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This one was started in early November and I took the final pictures yesterday. I am indebted to @SafetyDad . I've wanted the Fledermaus version for years but it's rather expensive. My intention was to scratchbuild one, but then Padraic sent me a gluebomb Hornisse he'd found on the web. This is it as designed by Kow Yokoyama . the 'Father' of Maschinen Kreiger. It carries an Armoured Fighting Suit (AFS). To make more of a profit Nitto took the basic mould and changed it to make the Hummel (A sort of Drone) and the (Manned) Fledermaus versions. which was rather naughty of them. Anyway, I set to and, after dismantling the kit, I couldn't help but improve the design into a more practical flying machine. The original had five large rocket motors, which our man in Kalamazoo observed would, "suck it inside out in seconds'. I kept the one at the back, rebuilt most of the underside, and added jets & a forward fuselage and cockpit to 1/20th scale. Here we are ready to fire up the lift engines and go out hunting Falkes. I've done a typical kreiger rough paint job as if it was built up from parts by rebel forces. Yes, it's an ex Harrier rocket pod. The landing gear is part original/part scratchbuilt. Springs are ex Biro! The nose cannon. The breech etc is somewhere under the cockpit. Ammo behind the pilot. On the RH pylon is a large missile with a rusty seeker head. Upper fuselage. At right is a spoiler/airbrake painted orange. And rocket thruster at the back. The thruster would take this up to altitude, rather like an Me 163. But, with the jets, it would make a powered landing. Taken during the build, this shows the wingtip tanks. Part droptank, part 1/32nd P-38 tailboom A bit of battle damage repaired with speedtape. Bits for this build came from all over. This tailplane is ex 1/32nd Me262. At left, an engine exhaust. Made from three bits of car wheel, and in the middle is part of a 1/1 scale tyre valve. The oval bit is a tiny ships dinghy. The rocket motor parts, here at centre, are original to the model. Underneath is two shades of light grey, dabbed onto white primer with sponge. The central dome is an anti gravity generator. Also visible are the three lift thrusters which use engine bleed air to assist in take off and landing. The rusty seeker head. It was part of a ball point pen. The top surface is grey primer with Tamiya dark yellow dabbed on. Various greeblies dress things up here. The canopy. Not the best bit, you can see the side window bowed in It's stuck on with industrial superglue so would be wrecked if I tried to remove it for repair. That might still happen. We shall see. Here's a picture of the pilot (made from Tamiya Pit Crew figure parts) and his scratchbuilt ejection seat taken during the build. Overall I enjoyed the build. The canopy is a disappointment though as it also has sanding dust stuck inside. These pictures aren't the best due to lack of light in the manshed. Pictures outside are not possible due to weather! There is a build log in the work in progress section. So you can see more of this if you are curious. My thanks to all who dropped by during the build, and, of course, to Padraic who made it all possible. Next up, I have the AFS which came with the kit. It too is a glue bomb (all three windows have glue on them) so it will also be a challenge to get right. But I can also use it as a pattern for replacement and spare parts. Bonus! Thanks very much for looking in, I'm always grateful for comments and will answer any questions if I can. Cheers, Pete Thanks for looking

After posting my last RFI yesterday, I found myself back at the modeling desk mid morning today. A few weeks ago I received a part built Nitto Hornisse kit from @SafetyDad. Many thanks again, Padraic. This is it as designed by Kow Yokoyama . the 'Father' of Maschinen Kreiger. It carries an armoured fighting suit. To make more of a profit Nitto took the basic mould and changed it to make the Hummel (A sort of Drone) and the (Manned) Fledermaus versions. This was apparently done without the permission of the designer and caused a bit of a ruckus over there. In the past, due to the rarity and price of a new one I'd contemplated scratchbuilding a Fledermaus. But other stuff got in the way and I'd hoped that something might turn up. Well, it did! The Hornisse turned out to be rather a glue bomb, so took some work to sort out. I did find, however, that Tamiya extra thin can weaken old tube glue and so aid dismantling. Here's a picture of a picture of a Fledermaus. I'm sort of aiming in this direction. But the scale of the end result may not be 1/20th. A top view. Not much wrong with this bit. I just have to add a cockpit section. Easy eh? The underside. The blotchy bits are where glue was cleaned up. The four (larger) outer holes are where lift rockets were. These were (I think) Saturn V rocket bells. As observed by @Tzulscha recently to me, "They'd suck it inside out in seconds!". So I'll replace them with something smaller. I think the radial engine fronts are meant to be lift fans. I'll leave them be. Later this morning. PPP applied to the blotchy bits and unwanted holes. And, I altered a set of F-16 (I think) legs which look like they're from a 1/32nd scale kit. The Hornisse/Fledermaus family relies on landing skids. I wanted wheels. I've seen one modified with 1.24th Harrier gear in the past. But I didn't have anything suitable. And that is where things stand at the moment. More later and thanks for looking. Pete