View allAll Photos Tagged luft46
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
A small Luft '46 project, but not an OOB kit but rather a massive kit conversion which comes close to scratch-building: the rather weird Messerschmitt 334, a true 'paper plane'.
Some background
The Me 334 (the project number's origins are not clear, the designation has never been officially accepted by the RLM) is one of the few plane designs that was intended as a conversion from a jet/rocket-powered plane into a piston-engine design, namely the Me 163 Komet.
Due to the early unavailability of the Walter rocket engines for the Me 163 in 1942/43, the Me 334 was derived as an alternative. Dr. Lippisch, the Me 163' designer, modified this aircraft to accept a Daimler Benz DB 605 12-cylinder piston engine. The wings were taken from the Me 163. They were mounted mid-fuselage and swept back at a 23.4 degree angle. The main landing gear retracted inwards and the front gear retracted to the rear - a revolutionary design for its time. The DB 605 would drive a pusher propeller through an extension shaft, alle the way through the fuselage, and the vertical stabilizer was re-located under the fuselage as a protection for the propeller on the ground.
Further development was abandoned when the Walter engines finally became operational and available, and Lippisch designed the P.20 as another evolutionary step of the basic design, but this time with a jet engine.
The Me 334 was never built, and its performance can only be guessed. Sources consider the Me equivalent or even slightly superior to the contemporary Me 109G.
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 7.0 m
Wing span: 9.3 m
Height: 3.72 m
Wing area: 17.3 m²
Aspect ratio: 5.0
Weight: 2.800–3.000 kg
Performance: slightly better than a Me 109G
Engine: 1 Daimler-Benz DB 605 with 1.475 hp
Armament: Two MG 131 13mm machine guns on top of the engine cowl.
The kit and its assembly
Information and details are scarce, so I decided to take the same approach Dr. Lippisch did: take a Me 163, add a piston engine and see where it goes.
The basis for my kit is a Me 163 from Academy - a very good model kit, which nor only comes with a tractor for the model but also offers two fuselage versions: the single seated interceptor and the two-seated trainer version. The latter would be perfect for my conversion, because I could use the complete rear cockpit and its interior!
From this Me 163S, more or less the complete fuselage and the wings were taken, but donations from several other kits were used to "create" something that would resemble a Me 334 (all 1:72 scale):
- Engine from a Matchbox Me 410
- Landing gear from a Hasegawa J7W Shinden
- Main wheels from a Hasegawa XF8U
- Main landing gear covers from an Italieri Fw 190D
- Canopy from an Airfix P-38
- Propeller blades from a Matchbox Fw 190A
- Air intake and jet fan parts from a Kovozavody Su-25
- Exhaust pipes from an Italierei He 111
Many other details like the front grille or the landing gear covers were built from scratch.
Lots of putty was necessary to melt the engine and the fuselage into "one", as well as the P-38 canopy, which is actually a bit oversized for the tiny aircraft.
The propeller was built from scratch - it is the tip of a supersonic drop tank, a wire shaft sits in a plastic tube in the plane's tail. The propeller blades come from a Matchbox Fw 190 - I thought that these characteristic, spade-like blades would add to the "German" look.
All the landing gear wells had to be cut open manually, and filled with some details. This was easier than expected, just the front wheel bay was a bit difficult to install since it would be placed on the intersection of fuselage and engine.
Since I am not certain what would be inside of the radiator intake in the Me 334's front, I decided to put a mesh inside and add a small fan which would be barely visible - a nice effect.
I used the original cockpit from the Me 163 Academy kit, just added safety belts and a radio set behind the seat. Since fitting the canopy was rather complicated and messy, I left it unopened and without a pilot.
Painting
As a true "Whif" plane, total design freedom! But as usual with Luft '46 models, I tried to stay true to contemporary Luftwaffe camouflage and marking designs. The Me 334 would have been ready for trials in late 1943, so I thought that a machine from a fictional "Erprobungskommando 334" (or "EK 334" for short, a temporary testing unit, where a new type would be introduced to real life service, a common Luftwaffe practice at that time) would be fine.
Since all-grey fighters were only about to appear at that time, I settled on conservative colours:
* Wing surfaces in RLM 71/02 (Dunkelgrün/Grau, actually Humbrol #116 and Testors Testors #2071; it is a colour scheme that was common on Bf 109’s, after the original RLM 70/71 turned out to be much too dark an low in contrast)
* Lower surfaces RLM 65 (Lichtblau, Humbrol #65)
* Fuselage surface RLM 75/02 (Humbrol #106 Ocean Grey with additional mottles of Humbrol #140 Gull Grey)
* All interior surfaces including the landing gear were painted in RLM 66 (Schwarzgrau).
Markings come from the donation kit Academy Me 163 and from the scrap box. Among the extras are squadron batches and insignia for the technical officer’s plane (the chevron symbol with the dot instead of a number) from TL Decals, plus some ‘kill’ markings for planes and balloons on the tai fin, also from a TL Decals sheet.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
A small Luft '46 project, but not an OOB kit but rather a massive kit conversion which comes close to scratch-building: the rather weird Messerschmitt 334, a true 'paper plane'.
Some background
The Me 334 (the project number's origins are not clear, the designation has never been officially accepted by the RLM) is one of the few plane designs that was intended as a conversion from a jet/rocket-powered plane into a piston-engine design, namely the Me 163 Komet.
Due to the early unavailability of the Walter rocket engines for the Me 163 in 1942/43, the Me 334 was derived as an alternative. Dr. Lippisch, the Me 163' designer, modified this aircraft to accept a Daimler Benz DB 605 12-cylinder piston engine. The wings were taken from the Me 163. They were mounted mid-fuselage and swept back at a 23.4 degree angle. The main landing gear retracted inwards and the front gear retracted to the rear - a revolutionary design for its time. The DB 605 would drive a pusher propeller through an extension shaft, alle the way through the fuselage, and the vertical stabilizer was re-located under the fuselage as a protection for the propeller on the ground.
Further development was abandoned when the Walter engines finally became operational and available, and Lippisch designed the P.20 as another evolutionary step of the basic design, but this time with a jet engine.
The Me 334 was never built, and its performance can only be guessed. Sources consider the Me equivalent or even slightly superior to the contemporary Me 109G.
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 7.0 m
Wing span: 9.3 m
Height: 3.72 m
Wing area: 17.3 m²
Aspect ratio: 5.0
Weight: 2.800–3.000 kg
Performance: slightly better than a Me 109G
Engine: 1 Daimler-Benz DB 605 with 1.475 hp
Armament: Two MG 131 13mm machine guns on top of the engine cowl.
The kit and its assembly
Information and details are scarce, so I decided to take the same approach Dr. Lippisch did: take a Me 163, add a piston engine and see where it goes.
The basis for my kit is a Me 163 from Academy - a very good model kit, which nor only comes with a tractor for the model but also offers two fuselage versions: the single seated interceptor and the two-seated trainer version. The latter would be perfect for my conversion, because I could use the complete rear cockpit and its interior!
From this Me 163S, more or less the complete fuselage and the wings were taken, but donations from several other kits were used to "create" something that would resemble a Me 334 (all 1:72 scale):
- Engine from a Matchbox Me 410
- Landing gear from a Hasegawa J7W Shinden
- Main wheels from a Hasegawa XF8U
- Main landing gear covers from an Italieri Fw 190D
- Canopy from an Airfix P-38
- Propeller blades from a Matchbox Fw 190A
- Air intake and jet fan parts from a Kovozavody Su-25
- Exhaust pipes from an Italierei He 111
Many other details like the front grille or the landing gear covers were built from scratch.
Lots of putty was necessary to melt the engine and the fuselage into "one", as well as the P-38 canopy, which is actually a bit oversized for the tiny aircraft.
The propeller was built from scratch - it is the tip of a supersonic drop tank, a wire shaft sits in a plastic tube in the plane's tail. The propeller blades come from a Matchbox Fw 190 - I thought that these characteristic, spade-like blades would add to the "German" look.
All the landing gear wells had to be cut open manually, and filled with some details. This was easier than expected, just the front wheel bay was a bit difficult to install since it would be placed on the intersection of fuselage and engine.
Since I am not certain what would be inside of the radiator intake in the Me 334's front, I decided to put a mesh inside and add a small fan which would be barely visible - a nice effect.
I used the original cockpit from the Me 163 Academy kit, just added safety belts and a radio set behind the seat. Since fitting the canopy was rather complicated and messy, I left it unopened and without a pilot.
Painting
As a true "Whif" plane, total design freedom! But as usual with Luft '46 models, I tried to stay true to contemporary Luftwaffe camouflage and marking designs. The Me 334 would have been ready for trials in late 1943, so I thought that a machine from a fictional "Erprobungskommando 334" (or "EK 334" for short, a temporary testing unit, where a new type would be introduced to real life service, a common Luftwaffe practice at that time) would be fine.
Since all-grey fighters were only about to appear at that time, I settled on conservative colours:
* Wing surfaces in RLM 71/02 (Dunkelgrün/Grau, actually Humbrol #116 and Testors Testors #2071; it is a colour scheme that was common on Bf 109’s, after the original RLM 70/71 turned out to be much too dark an low in contrast)
* Lower surfaces RLM 65 (Lichtblau, Humbrol #65)
* Fuselage surface RLM 75/02 (Humbrol #106 Ocean Grey with additional mottles of Humbrol #140 Gull Grey)
* All interior surfaces including the landing gear were painted in RLM 66 (Schwarzgrau).
Markings come from the donation kit Academy Me 163 and from the scrap box. Among the extras are squadron batches and insignia for the technical officer’s plane (the chevron symbol with the dot instead of a number) from TL Decals, plus some ‘kill’ markings for planes and balloons on the tai fin, also from a TL Decals sheet.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
A small Luft '46 project, but not an OOB kit but rather a massive kit conversion which comes close to scratch-building: the rather weird Messerschmitt 334, a true 'paper plane'.
Some background
The Me 334 (the project number's origins are not clear, the designation has never been officially accepted by the RLM) is one of the few plane designs that was intended as a conversion from a jet/rocket-powered plane into a piston-engine design, namely the Me 163 Komet.
Due to the early unavailability of the Walter rocket engines for the Me 163 in 1942/43, the Me 334 was derived as an alternative. Dr. Lippisch, the Me 163' designer, modified this aircraft to accept a Daimler Benz DB 605 12-cylinder piston engine. The wings were taken from the Me 163. They were mounted mid-fuselage and swept back at a 23.4 degree angle. The main landing gear retracted inwards and the front gear retracted to the rear - a revolutionary design for its time. The DB 605 would drive a pusher propeller through an extension shaft, alle the way through the fuselage, and the vertical stabilizer was re-located under the fuselage as a protection for the propeller on the ground.
Further development was abandoned when the Walter engines finally became operational and available, and Lippisch designed the P.20 as another evolutionary step of the basic design, but this time with a jet engine.
The Me 334 was never built, and its performance can only be guessed. Sources consider the Me equivalent or even slightly superior to the contemporary Me 109G.
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 7.0 m
Wing span: 9.3 m
Height: 3.72 m
Wing area: 17.3 m²
Aspect ratio: 5.0
Weight: 2.800–3.000 kg
Performance: slightly better than a Me 109G
Engine: 1 Daimler-Benz DB 605 with 1.475 hp
Armament: Two MG 131 13mm machine guns on top of the engine cowl.
The kit and its assembly
Information and details are scarce, so I decided to take the same approach Dr. Lippisch did: take a Me 163, add a piston engine and see where it goes.
The basis for my kit is a Me 163 from Academy - a very good model kit, which nor only comes with a tractor for the model but also offers two fuselage versions: the single seated interceptor and the two-seated trainer version. The latter would be perfect for my conversion, because I could use the complete rear cockpit and its interior!
From this Me 163S, more or less the complete fuselage and the wings were taken, but donations from several other kits were used to "create" something that would resemble a Me 334 (all 1:72 scale):
- Engine from a Matchbox Me 410
- Landing gear from a Hasegawa J7W Shinden
- Main wheels from a Hasegawa XF8U
- Main landing gear covers from an Italieri Fw 190D
- Canopy from an Airfix P-38
- Propeller blades from a Matchbox Fw 190A
- Air intake and jet fan parts from a Kovozavody Su-25
- Exhaust pipes from an Italierei He 111
Many other details like the front grille or the landing gear covers were built from scratch.
Lots of putty was necessary to melt the engine and the fuselage into "one", as well as the P-38 canopy, which is actually a bit oversized for the tiny aircraft.
The propeller was built from scratch - it is the tip of a supersonic drop tank, a wire shaft sits in a plastic tube in the plane's tail. The propeller blades come from a Matchbox Fw 190 - I thought that these characteristic, spade-like blades would add to the "German" look.
All the landing gear wells had to be cut open manually, and filled with some details. This was easier than expected, just the front wheel bay was a bit difficult to install since it would be placed on the intersection of fuselage and engine.
Since I am not certain what would be inside of the radiator intake in the Me 334's front, I decided to put a mesh inside and add a small fan which would be barely visible - a nice effect.
I used the original cockpit from the Me 163 Academy kit, just added safety belts and a radio set behind the seat. Since fitting the canopy was rather complicated and messy, I left it unopened and without a pilot.
Painting
As a true "Whif" plane, total design freedom! But as usual with Luft '46 models, I tried to stay true to contemporary Luftwaffe camouflage and marking designs. The Me 334 would have been ready for trials in late 1943, so I thought that a machine from a fictional "Erprobungskommando 334" (or "EK 334" for short, a temporary testing unit, where a new type would be introduced to real life service, a common Luftwaffe practice at that time) would be fine.
Since all-grey fighters were only about to appear at that time, I settled on conservative colours:
* Wing surfaces in RLM 71/02 (Dunkelgrün/Grau, actually Humbrol #116 and Testors Testors #2071; it is a colour scheme that was common on Bf 109’s, after the original RLM 70/71 turned out to be much too dark an low in contrast)
* Lower surfaces RLM 65 (Lichtblau, Humbrol #65)
* Fuselage surface RLM 75/02 (Humbrol #106 Ocean Grey with additional mottles of Humbrol #140 Gull Grey)
* All interior surfaces including the landing gear were painted in RLM 66 (Schwarzgrau).
Markings come from the donation kit Academy Me 163 and from the scrap box. Among the extras are squadron batches and insignia for the technical officer’s plane (the chevron symbol with the dot instead of a number) from TL Decals, plus some ‘kill’ markings for planes and balloons on the tai fin, also from a TL Decals sheet.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
A small Luft '46 project, but not an OOB kit but rather a massive kit conversion which comes close to scratch-building: the rather weird Messerschmitt 334, a true 'paper plane'.
Some background
The Me 334 (the project number's origins are not clear, the designation has never been officially accepted by the RLM) is one of the few plane designs that was intended as a conversion from a jet/rocket-powered plane into a piston-engine design, namely the Me 163 Komet.
Due to the early unavailability of the Walter rocket engines for the Me 163 in 1942/43, the Me 334 was derived as an alternative. Dr. Lippisch, the Me 163' designer, modified this aircraft to accept a Daimler Benz DB 605 12-cylinder piston engine. The wings were taken from the Me 163. They were mounted mid-fuselage and swept back at a 23.4 degree angle. The main landing gear retracted inwards and the front gear retracted to the rear - a revolutionary design for its time. The DB 605 would drive a pusher propeller through an extension shaft, alle the way through the fuselage, and the vertical stabilizer was re-located under the fuselage as a protection for the propeller on the ground.
Further development was abandoned when the Walter engines finally became operational and available, and Lippisch designed the P.20 as another evolutionary step of the basic design, but this time with a jet engine.
The Me 334 was never built, and its performance can only be guessed. Sources consider the Me equivalent or even slightly superior to the contemporary Me 109G.
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 7.0 m
Wing span: 9.3 m
Height: 3.72 m
Wing area: 17.3 m²
Aspect ratio: 5.0
Weight: 2.800–3.000 kg
Performance: slightly better than a Me 109G
Engine: 1 Daimler-Benz DB 605 with 1.475 hp
Armament: Two MG 131 13mm machine guns on top of the engine cowl.
The kit and its assembly
Information and details are scarce, so I decided to take the same approach Dr. Lippisch did: take a Me 163, add a piston engine and see where it goes.
The basis for my kit is a Me 163 from Academy - a very good model kit, which nor only comes with a tractor for the model but also offers two fuselage versions: the single seated interceptor and the two-seated trainer version. The latter would be perfect for my conversion, because I could use the complete rear cockpit and its interior!
From this Me 163S, more or less the complete fuselage and the wings were taken, but donations from several other kits were used to "create" something that would resemble a Me 334 (all 1:72 scale):
- Engine from a Matchbox Me 410
- Landing gear from a Hasegawa J7W Shinden
- Main wheels from a Hasegawa XF8U
- Main landing gear covers from an Italieri Fw 190D
- Canopy from an Airfix P-38
- Propeller blades from a Matchbox Fw 190A
- Air intake and jet fan parts from a Kovozavody Su-25
- Exhaust pipes from an Italierei He 111
Many other details like the front grille or the landing gear covers were built from scratch.
Lots of putty was necessary to melt the engine and the fuselage into "one", as well as the P-38 canopy, which is actually a bit oversized for the tiny aircraft.
The propeller was built from scratch - it is the tip of a supersonic drop tank, a wire shaft sits in a plastic tube in the plane's tail. The propeller blades come from a Matchbox Fw 190 - I thought that these characteristic, spade-like blades would add to the "German" look.
All the landing gear wells had to be cut open manually, and filled with some details. This was easier than expected, just the front wheel bay was a bit difficult to install since it would be placed on the intersection of fuselage and engine.
Since I am not certain what would be inside of the radiator intake in the Me 334's front, I decided to put a mesh inside and add a small fan which would be barely visible - a nice effect.
I used the original cockpit from the Me 163 Academy kit, just added safety belts and a radio set behind the seat. Since fitting the canopy was rather complicated and messy, I left it unopened and without a pilot.
Painting
As a true "Whif" plane, total design freedom! But as usual with Luft '46 models, I tried to stay true to contemporary Luftwaffe camouflage and marking designs. The Me 334 would have been ready for trials in late 1943, so I thought that a machine from a fictional "Erprobungskommando 334" (or "EK 334" for short, a temporary testing unit, where a new type would be introduced to real life service, a common Luftwaffe practice at that time) would be fine.
Since all-grey fighters were only about to appear at that time, I settled on conservative colours:
* Wing surfaces in RLM 71/02 (Dunkelgrün/Grau, actually Humbrol #116 and Testors Testors #2071; it is a colour scheme that was common on Bf 109’s, after the original RLM 70/71 turned out to be much too dark an low in contrast)
* Lower surfaces RLM 65 (Lichtblau, Humbrol #65)
* Fuselage surface RLM 75/02 (Humbrol #106 Ocean Grey with additional mottles of Humbrol #140 Gull Grey)
* All interior surfaces including the landing gear were painted in RLM 66 (Schwarzgrau).
Markings come from the donation kit Academy Me 163 and from the scrap box. Among the extras are squadron batches and insignia for the technical officer’s plane (the chevron symbol with the dot instead of a number) from TL Decals, plus some ‘kill’ markings for planes and balloons on the tai fin, also from a TL Decals sheet.
Towards the end of the Second World War, Germany started the development of new and highly advanced planes to finally defeat the Allies.
One of those projects was the huge Daimler Benz "Flying Aircraft Carrier" (pictured behind) which was designed to carry either five or six parasite manned bombers or a much larger high speed bomber, the DB Project "A II" twin-jet bomber (pictured).
The war ended before any of these planes could be built.
For more info and pictures, please visit my Flickr page:
Eínon
256=229+29
The very poor jet model I built for the last saga, based off the famous Horten HO 229 fighter-bomber jet from WWII. The landing gear doesn't properly retract, the nose looks awful because the canopy needs space to swing up, and even with the gear down it can't stand up on it's own. Honestly it's a wonder it's worth a standalone pic in the first place.
