Is Your Ta 152 Being Brought Up Happily!!??

At this time, to everyone who has purchased the Zoukei-mura SWS Ta 152 kit, thank you ever so very much.
Thanks to you, ever since going on sale, the kit has received rave reviews from many in the scale modeling community, and even today, continues to sell in increasing numbers.

 Literally, Zoukei-mura's greatest allies, our strongest supporters, and the people who best understand us, are, to be completely frank, none other than all of you who have purchased the kit. For your powerful support, as the representative of all of Zoukei-mura, I extend our most heartfelt gratitude.

 Also, in spite of the many hardships involved in purchasing SWS items, as we still lack any retailers, we surprisingly received orders and purchases from all over the world, from the nooks and crannies of so many countries.

 To everyone who purchased from us, over the great distance between us I truly, truly thank you.


In the Ta 152 Concept Note are some amazing finished models, with accompanying reviews, that can be seen for the first time! What's this, Mr. Tamenori has already modified his Ta 152 into the base plane that became the H type, the “Fw190V29”!! It is a magnificent finished work.

Another completed Ta 152 model, this time by Mr. Kobayashi!
With sheet metal applied on every surface, it exudes yet another kind of appeal. How dignified!!

 Now, Zoukei-mura will be participating in the Toy Fair that will be taking place in Nuremberg, Germany, from February 3 to February 8.

“This year, our booth will be # F37 in Building 7.”

 We are making preparations to display several finished models in the booth, beginning with the Shinden, the Ta 152, and finally a Test Shot of the Skyraider.

 Also for this year, we will be exhibiting with the aim of establishing retailers in the following regions:

*Europe *Canada *South America *Australia *China

If any of you reading this should be acquainted with a hobby shop or a wholesaler, I would be very happy if you were to inform them of this matter.
One of our employees who can speak English, named Yamanaka, will be on the grounds of the Toy Fair, waiting to hear any of your questions or concerns.

 In the event that you will not be attending the Toy Fair, it's also OK to send an email to the address in the Opinion Corner at the end of my blog entry. You will receive an answer from the person in charge of wholesale.

 Now~ regarding the Ta 152,

 how is it, the state of your Ta 152's build progress?

Certainly, I can surmise that your build is going … well…….?,

Eh? All you've done so far is take it out of the box? What on earth, how did this happen?

 Well then, don't you think that your front line fighter plane squadron is going to be in pinch? Wasn't it you who deliberately created an empty spot at a place of pride in your window, just waiting for your completed Ta 152?

Mm~m, the real pleasure of the scale airplane model hobby!! This can truly be found in finished builds!!

 The actual aircraft, and then the completed work!! That is truly your hobby, no, the very source itself which brings power to your life~~~!

 “I already know that!” you say, well, naturally~.

 Work is busy! Yes, of course, and the truth is, so is mine.

 No free time right now! Of course, of course, I don't have any free time, either.

 I have also been very busy recently, and have been putting off building my beloved model airplanes, so I really have no place to talk, but even so, here is where I would like to presume and say that the trembling delight that you feel when you are close to finishing a model, that joy that wells up in your heart – I wish from my heart that you will soon savor that feeling with the SWS Ta 152.

Come, go at once to your work area and prepare those nippers. Won't you begin your build by cutting the parts free, just like in the assembly manual?
The very moment where you find your resolve is when your chance to achieve completion arrives!

 Oh! This is the very moment when it's time to use your treasured diamond files. It's a waste, just an utter waste, to leave such gems just sleeping in your tool box. Because it's SWS, because it's the Ta 152 in 1/32 scale, it's time to use those super high-efficiency tools.

 Wha~at, as long as you finish what you were doing, it's all right. There's nothing to stop you from immersing yourself in your hobby. Let us proceed in the belief that only allies can be found in those around you.

 This moment, here and now, is your chance to finish the German Air Ministry's strongest fighter plane, known as the Ta 152, to the very end all in one go.

 Here I am talking all high and mighty, and yet, were you to ask me the state of my own Ta 152 … sorry!

 The truth is, I myself have only just finally finished shaping the propeller, so I really have no room to talk.
Moreover, while I've been bustling to and fro, the guys here on the Zoukei-mura Scale Model Development Team have already been steadily finishing each part for the next new model in the SWS, the Skyraider!

 Wo~ow! Before I could even blink.

Because of this, happiness and shock intersect for me every day, such that my eyes and my hands, my head and my heart, are in chaos! Everything just becomes one big jumble.

While being captivated by the Ta 152's beautiful airframe, the inside of my head is filled with the sculpted beauty and intensity found in the flowing form of the Skyraider's fuselage, and thus my heart is disarrayed into pieces.

