Revell Ar 555 Complete page 5

The box art looks strangely like New York City 

There is a good reason for the that . The re boxing has a differant image but was still New York. But that idea is even more fanciful than the aircraft itself. This version has a range of just under 3,000 miles. The direct distance from Amsterdam to New York is over 3,600 miles.

Thats one reason why mine will be in eastern Front markings.

Looking forward to this build. I love the Arado 555 and built two last year.

Thanks cnq. I have seen yours and know your a Luft 46 fan as well, so glad to have you follwing along. Please feel free to share any suggestions or tips. I have a few ideas, but i might have missed somthing.

Looking forward to watching your build as I only recently picked up the kit at a November IPMS contest / swap meet.

Will you be using a 1/48 scale German bomb as the 1/72 scale 4,000 kg Uranium bomb? 

Maybe ya ought to look into adding a bay access door and Major Kong pilot figure ....

LOl, ye, that would be a nice idea.

There are 72nd scale German a Bombs on the market. Antares and Unicraft both produce the same set of 4 differant bombs in resin, i think mine is the Antares set. I was goign to use the bomb from that and make my own bomb trolley. But i was looking at the kora site just before Xmas and found they do a set with the same bomb i wnated to use plus the trolley and tractor. So i have ordered that and it should be here soon. Unfortunatly, the aircrafts max load is 4,000KG, otherwise i would have one being winched up and the otehr being moved into position. But the bomb i have is coming in handy for sizing up the fittings in the bay.

The Antares set is the first on the page here. The one i am useing is third one down.

http://www.antaresmodels.com/luft46.asp?s=L72

Thanks for that hyperlink.

I like the idea of adding the Uranium bomb and did not know so much cool stuff was available in 1/72 for Luft '46.

Sprue-ce Goose

Thanks for that hyperlink.

I like the idea of adding the Uranium bomb and did not know so much cool stuff was available in 1/72 for Luft '46.

 

There is quite a bit, especially if you don't mind going resin. Quite a few nice kits and some nice conversions as well.

Wow, great subject. I was eyeballing one of these on Amazon in 1/48 the other day. I forget who made it, but I love the looks. Awesome sauce !!

BK

The seat cushions are either grossly substandard, or the Germans came up with memory foam as early as WW2.  

Nice save, though.  :)

Great scratchwork Bish. This is one way to get around AM sets, specially when none are available. A very futuristic design copied in some of today's aircraft.

Cool subject, and looks like a nicely engineered kit. Watching with interest...

Thnaks a lot guys. This is one of those kits i have been wanting to do for a while now, so really glad to get round to it.

BK, i didn't know there was a 48th kit, that would be somthing.

allan, your not wrong. Just wait until i post a pic of the control surfaces. I have no idea what revell were thinking there. One of the guys on Brit modeller likened it to hessian.

Over all, it does look a nice kit. A few sink marks to be filled, but not as many problems as the later 2012 release that i have seen. Some nice detail on the pit control surfaces.

PJ, your not wrong there. But i do wounder if these German designs would have worked as todays aircrfat heavily rely on computers just to keep them in the air.

Very cool!  Can't wait to see this one.

Thanks Mopar. Glad to have you along.

Been moving along with the Arado this week. despite the size and the nice detail, tehre is not a lot to this kit. In total, 3 sprues, and two of those contain the main body and tail sections.

And this is the only real negative, the sprue gates, especially on the leading edge.

Thats not pretty by anyones standards. And i am not keen on the control, surfaces, but this is not really a defect, just a differance of opinion.

But enough of that, after priming, the cockpit parts got a coat of RLM 66.

I then did a light dry brush and added a pin wash with Flory wash. next up was starting to paint some of the detail. I have also cut a slot into each seat betwen the cushion and headrest for the PE seat belts.

That dial on the left definatly needs to be re done. I can paint some more once my instrument decals arrive from Canada.

The landing gear has been painted and i have added some black wire for brake lines to the main gear.

And the wheel wells and bomb bay are also painted and ready.

So now i am waiting those decals and the putty, all i can do on the aircraft is paint the wheels and finish off the seams on the engines. In the menatime, i can start on a couple of the vehicles i will be adding. I am still waiting on the one fom Kora, but i will also be adding these two to the dio.

And thats all for now.

This is a really cool subject. I'm glad you are doing one for us to see.

BK

Thnaks BK, glad to have you following along.

This diorama will be a blast to see when it's finished.  I really love the details and the scratch building you're doing, great workmanship!

Toshi

Thanks Toshi. I have rather gotten into scratchbuilding in the last couple of years, usually when there is no AM option. I had put it off for years, but after scratching the complete rear interiour in both sides of an He 111Z, i am reday to try anything.

Those wires add a lot of details to the gears. Great job Bish.

Thnaks PJ. I wasn't sure if i should add one for each wheel or not. I just figured what the hell.

Bish...again great job on your build. As always your details are looking wonderful. I hope I get too see it finished. Keep up the great work!!

Thanks Jeff, and me to.

While waiting for those decals, i have still been able to get some done. The undercarrage was put together and the brake lines put into place. I still need to give the straps for the lines a coat of RLM 02.

I also replaced the gun barrels with some brass tube.

And i used some PE belts from the spares bopx for the seats. This is the gunners seat fitted in its ground position.

The Mike Grant dcals arrived yesterday and they were worth waiting for. A very nice selection of dials and info panels. Al the decals share one carrier film and i cut them out as close as i could. But some of the excess does show up on the camera but is not as bad to the naked eye. The instructions recommend a punch and die set and i think its time i got one of those.

With that done i could fit the cockpit. I added the steering column and bomb site and some wire to the back of the IP.

Then it was time to get teh top on. This was a bit tricky, so i started at the back and then worked round doing one edge at a time easing it into place. In the end the fit was rather nice with just a bit of sanding along the leading edge.

The kit includes 2 fixed forward firing weapons, MK 103's i believe, one eitehr side of the cockpit. everal build reviews i have seen question the logic of these on a medium/hig level bomber. I can't imagine these aircrfat doing a low level strafing run. So like those other builds, i decided to not fit those weapons and had already filled in the spent case shute. One build i saw aded blisters over the holes for those guns for some advanced radar or guidance system. I rather liked this and found a couple of parts in the spares box that i liked the look of.

I just have a bit more rubbing down to do, then i can add the vertical tails and canopy befire i go to the paint shop.

Thanks for looking, all comments welcome of course.

Hi Bish,

Just saw you build - I really like what you're doing.  The cockpit and landing gear look great!  Can't wait to see more!

Steve