Above is my latest LEGO Plane, the Daimler Benz Project C Flying Aircraft Carrier.
At the end of the Second World War, Daimler Benz proposed to the Luftwaffe a series of planes that could carry parasite bombers or flying guided bombs. At the time, jet engines were highly unreliable so a clever alternative was to develop a propeller driven plane that could carry smaller flying manned bombs to the target and then hit it with high accuracy.
For example, these planes could be used to attack New York, Allied Convoys on the Atlantic Ocean or even the Soviet factories beyond the Ural Mountains.
Luckily, the Second World War ended before any of these planes could be built.
For more info, click here for the next photo:
www.flickr.com/photos/einon/40639242683
Eínon
Hey guys!
Above is my collection of LEGO Planes that I made this year, based on a series of prototype German Designs from the End of the Second World War, widely known as Luft46.
For more pictures, please visit my Flickr page:
Thanks again
Eínon
Recently I received my Brick Journal magazine and look at that! My Daimler Benz Project C flying Aircraft Carrier was the first plane in the magazine, right on page 3!
I have to thank Joe Meno for covering my MOCs on this amazing magazine.
This image was taken during the Caldas Fan Event. The light there was quite good to take photos of the MOCs but it was a little difficult to photograph the magazine since it´s so bright.
For more pictures of this huge plane, please visit my Flickr page:
Eínon
Above you can me making a Swoosh of my Daimler Benz Project C. This Moc is super heavy but It´s still quite sturdy even with the five mini-planes under the wings.
To take the picture of the model flying over my head, I was forced to remove the mini-planes, otherwise I wouldn´t have a place to grab it.
Hope you guys like it!
For more pictures, visit my Flickr page:
Eínon
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Würger (English: Shrike) was a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. The 190 was used by the Luftwaffe in a wide variety of roles, including day fighter, fighter-bomber, ground-attack aircraft and, to a lesser degree, even night fighter.
The Fw 190 became the backbone of the Jagdwaffe (Fighter Force), along with the Bf 109 which it never entirely replaced. On the Eastern Front, the Fw 190 was versatile enough to use in Schlachtgeschwader (Battle Wings or Strike Wings), specialized ground attack units which achieved much success against Soviet ground forces. As an interceptor, the Fw 190 underwent improvements to make it effective at high altitude, enabling it to maintain relative parity with its Allied opponents. The Fw 190A series' performance decreased at high altitudes (usually 6,000 m (20,000 ft) and above), which reduced its effectiveness as a high-altitude interceptor, but this problem was mostly rectified in later models, particularly in the Junkers Jumo 213 inline-engine Focke-Wulf Fw 190D series (nicknamed the Dora; or Long-Nose Dora, "Langnasen-Dora"), which was introduced in September 1944.
The Fw 190 D was intended to improve on the high-altitude performance of the A-series enough to make it useful against the American heavy bombers of the era. In the event, the D series was rarely used against the heavy-bomber raids, as the circumstances of the war in late 1944 meant that fighter-versus-fighter combat and ground attack missions took priority.
To make matters worse, the D was only seen as an interim solution, as Kurt Tank made it very clear that he intended the D-9 to be a stopgap until the Ta 152 arrived. These negative opinions existed for some time until positive pilot feedback began arriving at Focke-Wulf and the Luftwaffe command structure. Sporting good handling and performance characteristics, the D-9 made an effective medium altitude, high speed interceptor, although its performance still fell away at altitudes above about 20,000 ft (6,100 m). When flown by capable pilots, the Fw 190D proved the equal of Allied types.
With the ever increasing threat of Allied bomber raids and the advent of the formidable Ta 152 fighter, several designs were tried in order to create a long range interceptor from the D-9. From the start it was clear that the increment in range would call for added fuel, which in turn would limit payload and performance to a level that rendered the idea pointless. Anyway, Georg Hager, a young engineer proposed a radical new idea, which was similar to the Twin Mustangs' idea which was under development at the same time in the USA for the Pacific theater: mating two Dora fuselages into a two-engined aircraft, which would meet the Luftwaffe's requirements and could mostly be built with the help of existing tools and jigs, getting it into service with almost no delay.
The result was the Fw 190 Z (for 'Zwilling' = Twin). The airframe was based on the single-engined D-13 fighter, only one cockpit was installed into the left fuselage, the respective space in the right fuselage was faired over and used for an internal tank.
The outer wings were directly taken from the Fw 190 D, even though the landing gear was totally redesigned: it retracted backwards into the lower fuselage and was fitted with twin wheels.
Both fuselages were connected by a new wing center section and a new tailplane, both of constant chord and simple construction. As Aluminum became scarce in the late years of WWII, some constructional changes had to be made, e. g. a rigid central wing spar made from steel. In other places, wood elements replaced Aluminum parts on the wings.
Two prototypes of the Z-16, how the type was officially called, were built in late 1944 and tested until March 1945. As the type proved to offer sufficient performance and no major handling problem was found, it was immediately put into production and service.
The Z-16 was fitted with all-weather flying equipment including the PKS12 and K-23 systems for steering and autopilot. The FuG 125 radio system, known as “Hermine”, was fitted to the aircraft, as well as a heated windscreen. The aircraft also featured a hydraulic boost system for the ailerons, which had been developed for the Ta 152. Armament consisted of six machine cannons, and this heavy armament allowed the Z-16 to deal quickly with enemy aircraft. Each fuselage carried three weapons: one 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108 Motorkanone cannon centered within the propeller hub and two synchronized 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons located in the wing roots. Under the center wing, bombs of up to 1.000 kg caliber (2.202 lb) or drop tanks could be carried. Under the outer wings, wooden racks with 2× 12 unguided 'R4M' 55 mm (2.2 in) air-to-air rockets could be carried, too. One or two of these rockets could down even the famously rugged B-17 Flying Fortress.
With its two Jumo 213E engines the Z-16 was capable of speeds up to 755 km/h (472 mph) at 13,500 m (41,000 ft, using the GM-1 nitrous oxide boost) and 560 km/h (350 mph) at sea level (using the MW 50 methanol-water boost). To help it attain this speed, it used the MW 50 system mainly for lower altitudes (up to about 10,000 m/32,800 ft) and the GM-1 system for higher altitudes, although both systems could be engaged at the same time.
A further step in order to increase performance was the experimental installation of a jet booster: a single Junkers Jumo 004 B-1 turbojet, rated at 8.8 kN (1,980 lbf) was installed under the central wing section, with wet hardpoints for two 250 l (55 imp gal; 66 US gal) drop tanks on each side.
The results were so promising (top speed climbed to 805 km/h/500mph while range was not reduced) that this Rüstsatz measure, originally designed only as an optional feature for a Z-16/R-1, was fully integrated into the production type, which became the Fw 190 Z-17. This type was immediately ordered into series production in September 1945 and was to fully replace the Z-16, which had just been started to be delivered to the Luftwaffe.
Anyway, as the Jumo 004 was mostly reserved for the Me 262 'Schwalbe' jet fighter and the simpler Ta 152 still had development priority, only about 50 Z-17 and a further 40 Z-16 without the jet booster were delivered until the hostilities ended. They were exclusively used in the Zerstörer (Bomber destroyers) role. From the pilots the Fw 190 Z earned the nickname “Gurkenhobel” (Cucumber slicer), due to its unique shape, but it was nevertheless well-liked and its firepower made it an effective weapon against Allied bomber formations.
Plans had been made to develop the Fw 190 Z into a two-seated night fighter (with the second cockpit in the right fuselage re-installed), but this was not carried out. A high altitude version, with the long outer wings from the Ta 152 H, also remained on the drawing board, and at least one Z-16 had been tested with a 55 mm MK214 autocannon, carried in a streamlined pod under the central wing where the Z-17’s jet booster was originally installed.
General Focke Wulf Fw 190 Z-17 characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 10.20 m (33 ft 5½ in)
Wingspan: 14.580 m (47 ft 9 in)
Height: 3.35 m (11 ft 0 in)
Empty weight: 15,997 lb (7,271 kg)
Loaded weight: 4,270 kg (9,413 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 11,632 kg (25,591 lb)
Powerplant:
2× Junkers Jumo 213E liquid-cooled inverted V-12, 1,287 kW (1,750 PS; 2,050 PS with MW-50 boost)
1× Junkers Jumo 004 B-1 turbojet, rated at 8.8 kN (1,980 lbf)
Performance:
Maximum speed: 805 km/h (500 mph) at 6,600 m (21,655 ft), 740 km/h (460 mph) at 37,000 ft (11,000 m)
Range: 1.800 mi (1.563 nmi, 2.900 km)
Service ceiling: 12,000 m (39,370 ft)
Rate of climb: 17 m/s (3,300 ft/min)
Armament:
2× 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108 machine cannon with 110 RPG, firing through the propeller hubs
4× 20 mm MG 151 cannons with 250 rpg in the wing roots
Up to 1.000 kg (2.202 lb) of external ordnance at two hardpoints under the central wing, including bombs, drop tanks; under the outer wings additional hardpoints for four 50 kg (110lb) bombs, two racks with 12 unguided 'R4M' 55 mm (2.2 in) each, two pods with 2× 20mm MG 151/20 machine guns each or up to four WGr21 launch tubes.
The kit and its assembly:
This whif was inspired by the P-82 “Twin Mustang”, and the result is a rather bizarre creation which would nevertheless appear plausible for Germany during the late stages of WWII. Actually, Arado’s real paper project E.530 looked very similar to this creation, but it was a bigger aircraft and intended as a fast bomber.
Other Zwilling designs even entered the hardware stage or were very concrete: the He 111 Z bomber was built and used mainly as a glider tug, the Bf 109 Z and Me 609 were derivatives of their respective normal ancestors, there was even a Do 335 with two fuselages as a long range reconnaissance aircraft on the drawing board! With this real world background, the Fw 190, as a starting point for a Zwilling fighter, appears rather harmless...
Anyway, the resulting model is also not the first attempt into this direction, though, just a personal interpretation of the basic idea. The kitbashing is based on two Fw 190 D-9 kits from Italeri. While the kit is some decades old it is IMHO still a good choice (despite its fine, raised panel lines), because you get it easily and with a relatively small price tag.
Building the fuselages was straightforward, mostly OOB. The right cockpit was faired over with putty, and the fuselage machine guns disappeared (Fw 190 D-13 style) in front of both cockpit openings.
Biggest challenge were the central wing section that connects the fuselages. Just cutting the original wings and glueing them together was no option, since the leading and training edges would not be straight, and the wings have a slight anhedral. Additionally, I had to put the landing gear somewhere, and modify it, as the original Fw 190 landing gear is rather wide and it would make IMHO no sense under a twin fuselage aircraft, I have big stability doubts.
I finally settled on a scratched solution for both problems. For the landing gear, I took a look at the P-82 solution (new, single wheels which retract inwards, under the fuselages), and derived a totally new landing gear installation. It now features twin wheels (from the Fw 190 kits) in order to distribute the aircraft’s weight on soft ground, mounted on new struts, taken from a Me 262. This new construction became so “thick”, though, that it had to be retracted into the fuselage – the area under the cockpit was the only place to put it, but this is IMHO plausible since there is no radiator or other installment under the Fw 190’s belly. There's no place for ventral hardpoints now, but that's a small price to pay for a pure fighter.
With that solution found, the original landing gear wells in the wings were filled, the "inner" wings were cut away at the wing roots and a new central wing section added. This consists of a an enlarged horizontal stabilizer from a 1:100 A-10 SnapFit kit - it was perfect in span, had both straight leading and training edges, and the central fuselage part was creatively integrated into an additional idea (see below). The wing was deepened by 14mm wide with styrene strips (several layers, 2.5mm thick), and some putty was needed to blend everything together.
The final span between the fuselages was dictated by the new horizontal stabilizer. This comes from an Airfix Fw 189, the tail wheel well was filled. The outer attachment points on the fuselages' outer sides for the original stabilizers were simply faired over and sanded even.
But back to the new central wing section: the additional jet booster was a spontaneous idea. Even though the Zwilling layout is odd enough, adding a podded jet would make it SO weird that it would look even more like a serious, futuristic German design! And the idea is not far-fetched: Luftwaffe's RLM actually worked on such podded jet booster designs, e. g. for the Me 410, Ar 240 or He 219 as well as for some paper projects with mixed propulsion.
The pod’s place under the central wing section was just perfect, as the hot exhaust gasses would pass between the fuselages and under the stabilizer (without burning away the tail wheel, as on some early pod-and-boom jet fighter designs like the Yak-15). The nacelle itself comes from a leftover Hobby Boss He 162 fighter. It was taken OOB and just integrated into the lower wing. It looks so strange, but gives the aircraft a relatively compact look, too.
The drop tanks and their respective hardpoints come from the two Italeri kits. I had orginally intended to add air-to-air ordnance under the outer wings (two pairs of WGr21 launch tubes), but when everything came together I rather settled for the drop tanks.
Painting and markings:
The paint scheme is fictional, but inspired by a museum aircraft's livery: the sole surviving Fw 190 D-13, now on display in the USA. The museum aircraft's scheme looks a bit too shaggy, IMHO, but it's an interesting interpretation and uses authentic colors.
Basic colors for my version are RLM 82 and 83 on the upper surfaces, and RLM 76 below, with RLM 81 spots, streaks and blotches on the flanks. To make the thing look a bit more interesting I also added some “snaky” streaks with thinned RLM 76 on some upper surface areas, too. All basic tones were taken from the Modelmaster Authentic enamel line.
Typical for late Fw 190s, parts of the lower wings were left bare metal (painted with Revell Acrylic Aluminum), a typical result of material shortage in the late WWII stages. The leading edges were painted RLM 75 while the ailerons are RLM 76.
Taking this idea further, “my" Z-17 would not carry anymore a colored Reichsverteidigung fuselage band, indicating its Geschwader. From 1945 on, yellow ID markings (RLM 04) were carried: a band around the engine, sometimes with an added yellow field under the engine, and the rudder was frequently painted yellow, too. National markings were more and more simplified, and only a color-coded number and sometimes a symbol indicated the fighter’s group.
I used very simplified national markings on the flanks and below the wings, seen on real life Fw 190s: just black crosses without any outline. The rest of the markings were puzzled together from the scrap box, again using late war Fw 190s and Bf 109s as benchmarks.
I decided to put my aircraft into a Stab (Wing Commander's Chief-of-staff) squadron, so the markings differ from normal fighters. This one carries the horizontal bar for the 2. Gruppe among the Geschwader, in this case Jagdgeschwader 53, the “Pik As” [Ace of Spades] Squadron which dealt with interception tasks until the end of WWII in the southern regions of Germany
.
The chevron denotes an officer's aircraft; the “1” could denote the 1st aircraft of the Stab Gruppe in numerical order, but it's also possible that it is a personal symbol, as officers' aircraft would carry symbols instead of simple numbers, sometimes personal, non-standard icons or letters.
As the number is black I added dark green spinners, the typical ID color of the Stab flight among II. Group. A geek detail, and and I do not claim this to be correct – but German WWII aircraft would tend to be marked rather erratically, anyway, and I tried to do justice to historical benchmarks. Hey, it's a whif, after all!
In the end, a bizarre aircraft, but it is not as far-fetched as one might think. In this case, several single German ideas and developments were just incorporated into one model. What amazes me most is that the whole thing was assembled and painted in just three days – excluding the kit purchase and the work on the final beauty pics. Sometimes I get scared by myself...
Video with the engines working www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3aO5XeivDU
Please watch this and many other fantastic creations here: www.flickr.com/photos/einon/
A certain team is currently developing a brand new bomber which could pose a threat to my small Nation (aka: Brickmania´s latest design, the B-17G).
So I decided to make an aircraft that could keep my small LEGO room safe. ^^
In 1942, the Germans were receiving constant information’s of a brand new, high altitude and high speed American bomber that could destroy German cities without opposition. To counter that threat, Messerschmitt modified a previous design, the Me-155 (a naval fighter designed for the ill fated Graf Zeppelin Aircraft Carrier) and made a high altitude interceptor. However, Messerschmitt was overcommitted with other new designs (Me-163/Me-262) so development was passed to Blohm & Voss.
BV then modified the design again with a long laminar flow wing, radiators mounted under the wings, new cockpit and other improvements. The aircraft was powered by the DB 603U engine, which promised a power of 1,066 kW (1,430 hp) at 14,935 m (49,000 ft), enabling it to fly at that altitude at a speed of 670km/h, faster than any allied fighter or bomber.
The aircraft was armed with an engine-mounted (or Motorkanone) 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108 cannon and two wing mounted 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons.
The war ended before production could begin, although prototypes were built and did fly. The American bomber project, the Boeing B-29 never flew in combat over Germany.
About the model:
This was a very difficult plane to build, since it´s actually quite big. It features a retractable landing gear (including a fully retractable rear wheel), access to the cockpit and the wings have the correct slightly upward angle.
For more pictures, please visit my Flickr page:
Eínon
The Heinkel He P.1078A Jet fighter was a German WW2 fighter jet project.
It was designed to replace the Heinkel He-162 jet fighter and was a direct competitor of the Messerschmitt P.1110, Focke-Wulf Ta 183 Huckebein, Blohm & Voss P 212 and the Junkers EF 128, (the winner of the competition).
Since it was designed at the end of the war, information about this project is scarce. In terms of armament, some variants were to be armed with two Mk 108 30mm auto cannons while others had four of them. It could also carry the Ruhrstahl X-4, the first air-to-air missile.
For more info about this plane and the model, click here:
Eínon
I always liked to make Photoshop images using my LEGO models. This time I made this image for a group that I follow on Facebook and it represents an A-4C manned missile taking off for a reconnaissance mission in 1946.
Since this "aircraft" (more correctly manned missile) lacked landing gear, I don´t know how they could recover the photos and info after the mission. Probably after a high speed mission, the missile would return to German Territory and then the pilot would eject the vehicle with the cameras.
After, the fuselage could be recovered, refuelled and re-used again.
For more info about this design, click here:
www.flickr.com/photos/einon/46336211974
Eínon
Please watch this and many other fantastic creations here: www.flickr.com/photos/einon/
A what-if mix of two different planes, the fuselage of the Fw-190D9 and the wings of the F4U Corsair.
Development: This plane is based on an aircraft that I saw in the Anime Konpeki no Kantai (紺碧の艦隊, lit. Deep Blue Fleet).
In one episode, we can see a plane, which looks like a mix of a Focke Wulf Ta-152 with the wings of the F4U Corsair and used by the Japanese between 1941 and 1943 (when it was replaced by jets). This fighter was much more powerful than anything the Americans or the Nazis had.
Nakajima Ki-125 Washi
Washi (鷲)- Eagle
Allied Code-name: Eddie
Factory: Nakajima Aircraft Company
Crew: 1
Engine: 1 × Nakajima Ha-45-41 Homare 27-cylinder radial engine (with a three-stage supercharger, intercoolers and C3 fuel)
Power (max): 2609 kW (3500 hp) at 3200 rpm at sea level;
2013 kW (2700 hp) at 3100 rpm at 9 000 meters;
Maximum speed: 812 Km/h at sea level, 730 Km/h at 9 000 meters;
Range: 3 000km
Service Ceiling: 13 500 meters;
Empty weight: 2,665 kg (5,875 lb)
Loaded weight: 3,616 kg (7,972 lb)
Armament:
2 × 13.2 mm (0.52 in) Type 3 machine guns over the engine;
Wings:
2 Type 99-2 model 5 20mm cannons or;
2 Type 5 30mm cannons (1,2”) or;
2 Ho-205 37mm anti-tank/bomber cannons.
Some versions also carried an extra pair of 13,2mm machine guns in the wings.
All rounds had a timer self-destruct and/or tracer (or glowtracer). There were also different types of high explosive shell fillings with a mixture called HA41 (RDX and aluminium), or a compressed version where more explosives were compressed into the same space using large pressures (XM).
This greatly increases terminal effects on the enemy aircraft.