 “Ah~ I really want the Skyraider right now~!!”

 I'm so happy that the inside of my heart feels as if it will burst open, and it's truly unfortunate that I cannot show you the proof of it.
  In truth, I am so beset with excitement and delight that it is to the point where I can no longer express it.

 And that is all that I will say on that for now.

 Regarding my Ta 152 build, of course I would like to make progress on it. I will continue to do my best, always in the belief that someday the time will come when I will be able to show all of you a finished model that I built!

Yes, yes, speaking of the Ta 152, with all the strength of the Zoukei-mura staff, the “Ta 152 Concept Note,” also known as the Ta 152 kit walkthrough guide, is finished. Finally, it will soon be on sale!!

 At any rate, for this Concept Note, an actual aircraft at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in America is thoroughly covered! Also included are heaps of supporting pictures that are making their first appearance in print, enough to make any scale modeler's mouth water.
 Moreover, as a special bonus for those who pre-order the book, nothing less than a photo set from when we were researching the Ta 152 will be included as a present, free of charge. How exciting!

 As the best kind of documentation of the real aircraft, definitely do get your hands on one.

 Also, participating in the much-anticipated finished model gallery, with build reports included, are distinguished veteran scale modelers from England, France, and Japan!
Their magnificent finished works, along with their secret techniques, are liberally displayed in full color. It's so utterly amazing that it's guaranteed to be useful as a reference!

 Truly, the question is do you read it after you build, or do you read it before you build. That enjoyable but difficult choice awaits you. Please do add the Concept Note to your collection of documentation. Oh, and there are several different photo sets which vary according to type and content, so please look forward to this choice as well. You will likely come to want all of them.

 Some wonderful aspects of the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum are that these witnesses of history, which can also be called the legacy of humanity, are given a reason and a place to exist in surety, where they are held in safekeeping, considerately restored, and studied and validated by many people, with the continued offer of the opportunity and the chance to conduct research.

 While being given a tour through those magnificent buildings, that noble and sincere attitude struck my heart.

Here at this time, on behalf of all airplane fans, I would like to extend my sincerest thanks and gratitude.


The Ta 152 Concept Note finally makes its debut!
Of course, some excellent Ta 152 finished models are included, and you can't miss the heaps of photos and valuable preservation information from an actual aircraft held in safekeeping at the Smithsonian.

Look at this!

Look at this!

And finally, Zoukei-mura challenges the Skyraider's “Mysterious 40-Year Vacuum”!!

 That's right! For the 1/32 size, over a long period of approximately 40 years, no one anywhere released a plastic model kit of the Skyraider, not even a single plane.

 The closest was that Revell masterpiece of a kit existed in the 1/40 scale size, and this can only be called an utter mystery.

 Its magnificent achievements, its powerful presence, and the perfect appeal of its beautiful fuselage adorn the end of the age of reciprocating engine attack planes. Why has it not been made into a model kit for such a long time? It's truly mystifying.

 The time for Zoukei-mura to finally challenge that huge mystery known as making a Skyraider model kit has finally arrived!

Of course, the Skyraider in and of itself comprises the best raw material to fully bring the basic concepts of SWS development to life in all respects. It also gets full marks for difficulty, but that means it gets equally full marks in how worth doing it is!!

 Once it goes on sale, and once you begin building it, there will be awaiting you such excitement and delight that it will be as if you are truly building a real Skyraider.

 The much-anticipated on-sale date is expected to be in the summer of this year. Finally, we have also started accepting pre-orders, to be filled sequentially in the order received.

To begin with, the first Skyraider will be the Navy type.
 There is a Set A and a Set B, and if you want to pre-order both of them at the same time, they are packaged together as Set C, and ta-da~ all of will come with specially developed bonus merchandise distinctive of Zoukei-mura generously included.

 Sets A and B will have bonus figures exclusive to each respective set, and Set C will include an MD3, which saw great activity aboard the aircraft carriers, on top of the figure sets for A and B. Furthermore, all of this will be offered free of charge, which is such an excessive plan that even I myself am rather amazed.

Tonight, let's try visually comparing the Revell Skyraider, the SWS Skyraider, and the Ta 152. What you see to the side of me is the canopy of a T-6 Texan! The purchases I made at OshKosh have finally arrived. The transparent parts are all real glass~ Enough appeal even as a clay model that I'm likely to lose track of time. Even at this prototype stage, the angle of the upper half of the main wings and the dihedral can be sufficiently seen, and it seems so likely to be finished into an airplane model that can truly “fly” that even now I am filled with anticipation.

