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Reviewed by Mike Powlen

The Focke-Wulf Ta 152 series of piston engine fighter aircraft was possibly one of Dr. Kurt Tanks finest designs of WWII. The Ta 152C-0 was designed to fulfil the role of conventional day-fighter. 

Designed around the new DB 603L/EM liquid-cooled engine with a max output rating of 2100hp and a top speed of 730km/h and armed with 3 MG151/20 cannon and 1 MK108 cannon, this aircraft would have been a very nasty surprise for any Allied if full-scale production had gotten underway during 1944 as planned. A few prototype aircraft were however assigned to Stab JG 301 at Welzow and some may have seen limited combat.

This is R.V. Resin's first full resin kit and what a kit it is! 

The kit comprises of 34 resin parts: two complete resin fuselage halves (thank God, no more chopping up those DML kits) and three piece wings (one lower and two upper). The casting of the resin parts of this kit are quite possibly the best that I have ever seen on any resin kit. 

My example had absolutely no pinholes or flaws anywhere on the resin pieces and there is no warpage of any of the parts. The panel lines are very crisp and straight. The quality is so good that one could mistake this for an polystyrene injection molding.

The cockpit section is made up of a resin tub and control stick. The remainder of this area is photo-etch. Authorities better than I will be able to say if this area is indeed correct or not. Two vacform canopies of the late war blown type are included.  The two fuselage sections are complete with the bulges for the forward 20mm cannon although holes will be needed to be drilled out in the cannon troughs. The large fuselage air intake is completely drilled out.  The forward cowling is a one-piece resin part, thankfully with open cowling flaps. Two photo-etch cooling vents complete this affair. The very wide paddle type VDM-VP propeller blades and spinner are very well done.  The lower wing sections have the proper slots for all of the ejector chutes for the wing and fuselage mounted cannon.  The upper wing halves have the proper bulges for the cannon. The 2 wing mounted MG151 cannon are depicted using stainless steel tubing. The wheel-wells are nicely done and are realistically deep.  The white-metal landing gear struts are works of art along with the associated resin parts that complete the landing gear assembly.

As was the case with my earlier review of R.V.Resin's D-15 conversion, I couldn't resist the temptation to "put some tape to her" and see how things lined up. Well I have to tell you - Gaps? What gaps? There are none! 

This has to be one of the best fitting resin kits ever made, and I've had a bunch. This model looks to be an easy build with very few headaches. A good kit for all you 'first timers" in the resin building department.

To say that a decent 1/48 kit of the Ta 152C has been long overdue is a bit of an understatement. As if you couldn't tell, I like the kit!  If this is the quality that we can expect from future R.V.Resin products then we are all going to be very happy modelers. Congratulations to Radek from R.V Resin - keep 'em coming! Very Highly Recommended. R.V. Resin kits are available via their Website at http://web.quick.cz/rvresin   Review Copyright © 2000 by Mike Powlen Page Created 24 January, 2001 Last updated 22 July, 2003

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