Bomb-load: Max: 2300kg of bombs and rockets. Some aircraft could carry a 45 cm (17.7") Type 4 Mark 4 naval torpedo.
More images here: www.flickr.com/photos/einon/
Hope you like it.
Please rate ^^
Above is a small image showing all the LEGO Display´s that I made in 2019.
I originally wanted to make three displays but managed to make an extra.
I really like to make display like these ones, if you have a certain theme that you want to build, a Display helps to increase your creativity substantially!
-> First on top right is the Soviet Navy Military Display. It had a total of six ships, four weapon systems and six different planes (most of them prototypes).
-> Next one is the Luft46 Display with a total of 11 planes and it includes the biggest plane that I´ve ever built with LEGO, the Daimler Benz Project C. I wasn´t able to present all of them in 2019 so I will show the remaining ones in 2020.
-> Below, on the left is the small 25 of April Revolution display. It includes some of the vehicles used by the Portuguese Armed Forces during the Revolution that ended the Dictatorship in Portugal in 1974.
-> And at the end the Portuguese Navy display, a massive display with dozens of historical warships used by Portugal during the First Republic and Dictatorship period.
I´m already working for the next year´s displays. Let´s see what I will do.
For more pictures of all the models above, please visit my Flickr page:
Eínon
The Daimler Benz Project E was a Piloted Missile designed to be carried by the Daimler Benz Project C Flying Aircraft Carrier. It was powered by a He S 011 jet engine and carried a powerful 2500kg shaped-charged warhead designed to destroy warships or heavily protected bunkers.
After flying attached to the flying Aircraft Carrier, a total of five DB Project E would fly to the target at very high speed and then dive towards it. As soon as the pilot was sure of a hit, he only had to use his eject seat and leave the plane (although this was a very dangerous thing to do during a dive at more than 1000km/h...).
For more info about the MOC itself, click here:
www.flickr.com/photos/einon/32679279147
Eínon
At the end of the Second World War, the Nazis were getting more and more desperate so Von Braun (the Engineer behind the V-2 Ballistic Missile) proposed a series of manned versions of his V-2 (A-4) missile.
This version (A-4C) was smaller than the regular V-2 but it could be used to perform reconnaissance missions or even accurate bombing. In the later case, the pilot would guide the missile to the target and then eject with a very primitive ejection seat.
Since the regular V-2 missile dived at around Mach 3, it´s highly unlikely that the pilot had any change to eject.
This shows how desperate they were at the end of the war.
For more pictures, click here:
Eínon
Hi guys
This is a small image of the main Armament of the Heinkel He P.1078A.
I´m going to present a few LUFT46 models over the following few weeks and you will notice that most of weapons that those planes carry are the same. This way I can provide a little more info about them.
X-4 Ruhrstahl Air-to-air Missile
The X-4 was the first air-to-air missile; it was quite small (with a weight of 60kg and a warhead of 20kg) and was guided to the target by wire-control, which means that the pilot needed to guide the missile with a basic joystick to the target (while piloting the plane). If it hit a plane like a B-17 Bomber, it was a sure kill. Unfortunately for the Germans, not a single X-4 was ever used in combat (although it was test on the Me-262 and the Fw-190).
MK108 30mm Autocannon
The MK108 30mm was a small but extremely powerful autocannon developed towards the end of the Second World War. It fired a large shell which meant that four hits were more than enough to shoot down a bomber and a single shell to shoot down a fighter. It was also quite small (around 1meter in length) and light (58kg) with twice the rate of fire of the previous MK 103 cannon; however, it had a very low shell speed, which meant that the shells had a very short range (which wasn’t a good thing when you install the weapon on a fast flying jet fighter).
R4M anti-aircraft rocket
As you can see, most of the weapons developed by the German at the end of the war were designed to destroy enemy bombers and the R4M Anti-aircraft Rocket is another example of that. Since the MK-108 cannon had a very short range, they developed this rocket to fire them in large quantities against a tight formation of Allied Bombers. A single rocket was more than enough to destroy a B-17. It was used in combat by the Me-262 jet fighter and the Me-163 rocket fighter.
For more info about this plane and the model, click here:
Eínon
I made this plane to be used together with the huge DB flying Aircraft Carrier that I built last year but since I no longer have it, I decided to dismantle it and take some pictures of the model.
The original project considered a bombload of 30 000kg (66000 lbs) and was to be powered with a pair of BMW 018 turbojets whic is highly unlikely.
Since it was a parasite plane, it didn´t have a landing gear so as soon as the bombs were dropped, the pilot needed to leave the plane with an ejection seat.
This plane is quite basic but I mostly used it to learn how to build fuselages with curved slopes.
For more info and pictures, please visit my Flickr page:
Eínon
And now let´s talk about the MOC.
I made this plane to test an old idea for the wing (developed by Stephen Pakbaz for his Shinden fighter), which is a slightly swept wing with curved slopes, and it worked quite well. The only drawback is the two holes near the German roundels. If I remove the studs, it´s a very smooth solution without any gaps but with tiles it´s a little difficult to make.
The MOC features a large bomb bay with enough room for bombs, torpedoes or guided weapons. It also features three defensive gun positions, fully retractable landing gear, movable ailerons and flaps. The cockpit is quite tiny but it has enough room for two minifigs (the bombardier has some room under the pilot).
This plane doesn´t exactly qualify as a Luft46 (mostly because it flew and saw some development) but some suggested variants of the plane can be considered as such.
I shall post a few more images and info later
For more info about this plane and the model, click here:
Eínon
To complete the Daimler Benz Flying Aircraft Carrier presentation, I needed a photo of all the mini planes that it was supposed to carry.
The plane could carry up to five Daimler Benz Project E and F planes at the same time but I also included a Heinkel fighter (on the center) to provide aerial protection.
The idea behind the concept was to carry the mini planes near the target, launch them at high speed and then manually guide them to the target. The pilots would then eject the plane once they were sure of a hit and were then recovered by U-boats near the coast.
To know more about this planes and others, please visit my Luft46 Album:
www.flickr.com/photos/einon/albums/72157675795014487
Eínon
"Above is a photo of a BMW STRAHLBOMBER taken during the Second Battle of El Alamein on August 1947. During this battle, the German Luftwaffe used hundreds of these planes on low altitude attack missions to destroy the combined American/British forces that defended Egypt. The Suez Canal fell shortly after, closing to the Allies that access to the Mediterranean Sea.
However, the Americans Forces commanded by the Legendary General Patton performed a massive counter-attack from the south of Egypt, catching the ground troops of the Second Afrika Korps by surprise and forcing their retreat to Libya once again."
This is a complete work of fiction just to show the plane in combat over a sandy terrain. :D
Click here for my next picture with more info about this plane model:
www.flickr.com/photos/einon/47936383113
Eínon
Arado E 555/1
Background:
15 years ago, I went to a bookstore and I found a book called: “Luftwaffe Secret Projects; Strategic Bombers 1935-1945” written by Dieter Herwig and Heinz Rode.
The book showed a series of German Bomber Projects developed during the Second World War, some of them still looking highly advanced in our days. On the book cover there was a fantastic and unique plane, the Arado E 555/1, flying over New York and attacked by two Lockheed Shooting Stars, somewhere in the year 1946...
Many many years later I finally bought the book but only a few months ago I finally got the courage to start building the bomber. However, since for so many years I wanted to build that plane, I made it on the Imperial Lego Air Force markings (but the camouflage and colours are exactly like the one on the book (as a tribute).
More pictures can be found here: www.flickr.com/photos/einon/
About the MOC:
The MOC features retractable landing gear (as usual), two rotating defensive gun turrets, cockpit for two pilots and opening bomb bay. The six engines are grouped together on the back over the wing.
Improvements:
I´m going to perform some improvements on the MOC; first an in-flight refuelling probe for long-range missions, improved armament (including forward firing guns (for ground and anti-ship missions), two hard-points under the wings (for guided missiles) and radar (probably a Lichtenstein type radar with their characteristic antennas). I’m also going to improve the tip of the wings to the correct angle, just like the real project.
The Real World Project story:
In early 1944 Arado was asked to compile design studies for a long-range jet powered bomber. Since the requirements were high speed, a bomb load of at least 4000 kg (8818 lbs) and a range of 5000 km (3107 miles), it was realized that the project could best be fulfilled by using a flying wing design with a laminar high speed profile. The number of designs eventually reached fifteen, and included strategic bombers, remote controlled weapons carriers and fighters.
The Arado Ar E.555-1 was constructed entirely of metal (both steel and Duraluminum), and was basically a flying wing with a short, circular cross section forward fuselage where the pressurized cockpit was located. There were two large vertical fins and rudders that sat 6.2 m (20' 4") from the centerline of the aircraft.
Power was to be provided by six BMW 003A, all located on the rear upper surface of the wing. Defensive armament consisted of two MK 103 30mm cannon in the wing roots near the cockpit, a remote controlled turret armed with two MG 151/20 20mm cannon located just behind the cockpit and a further two MG 151/20 20mm cannon in a remote controlled tail turret, which was controlled via a periscope in a pressurized weapons station behind the cockpit area. On December 28, 1944, Arado was ordered to cease all work on the E.555 series, to concentrate aircraft development and production on fighters.
The “LEGO” story:
With the development of the jet engine, speed grew impressible and it was obvious that the old propeller bombers had their days counted.
To survive the new threat posed by the new jet fighters, many new and highly advanced jet powered designs were considered, but although quite fast, they all suffered from the same problem… range. Moderately swept wings and first-generation fuel-thirsty jet engines weren’t the solution for the time.
Then, a small team appeared with an innovative idea, the flying wing. (A clean flying wing is sometimes presented as theoretically the most aerodynamically efficient (lowest drag) design configuration for a fixed wing aircraft. It also offered high structural efficiency for a given wing depth, leading to light weight and high fuel efficiency.)
Defensive armament was extremely light since the bomber relied on high altitude and speed to evade enemy fighters; two defensive turrets, each one equipped with two 20mm ENA-50 Auto-cannons. Maximum bomb load was 6000kg for long-range missions (although a maximum of 20 000kg could be carried if needed).
For almost a decade, the new bomber became the most important strategic bomber used by the Empire, performing increasingly dangerous missions as the Androvakians improved their fighter designs. Eventually, they were removed from frontline service and transformed into long-range tankers and for oceanic/anti-ship patrols.
Hope you like it!
Please visit my Flickr page for many more pictures of all my other MOCs:
Thanks
Eínon
Almost at the end of the Second World War, the Messerschmitt Project Bureau started to work on the P.1111, a tailess fighter aircraft with 45º swept wings. It was designed and armed with two powerful 30mm Mk108 Autocannons and was powered by a single jet engine on the rear with air intakes on the wing roots.
It was also considered to use the Ruhrstahl X-4 air to air missile.
Unfortunately for the Germans, this plane was another unbuilt paper-project; however there´s some speculation that Vought engineers got some info from the Messerschmitt Project Bureau and designed the Vought Cutlass fighter based on this plane.
For more pictures, please visit my Flickr page:
Eínon
The model itself was made to test and experiment the use of very swept wings and curved slopes on the leading edge of the aircraft.
This was one of the first planes that I made for the Luft46 Display this year and offcourse it isn´t the best (there´s a gap on the wing roots that was eventually corrected on later planes) but it was still quite fun to built.
For more pictures, please visit my Flickr page:
Eínon
With the development of the first jet engines, BMW developed the BMW STRAHLBOMBER I in order to help the sales of their latest jet engine, the BMW 018.
Yes, during the Second World War even BMW designed planes...
The plane was designed as a high-speed bomber and it had a total of six BMW 018 engines (two of them on the sides of the cockpit, the other four inside the wing roots).
It could carry 4000kg of bombs internally and it had two 30mm defensive cannons on the side of the rear fuselage.
Other versions were considered, including a ground attack variant (pictured, with two additional 30mm cannons on the nose) and a high speed interceptor.
Luckily for the allies, this plane never saw action.
Click here for my next picture with more info about this plane:
www.flickr.com/photos/einon/47936388511
Eínon
Above is a small image of the Daimler Benz Project E Piloted Missile.
The model is quite simple; since it was a flying missile, It didn´t need a retractable landing gear which made construction quite easy.
On land, it needs to be carried on a trolley.
To know more about the history of this plane, click here for the previous photo:
www.flickr.com/photos/einon/32679277157
Eínon
I made this plane at the end of last year but I was only able to present it now.
The Henschel Hs P.87 was a design developed at the end of the Second World War by Germany. It was a small fast bomber powered by a single 2200 horsepower Daimler Benz DB 610 engine.
The plane featured a canard configuration which improved performance considerably.
Because of the worsening on the war situation, the project was cancelled.
To know more about the Model itself, click here for the next picture.
www.flickr.com/photos/einon/49344400138
Eínon
The VL-957 Vishap was an Interceptor which was later modified into a powerful ground attack Aircraft for the Esthian Imperial Air Force.
The Vishap was initially designed to destroy enemy bombers flying over Esthian Territory. The aircraft featured long swept wings and a powerful four barrel 37mm auto-cannon, the heaviest cannon ever mounted on an Esthian plane. The idea was to use the long-range gun outside the enemy defensive gun range; however, the rapid evolution of the first air-to-air missiles rendered the plane obsolete. The Esthians then used the aircraft with considerable success for the Ground Attack role.
It was also armed with a 30mm ENA-60 forward-firing cannon, a dorsal defensive turret with two 20mm guns and two more 20mm on the sides of the fuselage. Bombs, rockets and missiles could be carried under the wings.
About the model:
I was initially going to build a German Luft46 design, the Messerschmitt Me P.1101/99 but I wasn´t happy with the camouflage that I used at the time. So I modified it and here it is!
More photos here: www.flickr.com/photos/einon/
Thanks!
Eínon
And now, it´s time to talk about the model itself.
It took me more than 4 months to build this plane, sometimes I had to stop and wait for new parts and I almost gave up half way. But it´s finally here.
The MOC features:
Wingspan: 1,2m (4ft)!
Features:
- 1 LEGO motor that powers six propellers;
- 9 defensive gun turrets!
- movable flaps, elevators, rudders;
- capacity to carry five manned flying bombs/fighters under the wings!
And a few statics:
500 1 x 4 dark green tiles used;
350 1 x 4 green tiles used;
For more info, please watch the video that I made about this MOC here:
www.flickr.com/photos/einon/47552524632
Eínon
And now, let´s talk about the model. The plane features a fully retractable landing gear, movable defensive gun turrets and an internal bomb bay.
Sadly LEGO hasn´t released the new wedge tiles in tan or reddish brown so the wings have that "dented" effect but it was the solution available.
For more pictures, please visit my Flickr page:
Eínon
Above is a small video about my latest plane, the Daimler Benz C Flying Aircraft Carrier.
This plane is huge and quite heavy, but it can carry 5 smaller planes or a medium size jet bomber under the wings!
I will post a few pictures of the smaller flying bombs in a few days. So, don´t forget to like and subscribe!
More photos on my Flick account here:
Eínon
The VL-214 was designed to compete against the VL Simuroc and the Ajatar for a series of roles (anti-tank, interceptor, escort fighter…) but it only won the competition for a high altitude interceptor.
The aircraft was powered by two 3200hp engines on tandem with two separate cockpits on the tip of each wing.
Armament was extensive. One cockpit was equipped with a long-range 75mm cannon, the other had a 20mm autocannon with four more mounted on the wings. Two more 20mm guns were installed on a remotely operated defensive turret on the rear and four extra 30mm cannons were mounted between the engines firing upward. Rockets and primitive missiles could be carried under the wings.
Although heavily armed, the plane was extremely agile and fast, achieving 780km/h at 10 000m. Once in service and equipped with radar, the fighter became such a threat to the enemy bombers that Androvakia stopped their bombing offensive for good against Esthia.
With the development of the jet engine, the new fighter was replaced and many were modified into high altitude spy planes to perform reconnaissance over the battlefield. In that role, it outlived both the Simuroc and the Ajatar, flying for 32 years.
The plane is based on the German Blohm & Voss P163.01 project developed during the Second World War. The war ended before any could be built.
Hope you like it!
Please visit my Flickr page and subscribe!
Eínon
Ju-287
Please watch this and many other fantastic creations here: www.flickr.com/photos/einon/
I have already built some Luft46 projects, like the Blohm + Voss P.188.03, but I wanted to build a different project this time. The Ju-287 was a German test-bed bomber built in the end of the war, but the Germans were developing new and more advanced versions like the EF-140.
The real story:
This Ju-287 version is the EF-140, a prototype only built after the war by the Soviets. The first flight was in 1948, using two Klimov VK-1 jet engines. If the WW2 had continued, it might have been built by the germans and used as a tactical bomber against England and the URSS.
Alternate Story (what if? 1945-47)
The prototype was powered by two BMW 109-018 jet engines, featured a revolutionary forward-swept wing and, like other bombers built by Junkers, it carried a pressure cabin housing the three man crew. The defensive guns were all remotely controlled.
Operationally, the plane was called Ju-287 A-5. A small squadron of 5 Ju-287s A-5 operating from Norway, each plane armed with two Hs 296, tried to sink the soviet battleship Sovetsky Soyuz in 1946. The battleship eventually was hit two times but managed to survive and return to Murmansk. Two Ju-287 A-5 bombers were shot down during the attack. The fast bomber was also used with great success against the Soviet army, being too fast for the soviet fighters to catch up. This led the soviets to develop mixed rocket-and-propeller fighters to defend it´s troops.
In May 1947, a few weeks before the “end of the war”, a total of 350 Ju-287 A-5 were used in the Second Battle of Britain. Half of them were lost in less than a week, most to the new British jet fighters like the De Havilland Vampire and the Gloster Meteor.
Hope you like it
Please watch this and many other fantastic creations here: www.flickr.com/photos/einon/
Please comment or rate ^^
Eínon
About Luft46:
At the end of the Second World War, Germany had some of the most advanced fighter and bomber designs in the world. All of these highly advanced designs (almost all had swept wings and jet engines) were far ahead of their competitors and if the war had continued a bit longer, it´s highly probable that more of these advanced designs would have seen the light of day.
The model:
The LEGO plane has a retractable landing gear that works on a similar way as my Folland Gnat. The cockpit can be opened to put a pilot inside and it also has the external hard points for the air-to-air missiles.
For more pictures, please visit my Flickr page:
Eínon
I made this plane to test a wing design made by Stephen Pakbaz for his Shinden fighter years ago.
His wing design works quite well, but I wanted to remove the visible studs above the wing from the wedge plates.
The model features retractable landing gear, external hardpoints for bombs under the wings and movable flaps on the rear.
For more pictures, please visit my Flickr page:
Eínon
About the MOC:
A simple image showing in greater detail the Missile. In this case, it´s slightly smaller than the V-2 and all I did was add the wings and a cockpit to the nose.
The tail was reinforced because it´s the first plane that I made that sit on the tail.
I also made a simple launching platform for the missile.
For more pictures, click here:
Eínon
A certain team is currently developing a brand new bomber which could pose a (slight) threat to my small Nation (aka: Brickmania´s latest design, the B-17G).
So I decided to make an aircraft that could keep my small LEGO room safe. ^^
In 1942, the Germans were receiving constant information’s of a brand new, high altitude and high speed American bomber that could destroy German cities without opposition. To counter that threat, Messerschmitt modified a previous design, the Me-155 (a naval fighter designed for the ill fated Graf Zeppelin Aircraft Carrier) and made a high altitude interceptor. However, Messerschmitt was overcommitted with other new designs (Me-163/Me-262) so development was passed to Blohm & Voss.
BV then modified the design again with a long laminar flow wing, radiators mounted under the wings, new cockpit and other improvements. The aircraft was powered by the DB 603U engine, which promised a power of 1,238 kW (1,660 hp) for takeoff and 1,066 kW (1,430 hp) at 14,935 m (49,000 ft), enabling it to fly at that altitude at a speed of 670km/h, faster than any allied fighter or bomber.
The aircraft was armed with an engine-mounted (or Motorkanone) 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108 cannon and two wing mounted 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons.
