Finally, it's just before the release of the Ta152!! At last it goes to you!!

Hello to all Ta152 fans and SWS fans. This is Shigeta of Zoukei-mura.

At last we are close to the days just before the release of the SWS 1/32 Ta152, and as is usual for me, no matter what I look at, no matter what I do, some part of me, no, perhaps all of me is focused on the Ta152, and this is how I enjoy my every day.

An image perfect for the Ta152, cutting through the blue skies of Europe!
Look at how the blue of the stratosphere dazzles in the illustration!
Meeting to decide the package design. Carefully scrutinizing the suitability of the colors for the cover art, the design, the logo, the layout, and so on, to make it "absolutely spot-on for the German Air Force"!

Of course, I must say I'm sure that all of you who have already pre-ordered the Ta152 are the same. Thank you so much for your pre-orders.

For those who have pre-ordered, do not worry, it will soon be released! ......is what I want to be able to declare to you, but!
But unbelievably, the transport ship that was carrying the 1/32 Ta152 was visited with an accident; due to the very large Typhoon #13 that assaulted China from the Philippines recently, all mail flights were cancelled.

Goodness, what is this. Of all things, for a typhoon with wind speeds exceeding 90 meters to occur at this time of year!

And not only that, but yesterday that typhoon and a low pressure system in the neighboring Sea of Japan combined, and since the beginning of meteorological observation a record-setting amount of rainfall was recorded as far as the Amami Islands of Japan, exceeding 800mm in 3 days. There was even news that serious damage was caused to the villages and streets in the Amami Islands.

Those of you in the vicinity of the Amami Islands, I truly hope that you will take the utmost of vigilance and care to ensure that no further damage occurs.
Yes, and even as this is going on, Typhoon #14 is sweeping by the Japanese islands heading north!! And at the same time, the first snows are falling in Hokkaido!?? What on earth is with this weather lately!! As much as anything, please all of you take the utmost care of your health.

Anyway, moving on to the Ta152 kit, once it arrives safely in Japan, we will begin including the pre-order bonus figures that Zoukei-mura worked so diligently on, as well all other pamphlets, survey forms, etc, and then delivering them in the order that pre-orders were received. Zoukei-mura's preparations are already completely finished!

It's not just the details of the equipment itself, but also the figures (the movement of the people) through which you will get to know the construction of the craft! Even separately these figures create a replete scene. Put it together with the pre-order bonuses and you can expand the world view still further! (Pictured are bonuses 2 & 3)

I sincerely hope that you will enjoy this precious time of anticipation just prior to arrival for just a little longer.

And this time, as with our previous Shinden kit, the Ta152 runners were arranged in 3 colors (4 if you include clear).

The body and main parts of the fuselage are grey, the landing gear and other auxiliary parts are silver, the propeller, tires, guns and so on are black, and finally the canopy and other transparent parts, totaling 8 large runners altogether.

For each part we considered the best shade to express its nuance for the final cast color. The plastic itself has a warm tenderness that will give you the feel of kits from old days long gone! Even without painting them, the configuration of the parts and the multiple colors used in casting will give you a complete feel like that of the real engine! Even like this its distinction is outstanding!

In addition, for the injection molding used in production, in accordance with my strong requests, the factory gave firm instructions that each individual runner was cast carefully and given sufficient cooling time.

This is because, while plastic's greatest feature is its thermoplasticity (its disposition to liquefy according to temperature), this also means that it is necessary to be vigilant against thermal distortion caused by this. I'm sure all of you have had at least one or two bitter experiences where you've finally gotten the kit, but when you open the box, just looking at the large wing and main body parts shows you how tragically warped they are.

Even for me, there's been plenty of times where even if it's been ten-odd years since I purchased them, when I open the box, that piercing reality is enough to weigh down my shoulders in sheer dismay. Depending on the situation, there's even been times where I've forcibly glued them together even though the left and right parts of the body don't fit together no matter what, meaning that a few months later it will crack apart from there, and my disappointment becomes two-fold.

Accordingly, is it to avoid that sort of tragedy occurring with our SWS that the instruction was given for them to be specifically inserted into an inverse mold created in advance for the purpose of cooling, so that the injected runner parts can be quickly cooled, and then to wait until the hot runners have properly cooled and completely solidified. By doing this, not only can we protect against parts mistakenly being lost, but accurate runners that match the original base pieces can also be completed.

We place them in these inverse molds and check if the runners are warped or if any parts are missing. What's that, perfect?! The commander-in-chief is satisfied! A diligent check of every single part! We can't have the kit that's finally been completed to be warped at the very last moment.

Although it's been a long wait, we want to deliver it to you so that when the SWS Ta152 kit arrives in your hands, in that moment it will be "a fresh new kit worked straight off the metal molds".

 

Only a few days now! I really hope that you're looking forward to it!

 

Well then, the pieces have now moved into place in the development of SWS, at last bringing us to a new stage where we challenge ourselves with the third release.

