to painting the aircraft. The paint guide is printed in black and white, and you probably already know my stance on this, but in case you don't, I really don't like this as it's very difficult to see what colors you need at a glance, and if you look closely at the paints diagram, you'll see that some of the colors used use the exact same shades of gray. Good luck figuring that one out. Anyway, the camo scheme is for "green 9" of Stab. Jg.301, registration 150168, flown in April 1945.

Decal sheet

decal sheet with protective film.

decal sheet overview.

    In typical Revell fashion, the decals are actually pretty good, the colors are all nice and vibrant, registration is really good, color coverage is good and details are all nice and crisp, at least for the most part.

Luftwaffe crosses and stencils.

Luftwaffe crosses.

Luftwaffe crosse continued.

    The Luftwaffe crosses look really good. The printing is nice and crisp. The small stencils for the red do not walk text as well as the stencils right next to them at 5 and 6 are quite legible, even though the text is really small which is nice to see.

tail stripes.

    The red and white tail stripes are also nicely printed and the colors are really vibrant. Perhaps just a tad too vibrant, but that can always be knocked down with a bit of weathering, so not a big deal.

tail numbers, spinner stripe and registration numbers.

    The Large tail numbers look really good as well. So do the registration numbers and the spinner stripe.

stencils and markings.

    The smaller stencils and markings look good too. With most of the text surprisingly legible. Not a lot to complain about here.

more stencils and markings.

    And most of the rest of the markings look nice as well. I can see a bit of misalignment on the fuel cap stencil at the top left. I'm pretty sure the red dot should be centered inside the black circle. And there is a bit of misalignment on decal number 31; the black circles should be centered inside the red circle. But aside from these, the decals are close to perfect. Not Cartograf levels of quality, but they are more than workable.

The plastic

bag of sprues.

    The sprues come packed inside a plastic bag. This helps protect them during shipping.

sprues unpacked.

    Inside the bag are 4 sprues molded in light gray plastic and a tiny "sprue" for the clear canopy. And this is where the kit falls apart. Just as I was fearing, this is a really old kit. The details are all of the raised variety. Not only that, but they are really soft and barely visible or poorly defined.

sprue A overview.

    On the first of the sprues, we have the engine cowling, some struts, main landing gear wheels, spinner, right side landing gear bay doors, right side horizontal stabilizer and right fuselage half.

engine cowling.

engine cowling, side view.

    The engine cowling is really basic. They tried to mold the cooling flaps on the cowling in a slightly opened position, but it looks terrible. It would have been a lot better if they molded them fully closed. This is not what the cowling should look like on a Ta 152.

random struts.

    Next we have a pair of bars or struts. They are not featured in the instructions, so I can only assume these are for a different variant of the Ta 152. But for the life of me, I cannot figure out what these are supposed to be. There is absolutely no detail visible here that would give away their identity.

main landing wheels and spinner.

    The landing wheels are very basic as well. They look more like disks rather than tires. The spinner doesn't look too bad, aside from the fact that it seems far out of scale and the heaps of flash which will need cleaning.

right gear bay doors and right horizontal stabilizer.

    Next are the landing gear bay doors for the right side. There is one for a gears down configuration and one for a gears up configuration. We also have the right horizontal stabilizer. These are molded really poorly, they are more representations than recognizable components that come from an aircraft. And there's a ton of flash too for good measure.

right fuselage half.

right fuselage half, nose closeup.

right fuselage half, cockpit area closeup.

right fuselage half, tail closeup.

right fuselage half, cockpit interior closeup.

    The fuselage is really naff. Here we can see the vague raised panel line details. Good luck if you need any sanding, and I'm certain you will with this, those "panel lines" will be a distant memory by the time you are done. Flash is also abundant. This will need a lot of cleaning to be even remotely presentable. The cockpit interior is lacking any detail. As such, it's perhaps for the best that you cannot display this model with an open cockpit without some serious modifications.

    There are some ejector pin marks as well, but at least they are in areas that won't be visible.

sprue B overview.

    Sprue B contains our left side horizontal stabilizer and bay gear doors, the inboard gear bay doors for the gears down configuration, tail wheels for gears down and gears up configurations, antennas, cockpit seat, canopy actuator, propeller shaft, air filter, more random bars and left fuselage half.

left horizontal stabilizer and gear bay door.

    The lack of detail and vague shapes continue with the left horizontal stabilizer and left gear bay door. And flash is present all over the place too.

left gear bay doors.

    The left landing gear bay doors are also really poorly molded, with loads of flash all over the place.

inboard landing gear doors.

    The inboard landing gear bay doors for the gears down configuration continue the trend of vague shapes devoid of detail. There's not as much flash here, but that's little consolation at this point.

tail wheels, antennas, seat, random bars.

    Next we have the tail wheels; one for a lowered gear configuration and half a tail wheel for the raised configuration. The circular antenna looks more like a life-preserver than an antenna, The other radio antenna is really thick and perhaps just a tad too long. The seat, if you can even call it that, is basic. And we have two more random bars that are not used in this kit and which I cannot identify, possibly the cannons.

canopy actuator, propeller shaft and air filter halves.

    The canopy actuator is yet again just another basic shape, that looks way to thick for what it's supposed to be, and it even has some sink marks which will need filling. The propeller shaft is basic but at least here it's expected. And then we have the two air filter halves. Again very crudely molded.

left fuselage half.

 

left fuselage half, tail closeup.

left fuselage half, cockpit area closeup.

left fuselage half, nose closeup.

    Unsurprisingly the left fuselage half is just as bad as the right half, with very shallow raised detail that will instantly disappear the moment you touch them with a sanding stick. I didn't mention this when we looked at the right half, but I will mention it here. The "exhaust pipe" details are a joke. They are nothing more than some weird lumps on the sides of the nose of the aircraft than actual exhaust pipes.

gear bay door interior "detail".