The war ended before production could begin, although prototypes were built and did fly. The American bomber project, the Boeing B-29 never flew in combat over Germany.
About the model:
This was a very difficult plane to build, since it´s actually quite big. It features a retractable landing gear (including a fully retractable rear wheel), access to the cockpit and the wings have the correct slightly upward angle.
For more pictures, please visit my Flickr page:
Eínon
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Gotha 146 was a fast reconnaissance aircraft that was used throughout WWII by the German Luftwaffe, and one of the results of a mutual technology exchange program with Japan. The Go 146 was actually a license-built, but modified variant of the excellent Mitsubishi Ki-46. The latter type's career started in late 1937, when the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force issued a specification to Mitsubishi for a long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft to replace the Mitsubishi Ki-15. The specification demanded an endurance of six hours and sufficient speed to evade interception by any fighter in existence or development at that time, but otherwise did not constrain the design by a team led by Tomio Kubo.
The resulting design was a twin-engine, low-winged monoplane with a retractable tailwheel undercarriage. It had a small diameter oval fuselage with the pilot and observer situated in individual cockpits separated by a large fuel tank. The engines, two Mitsubishi Ha-26 radials, were housed in close-fitting cowlings to reduce drag and improve pilot view.
The first prototype aircraft, flew in November 1939 from the Mitsubishi factory at Kakamigahara, Gifu. Tests showed that the Ki-46 was underpowered and slower than required, only reaching 540 km/h (336 mph) rather than the specified 600 km/h (373 mph), but, otherwise, the aircraft tests were successful. As the type was still faster than the Army's latest fighter, the Nakajima Ki-43, as well as the Navy's new A6M2, an initial production batch was ordered. To solve the performance problems, Mitsubishi switched to Ha-102 engines, which were Ha-26s fitted with a two-stage supercharger, while increasing fuel capacity and reducing empty weight. This became the Ki-46-II, and this type was also demonstrated to German officials who immediately noticed its potential.
Knowing that the German Luftwaffe lacked this specialized, fast type of aircraft (German reconnaissance aircraft of that time were either slow artillery observation types, or variants of bombers or heavy fighters), the RLM immediately asked for a batch of airframe kits to adapt it to the European theatre and test its capabilities. Seven engine-less airframe kits were delivered to Germany in early 1940. In the meantime, with the help of blueprints and other documentations, an alternative engine installation had been devised: the “Germanized” aircraft was to be powered by liquid-cooled DB 601 engines, which delivered more power than the Ha-102 and offered improved aerodynamics, despite the necessity to add radiators under the outer wings. Many stock parts from the contemporary Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter were incorporated, so that the development time was very short, and the commonality of mechanical parts eased logistics and maintenance.
In May 1940 the first batch of the Gotha 146 A-0 pre-production aircraft (which had officially been described as a further development of a four seat, twin-engine transport aircraft from the 1930s to cloud its origins and mission) was ready. They were immediately transferred to the Western Front for field tests, and the specialized Go 146 became quickly popular among its crews. It was fast, agile and easy to fly – almost on par with state-of-the-art fighters like the Bf 109. During the test phase in summer 1940 the Go 146 proved to be slightly faster than its Japanese Ki-46 ancestor, and with a top speed of more than 375 mph (600 km/h) it was hard to intercept by any British or French fighter of the time. The results were so convincing that the type was ordered into serial production, and from October 1940 on the Go 146 A-1 was produced in limited numbers at the Gothaer Waggonfabrik in Thuringia. Even though production only ran at small scale, it was continuous, and the Go 146 was steadily developed further, including the change of the nose section that came with the Ki-46-III, stronger engines and an improved defensive armament.
This evolution led to the Go 146 B, which had the traditional stepped windshield replaced with a smooth, curved, glazed panel extended over the pilot's seat. It not only gave a more aerodynamic nose profile, the re-shaped nose also offered room for an extra fuel tank. The space between the two crewmen, connected with a crawl tunnel, held another fuel tank, the radio equipment (a Sprechfunkgerät FuG 16 ZY and a FuG 25a „Erstling“ IFF beacon), as well as a compartment for up to three cameras with several ventral windows, which could take Rb (“Reihenbildner” = serial picture device) 20/30, 50/30 and 75/30 devices that could be mounted in different combinations and angles as needed.
Power came now from a pair of new Daimler-Benz DB 603A liquid-cooled piston engines, which offered 1,290 kW (1,750 hp) each for take-off. Since the engine mounts had to be re-designed for the DB603s (the Go 146 A had used adapters to attach its shorter DB 601s to the original Ha-102 radials’ hardpoints), German engineers used the opportunity to redesign the complete engine nacelles. As a result, their diameter and “wet” surface was reduced, so much that the landing gear had to be modified, too. It now rotated 90° upon retraction, so that the main wheels were lying in shallow wells within the wing structure. Beyond better aerodynamics, structural measures saved almost 250 kg (550 lb).
Instead of the Go 146 A’s single 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17 machine gun in the observer's cabin, facing rearwards, the defensive armament was improved and consisted of a pair of 13 mm (0.51 in) MG 131 machine guns, firing rearward from FDSL 131/1B remotely-operated barbettes, one per side. This rather complex installation had become possible (and in part necessary) due to a center of gravity shift from the modified engines and their empennage. The weapons were aimed by the rear crewman through a periscope that covered both the upper and lower rear hemisphere. The control unit had a rotating transverse crossbar with a sideways-pivoting handgun-style grip and trigger at its center, "forked" at its forward pivoting end to fit around the crossbar, with the upper fork extended beyond the rotating crossbar to mount the gunsight. This unique aiming and control scheme rotated the crossbar axially, when the handgrip was elevated or depressed, to aim the guns vertically by rotating both turrets together, and a sideways movement of the handgrip would pivot either one of the guns outwards from the fuselage-mounted turrets for diagonal firing. The guns were electrically fired, and an electrical contact breaker prevented the gunner from shooting off the aircraft’s tailplane. When not in use, the guns would return to a neutral position that would allow to fire directly backwards with both guns.
Furthermore, plumbed hardpoints were added to the inner wings, just inside of the engines. These could carry a 300 l drop tank each for an extended range and loiter time. Single bombs of up to 250 kg or racks with four 50 kg bombs each were theoretically possible too, but the aircraft lacked any bomb aiming support. Crew protection was slightly improved, too, but the airframe was overall kept as light as possible. Despite these efforts, however, MTOW rose to 6,500 kg (14,317 lb), but this was still relatively light in comparison with the similar contemporary Me 410 multi-purpose aircraft, which weighed more than 9 tons and was powered by similar engines. Consequently, and thanks to its clean lines, the G 146 B had a top speed of almost 700 km/h (434 mph) at ideal altitude and the aircraft retained its excellent handling, even though its structure was rather fragile and could not take much stress and punishment.
Two versions of the Go 146 B were produced, steadily but only at a low rate because the aircraft received, due to its highly specialized role and limited offensive capabilities, only a low priority. The B-1 was the main variant and kept the A version’s standard wing, a total of 54 were produced between 1943 and 1945. Additionally, the B-2 was produced between late 1943 and early 1944 as a dedicated high altitude photo reconnaissance aircraft. This sub-variant had an extended wingspan of 16.00 m (52 ft 5 in) instead of the standard 14.70 m (48 ft 2¾ in) and an improved oxygen system, even though the cabin was not pressurized. Its maximum service ceiling was almost 12.000 m (39.305 ft), with a maximum speed of 415 mph (668 km/h), a cruise speed of 250 mph (400 km/h) and a range of 3,200 km (1,987 nmi). Only twelve of these machines were produced and put into service, primarily for flights over Southern Great Britain. When the Arado Ar 234 became available from September 1944 on, though, this new, jet-powered type immediately replaced the Go 146 B-2 because it offered even better performance. Therefore, the B-3, a planned version with a fully pressurized cabin and an even bigger wingspan of 19.00 m, never left the drawing board.
Furthermore, the RLM had idea to convert the fast Go 146 into a fighter amd even a night fighter in mid-1944 as the “C” series. But these plans were not executed because the light airframe could hardly be adapted to heavy weapons or equipment like a radar set, and it was unsuited for vigorous dogfighting. The type’s poor climbing rate made it ineffective as an interceptor, too. There were, nevertheless, tests with at least one Go 146 B-1 that carried four Werfer-Granate 21 rocket launchers under the outer wings, as a fast bomber interceptor esp. against the high-flying B-29, which was expected to appear over continental Europe soon. But this kind of weaponry never reached frontline units and the Go 146 was never operated as a fighter of any kind.
There were, however, other uses: in 1944 the Go 146 was enlisted as a fast liaison aircraft for the RLM (Ministry of Aviation) in Berlin. Stripped off of any armament and cameras and outfitted with two passenger seats in the rear cabin, at least one Go 146 B (with the confirmed registration “ST+ZA”, others in similar configuration may have existed, too) was operated by the RLM’s Zentralabteilung (central command) from Tempelhof airfield for top brass officials between Luftwaffe locations on German terrain. ST+ZA’s fate after January 1945 is uncertain, though.
Specifications:
Crew: two (pilot and observer)
Length: 11.00 m (36 ft 1 in)
Wingspan: 14.70 m (48 ft 2¾ in)
Height: 3.88 m (12 ft 8¾ in)
Wing area: 32.0 m² (344 ft²)
Empty weight: 3,830 kg (8,436 lb)
Loaded weight: 5,661 kg (12,480 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 6,500 kg (14,317 lb)
Powerplant:
2× Daimler-Benz DB 603A V-12 inverted liquid-cooled piston engines, rated at:
- 1,290 kW (1,750 hp) each for take-off
- 1,360 kW (1,850 PS) at 2,100 m (6,890 ft)
- 1,195 kW (1,625 PS) at 5,700 m (18,700 ft)
- 1,162 kW (1580 PS) combat power at 2500 rpm at sea level
Performance:
Maximum speed: 695 km/h (377 knots, 430 mph) at 5,800 m (19,000 ft)
Cruise speed: 450 km/h (245 knots, 280 mph)
Range: 2,800 km (1,522 nmi, 1,740 mi) with internal fuel
Service ceiling: 11,250 m (36,850 ft)
Wing loading: 157.8 kg/m² (32.3 lb/ft²)
Climb rate: 14.7 m/sec (2,900 feet per minute)
Climb to 8,000 m (26,250 ft): 15 min 20 sec
Armament:
2× 13 mm (0.51 in) defensive MG 131 machine guns with 500 RPG,
each firing rearward from FDSL 131/1B remote-operated turret, one per side
2× underwing hardpoints under the inner wings for 250 kg (550 lb) each,
typically occupied by 300 l drop tanks
The kit and its assembly:
This is a déjà vu build: I already did a “Germanized” Ki-46 in 2015, it was an Airfix Ki-46-II outfitted with DB 601s from a Bf 110 as a pre-series Gotha Go 146 A-0, an aircraft that (naturally) never existed but appeared plausible, since German military hardware including aircraft had been evaluated by Japanese forces. And why should this exchange not have worked the other way around, too? However, as I built this modified Dinah for the first time, I already thought that the basic idea had more potential than just one model, and the streamlined Ki-46-III just lent itself for an updated, later version.
This B-2 variant of the Go 146 was based on the LS Models/ARII Ki-46-III. Like the Airfix kit (its molds are from 1965, and that’s just what the kit feels, looks and builds like…), it’s a rather vintage offering, but it is in many aspects markedly ahead, with fine surfaces, recessed details, 3D engines and clear parts that actually fit into their intended places. The LS Models kit’s 10 years less of age are recognizable, and there are three boxings around with different versions of the aircraft (a Ki-46-II, a -III and a trainer with a raised tutor cockpit), differing in small extra sprues for the respective fuselage parts, but they all share a common sprue with the clear parts for all three versions.
The Ki-46-III kit was taken OOB, with just some minor mods. The most obvious change concerns the engines: they were transplanted from a Bilek Me 210, together with the underwing radiators outside of the nacelles. The Me 210, even though it’s from 1997, is a rather mediocre model with some dubious solutions, therefore earmarked for a conversion and ready to donor some body parts… The engine switch was insofar easy because the Ki-46 kit comes with completely separate parts for the engines and their fairings which also contain the main landing gear wells.
Because of this “clean” basis I decided to cut the nacelles out from the Me 210 and attach them to the Ki-46 wings, so that the DB 603 engines would have perfect attachment points. While this was a bigger overall surgery stunt than on the earlier Airfix Dinah, this was easier than expected and resulted in a cleaner solution that also underlines the Ki-46’s clean and slender shape. The modified nacelles were much smaller than the Dinah’s, though. The main wheels were replaced with slightly smaller and narrower ones from the scrap box.
Inside of the cockpit, I implanted a dashboard. In the rear cabin the seat was reversed and moved further forward. In the cabin’s rear a scratched targeting scope/weapon control column for the FDSL 131 installation was added. Since I left the single-part canopies (which are quite thick but very clear) closed I outfitted the model with a crew. The Ki-46 III kit comes with a pair of figures, but they are very small (H0 scale, at best!) and look goofy, so that I exchanged them with Matchbox WWII pilots, which had their legs bent and their bottoms cut away to make them fit into the tight fuselage and under the canopies.
Unfortunately, the Me 210 kit had already donated its machine gun barbettes (they had gone onto an upgraded Heinkel He 115 floatplane), so that I scratched them for the Go 146. WWII bombs became the fairings, some leftover landing gear struts were used as gun barrels, and round styrene bases were used as mounts that also lift the fairings slightly off the hull. The barbettes as such look a little superficial on the slender Dinah, but they are a nice, typically German detail, über-complicated for this type of fast aircraft that probably would have more benefited from leaving them away altogether to save weight and drag.
The (typically German) 300 l drop tanks come from Hobby Boss Bf 109s and each received four short attachment struts, made from styrene profile material, so that they could be stuck under the inner wings.
Painting and markings:
This was more complicated than expected. I wanted to apply a plausible, late German WWII livery with typical colors, but finding something that would be suited for high-altitude operations and not copy anything I had already done turned out to be challenging.
The paint scheme would be very light, with only low-contrast camouflage added on top. Therefore, the basis became an overall coat with RLM 76 (I used Tamiya XF-23, Light Blue, which is an excellent option). Inspired by He 177 bombers I found in literature, large blotches of a rather obscure and uncommon tone, RLM 77 “Hellgrau” were added to the flanks of fuselage, fin and engine nacelles. RLM 77 is/was a very light grey, and it was primarily used for markings like code letters on night fighters and not for camouflage. AFAIK it would later become the RAL 7035 (Lichtgrau) tone that still exists today. Humbrol 196 would have been an authentic option, but to keep the contrast to the underlying RLM 76 low I rather used XF-19 (Sky Grey) and extended the blotches under the fuselage and the nacelles, for a semi-wraparound scheme.
Then came the upper surfaces, everything was painted with brushes and without masks, with an intentional uneven finish. The wings and stabilizers were to receive a slightly darker camouflage in the form of RLM 02 and 75 splotches (with Tamiya XF-22 and XF-XX as proxies) over the uniform RLM 76 base, so that the aircraft’s outlines would be broken up from above. However, after first tests I found this did not look convincing, the RLM 76 was very prominent and bluish, so that I rather gave the upper wings and the spine a semi-translucent but continuous coat of paint, with the underlying RLM 76 just showing through here and there – much better. At this stage I added the decals (see below), but now found the upper surfaces to look too uniform and somewhat dark, so that, as a final measure, I added a meander pattern with RLM 77 (again XF-19) to the wings. This not only looked good and very “German”, it lightened the cammo and also helped to break the aircraft’s lines up. Some light panel shading to the uniform undersides, black ink and grinded graphite were used for weathering, but the effects are very soft.
Interior surfaces (cockpit and landing gear wells) became late-war style RAL 7021 Schwarzgrau (Humbrol 67), the landing gear struts were painted in RLM 02, this time Revell 45 was used. The propeller blades were painted in a very dark mix of green and black, the spinners became black with simple white spirals – the only detail with a high contrast on this aircraft.
The markings of this aircraft are minimal. Balkenkreuz markings only consisting of outlines were used, another typical late-war practice and for a low-visibility look/effect. They were taken from an Academy Fw 190 D. On the fuselage, the gun barbettes caused some headaches, because they take up a lot of space and made the application of a standard Luftwaffe code almost impossible. Consequently, the fuselage Balkenkreuze were placed ahead of the barbettes, partly disrupted by the observer’s lower side windows, while the tactical code became separated by the guns. At starboard the code even had to be reversed - not correct, but a pragmatic solution.
The model/aircraft belongs to a fictional unit, its code “P3” in front of the fuselage Balkenkreuz has no real-world reference and was executed in small letters, a typical late WWII measure. This part of the code was done with small, black 2 mm letters. A fictional unit badge, depicting a running greyhound, was added under the cockpit. It actually belongs to a German tank unit.
The “KN” part of the code, including the Ks on the nose, came from an Airfix Ju 87 B sheet. As an aircraft belonging to the 5th squadron within the unit’s 2nd group, the 4th letter in the code became “N”, while the 3rd letter “K” denotes the individual aircraft. The color code associated with a 5th squadron was red, incorporated on the aircraft as a thin red outline around the individual aircraft letter (another late-war low-contrast measure). To provide a little visual excitement, small red Ks were added to the nose, too, to make thew aircraft easy to identify when parked at the flight line.
Since this aircraft would operate over the Western front from German home ground, no further ID/theatre markings like fuselage or wing bands or wingtips in yellow or white, etc. were added. This, together with the lack of visible red as squadron code, results in a rather dry look, but that’s intentional.
After some exhaust and oil stains with graphite and Tamiya “Smoke”, a coat of acrylic matt varnish finally sealed the model and a wire antenna, made from heated sprue material, was added.
Well, an exotic what-if idea, but I really like how this conversion turned out, even though the livery evolved in a different way from what I had initially in mind. The Ki-46 was already an elegant aircraft, especially the Ki-46-III with its teardrop-shaped nose section. But, with the smaller, streamlined inline engines instead of the radials, this iteration looks even better and faster. It reminds a little of the D.H. Hornet? The gun barbettes are a nice “German” detail, and the makeshift high-altitude paint scheme adds to the obscure impression of the model. A really nice sister ship for the Go 146 A-0 build from 2015.
Ju-287
I have already built some Luft46 projects, like the Blohm + Voss P.188.03, but I wanted to build a different project this time. The Ju-287 was a German test-bed bomber built in the end of the war, but the Germans were developing new and more advanced versions like the EF-140.
The real story:
This Ju-287 version is the EF-140, a prototype only built after the war by the Soviets. The first flight was in 1948, using two Klimov VK-1 jet engines. If the WW2 had continued, it might have been built by the germans and used as a tactical bomber against England and the URSS.
Alternate Story (what if? 1945-47)
The prototype was powered by two BMW 109-018 jet engines, featured a revolutionary forward-swept wing and, like other bombers built by Junkers, it carried a pressure cabin housing the three man crew. The defensive guns were all remotely controlled.
Operationally, the plane was called Ju-287 A-5. A small squadron of 5 Ju-287s A-5 operating from Norway, each plane armed with two Hs 296, tried to sink the soviet battleship Sovetsky Soyuz in 1946. The battleship eventually was hit two times but managed to survive and return to Murmansk. Two Ju-287 A-5 bombers were shot down during the attack. The fast bomber was also used with great success against the Soviet army, being too fast for the soviet fighters to catch up. This led the soviets to develop mixed rocket-and-propeller fighters to defend it´s troops.
In May 1947, a few weeks before the “end of the war”, a total of 350 Ju-287 A-5 were used in the Second Battle of Britain. Half of them were lost in less than a week, most to the new British jet fighters like the De Havilland Vampire and the Gloster Meteor.
