Hi folks!
I recently began flight training, and I got the idea of [trying to] getting a scale model of each aircraft I fly.
I can NOT for the life of me locate any plastic (or wood… or metal…) models of a Cessna 152 (152 II to be EXACT)!!
Any ideas? May it just doesn’t exist. I found a couple of a 150, and lots of a 172, but no 152’s.
Thanks in advance!
Justin
I myself have built 2 of these. the only option I have found is, I think, model craft or hobbycraft, possibly minicraft, somebody will answer correctly. anyway, the kit is of a 150 with windows in the ceiling, some putty can take care of those. really the only difference between that and the 152 is the engine and maybe some avionics, but you’ll find out in your flying, no matter how many 152s you fly, almost every one of them has a bit of variation in the avionics. I’ve flown 7 different 152s and no 2 were the same. You’ll have a hard time finding some of the other planes in kit form, the only kits I’ve found are 150/172/and a v-tail bonanza. Anyway the 150 kit is quite dated, it says 1/48 but I think it’s a bit smaller. The windscreen fits like poo, and you can’t fit enough weight in the nose to make it sit right. I left out the engine, replaced with, not enough, lead.
Good luck with the flyin. Just wait till you go for instruments, it’ll make the private seem like kindergarden. I’m working on my cfi now. nightmares!!!
There’s a 1/50th scale Cessna 150/152 by Heller. It’s quite a good little kit but squeezing in enough noseweight to prevent a tailsitter is a problem.
All the best.
Greg
I built a 172 for a friend a couple of years ago. I couldn’t get enough weight in it either. I bought a small base, put some railroad grass on it, and drilled a hole in the bottom of each tire. I put a metal pin in each hole, drilled a matching hole in the base, and glued it in place. No more tail sitter.
Hello jadoiron and congrads on flight training. I hope you go on and get your ticket it will open up a whole world for you. As they say the gift of flight is truely a gift.
I flew both of the planes you are asking about and as memmory serves me there was not much differance between an 150 and a 152 other than the engine size. The 150 had a 90hp engine and the 152 has a 110hp along with a slightly beefed up nose wheel attach point on the firewall. Also the fuel tanks are valved a little differant and the flap actuators work differantly. In the 150 you have to hold the switch down and watch an indicater on the panel to get them where you want them. In the 152 the flap switch has knoches in it so you dont have to look at it when you should be looking at the runway and airspeed. As for the 2 windows in the roof for the 152 they were removed but on the 152 Aerobat they are still there. Anyway you could use the 150 kit and have a 152 without any changes other than the roof windows.
Good luck
Randy
Hey jadoiron,
Best of luck on your flight training.
Treat that 152 like a lady and she’ll do just fine for you. I soloed and got my ticket in one back in '92.
The engine differences between the 150 and 152 do make a difference in the exhausts. The 150 has two, the 152 just one pipe. You also only get 30 degrees of flap to the 150’s 40.
Enjoy your modeling and you flying!
Mike
Minicraft makes a 1/48 Cessna 150 that can be made into a 152. It’s not a great kit, but it’s not too bad… and runs $10-12 most places.
As has been said, putty over the windows on top, and delete one exhast pipe. Beyond that, you’ll just need to pay attention to the interior/instrument panel since nearly every old airplane has had changes made there.
I want to say that the configuration of the landing lights may have changed once or twice during 150/152 production. The 152 I fly has twin landing/taxi lights in the nose. I think some earlier aircraft might have had a single light - just double check.
Aaaaaand… you’ll probably need custom decals for the N-numbers and will have to mask and paint any stripes on the plane. That will probably be more of a challenge than the “conversion.”
Part of the reason that scale models of Cessnas tend to be tail sitters, is simply the placement of the landing gear on the real aircraft. Put two inches of snow on the horizontal stabilizer of most single-engine Cessnas and it will fall back on its tail. Cessnas have a very neutral center of gravity, which is what makes them such nice-handling airplanes.
I learned to fly in Pipers and love them, but the 152 is a sweet little bird. I teach in one periodically and did my spin training in one - so much fun!
Good luck in your flight training. Don’t worry about your flying skills, as those will come with time. The best advice that this CFI can give you is study! Study your checklists, know your V-speeds, know your procedures, and you’ll do fine.
Kev
A couple of other minor differences are the oil dipstick hatch on the right side of the nose, I think the 150s is larger than the 152s, the position of the landing light is different (150 on the wing LE, 152 in the nose under the prop), and depending on the specific airplane you might have to modify the wingtips to the drooped trailing edge (can’t for the life of me recall what those are referred to as offhand) - the 152 I soloed and checked out in back in 81/82 had these and I made them from thin sheet stock and putty on the kit. One of these days I’ve got to finish that one. I need to make the specific markings for it, paint it and do the little fiddley bits…
Good luck on your flight training, jadoiron!
Fermis, something my fighter pilot uncle told me after I got my CFI: “They don’t know it, but every one of your students is trying to kill you.” Oh man, was he ever right! [:O] I’d go back and do it again in a heartbeat if I could make a living at it!
Cheers!
Ben
[(-D] [(-D] [(-D] [(-D] [(-D] [(-D] [(-D] [(-D]
It’s true!
Usually makes for an entertaining hangar story afterwards, though. [:D]
Kevin
I know, I tried killing my instructor a time or two (unknowingly) and I’m looking forward to the tables being turned. I was gunnin for the regionals, but that market is shot along with everything else. I’ll be part timing just to keep flyin.