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My main build for this Blitz is the Revell Me P1099, only issued once in this version, all the way back in 1996: Parts all still on their sprues: As I mentioned in the chat thread, this aircraft was only ever intended to be a two-seater, but this version is a single-seat with a big empty gap in the back. I’d originally intended to 3d print some better seats and some detail for the rear of the cockpit, but I found a pair of Quickboost resin Bf-109 seats and some leftover PE from my F-5 build in the spares box, which is probably good enough for the rear of the cockpit as I doubt much will be seen back there once the canopy is on: All I’m actually going to print now is a wedge-shaped block to sit between the seats for a bit of support. As I’m building two kits (have a look at my Mustang thread for the 2nd), I’ll take advantage of the rule allowing us to take the main bits off the sprues in advance, ready to get cracking on Saturday. James

Lots of us have an interest in all those madcap creations that the Germans were working on at the end of WW2, so how about a GB dedicated to them? As far as I see it, the rules on eligibility should be pretty straightforward: Any aircraft under active development that didn’t achieve operational status before May 1945, or that would have achieved it in late 1944 onwards for cancelled projects. Bring on your Amerika Bombers, emergency fighters, way-out-there ideas etc. If you need some inspiration, it’s a pretty safe bet to say anything on http://www.luft46.com/ will be eligible. I’m also willing to accept proposed variants as well, so an Ar-234 P or D model would be eligible, but the B & C models that saw active service wouldn’t. If in doubt, ask! James 1 (Host) @81-er 2 (Co-Host) @JOCKNEY 3. @Corsairfoxfouruncle 4. @Marklo 5. @Evil_Toast_RSA 6. @Mottlemaster 7. @trickyrich 8. @Mike 9. @Alan P 10. @Adam Poultney 11. @TimJ 12. @Hockeyboy76 13. @Christer A 14. @trickyrich 15. @Silenoz 16. @Dermo245 17. @Arniec 18. @48-Alone-Is-Great 19. @Ralph 20. @Thom216 21 @Mig Eater 22. @jackroadkill 23. @SafetyDad 24. @Retired Bob 25???

This is my latest finished model, the Revell kit of the Arado Ar E 555 in 1/72. The kit is a lot of fun to build and very well detailed. I designed the paintjob myself with the idea that this would be a night bomber, hence the black underside and the RLM 74/RLM 75/RLM 76 splinter pattern. Modifications made were: Modified the front undercarriage strut and made it so it could be added later on in the build Added some detailing in the undercarriage bays 3D printed seatbelts Replaced all the gun barrels and the pitot with brass tube Modified the top turret so it could be painted separately and added later Added weighted effect to the wheels using heat Added wire brake lines Modified the exhausts so they could be painted separately to the main engine pack and added later Strut to support the open hatch made from brass wire Home made decals incorporating my initials into the aircraft code on the fins The WIP is here https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235108808-172-revell-arado-are555-finished/ Photos: And a couple of the cockpit before it was closed up: James ***** Postscript 18/05/2023 After having won it’s class at one of our monthly meetings, this was on the table for my club’s finals night last night, to be judged by some chaps from a nearby club. It won the 1/72 aircraft class, making it my first medal-winning model. A bit of a surprise as there was some tough competition, but I’m over the moon regardless James

With one Luft ’46 project out of the way, I fancied digging another one out of my extensive pile of them on Tuesday night. My chosen victim was this: Not a massive amount on the sprues, but nicely moulded. The clear parts are also nice & clear, but I may give them a dip before they make it onto the model even so: Decals aren’t looking bad considering they’re 25 years old: I managed to get a lot of parts off the sprues quite quickly. And even glued the halves of the wing sections (all three of them!) together: And a load of parts mounted ready for painintg: And the rudder pedals glued on. I’ve actually installed these upside down to the instructions, because they just looked wrong the “correct” way up: As that was the end of Tuesday’s work, I’m going to break the post here and do another for yesterday’s work. James

Hello guys! Here are some photos of my most recent model, the Hobbycraft Ar 234. The kit is not as refined as the Hasegawa one, but it looks alright.