Henschel Hs 296 Flying bomb (invented by me)
The Henschel Hs 296 was a radio-controlled flying bomb carrying a 750kg armour-piercing charge. The bomb was developed from the Fieseler Fi 103 Flying bomb (also know as V-1) and was guided to the target using a “Tonne-Seedorf” TV guidance system built for the Hs 293D. It had a range of 30km and was propelled by 2 Schmidding SG 34 solid fuel rocket boosters (1,200 kg for 10 seconds each).
General characteristics
Crew: 3
Length: 19.25 m
Wingspan: 21.87 m
Height: 5.65 m
Wing area: 61 m2
Empty weight: 14,676 kg
Gross weight: 25,543 kg
Powerplant: 2 × BMW 109-018 jet engines
Performance
Maximum speed: 900 km/h (estimated)
Range: 4000 km
Service ceiling: 14,100 m
Armament:
2 x 30mm Mk-103 cannon fixed forward firing;
2 × 20mm MG-151/20 cannon in a dorsal turret;
2 × 20mm MG-151/20 cannon in a rear turret;
2 × 20mm MG-151/20 in a DT-N1 ventral barbette (some models);
2 x 1000kg bombs in the bomb bay or;
4 x 500kg bombs in the bomb bay or;
2 x Hs 296 Glide-bomb under the wings or;
2 x FX 1400 Fritz X under the wings or;
2 x Blohm & Voss L 11 Schneewittchen Torpedo Gliders under the wings.
Max. Bombload: 4000kg.
Hope you like it
Please comment or rate ^^
Eínon
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Würger (English: Shrike) was a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. The 190 was used by the Luftwaffe in a wide variety of roles, including day fighter, fighter-bomber, ground-attack aircraft and, to a lesser degree, even night fighter.
The Fw 190 became the backbone of the Jagdwaffe (Fighter Force), along with the Bf 109 which it never entirely replaced. On the Eastern Front, the Fw 190 was versatile enough to use in Schlachtgeschwader (Battle Wings or Strike Wings), specialized ground attack units which achieved much success against Soviet ground forces. As an interceptor, the Fw 190 underwent improvements to make it effective at high altitude, enabling it to maintain relative parity with its Allied opponents. The Fw 190A series' performance decreased at high altitudes (usually 6,000 m (20,000 ft) and above), which reduced its effectiveness as a high-altitude interceptor, but this problem was mostly rectified in later models, particularly in the Junkers Jumo 213 inline-engine Focke-Wulf Fw 190D series (nicknamed the Dora; or Long-Nose Dora, "Langnasen-Dora"), which was introduced in September 1944.
The Fw 190 D was intended to improve on the high-altitude performance of the A-series enough to make it useful against the American heavy bombers of the era. In the event, the D series was rarely used against the heavy-bomber raids, as the circumstances of the war in late 1944 meant that fighter-versus-fighter combat and ground attack missions took priority.
To make matters worse, the D was only seen as an interim solution, as Kurt Tank made it very clear that he intended the D-9 to be a stopgap until the Ta 152 arrived. These negative opinions existed for some time until positive pilot feedback began arriving at Focke-Wulf and the Luftwaffe command structure. Sporting good handling and performance characteristics, the D-9 made an effective medium altitude, high speed interceptor, although its performance still fell away at altitudes above about 20,000 ft (6,100 m). When flown by capable pilots, the Fw 190D proved the equal of Allied types.
With the ever increasing threat of Allied bomber raids and the advent of the formidable Ta 152 fighter, several designs were tried in order to create a long range interceptor from the D-9. From the start it was clear that the increment in range would call for added fuel, which in turn would limit payload and performance to a level that rendered the idea pointless. Anyway, Georg Hager, a young engineer proposed a radical new idea, which was similar to the Twin Mustangs' idea which was under development at the same time in the USA for the Pacific theater: mating two Dora fuselages into a two-engined aircraft, which would meet the Luftwaffe's requirements and could mostly be built with the help of existing tools and jigs, getting it into service with almost no delay.
The result was the Fw 190 Z (for 'Zwilling' = Twin). The airframe was based on the single-engined D-13 fighter, only one cockpit was installed into the left fuselage, the respective space in the right fuselage was faired over and used for an internal tank.
The outer wings were directly taken from the Fw 190 D, even though the landing gear was totally redesigned: it retracted backwards into the lower fuselage and was fitted with twin wheels.
Both fuselages were connected by a new wing center section and a new tailplane, both of constant chord and simple construction. As Aluminum became scarce in the late years of WWII, some constructional changes had to be made, e. g. a rigid central wing spar made from steel. In other places, wood elements replaced Aluminum parts on the wings.
Two prototypes of the Z-16, how the type was officially called, were built in late 1944 and tested until March 1945. As the type proved to offer sufficient performance and no major handling problem was found, it was immediately put into production and service.
The Z-16 was fitted with all-weather flying equipment including the PKS12 and K-23 systems for steering and autopilot. The FuG 125 radio system, known as “Hermine”, was fitted to the aircraft, as well as a heated windscreen. The aircraft also featured a hydraulic boost system for the ailerons, which had been developed for the Ta 152. Armament consisted of six machine cannons, and this heavy armament allowed the Z-16 to deal quickly with enemy aircraft. Each fuselage carried three weapons: one 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108 Motorkanone cannon centered within the propeller hub and two synchronized 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons located in the wing roots. Under the center wing, bombs of up to 1.000 kg caliber (2.202 lb) or drop tanks could be carried. Under the outer wings, wooden racks with 2× 12 unguided 'R4M' 55 mm (2.2 in) air-to-air rockets could be carried, too. One or two of these rockets could down even the famously rugged B-17 Flying Fortress.
With its two Jumo 213E engines the Z-16 was capable of speeds up to 755 km/h (472 mph) at 13,500 m (41,000 ft, using the GM-1 nitrous oxide boost) and 560 km/h (350 mph) at sea level (using the MW 50 methanol-water boost). To help it attain this speed, it used the MW 50 system mainly for lower altitudes (up to about 10,000 m/32,800 ft) and the GM-1 system for higher altitudes, although both systems could be engaged at the same time.
A further step in order to increase performance was the experimental installation of a jet booster: a single Junkers Jumo 004 B-1 turbojet, rated at 8.8 kN (1,980 lbf) was installed under the central wing section, with wet hardpoints for two 250 l (55 imp gal; 66 US gal) drop tanks on each side.
The results were so promising (top speed climbed to 805 km/h/500mph while range was not reduced) that this Rüstsatz measure, originally designed only as an optional feature for a Z-16/R-1, was fully integrated into the production type, which became the Fw 190 Z-17. This type was immediately ordered into series production in September 1945 and was to fully replace the Z-16, which had just been started to be delivered to the Luftwaffe.
Anyway, as the Jumo 004 was mostly reserved for the Me 262 'Schwalbe' jet fighter and the simpler Ta 152 still had development priority, only about 50 Z-17 and a further 40 Z-16 without the jet booster were delivered until the hostilities ended. They were exclusively used in the Zerstörer (Bomber destroyers) role. From the pilots the Fw 190 Z earned the nickname “Gurkenhobel” (Cucumber slicer), due to its unique shape, but it was nevertheless well-liked and its firepower made it an effective weapon against Allied bomber formations.
Plans had been made to develop the Fw 190 Z into a two-seated night fighter (with the second cockpit in the right fuselage re-installed), but this was not carried out. A high altitude version, with the long outer wings from the Ta 152 H, also remained on the drawing board, and at least one Z-16 had been tested with a 55 mm MK214 autocannon, carried in a streamlined pod under the central wing where the Z-17’s jet booster was originally installed.
General Focke Wulf Fw 190 Z-17 characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 10.20 m (33 ft 5½ in)
Wingspan: 14.580 m (47 ft 9 in)
Height: 3.35 m (11 ft 0 in)
Empty weight: 15,997 lb (7,271 kg)
Loaded weight: 4,270 kg (9,413 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 11,632 kg (25,591 lb)
Powerplant:
2× Junkers Jumo 213E liquid-cooled inverted V-12, 1,287 kW (1,750 PS; 2,050 PS with MW-50 boost)
1× Junkers Jumo 004 B-1 turbojet, rated at 8.8 kN (1,980 lbf)
Performance:
Maximum speed: 805 km/h (500 mph) at 6,600 m (21,655 ft), 740 km/h (460 mph) at 37,000 ft (11,000 m)
Range: 1.800 mi (1.563 nmi, 2.900 km)
Service ceiling: 12,000 m (39,370 ft)
Rate of climb: 17 m/s (3,300 ft/min)
Armament:
2× 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108 machine cannon with 110 RPG, firing through the propeller hubs
4× 20 mm MG 151 cannons with 250 rpg in the wing roots
Up to 1.000 kg (2.202 lb) of external ordnance at two hardpoints under the central wing, including bombs, drop tanks; under the outer wings additional hardpoints for four 50 kg (110lb) bombs, two racks with 12 unguided 'R4M' 55 mm (2.2 in) each, two pods with 2× 20mm MG 151/20 machine guns each or up to four WGr21 launch tubes.
The kit and its assembly:
This whif was inspired by the P-82 “Twin Mustang”, and the result is a rather bizarre creation which would nevertheless appear plausible for Germany during the late stages of WWII. Actually, Arado’s real paper project E.530 looked very similar to this creation, but it was a bigger aircraft and intended as a fast bomber.
Other Zwilling designs even entered the hardware stage or were very concrete: the He 111 Z bomber was built and used mainly as a glider tug, the Bf 109 Z and Me 609 were derivatives of their respective normal ancestors, there was even a Do 335 with two fuselages as a long range reconnaissance aircraft on the drawing board! With this real world background, the Fw 190, as a starting point for a Zwilling fighter, appears rather harmless...
Anyway, the resulting model is also not the first attempt into this direction, though, just a personal interpretation of the basic idea. The kitbashing is based on two Fw 190 D-9 kits from Italeri. While the kit is some decades old it is IMHO still a good choice (despite its fine, raised panel lines), because you get it easily and with a relatively small price tag.
Building the fuselages was straightforward, mostly OOB. The right cockpit was faired over with putty, and the fuselage machine guns disappeared (Fw 190 D-13 style) in front of both cockpit openings.
Biggest challenge were the central wing section that connects the fuselages. Just cutting the original wings and glueing them together was no option, since the leading and training edges would not be straight, and the wings have a slight anhedral. Additionally, I had to put the landing gear somewhere, and modify it, as the original Fw 190 landing gear is rather wide and it would make IMHO no sense under a twin fuselage aircraft, I have big stability doubts.
I finally settled on a scratched solution for both problems. For the landing gear, I took a look at the P-82 solution (new, single wheels which retract inwards, under the fuselages), and derived a totally new landing gear installation. It now features twin wheels (from the Fw 190 kits) in order to distribute the aircraft’s weight on soft ground, mounted on new struts, taken from a Me 262. This new construction became so “thick”, though, that it had to be retracted into the fuselage – the area under the cockpit was the only place to put it, but this is IMHO plausible since there is no radiator or other installment under the Fw 190’s belly. There's no place for ventral hardpoints now, but that's a small price to pay for a pure fighter.
With that solution found, the original landing gear wells in the wings were filled, the "inner" wings were cut away at the wing roots and a new central wing section added. This consists of a an enlarged horizontal stabilizer from a 1:100 A-10 SnapFit kit - it was perfect in span, had both straight leading and training edges, and the central fuselage part was creatively integrated into an additional idea (see below). The wing was deepened by 14mm wide with styrene strips (several layers, 2.5mm thick), and some putty was needed to blend everything together.
The final span between the fuselages was dictated by the new horizontal stabilizer. This comes from an Airfix Fw 189, the tail wheel well was filled. The outer attachment points on the fuselages' outer sides for the original stabilizers were simply faired over and sanded even.
But back to the new central wing section: the additional jet booster was a spontaneous idea. Even though the Zwilling layout is odd enough, adding a podded jet would make it SO weird that it would look even more like a serious, futuristic German design! And the idea is not far-fetched: Luftwaffe's RLM actually worked on such podded jet booster designs, e. g. for the Me 410, Ar 240 or He 219 as well as for some paper projects with mixed propulsion.
The pod’s place under the central wing section was just perfect, as the hot exhaust gasses would pass between the fuselages and under the stabilizer (without burning away the tail wheel, as on some early pod-and-boom jet fighter designs like the Yak-15). The nacelle itself comes from a leftover Hobby Boss He 162 fighter. It was taken OOB and just integrated into the lower wing. It looks so strange, but gives the aircraft a relatively compact look, too.
The drop tanks and their respective hardpoints come from the two Italeri kits. I had orginally intended to add air-to-air ordnance under the outer wings (two pairs of WGr21 launch tubes), but when everything came together I rather settled for the drop tanks.
Painting and markings:
The paint scheme is fictional, but inspired by a museum aircraft's livery: the sole surviving Fw 190 D-13, now on display in the USA. The museum aircraft's scheme looks a bit too shaggy, IMHO, but it's an interesting interpretation and uses authentic colors.
Basic colors for my version are RLM 82 and 83 on the upper surfaces, and RLM 76 below, with RLM 81 spots, streaks and blotches on the flanks. To make the thing look a bit more interesting I also added some “snaky” streaks with thinned RLM 76 on some upper surface areas, too. All basic tones were taken from the Modelmaster Authentic enamel line.
Typical for late Fw 190s, parts of the lower wings were left bare metal (painted with Revell Acrylic Aluminum), a typical result of material shortage in the late WWII stages. The leading edges were painted RLM 75 while the ailerons are RLM 76.
Taking this idea further, “my" Z-17 would not carry anymore a colored Reichsverteidigung fuselage band, indicating its Geschwader. From 1945 on, yellow ID markings (RLM 04) were carried: a band around the engine, sometimes with an added yellow field under the engine, and the rudder was frequently painted yellow, too. National markings were more and more simplified, and only a color-coded number and sometimes a symbol indicated the fighter’s group.
I used very simplified national markings on the flanks and below the wings, seen on real life Fw 190s: just black crosses without any outline. The rest of the markings were puzzled together from the scrap box, again using late war Fw 190s and Bf 109s as benchmarks.
I decided to put my aircraft into a Stab (Wing Commander's Chief-of-staff) squadron, so the markings differ from normal fighters. This one carries the horizontal bar for the 2. Gruppe among the Geschwader, in this case Jagdgeschwader 53, the “Pik As” [Ace of Spades] Squadron which dealt with interception tasks until the end of WWII in the southern regions of Germany
.
The chevron denotes an officer's aircraft; the “1” could denote the 1st aircraft of the Stab Gruppe in numerical order, but it's also possible that it is a personal symbol, as officers' aircraft would carry symbols instead of simple numbers, sometimes personal, non-standard icons or letters.
As the number is black I added dark green spinners, the typical ID color of the Stab flight among II. Group. A geek detail, and and I do not claim this to be correct – but German WWII aircraft would tend to be marked rather erratically, anyway, and I tried to do justice to historical benchmarks. Hey, it's a whif, after all!
In the end, a bizarre aircraft, but it is not as far-fetched as one might think. In this case, several single German ideas and developments were just incorporated into one model. What amazes me most is that the whole thing was assembled and painted in just three days – excluding the kit purchase and the work on the final beauty pics. Sometimes I get scared by myself...
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Gotha 146 was a fast reconnaissance aircraft that was used throughout WWII by the German Luftwaffe, and one of the results of a mutual technology exchange program with Japan. The Go 146 was actually a license-built, but modified variant of the excellent Mitsubishi Ki-46. The latter type's career started in late 1937, when the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force issued a specification to Mitsubishi for a long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft to replace the Mitsubishi Ki-15. The specification demanded an endurance of six hours and sufficient speed to evade interception by any fighter in existence or development at that time, but otherwise did not constrain the design by a team led by Tomio Kubo.
The resulting design was a twin-engine, low-winged monoplane with a retractable tailwheel undercarriage. It had a small diameter oval fuselage with the pilot and observer situated in individual cockpits separated by a large fuel tank. The engines, two Mitsubishi Ha-26 radials, were housed in close-fitting cowlings to reduce drag and improve pilot view.
The first prototype aircraft, flew in November 1939 from the Mitsubishi factory at Kakamigahara, Gifu. Tests showed that the Ki-46 was underpowered and slower than required, only reaching 540 km/h (336 mph) rather than the specified 600 km/h (373 mph), but, otherwise, the aircraft tests were successful. As the type was still faster than the Army's latest fighter, the Nakajima Ki-43, as well as the Navy's new A6M2, an initial production batch was ordered. To solve the performance problems, Mitsubishi switched to Ha-102 engines, which were Ha-26s fitted with a two-stage supercharger, while increasing fuel capacity and reducing empty weight. This became the Ki-46-II, and this type was also demonstrated to German officials who immediately noticed its potential.
Knowing that the German Luftwaffe lacked this specialized, fast type of aircraft (German reconnaissance aircraft of that time were either slow artillery observation types, or variants of bombers or heavy fighters), the RLM immediately asked for a batch of airframe kits to adapt it to the European theatre and test its capabilities. Seven engine-less airframe kits were delivered to Germany in early 1940. In the meantime, with the help of blueprints and other documentations, an alternative engine installation had been devised: the “Germanized” aircraft was to be powered by liquid-cooled DB 601 engines, which delivered more power than the Ha-102 and offered improved aerodynamics, despite the necessity to add radiators under the outer wings. Many stock parts from the contemporary Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter were incorporated, so that the development time was very short, and the commonality of mechanical parts eased logistics and maintenance.
In May 1940 the first batch of the Gotha 146 A-0 pre-production aircraft (which had officially been described as a further development of a four seat, twin-engine transport aircraft from the 1930s to cloud its origins and mission) was ready. They were immediately transferred to the Western Front for field tests, and the specialized Go 146 became quickly popular among its crews. It was fast, agile and easy to fly – almost on par with state-of-the-art fighters like the Bf 109. During the test phase in summer 1940 the Go 146 proved to be slightly faster than its Japanese Ki-46 ancestor, and with a top speed of more than 375 mph (600 km/h) it was hard to intercept by any British or French fighter of the time. The results were so convincing that the type was ordered into serial production, and from October 1940 on the Go 146 A-1 was produced in limited numbers at the Gothaer Waggonfabrik in Thuringia. Even though production only ran at small scale, it was continuous, and the Go 146 was steadily developed further, including the change of the nose section that came with the Ki-46-III, stronger engines and an improved defensive armament.
This evolution led to the Go 146 B, which had the traditional stepped windshield replaced with a smooth, curved, glazed panel extended over the pilot's seat. It not only gave a more aerodynamic nose profile, the re-shaped nose also offered room for an extra fuel tank. The space between the two crewmen, connected with a crawl tunnel, held another fuel tank, the radio equipment (a Sprechfunkgerät FuG 16 ZY and a FuG 25a „Erstling“ IFF beacon), as well as a compartment for up to three cameras with several ventral windows, which could take Rb (“Reihenbildner” = serial picture device) 20/30, 50/30 and 75/30 devices that could be mounted in different combinations and angles as needed.
Power came now from a pair of new Daimler-Benz DB 603A liquid-cooled piston engines, which offered 1,290 kW (1,750 hp) each for take-off. Since the engine mounts had to be re-designed for the DB603s (the Go 146 A had used adapters to attach its shorter DB 601s to the original Ha-102 radials’ hardpoints), German engineers used the opportunity to redesign the complete engine nacelles. As a result, their diameter and “wet” surface was reduced, so much that the landing gear had to be modified, too. It now rotated 90° upon retraction, so that the main wheels were lying in shallow wells within the wing structure. Beyond better aerodynamics, structural measures saved almost 250 kg (550 lb).