    There was a vague attempt at detail on the insides of the inboard gear bay doors. But it's really ugly. Not helping are the massive ugly ejector pin marks. And interestingly, the landing strut is molded straight into the gear bay door. I don't think I've ever seen this before. Regardless, the detail is very basic. The more I look at this the worse it gets. Remember, I'm reviewing this as a 2013 kit, as that is the date printed on the box. Therefore, I'm comparing it to more modern standards. Had Revell given us the actual tooling date, I'd be a lot more lenient. As it is, I can only look at it with a modern lens.

sprue C overview.

    Sprue C contains the lower wing half and the upper right wing half.

right upper wing half.

right upper wing half, tip closeup.

    On the right upper wing half, detail is almost nonexistent. There is a crude representation of an elevator and trim tab, and very vague barely visible raised panel lines. But at least we have a bunch of flash to clean up.

lower wing half mid section closeup.

lower wing half tip closeup.

    The lower half of the wing is just as bad. Barely any detail to speak of. Interestingly, they bothered molding in the spent casings ejector ports. Other than that there's not much to talk about here. Although I will mention the weird circular patterns on the wings. These are all over the place on both the upper and lower surfaces. I'm not entirely suer what they are supposed to be. My best guess is that they are ejector pin marks as I could not see these on any photos of the real plane.

interior of wing surfaces.

    The interior of the wing surfaces are devoid of any detail. You'd think that is to be expected, and that is true for the most part. But there is no gear bay detail either. So unless you are willing to put in the extra work yourself, you are better off just building this with the gears retracted. We can also see a rectangle in the middle of the lower wing half. That is most likely there if you have a stand to place it on.

sprue D overview.

    Sprue D contains the left upper wing half. The massively oversized propellers, a crude pilot figure and two blobs.

upper left wing half, tip closeup.

upper left wing half, wing root closeup.

    The lack of any real detail continues here as well. I'm almost surprised that they molded in the canon blisters near the wing roots. Almost. Other than that, there's not much else to look at here.

propeller.

    The propeller is unsurprisingly basic and weirdly oversized. I can't quite put my finger on it, but the prop looks very weird.

pilot figure.

    Then we have what is supposed to be the pilot figure. And I say supposed, because it barely resembles a human being. Add the massive seam lines and tons of flash and you got yourself a real stinker. I guess it's nice to have a figure, though. Even if it looks like no human being I've ever seen. And next to our supposed pilot, we have some strange blobs. Not sure if they are part of the kit or if they are there only to collect excess plastic, or what. But they are there. If they are supposed to collect excess plastic, they are doing a lousy job of it given the amount of flash present in this kit.

Clear parts

canopy.

canopy transparency demonstration.

canopy sideview.

    Lastly, we have the canopy, the only transparent part in this kit. And just like the rest of the plastic, the molding is questionable at best. Not helping is the fact that the canopy was just thrown inside the bag with the rest of the plastic, meaning it's chock full of scratches all over. It is transparent, to some extent, but I think it would be quite difficult to see anything inside the cockpit with the canopy on. I guess that's for the best given the nonexistent cockpit detail and the weird creature that's supposed to be the pilot.

The good and the bad

    Instructions.

        Pros:

• nice clear build instructions with only a handful of steps.
• sprue maps present
• build symbols present

        Cons:

• black and white painting instructions
• only one paint scheme available

    Decals.

        Pros:

• nice crisp print
• vibrant colors
• tiny legible text

        Cons:

• some registry issues present

    Main sprues.

        Pros:

• there's plastic in the kit

        Cons:

• ancient molds
• barely visible raised pane line detail
• almost nonexistent detail
• loads of flash
• ugly sink marks
• pin marks in difficult to access areas

    Clear parts.

        Pros:

• there is a canopy

        Cons:

• poorly molded
• scratches all over
• very thick framework

Vinal verdict

    First off, lets mention the elephant in the room. This is an old kit regardless of the copyright date printed on the box. Initially I thought it was an old Monogram kit that Revell decided to re-box. It wouldn't be the first time. But this is actually worst. This is an old FROG kit dating all the way back to 1970, at least according to scalemates. And that says a lot about this kit. Even for the time, FROG kits were notoriously bad and outdated which explains the state of this kit. I've said it before, and I'm going to say this until all manufacturers finally get the hint. I have no issues with buying a kit that's almost twice as old as me. But I expect manufacturers to be transparent about the nature of the product you buy so that a potential customer can manage their expectations.

    Had the actual date of the this Ta 152 been made clear from the start, maybe even mention it's original manufacturer, I would have been far more forgiving towards it. As this wasn't the case, I felt obliged to  review it as a kit produced in the early to mid 2010s.

    Unfortunately, I cannot, in good faith, recommend this kit to beginners. Whilst the small parts count would be attractive to first timers. FROG kits suffer from major fitment issues and would prove far too challenging to someone just starting out. The good news is that there are quite a number of alternatives in this scale with one of the most recent tooling of the Ta 152 coming from Aoshima. 

    At the time of purchase, I paid €6.97 for this kit. And honestly, I feel that is far too much given the age and quality of the kit. If you can find it at about half that price and are willing to put up with a kit that will fight you all the way, then, maybe go for it. Otherwise, steer clear and look for a modern tooling of the Ta 152 H.

    With that, I hope you found this review helpful. Let me know if I was too harsh or if I was to kind to this kit in the comments bellow. Subscribe to the blog to get notified of future posts, share the blog with your friends and family. Until next tie, I hope you have a wonderful day and happy modeling, everyone. Cheers! 😁