Armory 1/72 Ta-152 Cockpit Set
By Jacob Russell
This multi-media (resin/acetate/photo-etch) cockpit is designed for either the ArtModel or Dragon/DML Focke-Wulf Ta-152H kits. It consists of 25 parts. Four parts are resin-the control stick, cockpit tub, seat and firewall. The acetate is for the instrument faces and the rest of the parts are photo-etch. The latter parts are on a single, very small fret and they include new rudder pedals, seatbelts, canopy crank, instrument panel coaming, the canopy armor, the instrument panel and the sidewall armor.
The resin parts are very finely cast and have good detail. The photo-etch is also very good and includes the smallest p/e parts that I have ever seen. I would use a magnifier when removing these parts from the p/e fret so that you can actually see what you are cutting(!). I would also attach the fret to some double sided tape, so those tiny parts don't immediately disappear. You will need to remove the aft fuselage upper decking from the kit fuselage halves because this area is cast as part of the cockpit tub. Armory's easy to follow instructions explain this modification. There are no color callouts given; the cockpit should be painted RLM 66 dark grey. I would lighten the paint with neutral grey because the cockpit is so small that you won't see much of it unless you lighten the color.
I have the Dragon Ta-152C rather than the H and the cockpits are similar, so this set should work with either kit. I also have the Aoshima Ta-152H and this cockpit might fit that kit too. The Armory set is an improvement on the kit components and I recommend it. I would like to thank Armory for providing the review sample.
References
Monogram Close-Up 24 - TA 152, by Jeffrey L. Ethell, Monogram Aviation Publications, 1990.