Instead of the Go 146 A’s single 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17 machine gun in the observer's cabin, facing rearwards, the defensive armament was improved and consisted of a pair of 13 mm (0.51 in) MG 131 machine guns, firing rearward from FDSL 131/1B remotely-operated barbettes, one per side. This rather complex installation had become possible (and in part necessary) due to a center of gravity shift from the modified engines and their empennage. The weapons were aimed by the rear crewman through a periscope that covered both the upper and lower rear hemisphere. The control unit had a rotating transverse crossbar with a sideways-pivoting handgun-style grip and trigger at its center, "forked" at its forward pivoting end to fit around the crossbar, with the upper fork extended beyond the rotating crossbar to mount the gunsight. This unique aiming and control scheme rotated the crossbar axially, when the handgrip was elevated or depressed, to aim the guns vertically by rotating both turrets together, and a sideways movement of the handgrip would pivot either one of the guns outwards from the fuselage-mounted turrets for diagonal firing. The guns were electrically fired, and an electrical contact breaker prevented the gunner from shooting off the aircraft’s tailplane. When not in use, the guns would return to a neutral position that would allow to fire directly backwards with both guns.
Furthermore, plumbed hardpoints were added to the inner wings, just inside of the engines. These could carry a 300 l drop tank each for an extended range and loiter time. Single bombs of up to 250 kg or racks with four 50 kg bombs each were theoretically possible too, but the aircraft lacked any bomb aiming support. Crew protection was slightly improved, too, but the airframe was overall kept as light as possible. Despite these efforts, however, MTOW rose to 6,500 kg (14,317 lb), but this was still relatively light in comparison with the similar contemporary Me 410 multi-purpose aircraft, which weighed more than 9 tons and was powered by similar engines. Consequently, and thanks to its clean lines, the G 146 B had a top speed of almost 700 km/h (434 mph) at ideal altitude and the aircraft retained its excellent handling, even though its structure was rather fragile and could not take much stress and punishment.
Two versions of the Go 146 B were produced, steadily but only at a low rate because the aircraft received, due to its highly specialized role and limited offensive capabilities, only a low priority. The B-1 was the main variant and kept the A version’s standard wing, a total of 54 were produced between 1943 and 1945. Additionally, the B-2 was produced between late 1943 and early 1944 as a dedicated high altitude photo reconnaissance aircraft. This sub-variant had an extended wingspan of 16.00 m (52 ft 5 in) instead of the standard 14.70 m (48 ft 2¾ in) and an improved oxygen system, even though the cabin was not pressurized. Its maximum service ceiling was almost 12.000 m (39.305 ft), with a maximum speed of 415 mph (668 km/h), a cruise speed of 250 mph (400 km/h) and a range of 3,200 km (1,987 nmi). Only twelve of these machines were produced and put into service, primarily for flights over Southern Great Britain. When the Arado Ar 234 became available from September 1944 on, though, this new, jet-powered type immediately replaced the Go 146 B-2 because it offered even better performance. Therefore, the B-3, a planned version with a fully pressurized cabin and an even bigger wingspan of 19.00 m, never left the drawing board.
Furthermore, the RLM had idea to convert the fast Go 146 into a fighter amd even a night fighter in mid-1944 as the “C” series. But these plans were not executed because the light airframe could hardly be adapted to heavy weapons or equipment like a radar set, and it was unsuited for vigorous dogfighting. The type’s poor climbing rate made it ineffective as an interceptor, too. There were, nevertheless, tests with at least one Go 146 B-1 that carried four Werfer-Granate 21 rocket launchers under the outer wings, as a fast bomber interceptor esp. against the high-flying B-29, which was expected to appear over continental Europe soon. But this kind of weaponry never reached frontline units and the Go 146 was never operated as a fighter of any kind.
There were, however, other uses: in 1944 the Go 146 was enlisted as a fast liaison aircraft for the RLM (Ministry of Aviation) in Berlin. Stripped off of any armament and cameras and outfitted with two passenger seats in the rear cabin, at least one Go 146 B (with the confirmed registration “ST+ZA”, others in similar configuration may have existed, too) was operated by the RLM’s Zentralabteilung (central command) from Tempelhof airfield for top brass officials between Luftwaffe locations on German terrain. ST+ZA’s fate after January 1945 is uncertain, though.
Specifications:
Crew: two (pilot and observer)
Length: 11.00 m (36 ft 1 in)
Wingspan: 14.70 m (48 ft 2¾ in)
Height: 3.88 m (12 ft 8¾ in)
Wing area: 32.0 m² (344 ft²)
Empty weight: 3,830 kg (8,436 lb)
Loaded weight: 5,661 kg (12,480 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 6,500 kg (14,317 lb)
Powerplant:
2× Daimler-Benz DB 603A V-12 inverted liquid-cooled piston engines, rated at:
- 1,290 kW (1,750 hp) each for take-off
- 1,360 kW (1,850 PS) at 2,100 m (6,890 ft)
- 1,195 kW (1,625 PS) at 5,700 m (18,700 ft)
- 1,162 kW (1580 PS) combat power at 2500 rpm at sea level
Performance:
Maximum speed: 695 km/h (377 knots, 430 mph) at 5,800 m (19,000 ft)
Cruise speed: 450 km/h (245 knots, 280 mph)
Range: 2,800 km (1,522 nmi, 1,740 mi) with internal fuel
Service ceiling: 11,250 m (36,850 ft)
Wing loading: 157.8 kg/m² (32.3 lb/ft²)
Climb rate: 14.7 m/sec (2,900 feet per minute)
Climb to 8,000 m (26,250 ft): 15 min 20 sec
Armament:
2× 13 mm (0.51 in) defensive MG 131 machine guns with 500 RPG,
each firing rearward from FDSL 131/1B remote-operated turret, one per side
2× underwing hardpoints under the inner wings for 250 kg (550 lb) each,
typically occupied by 300 l drop tanks
The kit and its assembly:
This is a déjà vu build: I already did a “Germanized” Ki-46 in 2015, it was an Airfix Ki-46-II outfitted with DB 601s from a Bf 110 as a pre-series Gotha Go 146 A-0, an aircraft that (naturally) never existed but appeared plausible, since German military hardware including aircraft had been evaluated by Japanese forces. And why should this exchange not have worked the other way around, too? However, as I built this modified Dinah for the first time, I already thought that the basic idea had more potential than just one model, and the streamlined Ki-46-III just lent itself for an updated, later version.
This B-2 variant of the Go 146 was based on the LS Models/ARII Ki-46-III. Like the Airfix kit (its molds are from 1965, and that’s just what the kit feels, looks and builds like…), it’s a rather vintage offering, but it is in many aspects markedly ahead, with fine surfaces, recessed details, 3D engines and clear parts that actually fit into their intended places. The LS Models kit’s 10 years less of age are recognizable, and there are three boxings around with different versions of the aircraft (a Ki-46-II, a -III and a trainer with a raised tutor cockpit), differing in small extra sprues for the respective fuselage parts, but they all share a common sprue with the clear parts for all three versions.
The Ki-46-III kit was taken OOB, with just some minor mods. The most obvious change concerns the engines: they were transplanted from a Bilek Me 210, together with the underwing radiators outside of the nacelles. The Me 210, even though it’s from 1997, is a rather mediocre model with some dubious solutions, therefore earmarked for a conversion and ready to donor some body parts… The engine switch was insofar easy because the Ki-46 kit comes with completely separate parts for the engines and their fairings which also contain the main landing gear wells.
Because of this “clean” basis I decided to cut the nacelles out from the Me 210 and attach them to the Ki-46 wings, so that the DB 603 engines would have perfect attachment points. While this was a bigger overall surgery stunt than on the earlier Airfix Dinah, this was easier than expected and resulted in a cleaner solution that also underlines the Ki-46’s clean and slender shape. The modified nacelles were much smaller than the Dinah’s, though. The main wheels were replaced with slightly smaller and narrower ones from the scrap box.
Inside of the cockpit, I implanted a dashboard. In the rear cabin the seat was reversed and moved further forward. In the cabin’s rear a scratched targeting scope/weapon control column for the FDSL 131 installation was added. Since I left the single-part canopies (which are quite thick but very clear) closed I outfitted the model with a crew. The Ki-46 III kit comes with a pair of figures, but they are very small (H0 scale, at best!) and look goofy, so that I exchanged them with Matchbox WWII pilots, which had their legs bent and their bottoms cut away to make them fit into the tight fuselage and under the canopies.
Unfortunately, the Me 210 kit had already donated its machine gun barbettes (they had gone onto an upgraded Heinkel He 115 floatplane), so that I scratched them for the Go 146. WWII bombs became the fairings, some leftover landing gear struts were used as gun barrels, and round styrene bases were used as mounts that also lift the fairings slightly off the hull. The barbettes as such look a little superficial on the slender Dinah, but they are a nice, typically German detail, über-complicated for this type of fast aircraft that probably would have more benefited from leaving them away altogether to save weight and drag.
The (typically German) 300 l drop tanks come from Hobby Boss Bf 109s and each received four short attachment struts, made from styrene profile material, so that they could be stuck under the inner wings.
Painting and markings:
This was more complicated than expected. I wanted to apply a plausible, late German WWII livery with typical colors, but finding something that would be suited for high-altitude operations and not copy anything I had already done turned out to be challenging.
The paint scheme would be very light, with only low-contrast camouflage added on top. Therefore, the basis became an overall coat with RLM 76 (I used Tamiya XF-23, Light Blue, which is an excellent option). Inspired by He 177 bombers I found in literature, large blotches of a rather obscure and uncommon tone, RLM 77 “Hellgrau” were added to the flanks of fuselage, fin and engine nacelles. RLM 77 is/was a very light grey, and it was primarily used for markings like code letters on night fighters and not for camouflage. AFAIK it would later become the RAL 7035 (Lichtgrau) tone that still exists today. Humbrol 196 would have been an authentic option, but to keep the contrast to the underlying RLM 76 low I rather used XF-19 (Sky Grey) and extended the blotches under the fuselage and the nacelles, for a semi-wraparound scheme.
Then came the upper surfaces, everything was painted with brushes and without masks, with an intentional uneven finish. The wings and stabilizers were to receive a slightly darker camouflage in the form of RLM 02 and 75 splotches (with Tamiya XF-22 and XF-XX as proxies) over the uniform RLM 76 base, so that the aircraft’s outlines would be broken up from above. However, after first tests I found this did not look convincing, the RLM 76 was very prominent and bluish, so that I rather gave the upper wings and the spine a semi-translucent but continuous coat of paint, with the underlying RLM 76 just showing through here and there – much better. At this stage I added the decals (see below), but now found the upper surfaces to look too uniform and somewhat dark, so that, as a final measure, I added a meander pattern with RLM 77 (again XF-19) to the wings. This not only looked good and very “German”, it lightened the cammo and also helped to break the aircraft’s lines up. Some light panel shading to the uniform undersides, black ink and grinded graphite were used for weathering, but the effects are very soft.
Interior surfaces (cockpit and landing gear wells) became late-war style RAL 7021 Schwarzgrau (Humbrol 67), the landing gear struts were painted in RLM 02, this time Revell 45 was used. The propeller blades were painted in a very dark mix of green and black, the spinners became black with simple white spirals – the only detail with a high contrast on this aircraft.
The markings of this aircraft are minimal. Balkenkreuz markings only consisting of outlines were used, another typical late-war practice and for a low-visibility look/effect. They were taken from an Academy Fw 190 D. On the fuselage, the gun barbettes caused some headaches, because they take up a lot of space and made the application of a standard Luftwaffe code almost impossible. Consequently, the fuselage Balkenkreuze were placed ahead of the barbettes, partly disrupted by the observer’s lower side windows, while the tactical code became separated by the guns. At starboard the code even had to be reversed - not correct, but a pragmatic solution.
The model/aircraft belongs to a fictional unit, its code “P3” in front of the fuselage Balkenkreuz has no real-world reference and was executed in small letters, a typical late WWII measure. This part of the code was done with small, black 2 mm letters. A fictional unit badge, depicting a running greyhound, was added under the cockpit. It actually belongs to a German tank unit.
The “KN” part of the code, including the Ks on the nose, came from an Airfix Ju 87 B sheet. As an aircraft belonging to the 5th squadron within the unit’s 2nd group, the 4th letter in the code became “N”, while the 3rd letter “K” denotes the individual aircraft. The color code associated with a 5th squadron was red, incorporated on the aircraft as a thin red outline around the individual aircraft letter (another late-war low-contrast measure). To provide a little visual excitement, small red Ks were added to the nose, too, to make thew aircraft easy to identify when parked at the flight line.
Since this aircraft would operate over the Western front from German home ground, no further ID/theatre markings like fuselage or wing bands or wingtips in yellow or white, etc. were added. This, together with the lack of visible red as squadron code, results in a rather dry look, but that’s intentional.
After some exhaust and oil stains with graphite and Tamiya “Smoke”, a coat of acrylic matt varnish finally sealed the model and a wire antenna, made from heated sprue material, was added.
Well, an exotic what-if idea, but I really like how this conversion turned out, even though the livery evolved in a different way from what I had initially in mind. The Ki-46 was already an elegant aircraft, especially the Ki-46-III with its teardrop-shaped nose section. But, with the smaller, streamlined inline engines instead of the radials, this iteration looks even better and faster. It reminds a little of the D.H. Hornet? The gun barbettes are a nice “German” detail, and the makeshift high-altitude paint scheme adds to the obscure impression of the model. A really nice sister ship for the Go 146 A-0 build from 2015.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background
The Hütter Hü 324 was the final development stage of BMW's 'Schnellbomber II' project, which had been designed around two mighty BMW 109-028 turboprops.
These innovative engines had been developed since February 1941, but did not receive fullest attention due to the more promising jet engines. Anyway, it soon became clear that no jet engine with the potential to drive a bomber-sized aircraft - considering both performance and fuel consumption - would be available on short notice. Consequently, the BMW 028 received more attention from the RLM from 1943 on.
Biggest pressure came from the fact that several obsolete types like the He 111 or Do 217 had to be replaced, and the ill-fated and complicated He 177 was another candidate with little future potential, since four-engined variants had been rejected. Additionally, the promising and ambitious Ju 288 had been stillborn, and a wide gap for a tactical medium bomber opned in the Luftwaffe arsenal.
In may 1943, new requirements for a medium bomber were concretised. Main objective was to design a fast, twin-engined bomber, primarily intended for horizontal bombing, which would be able to carry a 3.000 kilograms (6.600 lbs) payload at 800 kilometres per hour in a 1.500km (900 ml) radius. The plane had to be fast and to operate at great heights, limiting the threat of interception.
Since many major design bureaus’ resources were bound, Ulrich W. Hütter, an Austro-German engineer and university professor got involved in the RLM project and BMW's design team which had been working on appropriate designs. In July 1943, Hütter moved to the Research Institute of the Graf Zeppelin works (FGZ) convened in Ruit near Stuttgart, and as head of the engineering department he was also involved in the development of manned missiles, underwater towing systems and the Hü 211 high altitude interceptor/reconnaissance plane.
Under Ulrich W. Hütter and his brother, Wolfgang Hütter, BMW's original and highly innovative (if not over-ambitious) Schnellbomber designs gave way to a more conservative layout: the so-called BMW-Hütter Hü 324.
The plane was conventional in layout, with high, unswept laminar profile wings and a high twin tail. The engines were carried in nacelles slung directly under the wings. The nose wheel retracted rearwards, while the main wheels retracted forwards into the engine nacelles, rotating 90°, and laying flat under the engines. The crew of four (pilot, co-pilot/bombardier, navigator/radar operator and gunner/radio operator) were accommodated in a compact, pressurised "glass house" cockpit section – a popular design and morale element in Luftwaffe bomber and reconnaissance aircraft of that era.
Construction of the first prototype started in February 1945, and while the aircraft cell made good progress towards the hardware stage, the development suffered a serious setback in March when BMW admitted that the 109-028 turboprop engine would not be ready in time. It took until August to arrive, and the prototype did not fly until 6 November 1945.
Initial flight test of the four A-0 pre-production samples of the Hü 324 went surprisingly well. Stability and vibration problems with the aircraft were noted, though. One major problem was that the front glas elements were prone to crack at high speeds, and it took a while to trace the troubole source back to the engines and sort these problems out. Among others, contraprops were fitted to counter the vibration problems, the engines' power output had to be reduced by more than 500 WPS and the tail fins had to be re-designed.
Another innovative feature of this bomber was the “Elbegast” ground-looking navigation radar system, which allowed identification of targets on the ground for night and all-weather bombing. It was placed in a shallow radome behind the front wheel. Performance-wise, the system was comparable to the USAAF’s H2X radar, and similarly compact. Overall, the Hü 324 showed much promise and a convincing performance, was easy to build and maintain, and it was immediately taken to service.
Despite the relatively high speed and agility for a plane of its size, the Hü 324 bore massive defensive armament: the original equipment of the A-1 variant comprised two remotely operated FDL 131Z turrets in dorsal (just behind the cockpit) and ventral (behind the bomb bay) position with 2× 13 mm MG 131 machine guns each, plus an additional, unmanned tail barbette with a single 20mm canon. All these guns were aimed by the gunner through a sighting station at the rear of the cockpit, effectively covering the rear hemisphere of the bomber.
After first operational experience, this defence was beefed up with another remotely-controlled barbette with 2× 13 mm MG 131 machine guns under the cockpit, firing forwards. The reason was similar to the introduction of the chin-mounted gun turret in the B-17G: the plane was rather vulnerable to frontal attacks. In a secondary use, the chin guns could be used for strafing ground targets. This update was at first called /R1, but was later incorporated into series production, under the designation A-2.
Effectively, almost 4.500kg ordnance could be carried in- and externally, normally limited to 3.000kg in the bomb bay in order to keep the wings clean and reduce drag, for a high cruising speed. While simple iron bombs and aerial mines were the Hü 324's main payload, provisions were made to carry guided weapons like against small/heavily fortified targets. Several Rüstsätze (accessory packs) were developed, and the aircraft in service received an "/Rx" suffix to their designation, e. g. the R2 Rüstsatz for Fritz X bomb guidance or the R3 set for rocket-propelled Hs 293 bombs.
Trials were even carried out with a semi-recessed Fieseler Fi 103 missile, better known as the V1 flying bomb, hung under the bomber's belly and in an enlarged bomb bay, under deletion of the ventral barbette.
The Hü 324 bomber proved to be an elusive target for the RAF day and night fighters, especially at height. After initial attacks at low level, where fast fighters like the Hawker Tempest or DH Mosquito night fighters were the biggest threat, tactics were quickly changed. Approaching at great height and speed, bombing was conducted from medium altitudes of 10,000 to 15,000 feet (3,000 to 4,600 m).
The Hü 324 proved to be very successful, striking against a variety of targets, including bridges and radar sites along the British coast line, as well as ships on the North Sea.
From medium altitude, the Hü 324 A-2 proved to be a highly accurate bomber – thanks to its "Elbegast" radar system which also allowed the planes to act as pathfinders for older types or fast bombers with less accurate equipment like the Ar 232, Ju 388 or Me 410. Loss rates were far lower than in the early, low-level days, with the Hü 324 stated by the RLM as having the lowest loss rate in the European Theatre of Operations at less than 0.8 %.
BMW-Hütter Ha 324A-2, general characteristics:
Crew: 4
Length: 18.58 m (60 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: 21.45 m (70 ft 4½ in )
Height: 4.82 m (15 ft 9½ in)
Wing area: 60.80 m² (654.5 ft.²)
Empty weight: 12,890 kg (28,417 lb)
Loaded weight: 18,400 kg (40,565 lb)
Max. take-off weight: 21,200 kg (46,738 lb)
Performance:
Maximum speed: 810 km/h (503 mph) at optimum height
Cruising speed: 750 km/h (460 mph) at 10,000 m (32,800 ft)
Range: 3.500 km (2.180 ml)
Service ceiling: 11.400 m (37.500 ft)
Rate of climb: 34.7 m/s (6,820 ft/min)
Powerplant:
Two BMW 109-028 ‘Mimir’ turboprop engines, limited to 5.500 WPS (4.044 WkW) each plus an additional residual thrust of 650kg (1.433 lb), driving four-bladed contraprops.
Armament:
6× 13mm MG 131 in three FDL 131Z turrets
1× 20mm MG 151/20 in unmanned/remote-controlled tail barbette
Up to 4.500 kg (9.800 lbs) in a large enclosed bomb-bay in the fuselage and/or four underwing hardpoints.
