Ta 152H-1 Concept Note Book Review

By Michael Benolkin

Review

Zoukei-Mura Inc. has certainly raised the bar on the quality of kits produced in 1/32 scale. As part of this strategy, they've published a series of monographs, one for each major subject produced, under the banner of Concept Note. This is the second in the series and covers the Focke Wulf (Tank) Ta 152H-1.

The title is published in Japanese and English with narrative and captions provided in both languages. The idea behind Concept Note is to provide the modeler with a one-stop reference for how the real subject looks and how the model looks at each stage in the assembly process. What's more, you're not looking at just one modeler's approach to the subject, there are several examples shown with full-color photos of each throughout their assembly process. Each modeler has chosen a different way to portray the aircraft with varying levels of flight readiness or open maintenance going on so you can examine what these options look like and how they will work for your own project.

There are numerous photos of the full-scale subject as the research team was given access to the sole remaining example in storage at the Smithsonian Institute's Silver Hill facility (before it was relocated to Udvar-Hazy). These photos are augmented with period photographs and drawings which provide nice references of interior and exterior details. The title goes on to walk through the finer points of building the Zoukei-Mura kit plus detailed looks at several builds from the kit.

Whether you're tackling your own Zoukei-Mura 1/32 Ta 152H-1, one of the Trimaster/DML releases, this great reference will help you attain the detail and appearance of the aircraft beyond the simplified painting instructions in each kit.

Definitely recommended!

This title can be purchased from the Volks USA store.

My sincere thanks to Zoukei-Mura Inc. for this review sample!