Prototype Aircraft GB

Paper Panzer,

There were two other tail sitter VTOL designs that I am aware of.  The Lerche was powered by tandem DB piston engines driving counter rotating propellers, while the Wespe was a turboprop with geared contraprops.  I think Fruitbat made a 1/72 resin Lerche, which was very nicely done, and had a pre-trimmed acylic nose cap.  I'll see if I can find mine and take a photo of the kit.  The only Wespe kit I know of is from Unicraft, again in 1/72.  Based on what I have seen of Unicraft products, it would be better to scratch build one yourself, as it would be less trouble.  I started one many moons ago, but a simple measurement error at the start of the build resulted in an undersized model.  I only became aware of the problem when I tried to fit a pilot figure into the cockpit, and found that he wouldn't fit;.  I started a second one that was properly sized, but the fire was already out in me, so I shelved it.  Again, I'll try digging out the corpses and take some photos this weekend.

Thanks Real G- its the Lerche, I always wanted to build one of these... maybe if I find Fruitbat's model, though I'd rather look for a plastic one. I think trying to scratch an aircraft would be rather difficult- I'll look around. Thanks!

Paper Panzer,

The Lerche is basically a jet aircraft drop tank with stubby wings and tail group.  I think the hardest part to scratch build would be the faceted wing.  The small castoring wheels and the exhaust stacks could be sourced from 1/72 BF-109s.   The props would require a twin engined donor kit with counter rotating props - a Do-335?  I'll see if the Fruitbat kit has a 3-veiw.  I can't see a plastic kit manufacturer doing the Lerche, but never say never.  Maybe Zoukei Mura will give us a 1/32 Triebflugel.  Now that would be crazy!

Paper, here a link to the Lerche on Luft 46

http://www.luft46.com/heinkel/helerche.html

According to the sites list of model kits, Unicraft does a 72nd kit of the Wespe and there is a 48th kit of the Lerche. But no idera if these kits are still around.

Thanks Bish and RealG! I haven't made as much progress as I wanted to in the past week, but I did go down to the hobby shop. Meanwhile it's mainly been prepping the fuselage and cockpits.

First two views of the Do. 335 nachtjager variant-

Now the cockpits- I painted them with a base coat of flat black, despite the fact that the Do. 335 isn't a jet, the cockpit detail is still mostly lost in the "coal- hole" effect" -

But with a bit of model master Italian Dark brown for the seats and silver to bring details out, a toothpick and red/ yellow came out to bolster the effect.-

Well, that's it for now... more later!

Paper Panzer the office is looking great!

I started my pair 'o' 9's build ,one will have the alternate proto tail. The resin goodies look good

The resin parts are pretty clean

the IP are not cleanly molded tho

Well closed canopy builds so should'nt hurt too much

Speaking of variant tails, here's what I found on Google, a "Super Stuka"!

It was only a prototype conceived during the Battle of Britain to improve on the aging Ju87 Stuka. Unicraft has a 1/72 scale model, haven't found any others.

Just thought I'd show something different.

Thats one crazy looking Stuka,I'm geussing it was'nt a tail dragger lol

I've fitted the resin inner wheel wells and they required a ton of sanding the fit was'nt even close! Then the tail was lopped off and the smaller one added. No locating pins on anything but alignment was good and the seams not too terrible after a dose of tenax.

Next I'll join the wings and tail feathers

Some great work there nice, lovely looking pits.

I do have that Unicraft Stuka on my to buy list, but it can be a bit of a wait getting hold of there stuff. But well worth it given some of the aircraft they do.

waynec

i certainly have an eclectic stash. just got the old amt 1/25 GENERAL 4-4-0 civil war steam locomotive. already have all the 3 1/35 german locomotives, a LUSITANIA, HIKAWA MARU, all 4 bronco 1/350 sino-japanese warships, modern german, chinese, soviet tank transporters, wood picket boat, 1/24 HUNELY, BABYLON 5 space station and a bunch of seaplanes. will be starting this which is also in multi prop gb after i finish VRC, BARCHINO, and MD-500. may also join spa gb soing wither chinese sp or DANA.

Mines positively pedestrian compared to that.

Bish

 

waynec:

i certainly have an eclectic stash. just got the old amt 1/25 GENERAL 4-4-0 civil war steam locomotive. already have all the 3 1/35 german locomotives, a LUSITANIA, HIKAWA MARU, all 4 bronco 1/350 sino-japanese warships, modern german, chinese, soviet tank transporters, wood picket boat, 1/24 HUNELY, BABYLON 5 space station and a bunch of seaplanes. will be starting this which is also in multi prop gb after i finish VRC, BARCHINO, and MD-500. may also join spa gb soing wither chinese sp or DANA.

 

 

 

 

Mines positively pedestrian compared to that.

Bish thanks!

I've replaced the front gear actuator arm with some guitar string

The wings were set to the proper angle and then the seams smoothed over with some putty

.

Side intakes added and gear bays painted RLM 02

Looking good TREYZX10R! Looks like your making more progress than me...