Typically, bomb load was limited to 3.000 kg (6.500 lbs) internally.
The kit and its assembly
This project/model belongs in the Luft '46 category, but it has no strict real world paradigm - even though Luftwaffe projects like the Ju 288, the BMW Schnellbomber designs or Arado's E560/2 and E560/7 had a clear influence. Actually, “my” Hü 324 design looks pretty much like a He 219 on steroids! Anyway, this project was rather inspired by a ‘click’ when two ideas/elements came together and started forming something new and convincing. This is classic kitbashing, and the major ingredients are:
● Fuselage, wings, landing gear and engine nacelles from a Trumpeter Ilyushin Il-28 bomber
● Nose section from an Italeri Ju 188 (donated from a friend, leftover from his Ju 488 project)
● Stabilisers from an Italeri B-25, replacing the Il-28’s swept tail
● Contraprops and fuselage barbettes from a vintage 1:100 scale Tu-20(-95) kit from VEB Plasticart (yes, vintage GDR stuff!)
Most interestingly, someone from the Netherlands had a similar idea for a kitbashing some years ago: www.airwar1946.nl/whif/L46-ju588.htm. I found this after I got my idea for the Hü 324 together, though - but its funny to see how some ideas manifest independently?
Building the thing went pretty straightforward, even though Trumpeter's Il-28 kit has a rather poor fit. Biggest problem turned out to be the integration of the Ju 188 cockpit section: it lacks 4-5mm in width! That does not sound dramatic, but it took a LOT of putty and internal stabilisation to graft the parts onto the Il-28's fuselage.
The cockpit was completely re-equipped with stuff from the scrap box, and the main landing gear received twin wheels.
The chin turret was mounted after the fuselage was complete, the frontal defence had been an issue I had been pondering about for a long while. Originally, some fixed guns (just as the Il-28 or Tu-16) had been considered. But when I found an old Matchbox B-17G turret in my scrap box, I was convinced that this piece could do literally the same job in my model, and it was quickly integrated. As a side effect, this arrangement justifies the bulged cockpit bottom well, and it just looks "more dangerous".
Another task was the lack of a well for the front wheel, after the Il-28 fuselage had been cut and lacked the original interior. This was also added after the new fuselage had been fitted together, and the new well walls were built with thin polystyrene plates. Not 100% exact and clean, but the arrangement fits the bill and takes the twin front wheel.
The bomb bay was left open, since the Trumpeter kit offers a complete interior. I also added four underwing hardpoints for external loads (one pair in- and outboard of the engine nacelles), taken from A-7 Corsair II kits, but left them empty. Visually-guided weapons like the 'Fritz X' bomb or Hs 293 missiles would IMHO hardly make sense during night sorties? I also did not want to overload the kit with more and more distracting details.
Painting
Even though it is a whif I wanted to incorporate some serious/authentic late WWII Luftwaffe looks. Since the Hü 324 would have been an all-weather bomber, I went for a night bomber livery which was actually used on a He 177 from 2./KG 100, based in France: Black (RLM 22, I simply used Humbrol 33) undersides, and upper surfaces in RLM 76 (Base is Humbrol 128, FS36320, plus some added areas with Testors 2086, the authentic tone which is a tad lighter, but very close) with mottles in RLM 75 (Grauviolett, Testors 2085, plus some splotches of Humbrol 27, Medium Sea Grey), and some weathering through black ink, some enhanced panel lines (with a mix of matte varnish and Panzergrau), as well as some dry painting all over the fuselage.
All interior surfaces were painted in RLM 66 (Schwarzgrau/Black Grey, Testors 2079), typical for German late WWII aircraft. Propeller spinners were painted RLM 70 (Schwarzgrün) on the front half, the rear half was painted half black and half white.
Pretty simple scheme, but it looks VERY cool, esp. on this sleek aircraft. I am very happy with this decision, and I think that this rather simple livery is less distracting from the fantasy plane itself, making the whif less obvious. In the end, the whole thing looks a bit grey-in-grey, but that spooky touch just adds to the menacing look of this beefy aircraft. I think it would not look as good if it had been kept in daytime RLM 74/75/76 or even RLM 82/83/76?
Markings and squadron code were puzzled together from an Authentic Decal aftermarket sheet for a late He 111 and individual letters from TL Modellbau. The "F3" code for the fictional Kampfgruppe (KG) 210 is a random choice, "EV" marks the individual plane, the red "E" and the control letter "V" at the end designate a plane from the eleventh squadron of KG 210. My idea is that the Hü 324 would replace these machines and literally taking their place in the frontline aviaton units. So I tried to keep in line with the German aircraft code, but after all, it's just a whif...
So, after some more surgical work than expected, the Hü 324 medium bomber is ready to soar!
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Heinkel He 162 Volksjäger ("People's Fighter"), the name of a project of the Emergency Fighter Program design competition, was a German single-engine, jet-powered fighter aircraft fielded by the Luftwaffe in World War II. It was designed and built quickly and made primarily of wood as metals were in very short supply and prioritised for other aircraft. Volksjäger was the Reich Air Ministry's official name for the government design program competition won by the He 162 design. Other names given to the plane include Salamander, which was the codename of its construction program, and Spatz ("Sparrow"), which was the official name given to the plane by Heinkel.
The official RLM Volksjäger design competition was issued 10 September 1944 and its parameters specified a single-seat fighter, powered by a single BMW 003, a slightly lower-thrust engine not in demand for either the Me 262 or the Ar 234, already in service. The main structure of the Volksjäger competing airframe designs would use cheap and unsophisticated parts made of wood and other non-strategic materials and, more importantly, could be assembled by semi- and non-skilled labor. Specifications included a weight of no more than 2,000 kg (4,400 lb), with maximum speed specified as 750 km/h (470 mph) at sea level, operational endurance at least a half hour, and the takeoff run no more than 500 m (1,640 ft). Armament was specified as either two 20 mm (0.79 in) MG 151/20 cannons with 100 rounds each, or two 30 mm (1.2 in) MK 108 cannons with 50 rounds each. The Volksjäger needed to be easy to fly. Some suggested even glider or student pilots should be able to fly the jet effectively in combat, and indeed had the Volksjäger gone into full production, and that is precisely what would have happened.
The basic designs had to be returned within 10 days (!!!) and large-scale production was to start by 1 January 1945. Because the winner of the new lightweight fighter design competition would be building huge numbers of the planes, nearly every German aircraft manufacturer expressed interest in the project, such as Blohm & Voss, and Focke-Wulf, whose Focke-Wulf Volksjäger 1 design contender, likewise meant for BMW 003 turbojet power bore a resemblance to their slightly later Ta 183 Huckebein jet fighter design. However, Heinkel had already been working on a series of projects for light single-engine fighters over the last year under the designation P.1073, with most design work being completed by Professor Benz, and had gone so far as to build and test several models and conduct some wind tunnel testing.
Although some of the competing designs were technically superior, with Heinkel's head start the outcome was largely a foregone conclusion. The results of the competition were announced in October 1944, only three weeks after being announced, and to no one's surprise, the Heinkel entry was selected for production. In order to confuse Allied intelligence, the RLM chose to reuse the 8-162 airframe designation (formerly that of a Messerschmitt fast bomber) rather than the other considered designation He 500.
Heinkel had designed a relatively small, 'sporty'-looking aircraft, with a sleek, streamlined fuselage. Overall, the look of the plane was extremely modernistic for its time, appearing quite contemporary in terms of layout and angular arrangement even to today's eyes. The BMW 003 axial-flow turbojet was mounted in a pod nacelle uniquely situated atop the fuselage, just aft of the cockpit and centered directly over the wing's center section. Twin roughly rectangular vertical tailfins were perpendicularly mounted at the ends of highly dihedralled horizontal tailplanes – possessing dihedral of some 14º apiece – to clear the jet exhaust, a high-mounted straight wing (attached to the fuselage with just four bolts) with a forward-swept trailing edge and a noticeably marked degree of dihedral, with an ejection seat provided for the.
The He 162 airframe design featured an uncomplicated tricycle landing gear, that retracted into the fuselage, performed simply with extension springs, mechanical locks, cables and counterweights, and a minimum of any hydraulics employed in its design. Partly due to the late-war period it was designed within, some of the He 162's landing gear components were "recycled" existing landing gear components from a contemporary German military aircraft to save development time: the main landing gear's oleo struts and wheel/brake units came from the Messerschmitt Bf 109K, as well as the double-acting hydraulic cylinders, one per side, used to raise and lower each maingear leg.
The He 162 V1 first prototype flew within an astoundingly short period of time: the design was chosen on 25 September 1944 and first flew on 6 December, less than 90 days later. This was despite the fact that the factory in Wuppertal making Tego film plywood glue — used in a substantial number of late-war German aviation designs whose airframes and/or major airframe components were meant to be constructed mostly from wood — had been bombed by the Royal Air Force and a replacement had to be quickly substituted, without realizing that the replacement adhesive was highly acidic and would disintegrate the wooden parts it was intended to be fastening.
The first flight of the He 162 was fairly successful, but during a high-speed run at 840 km/h (520 mph), the highly acidic replacement glue attaching the nose gear strut door failed and the pilot was forced to land. Other problems were noted as well, notably a pitch instability and problems with sideslip due to the rudder design. None were considered important enough to hold up the production schedule for even a day. On a second flight on 10 December, the glue again caused a structural failure. This allowed the aileron to separate from the wing, causing the plane to roll over and crash, killing the pilot.
An investigation into the failure revealed that the wing structure had to be strengthened and some redesign was needed, as the glue bonding required for the wood parts was in many cases defective. However, the schedule was so tight that testing was forced to continue with the current design. Speeds were limited to 500 km/h (310 mph) when the second prototype flew on 22 December. This time, the stability problems proved to be more serious, and were found to be related to Dutch roll, which could be solved by reducing the dihedral. However, with the plane supposed to enter production within weeks, there was no time to change the design. A number of small changes were made instead, including adding lead ballast to the nose to move the centre of gravity more to the front of the plane, and slightly increasing the size of the tail surfaces.
The third and fourth prototypes, which now used an "M" for "Muster" (model) number instead of "V" for "Versuchs" (experimental) number, as the He 162 M3 and M4, after being fitted with the strengthened wings, flew in mid-January 1945. These versions also included small, anhedraled aluminium "drooped" wingtips, reportedly designed by Alexander Lippisch, in an attempt to cure the stability problems via effectively "decreasing" the main wing panels' marked three degree dihedral angle. Both prototypes were equipped with two 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108 cannons in the He 162 A-1 anti-bomber variant; in testing, the recoil from these guns proved to be too much for the lightweight fuselage to handle, and plans for production turned to the A-2 fighter with two 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons instead while a redesign for added strength started as the A-3. The shift to 20 mm guns was also undertaken because the smaller-calibre weapons would allow a much greater amount of ammunition to be carried.
Various changes had raised the weight over the original 2,000 kg (4,410 lb) limit, but even at 2,800 kg (6,170 lb), the aircraft was still among the fastest aircraft in the air with a maximum airspeed of 790 km/h (427 kn; 491 mph) at sea level and 839 km/h (453 kn; 521 mph) at 6,000 m (20,000 ft).
While still trying to optimize the basic He 162 A for production and frontline service, Heinkel was already working on improved variants, slated for production in 1946. Among these were the He 162 B, powered by Heinkel's own, more powerful 12 kN (2,700 lb) thrust Heinkel HeS 011A turbojet, with a stretched fuselage to provide more fuel and endurance as well as increased wingspan, with reduced dihedral which allowed the omission of the anhedral wingtip devices. Another, even more radical variant, was the He 162 C. It was based on the B-series longer fuselage and was to carry the stronger Heinkel HeS 011A engine, too, but it had totally different aerodynamic surfaces: swept-back, anhedraled outer wing panels with slats formed a gull wing and a new swept V-tail stabilizing surface assembly replaced the original twin-tail. The armament was also changed and was to consist of upward-aimed twin 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108s as a Schräge Musik weapons fitment, located right behind the cockpit, with the option to add a 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon in an external fairing under the fuselage.
In order to test the new aerodynamic layout, a He 162 C prototype was converted from airframe 220023, the He 162 A prototype M35, which had been damaged through Allied bombings. The resulting He 162 C-0, how this interim type was called, received the new serial number 390635 and retained the short He 162 A airframe and its forward-firing armament, as well as the weaker BMW 003 engine (the HeS 011A turbojet was still on the horizon, after all).
To carry the new swept "C-wing", the fuselage was structurally altered and the wing attachment points were moved forward. The wings, which were still manufactured mostly from wood, were still held only by four bolts apiece. As a novelty, the new wings featured, thanks to a thicker profile, additional tanks inside of their inner portions which held some 325 litres (86 US gal), feeding by gravity into the main fuselage tank. Slats were also added for better staring and landing handling and to improve agility at lower speeds. The tail cone was also modified in order to carry the new butterfly tail, but the fuselage structure as well as the cockpit and the landing gear were taken over from the He 162 A.
The first He 162 C-0 (registered with the Stammkennzeichen VN+DA and designated "M48") made its successful maiden flight at Heinkel's production facility at Salzburg in Austria on 7th of May 1945. The initial flight tests, which only lasted two weeks, were positive. Esp. the handling and directional stability had improved in comparison with the rather trappy He 162 A, and despite the higher weight due to more fuel and the bigger wings, the He 162 C-0's performance was better than the He 162 A's. Beyond the better handling characteristics, top speed was slightly higher (plus 20 km/h or 15 mph) and the aircraft's endurance was almost doubled. Plans were made to replace the He 162 A soon on the production lines, but with the end of hostilities the He 162 C program was prematurely terminated. Two more prototypes (M49 and 50) were under construction at Salzburg when the Red Army arrived, and all airframes including the project's documentations were destroyed - probably by German engineers who tried to prevent them to fall into Allied hands.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1, pilot
Length (incl. pitot): 10, 73 m (35 ft 1 1/2 in)
Wingspan: 8,17 m (26 ft 9 in)
Height: 2.6 m (8 ft 6 in)
Wing area: 16.4 m2 (177 sq ft)
Empty weight: 1.980 kg (4.361 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 3.500 kg (7.710 lb)
Fuel capacity of 1,020 litres (270 US gallons)
Powerplant:
1× BMW 003E-1 axial flow turbojet, rated at 7.85 kN (1,760 lbf)
Performance:
Maximum speed: 810 km/h (503 mph) at normal thrust at sea level;
865 km/h (537 mph) at 6000 m; using short burst of extra thrust
Range: 1.800 km (1.110 mi)
Service ceiling: 13.000 m (42.570 400 ft)
Rate of climb: 1.650 m/min (5.400 ft/min)
Armament (as flown):
2× 20 mm MG 151/20 autocannons with 120 RPG
The kit and its assemby:Painting and markings:
As a prototype aircraft I wanted something unusual, but nothing flashy or too exotic. I iamgined that the He 162 C prototype might have been converted from an existing airframe, so I gave some parts of the model (tail cone, upper fuselage, engine pod) standard He 162 A colors, RLM 81, 82 and 76.
However, for the modified cockpit section and the new ing attachment points, I decided to add section in natural metal finish, and as a special detail I added greenish filler that was used on panel seams. The nose cone became RLM 02, for more variety.
The makeshift look was further emphasized through wing panels that were left in bare laminated wood look, with metal tips and camouflaged rudders. The wooden texture was created with a basis of Humbrol 63 (Sand) and some poorly-stirred Humbrol 62 (Leather) added on top with a flat, rather hard brush. Very simple, but the effect - at least at fist glance - is very good, and the unusual color makes the model look much more interesting than camouflaged surfaces.
The markings were puzzled together from various sources, including German crosses from a Special Hobby Fw 189 sheet and from TL Modellbau. The Stammkennzeichen and the "M48" designation were created with single black decals letters, also from TL Modellbau.
Finally, after a black ink washing and some post-shading, the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish.
A nice and simple what-if/Luft '46 project, done in less than a week. And for the attempt to create a model of a paper project (beyond pure fantasy), I am happy with the result, the model comes pretty close to the drawings, even though noone can tell what a real prototype might have looked like.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Messerschmitt Me 262 F was a series of multi-purpose jet planes designed by Messerschmitt for the Luftwaffe that entered service during the final phase of the Second World War in Europe. The aircraft’s design was begun in the summer of 1943 under the project handle P.1099, intended as an improvement to the successful Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter and also as a replacement for the Arado Ar 234 bomber/reconnaissance aircraft. The primary focus was on more payload, being either usable for more fuel (since early jet engines had poor mileage and therefore range and endurance) or for weapons, including bombs in an internal bomb bay that would enable the aircraft to fulfil a similar tactical role as the British de Havilland Mosquito. Beyond this high-speed bomber (Schnellbomber) variant, the P.1099 would also be a suitable basis for a fast reconnaissance plane, interceptors and night fighters, and trainer versions were also planned.
The Messerschmitt P.1099 was a 12 m long, conventional-looking aircraft with a wingspan of 12.6 m. It had a much wider fuselage than the Messerschmitt Me 262. It had a circular shape with a diameter of 1.7m (5 ft 6¾ in) and the cockpit was now moved closer to the aircraft’s nose, above the front landing gear well. The baseline aircraft featured a side-by-side cockpit for a crew of two, even though different layouts were envisioned for the specialized variants, including single-seaters. To save development time and to use existing jigs and tools as much as possible, the P.1099 retained the wings and the tail section of the Me 262A-2a. Despite a higher total weight (the P.1099’ MTOW was about 3 tons higher), the planned powerplants were initially two uprated Junkers Jumo 004 turbojet engines, later to be replaced by more powerful Heinkel HeS 011 turbojets.
In January 1944 the P.1099 was accepted by the RLM and received, despite the aircraft’s different structure, the designation “Me 262 F”. The first variant, the Me 262 F-1 (internally designated P.1099A), was the baseline aircraft under the handle “Jäger I”, a jet-powered single seat daytime fighter. There were three planned versions, differing mainly in armament: Version F-1a was armed with four MK 108 30 mm cannon in the lower fuselage, comparable with the earlier Me 262 A fighter, just with more fuel and ammunition. Version F-1b carried two MK 103 30 mm cannon with longer range, firepower and ammunition supply, and Version F-1c was a heavy daytime fighter with two MK 108 and two MK 103 cannon in the nose.
In parallel the Me 262 F-2 was developed as a more heavily armed and armored variant, as a dedicated heavy bomber interceptor (“Pulkjäger” or “Zerstörer”) under the handle “Jäger II”. Again, three versions were foreseen: Version F-2a would be armed with a single MK 108 cannon and a heavy MK 112 55 mm cannon in the nose. Version F-2b was the same, but it was armed with a MK 114 50 mm cannon instead of the Mk 112. Both were single seaters with a heavily armored cockpit and canopy.
The F-2c was a more thoroughly modified two-seater version; it was armed with a single MG151/20 in a small nose turret, a pair of Mk 103 in the rear of the cockpit firing up- and backwards and two defensive MG 131 in remote-controlled FDL 151 barbettes in the tail. Due to the significant changes this model had the internal project designation P.1099B.
Another two-seater, the F-2d, remained very close to the original baseline aircraft with a crew of two in a side-by-side cockpit. This aircraft was armed with the standard four MK 108 in the nose, plus one launch rail under each wing for Ruhrstahl X-4 guided missiles, which were launched and steered by the second crewman via a wire connection with the mothership. This variant did not come to fruition, however, after the X-4 missile project had been cancelled in early 1945.
All P.1099 fighters also had hardpoints under the outer wings for racks with twelve 55mm R4M unguided air-to-air missiles each, a detail taken over from the Me 262 A, even though the fuel load had to be reduced to carry them. The radio equipment of all these versions would be a FuG 16, Peil G6, FuG 101 radio altimeter, FuBl 2 blind landing equipment, as well as the FuG 25a Erstling identification friend or foe transceiver.