 The truth is, if it's a Skyraider, no matter how far away it might be, I can tell what it is.
I mean it. Even at air shows, I've never been wrong. Its silhouette has been permanently scorched into the backs of my eyes.

 Even if it's a mere point trailing in the sky, approaching from a great distance, I cannot be mistaken.

 On the contrary, if it's a Skyraider, no matter how small the photo may be, I will not overlook it. I even see it in my dreams. It would probably be accurate to say that it has completely taken over the inside of my head.
 And the moment when that Skyraider will now, at last, finally be made manifest as SWS No. 3, is drawing near, hour by hour. What words can I possibly use to express this joy? What kind of performance can I give that will make it so that the people of the world will truly understand the reason for my high spirits?

 Of course, this joy is only my own, and it's not that I want people to understand me. It's just that all of I sudden, I'm so happy that I want to tell someone about it.
Therefore, I tell my wife about this plane every day. And because she is so wise, she always listens to me with a smile. This makes me even happier. I'm so grateful to her.
What a wonderful wife she is!!

 In truth, not telling anyone about such a wonderful airplane would seem like I was doing the Skyraider a disservice, which mustn't do. Even though it's been left behind in the current age, not sufficiently celebrating that such a marvel of an airplane existed doesn't seem like a good thing. In fact, there's something wrong with that!!

 I'm so hopelessly in love with this plane as to feel resentment due to that. Because once you fall in love, you see everything through the lens of that love. Yes, I think that this metaphor is perfect for the Skyraider: “A peony when standing, a tree peony when sitting, a lily flower when walking.” That's right! My image of the Skyraider is a plane that is the very embodiment of that metaphor.

 This line, which flows from the engine cowling all the way to the vertical stabilizer!

Appraising the three gathered airplanes. The length of the Ta 152's main wings!! They're just about as long as the Skyraider's!! But the disparity in body is characteristic of the difference between fighter planes and attack planes. At any rate, the Skyraider has such an extravagant physique! A clay model for exterior design and historical research purposes.
After this, it will be eternally preserved in my SWS development collection. It may be displayed again before you all someday, so please look forward to it!

It has far exceeded the concept of appeal, and can even be called somewhat sexy.

 Along with its substantial appearance, it overflows with that tense ambience that is the essence of an attack aircraft, drawing near me in silence. Moreover, its performance, from the very beginning, adorned the end of the age of reciprocating engine planes, its form showered with praise and a military record glorious enough to dazzle the eye.

 At any rate, just so you know, this plane shot down MiG-17 jet fighters.

Is it good that a reciprocating engine plane was able to do that? I can't believe you asked that!
But it's true, and it's amazing. Which is why those decals are included in the SWS kit.

 As of the writing of this blog entry, it's still some time before I'll be able to show you a Test Shot of the kit parts, so since it can't be helped, I'll show you some pictures of the “clay model.”
This is a model that Zoukei-mura always produces before we begin designing the layout of the metal molds; the clay model is something we use to confirm whether we are able to project the proper external design using the information that we procured from research and documented information.
Using this as the base, we check the Skyraider's measurements and design, its cross-sections and balance, and finally, its shape, over and over again.

 But please take a look!! At this intensity!!

It's to the point where even the renowned American company Revell's masterpiece in 1/40 scale looks like a younger sibling when lined up next to it.

The size of the same fuselage can be so different between 1/32 and 1/40 scale!
Despite just being a clay model, before I know it I am fascinated by the lines of the beautiful airframe. Do your best! Skyraider!!
Even the Aero Products propeller is this different in size!! Moreover, this SWS propeller is truly well-reproduced, from the front surfaces to the rear surfaces and even the cross sections.
When you obtain your own, please do confirm this part first thing.

 During the short time until then, please enjoy building your Ta 152, and I will be very happy if you spare a thought toward the state of completion of the SWS Skyraider.
 As you can see, the propeller, one of the highlights of the SWS, is perfectly on the mark, and just this is enough to make me want it earlier. And as usual, the R3350 engine has been reproduced as far as possible! All that needs to be done is for you to add piping, and the most powerful R3350 engine will be resurrected to an unbelievable level of detail.

 Of course, there is a shutter attached to the cowling. You can open it in order to delight in the full particulars of the engine, or you can also enjoy yourself by basking in the beautiful sculpt of the fully covered Skyraider.
In any case, in my next blog entry, it's expected that I will show you some photos of the “sample kit” that we will soon be taking to the Nuremberg Toy Fair.

And because it is a Skyraider being reproduced through the SWS, please rest assured that you can expect it to be well-finished.

Hideyuki Shigeta
The Old Man of Zoukei-mura

If you have any opinions, questions, or requests regarding the SWS, please don't hesitate to let us know.

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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