Thanks hope to get in a few more before the G/B times out,got a few others in the stash that fit the bill!

Okay, got some more things done tonight, I installed the cockpits, lower wing, front landing gear bay and applied squadron white putty to the (separate! ) wing flaps.

I decided to replace the poor, molded- on pitot tube with a piece of scrap styrene tube with some wire in it-

The wings are now installed! It's beginning to look more like a plane now-

Despite being a rather simple kit (remember, it's a Revell, skill model 2) I was happy to see that the flaps are molded as separate pieces!-

While the putty set on those I had to liberally sand the sides of the front landing gear bay in order for it to fit. I also filed the interior as well, eventually it fit, but after cementing it's trapped in there permanently.

Some dry- brushing should make those details pop, that's it for tonight . More pics on the way!

By the way, as I was wrapping up, I began to think about paint schemes. Obviously this is a nightfighter, but I didn't want to put it in a pedestrian German late war scheme...

Lets see where tomorrow takes my creative side!

Great work paper. That one thing about these type of aircraft. You can paint it however you like, but you still want it to be realistic. I'll be interested to see what you decide. I'm always looking for ideas.

Thank bish! I had a difficult time coing up with an idea, but I think I have an eye- cathcing scheme. I was flipping through my book collection when I found a picture of a Ju87 Stuka in Italian markings, as well as a Me 109. I decided since the Italians recived some equipment from the germans in WW2, and the Regina Aerionautica had some nightfighter units, an Italian scheme would look cool. I have some extra decals I can use...

Probably a base coat of grey with "smoke circles" in dark green or dark grey. I will have to paint some markings in though, the white cross on the tail for example.

PaperPanzer Looking great,I've got this kit in the stash how is the fit so far? Italian scheme would sure be different on that airframe.

I'm making steady progress ,hope to have the paint complete over the long weekend

I got the RLM76/74/75  on ,the rounded smaller tail version has a slightly different variation on the top cammo,the lines are more irregular. I'm not sure about accuracey but thats what the instructions show and I ca'nt find any other pics to dispute it

Nice TREYZX10R! The kit is pretty decent, there's a lot of flash on mine, the tires don't have treads, but they are pre- bulged The fits overall are okay, but some filling is necessary. I've made some progress today myself, clamped the wings, made sure the dihedral was correct, filled gaps with putty, sanded, and laid down a base coat of Euro Grey.

Unfortunately, there are gaps in the wing roots, so I'll have to fill those as well.

Finally! With sanding complete it was time for paint.

Well, now I needed a scheme. "Smoke circles" would not work with these colors in my opinion, so I flipped through an issue of FSM and came across this reader picture. He says how he got the effect was to "use an old brush, dab as much paint off as possible on newspaper, then lightly touched the model."

Now that I have my heart set on a particular design scheme, I need some advice on how to achieve this effect.

More on the way!

Thanks Paper Panzer,The Do335 is really taking shape and glad to hear the fit is decent . I can deal with the flash its 1/4 gaps everywhere that drive me nuts! Looks like you've got a great clean primed surface to put down the smoke ring scheme,I've seen those decals available from Mike Grant decals. Might be some other sources out there as well.

I've got the gear done and the front doors are a real treat to deal with,not! Decals are simply a nightmare,very brittle and even with a precautionary spray of bonder some are still falling apart! Some lead shot has been glued in the nose and the spinners to keep it from tail sitting. Hope to save what I can of the decals ,we'll see.

TREYZX10R: Maybe you misunderstood, I am planning an Italian Scheme for the Dornier, (speaking of which, all my spare decals are 1/72 scale, can anyone recommend a good set of 1/48 scale Italian markings?) The paint scheme in this photo is want I want to replicate, not the decals-

Sorry if there was any confusion!

PaperPanzer got it no smoke circle decals! I do have some 1/48 scale Italian decals left from a Sm79 that I did'nt use ,if ya want 'em pm me your addy and I'll send them. I do some of the mottle schemes using that dry brush technique it works really well.

The 309's survived the decal session(barely)one was almost returned to kit form ! I'm going to do some very light weathering and some slight exhaust stains next and wrap it up

TREYX10R: Sorry, the e- mail isn't mine, it's my mom's.  But, can anyone recommend a good set of aftermarket decals?

Sounds like a nice idea for a paint scheme paper. That build is looking good.

TREY, thats a nice looking pair of aircraft. Not sure if you have already mentioned it, but i am guessing those nose wheels swivel when being retracted.

PaperPanzer I got the SM79 decals from Sky for $8 off evil bay and they worked well for me.

Bish thanks and you're correct Sir it did rotate to lay flat under the engine

I'm calling it done. The kit was pretty straight forward and a fun build. I need to make some mass balancers or find some ,the kits were missing them.

Stunning Trey as always. One little question, how come you decided to build two.

panzer, as much as i lve the 229, i have to give my vote to ninetails badge.

Bish thanks really appreciate the kind words! I actually wanted to build one for each different tail section that was tried but settled on the 2 kit supplied tails