Beyond these initial day fighter variants, further types based on the P.1099 airframe were envisioned, too. The F-3 was a dedicated night fighter version, developed in parallel to the Me 262 G. It was based on the F-2a heavy day fighter, but it carried a crew of two (the pilot and a rearward-facing radar operator) and was equipped with a FuG 240 “Berlin” radar set and a rotating dish antenna under a streamlined plywood cover in the nose. The armament consisted of four MK 108 under the nose, similar to the F-1a day fighter, plus two additional, upward-firing MK 108 cannon (“Schräge Musik”) in the rear fuselage.
Other proposed variants (with less priority, though) were the F-4 and the F-5, which were to become the basis for fast bombers and reconnaissance aircraft with only light defensive armament, typically only a pair of MG 131 in remote-controlled tail barbettes was to be carried. The F-4 resembled the baseline P.1099A, with two bomb bays in front of and behind the main landing gear wells and a crew of two seated side-by-side in a pressurized cockpit. Two MK 108 were carried in the nose, plus the MG 131 tail barbettes. The F-5 was similar but featured a glazed bomb aimer/navigator station in the nose instead of the MK 108’s and the glazing above the pilot’s station was reduced and asymmetrical. In both bomber variants the fuselage tanks were re-arranged to make room for a single SC 1.200 in the front bomb bay, but combinations of smaller bombs could be carried, too. Alternatively, mounts for up to three cameras or a 1.350 l auxiliary tank for extended range could be carried in the bays, too.
Initial flight tests of the Me 262 F in late 1944 showed severe directional instability: especially after fuel and ammunition had been depleted and the center of gravity shifted the aircraft tended to become nose-heavy and ditch down if it was not carefully monitored and trimmed by the pilot. To cope with this problem, the engine mounts were modified, so that the CoG was shifted back. Compared with the original Me 262 the engines were placed roughly 900 mm (35.5 in) further back under the wings. The emptying sequence of the fuselage tanks was also changed, and this mostly mended the problems. Another measure to mend the directional instability issues was the enlargement of the tail surfaces, even though later production aircraft frequently had smaller Me 262 A stabilizers fitted due to material shortages and simple lack of parts.- However, due to the higher weight the Me 262 F’s handling and agility were very limited – but most of its intended roles rather relied on speed, anyway, so that dogfights could be avoided.
From 1944 on the war situation worsened considerably, and production of the new Me 262 F superseded the A variant only on selected production lines. A disused mine complex under the Walpersberg mountain was adapted for the production of complete aircraft. These were hauled to the flat top of the hill where a runway had been cleared and flown out. Between 20 and 30 Me 262 Fs were built here until early 1946, primarily fighters, the underground factory being overrun by Allied troops before it could reach a meaningful output. Wings were produced in Germany's oldest motorway tunnel at Engelberg, to the west of Stuttgart. At B8 Bergkristall-Esche II, a vast network of tunnels was excavated beneath St. Georgen/Gusen, Austria, where fully equipped fuselages for the Me 262 at a planned monthly rate of 450 units on large assembly lines were to be produced from early 1945.
After the type’s introduction to frontline units in early 1945 further handling problems arose through the aircraft’ weight, resulting from its high wing load. Both starting and landing run were excessive, so that the number of airfields from which it could be operated was relatively small. No real short-term solution could be found without fully re-designing the wings, so that RATO bottles were frequently used to get a fully loaded Me 262 F up into the air from standard airfields. These were typically fitted to racks which were mounted under the fuselage, flanking the rear bomb bay.
The Me 262 F’s landing speed was dangerously high, too. A retrofittable brake parachute, housed in a simple tubular fairing under the tail, was developed to reduce the landing distance and save brakes, which frequently overheated and could set the landed aircraft aflame.
From the Me 262 F-2a “Pulkzerstörer I”, only a small number were built and eventually entered service. Its main armament, the MK 112, was a heavy German machine cannon produced by Rheinmetall-Borsig from 1945 on – in fact, the MK 112 was basically a scaled-up MK 108, a very compact weapon with relatively low weight. The MK 112 had a caliber of 55 mm and thus fired much larger shells than the 30 mm MK 108, but the rate of fire was significantly lower (300 rounds / min compared to about 600-660 rounds / min of the MK 108). This large-caliber gun was designed primarily to combat heavy bombers, its rate of fire would have been too slow for effective aerial battles with escort fighters – but the Me 262 F would not have been a dogfighter, anyway, so that the “hit-and-run” mission profile suited the aircraft well. Fire tests showed that a single MK 112 hit with mine grenades could destroy a bomber, and with a rate of fire of five shells per second this weapon could inflict considerably higher losses on the incoming streams of Allied bombers compared to other on-board weapons used on the German side. Only the unguided R4M missiles were as effective, but the MK 112 offered considerably higher accuracy and the opportunity to execute more than just a single attack run on an incoming bomber formation.
The MK 112 was mounted in the lower starboard section of the Me 262 F-2a’s nose, its barrel protruded more than 2 m (7 ft) from its nose. The gun’s drum magazine with sixty rounds partly took up the rear space of the cockpit behind the pilot and the gun mount even used up space of the weapon bay on port side, so that only a single MK 108 with 100 rounds as an additional weapon was mounted in the lower port side weapon bay.
Its sister, the Me 262 F-2b, remained on the drawing board, because its main weapon, the 50 mm MK 114 autocannon that had been derived from the 5 cm Pak 38 anti-tank gun, had turned out to be over-complicated, overweight and unreliable. A refined version was developed as the MK 214A, though, but after flight test from February 1945, but the weapon was not deployed operationally.
Only a handful Me 262 F-2a Pulkzerstörer were eventually fielded and operated before the end of hostilities – beyond the low production numbers the lack of fuel and loss of suitable airfields highly limited the aircraft’s potential. Probably less than ten were used by operational units, including JG 53 “Pik As”, in which they served alongside other interceptors, including other Me 262 variants. Typically, bomber formations were approached from the side of a bomber formation, where their silhouettes were widest, and while still out of range of the bombers' machine guns. This broadside-attack tactic was very effective, and the aircraft’s high speed allowed the interceptors to turn around 180° and make at least a second attack run from the opposite side, before the machines dashed off and returned to their bases.
General characteristics
Crew: One
Length: 14,32 m (46 ft 11 in) overall
12,00 m (39 ft 3¾ in) fuselage only, w/o brake parachute housing
Wingspan: 12,61 m (41 ft 3¾ in)
Height: 4,43 m (14 ft 6 in)
Wing area: 24,2 m² (236 sq ft)
Empty weight: 5.061 kg (11,148 lb)
Loaded weight: 8.762 kg (19,300 lb)
Max. take-off weight: 10.062 kg (22,163 lb)
Powerplant:
2× Junkers Jumo 004 C turbojets with 12 kN (2,697 lb st) each
Performance
Maximum speed: 930 km/h (577 mph, 505 kn)
Cruising speed: 805 km/h (500 mph, 438 kn) at 6.500 m (21,290 ft)
Range: 1.340 km (830 ml, 728 nm) at 6000 m with internal fuel only
Service ceiling: 11,450 m (37,570 ft)
Rate of climb: 18 m/s (3,540 ft/min) at max. weight
Armament:
1× 55 mm (1.96 in) MK 112 machine cannon with 60 rounds
1× 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108 machine cannon with 100 rounds
Hardpoints under the outer wings for racks with twelve 55mm R4M unguided air-to-air missiles
The kit and its assembly:
This became a submission to the late 2021 “Gunships” group build at whatifmodellers.com – what would such a competition be without at least one gun-toting German Luft ’46 interceptor? The Messerschmitt P.1099 lent itself for such a build. Since 1996 Revell offers a 1:72 IP model kit of this paper aircraft, depicting more or less the two planned versions: a basic single-seat day fighter and a heavy two-seater Zerstörer, both based on the same basis.
This what-if model was based on Revell’s interpretation of the P.1099A, and the kit goes together well. Fit is very good, even though some designs are IMHO a bit dubious. The kit’s weakest point: Revell unfortunately missed the important detail of the modified engine nacelles: the kit comes with standard Me 262 wings and engines, but due to CoG reasons the P.1099 would have had its engines moved back by about 900 mm, as mentioned in the background. I corrected this on this build with some PSR – sounds simple, but since the nacelles are not expected to be stuck to the wings in their new position roughly 1 cm further back, some serious bodywork had to be done.
Otherwise the kit was basically built OOB. I just left away the inner wheels from the main landing gear because I found the twin wheels to be “too much” for this upgraded Me 262. The P.1099 might have been heavier than the Me 262, but…? And the wheels’ tractor-like tread design looks IMHO out of place, too, so that I replaced them with a pair of MiG-21 wheels, left over from a KP kit.
The cockpit was taken OOB, even though I have doubts concerning the canopy. And when you look at mockup pictures of the P.1099 you realize that cockpit access had been facilitated through a side door at starboard, similar to the D. H. Mosquito. The cockpit tub does not consider this hatch at all, and the engraved door on the fuselage (it’s actually there!) is so tiny that only a Halfling might use it?
Well, I stuck with it “as is” and just added a pilot figure (specifically from a Matchbox Hawker tempest, because it is one of the rare cases that you get a WWII pilot wearing an oxygen mask) and a “barrel” behind the bulbous pilot seat because there’s a lot of free space in this single seat variant that is otherwise occupied by a rear gunner in Revell’s P.1099B kit. I also have doubts concerning the kit’s canopy, since the original P.1099 had a cockpit for two seated side-by-side, with a canopy that resembled the D.H. Mosquito’s a lot. I am also not certain about the stabilizers – the kit comes with standard Me 262 parts, but trustworthy sources I consulted suggest that not only the fin had been enlarged (depicted well in Revell’s kit), but also the stabilizers? To improve this, I implanted a pair of modified stabilizers that came from a Heller PZL P.23 light bomber. Sounds odd, but they were a very good match in size, shape and thickness!
The only major modification concerns the armament, even though it became just a “graft-on” solution. On the lower left side, the upper gun port was PSRed away. On the right side I added a bulged fairing for the MK 112. It was sculpted from a Matchbox Saab J29 drop tank and blended into the hull with PSR. Protruding spent cases fairings were added for both guns. The MK 112 gun barrel is a resin piece, left over from a ModelTrans tank conversion set and actually depicts a German 55 mm gun, so that this became a perfect donor piece.
Since the airframe still looked rather clean and boring I finally added a pair of JATO bottle racks to the rear fuselage (scratched from styrene profile but left empty) and a brake parachute fairing under the fin, carved from a piece of sprue.
Furthermore, a display adapter was installed into the fuselage for in-flight pictures.
Painting and markings:
This became a challenge, because I wanted a rather unusual livery, neither a standard RLM 81/82/76 late-war combo nor an improvised-cammo-over-bare-metal finish. After some research I settled upon something that was actually carried by some He 177 bombers around 1944: a uniform RLM 74 (Graugrün, Humbrol 245) upper surface with “cloudy” mottles in RLM 76 (Humbrol 247). This appears like a winter camouflage, but it’s actually quite effective at medium altitude, esp. over a cloudy landscape. The original bombers had light blue (RLM 65) undersides, but for the P.1099 from a later period and as a fighter I rather used a darker shade of RLM76 in the form of Tamiya XF-23 (Light Blue). The model received a black ink washing and some post-panel-shading.
The cockpit interior became RLM 66 (Schwarzgrau, Humbrol 67) while the landing gear and the well were painted in uniform RLM 02 (I used Revell 45, a slightly more greenish tone), with wheel discs in RLM 66, too.
Unit markings became minimal and quite sober. I gave the aircraft a typical late-war “Reichsverteidigung” fuselage band, and in JG 53’s case it is plain black. The black band was deliberately chosen because it is a good, much darker contrast to the murky RLM 74, so that the latter appears lighter than it actually is, lowering the contrast to the RLM 76 spots.
The decals were puzzled together from various sources. As an aircraft of the 3rd group the unit’s ID color would be yellow, reflected in the tactical code and the fin tip. For some contrast and to emphasize the long gun barrel I gave it white and black stripes – as a security measure for ground handling. For some more variety I painted one air intake in very dark grey (Revell 06, Anthracite) and the other one in steel Metallizer, simulating replacement parts. The Balkenkreuze come from various sheets – I used simplified “low viz” versions all around. The undulating yellow bar for the 3rd group comes from a TL Modellbau sheet, while the yellow “4” came from a Fw 190 A sheet from Sky Models. A small “4” on the nose was added as a wacky detail, too, the “Pik As” unit markings came IIRC from a Hobby Boss Bf 109 sheet. Since they turned out to have poor contrast/opacity I only used a few stencils from the P.1099A sheet, but due to the disruptive paint scheme this is not apparent.
Finally, the model was sealed with a coat of matt acrylic varnish (Italeri) and a wire antenna, scratched from heated black sprue material, was added between cockpit and fin.
Well, this modified Messerschmitt P.1099A looks simple, but the modified engine nacelles as well as the gun fairing under the nose called for serious PSR. The result looks quite natural, though, and AFAIK this weapon configuration was actually on German drawing boards. However, I am not certain about the cockpit canopy and other details on Revell’s kit, reference information is contradictive.
The paint scheme looks good, even though it was lent from a heavy bomber, and the poor Humbrol enamels did not yield a finish that I had hoped for – the paintwork could certainly have been better, but the overall impression of a late-war Pulkzerstörer is O.K., and this eventually counts.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Horten Ho IX, RLM designation Go 229 was a German prototype fighter/bomber designed by Reimar and Walter Horten and built by Gothaer Waggonfabrik late in World War II. It was the first pure flying wing powered by jet engines.
The Hortens concluded that the low-drag flying wing design could meet all of the goals: by reducing the drag, cruise power could be lowered to the point where the range requirement could be met. They put forward their private project, the H.IX, as the basis for the bomber.
It was given the personal approval of German Luftwaffen-Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, and was the only aircraft to come close to meeting his "3×1000" performance requirements, namely to carry 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lb) of bombs a distance of 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) with a speed of 1,000 kilometres per hour (620 mph). Its ceiling was 15,000 metres (49,000 ft).
While the RLM approved the Horten proposal, the addition of two 30 mm cannons were ordered, too, as they felt the aircraft would also be useful as a fighter due to its estimated top speed being significantly higher than that of any Allied aircraft.
The H.IX was of mixed construction, with the center pod made from welded steel tubing and wing spars built from wood. A tricycle landing gear was installed. The wings were made from two thin, carbon-impregnated plywood panels glued together with a charcoal and sawdust mixture. The wing had a single main spar, penetrated by the jet engine inlets, and a secondary spar used for attaching the elevons. It was designed with a 7g load factor and a 1.8x safety rating; therefore, the aircraft had a 12.6g ultimate load rating. The wing's chord/thickness ratio ranged from 15% at the root to 8% at the wingtips. A drogue parachute slowed the aircraft upon landing. The pilot sat on a primitive ejection seat. The aircraft was originally designed for the BMW 003 jet engine, but that engine was not quite ready and the Junkers Jumo 004 engine was substituted.
Control was achieved with elevons and spoilers. The control system included both long span (inboard) and short span (outboard) spoilers, with the smaller outboard spoilers activated first. This system gave a smoother and more graceful control of yaw than would a single spoiler system.
The first fighter/fighter bomber aircraft (A-1) were ready for service in December 1945 and immediately thrown into the Reichsverteidigung. In parallel, a development for a night/all-weather fighter with radar and a crew of two (sitting in tandem under a common canopy) was under way, with the V6 and V7 prototypes. This variant was to become the Go 229 B.
Anyway, the development of the night fighter was postponed as a new generation of radar systems was to be rolled out. Yet, there was a dire need for high performance night fighters, and so the single-seated A-2 was derived from the A-1 day fighter/fighter bomber: about 40 Go 229 A-2 with 490 MHz UHF-band FuG 212 "Lichtenstein" C-1 radar set, complete with its dipole element “Matratze” antenna array, were converted from existing or nearly finished A-1 airframes.
The type basically remained an A-1 aircraft, but was totally devoted to the fighter role. The standard pair of 30mm MK 108 cannons was augmented by a pair of 20mm MG 151/20 machine guns under the lower fuselage. These guns were mounted in aerodynamic fairings where the A-1’s bomb hardpoints were used to be. Furthermore the A-2 was able to carry racks with very effective R4M unguided air-to-air rockets under the outer wings, metal panels protected the wooden structures and the rudders.
The Go 229 A-2 had an auspicious combat debut. On the night of 11–12 May 1946, Hauptmann Hermann Greiner of NJG 1 flew the first delivered aircraft and shot down five bombers between 01:05 and 02:22 hours, before being forced to make a crash landing due to failing engines. Claims have been made that, "In the next 10 days the three Go 229 A-2 production aircraft of NJG 1 would shoot down a total of 20 RAF aircraft, including six of the "untouchable" de Havilland Mosquito fighter-bombers."
The A-2 proved to be an agile aircraft, despite some performance losses due to the antennae installation and the extra radio equipment, but it was not very effective: the pilot could not concentrate on both flying and operating the touchy radar system, so the A-2 remained a one-off production series with no future potential. No aircraft survived the hostilities.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 7.47 m (24 ft 6 in)
Wingspan: 16.76 m (55 ft 0 in)
Height: 2.81 m (9 ft 2 in)
Wing area: 50.20 m² (540.35 ft²)
Empty weight: 4,600 kg (10,141 lb)
Loaded weight: 6,912 kg (15,238 lb)
Max. take-off weight: 8,100 kg (17,857 lb)
Powerplant:
2× Junkers Jumo 004B turbojet, 8.7 kN (1,956 lbf) each
Performance:
Maximum speed: 977km/h (607 mph) at 12,000 meters (39,000 ft)
Service ceiling: 16,000 m (52,000 ft)
Rate of climb: 22 m/s (4,330 ft/min)
Wing loading: 137.7 kg/m² (28.2 lb/ft²)
Thrust/weight: 0.26
Armament:
2× 30 mm MK 108 cannon
2× 20mm MG 151/20 machine guns (instead of the fighter bomber's 2× 500 kg (1.100 lb) bombs under the lower fuselage)
Wing hardpoints for 2x 12 unguided R4M air-to-air rockets
The kit and its assembly:
New pics of a vintage kit! This is a real early whif of mine, probably from the mid 90ies before I caught the mecha/anime virus. Somehow it survived, and is now part of the Luft ’46 collection.
It's the excellent Revell kit of the mysterious, experimental German WWII jet fighter with two fictional day fighter markings. The kit is really great, one of the most delicate polystyrol/injection mold kits I have seen so far - and being semi-fictional, it is seductive to create a Luft'46 service version from it.
Since I knew from literature that the Ho IX would have been used as a night fighter, too, I decided to take the kit that step further and add typical details of a late German night fighter - even though the machine would remain a single-seater, which would not be a perfect/logical basis for this role (a two-seater is, for instance, available from PM Models). But there had been tests with single-seated Me 262 night fighters, so a stop-gap solution would be plausible.
Anyway, radar antennas were added at the nose and on the wings (scratch-built from wire in different strengths, not really authentic, just for the exotic look), and additional cannons were added under the fuselage in semi-buried weapon pods, where the day fighter held extra tanks. I also modified the ailerons away from neutral position and I scratched the Go 229’s spoilers as additional in-flight details.
The kit was built with retracted landing gear, so a display holder was added in the rear fuselage. Another addition is a pilot figure which is not included in the original kit.
The fairings for the MG 151/20 are just drop tank halves, glued into place under the air intakes.
Painting and markings:
A fantasy aircraft deserves a fantasy livery, even though this one was inspired by real things. The paint scheme is based on generic real night fighters (Me 262 and He 219) of that time: black undersides (Humbrol 33), upper sides in RLM 76 (I used Humbrol 128, which comes close), with contrast lines in RLM 74 (Humbrol 106, IIRC) - all applied with a brush.
The markings are fictional and were puzzled together from the scrap box - no real benchmark and rather inspired by typical day fighters, as the night fighters would carry much different tactical codes.