As promised, some pictures. This is one of two P.1101 kits that Dragon does in 1/72nd, the other being a night fighter with a T tail. I bought both kits off the same E-bay seller some time before this GB started. And when pordoi started this build and mention this aircraft as being a swing wing, i thought he had made a major error, i eat my thoughts. I had these kits for a bit and never realised. And it forced me into doing a bit of digging into this aircraft, which i didn't realise had reached the protype stage.
So, for those who missed the earlier posts and now nothing about this aircraft, here is a brief back ground and what i plan on doing with it.
This aircraft, built by Messerschmitt, begain life in mid 1944. By the end of the war one prototype had been built but not flown. It was fitted with a HeS 011A engine and would have been armed with 4 MK 108 cannon, and possably AA missiles. The prototype had wings that could be adjusted on the ground, pre set at 30, 35 and 40 degress. The Germans had not yet worked out how to adjust the wings in flight.
So what am i planning on doing. Production aircraft often look rather different from the prototype, by the time the wrinkles have been ironed out. I am going to build a possable production aircraft which will differ slightly from the prototype. I am assuming the Germans worked out how to adjust the wings in flight.
This is the kit
This does not come with the option of having the wings at different angles. Heres a couple of pics from the ref i am useing showing the wings angles. It says it is of a model, but does not say which model. Most of the pics in this book are of models, including a couple that look like the Dragon kit.
Here are the wings swept back as the kit has you build them.
And here forward more like the angle mine will be set at for take off.
As well as moving the wings, i will be adding wing gloves, makes sense that the Germans would of thought of this and it covers the holes i had to make. You can see the PITOT on the left wing is not at the correct angle with wings forward. So i will be moving mine onto the nose. The kit also has 4 wing pylons each with two locating tabs and correspondant holes. I will be filling the rear holes and removing rear tabs to give those the correct angle of attack for the wing angle.
On top, the right side after removing some plastic to adjust the wing, underneath the left side as it comes. The pics of the prototype don't show any recess for the wings to move into, but they must have moved into somthing, so this is guess work.
The kit comes with a few PE parts for the cockpit. This still has the seat and stick to add.
I did make a little mess when grinding out the holes due to my power tool slipping, so i need to fill that in. I was planning on adding detail to the engine, but with the panels on you can't see much.
After adding these the batteries ran out on the camera, bloody typical. I have since added the fuselage rear and attached the wings. The PITOT has also been moved onto the nose. I will try and get some more pics on Mon. My next tasks are to make and add the wing gloves and paint and fit the pilot as i am having the cockpit closed with the aircraft moving off.