And the third release!? Yes, yes, that one. That super-famous tough guy. It's a big, huge opponent, appropriate for the SWS Development Team to challenge with all their might for the third release.
The setting in which it appeared, the superiority of its design ideology, and most of all, the way it crowded the battlegrounds as the first active reciprocating engine craft; it was all that with which it fully made the value of its existence known throughout the aviation world.

It is an opponent that not only I myself but all of the Zoukei-mura team unanimously wanted to do no matter what.

And so now, we are all of us in a mental state of excitement in which we are all but trembling all over; well, you can probably imagine for yourselves the sort of state we're all in.

Particularly if you are perhaps of the same generation as me, someone in their 60s, you're probably thinking just the same thing as I am.

It was roughly 45 years prior to now. I was still in my twenties. Every night, every night, putting them together with all my heart and soul. There are craft that can still paint those fond memories vividly in my mind.

"The only thing it can't do is fly in the sky." There was a famous kit acclaimed in the advertisements just like that. The scale itself was 1/40, which if you consider it now is a mid-way size, but it was a famous kit released by American company Revell.

With a strong physique fitting for its reputation as a tough guy, surely for an enemy there would be nothing more frightening, and for an ally nothing more reassuring. Even now a famous kit and well-known item. This image is of the Revell one built by the commander-in-chief forty years ago.
 

The finished craft that I put together had all the movable pieces fixed, and painted the white of a ship-borne aircraft. Around that time it was even picked up for the 'Reader Submission Model Corner' in an issue of 'Aviation Fan Magazine' published in 1972, so there might even be someone out there who remembers it. In fact if there's anyone out there who happens to have an actual copy of that issue, I'd be most grateful if you'd contact me...

At any rate, at that time, 1/72 scale was said to be the standard for aircraft models, or was the commonplace size at any rate, so in those days even 1/48 scale was said to be a huge size. However when the full presence of this guy's 1/40 scale size came along...! It surely packed a punch, its might was unparalleled, and goodness, it oppressed the others, seeking to hold on to its reign with the name of the strongest scale model ever. And for those times surely its very existence had all the appearance of a king.

And not only that, but it was a US Navy warship aircraft. In addition to its size, in addition to its dynamic molding style, it had a loading capability and combat capability to rival even the large scale four gun bombers of the time. Yes, it drove its way straight into my young heart.
And the package art for that kit, magnificently capturing its gallant figure, poised to land on a warship! This, too, was ridiculously wonderful. It had such an intensity that just looking at it, it was as if I could truly hear the roar of the engines. I was madly, blindly in love.

Even now I can still clearly recall the package, magnificently adorning the window of the hobby shop I always went to, and how it was the only one amongst all that glittered and shone.

Yes, that's right. As is the case with me, I have that odd part of me where as usual that and that alone goes around and around in my head. From the moment that I decide "I'm buying it!" until the time I'm able to buy it, in that instant when at last I buy it, and then during the time when I carry it home, and then open the package, in the moments when I check each part one by one, when I separate the parts, do a trial assembly, and then take them apart again... goodness me, at those times I really am not myself at all.

It's because of that that if I even once begin assembly, then my every day will continue doing nothing but that alone.

From morning until night, that alone will continue to go around and around inside my head. Until it's completed, all that's inside my head will be forever soaring off to think about it.

While this is a usual thing, my thoughts were ruled by a model that was no longer a model, with the engine roar of the real thing, the sound of it cutting through the air, and the gallant figure it displayed.

And how about that, now I myself have become the owner of a plastic model maker, and am in this dream-like position where I can freely choose the craft I like and offer them for sale; there is no other expression I could ever find to describe this than 'happiness'.

It is truly as if my dream has been realized. Goodness me, how fortunate, how dreamy, and how lucky I am!

And now, yet another aircraft that is like a dream to me, is steadily progressing day by day as the third SWS release.

Next time I might even be able to announce a quiz for guessing the craft, along with some more details about the development of the kit itself.

What's that, you already know its name?!! Yes, that's right. That's right. If it's just the name itself, that's easy.
But you need to fill in all the blanks, and correctly complete the whole sentence, so I hope you'll give it your best shot from beginning to end.

And so, until that time.

Well then, from here I'm going to go just ahead of you, and thoroughly test the Ta152 kit to my heart's content. I hope you don't mind!

Hideyuki Shigeta
President
Zoukei-mura

Read the Continuation

Product NameFocke-Wulf Ta152H-1
Price9500 JPY (+fee)
ModelInjection Plastic Model Kit, molded parts in 4 colors including clear (estimated).
Parts182 parts (estimated)
SizeLength 338mm, Height 133mm, Width 452mm
NoteGlue is required for assembly.

Order via Volks Japan is sold out.

Order via Volks USA is sold out.

The differences between ordering from Volks USA and Volks Japan are:

 


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