As alluded to in @Thom216's thread, after the nightmare I had the last session on the Hercules, I pulled this out of the stash last Monday as something I could work on and (hopefully) finish fairly quickly, as everything else was waiting on paint. Now that the painting backlog is dealt with, I’m dropping the first 3 instalments of this in one go… Something a little different, after the frustrations of the Hercules. I like the “odd” subjects and Luft ’46 stuff (the engineer in me loves the madcap technological leaps they were trying to make), so this is right up my street. I also have a bit of a thing for this particular aeroplane, I *ahem* may have three of them in the stash *cough*. I’ve got two of the original 1998 boxings, as well as one of the 2012 reissue. This is the most recently acquired of them, bought from a US seller on a well-known auction site at the end of March. I went for this one as unlike the other two this one wasn’t boxed, and also unlike the other two, this one doesn’t seem too badly affected by the visible ejector marks on the exterior of the parts which seem to be a feature of this kit. Sprue shots: There’s some really nice detail on the parts: Clear parts are generally very good, just a bit of flash and a couple of areas that might benefit from some Micromesh: Finally, a lovely set of decals. Printed in Italy, so possible Cartograph? I first found this place by stumbling on Nigel Heath’s Dalek thread, and his thread on building this kit is what made me aware of it. I’ll therefore be using his WIP thread here as a reference for any pitfalls and ideas for extra detailing. I don’t think I’ll produce as good a result as Nigel, but I’ll certainly be trying! Enough waffle, on to the build! The cockpit tub, pilot/bombardier’s seat backs, and the gunner’s seat were all removed from their sprues: The moulded-in belts need to go, and the main seat bases need some filler to deal with the sink marks. I’ve got some Kitsworld 3d printed seatbelts to try out for this: The worst of the belts on the backrests were removed with a knife, no need to be absolutely perfect as the 3d belts are wider than the moulded ones: Being forewarned about the nose gear being inserted very early in the build, I followed Nigel’s example and modified mine so it can be installed after painting: I’ll also be following Nigel’s lead and replacing the braces with rod, but I’ll have to order some as I don’t have anything suitable. I did a bit on the nose wheel well, adding some ribs (more to be added next session), as well as a couple of fillets of plasticard to close off the back of the original nose gear mounting points ready for filler: Deciding on the exact colour scheme for this one has been a hard choice. It was always going to be one I’ve designed myself, but the (dis)advantage of being a CAD-monkey for the day job is that I have the ability to create far too many options for myself (and the indecision over the scheme and the number of kits I own may be related…). I finally decided on a night bomber scheme, with a 3-colour splinter top surface: Unfortunately the jpg compression seems to have hosed the fidelity, I can assure you it’s nowhere near that fuzzy when printed on paper and that the glazing is very well defined! I knocked up the basic outline by tracing over an image in CAD, then tried out hundreds of colour/camo combinations. I’ve also got different schemes to try for the other two, as well as another I’d really like to build, so I may have to hunt out a 4th kit one day. Until next time James Session 2 of work on this commenced with finishing off the ribbing in the nose wheel well. Blu Tack was invaluable during this as it allowed me to stabilise the part exactly where I wanted it while I added the ribs. Nothing was measured, I eyeballed in where it looked “right” down one side, then aligned the other to it: I still need to finish trimming and sanding the ends flush with the kit part, but I’m leaving that for the next session as I really want to ensure they’re firmly stuck down. I also put the first round of filler in to hide the side mounting locations from the nose leg but figured that wasn’t worth a photo. I removed all of the bombs from the sprues, cleaned them up a touch, then assembled the main bodies. I’ll deal with the seams once the glue’s fully dry there and then add the respective tails for them after that: Speaking of sprues, I’ve already dispatched two of them. It’s not often you can dispense with 2/3rds of the sprues by removing only half a dozen parts! The one that’s left has all of the smaller/fiddly parts on it, so that requires some careful handling. I removed the components from the engine pack, but only photographed one of the exhausts. I was hoping there was a way I could paint the exhausts before assembly and add them after everything else was painted, but sadly there just isn’t a way of doing that with the way the engine pack is designed. Difficult masking in my future then. The reason I photographed the exhaust was to show these awkward gates: Clean-up on these is tricky with the proximity of the detailing, but 10-15 minutes with my micro chisel left me with something reasonable looking. I also drilled out the nozzle: I drilled out the nozzles on the rest but left the clean-up to another night when it wasn’t so late. I’m planning to paint the aluminium on the insides of the intakes prior to assembling the engine pack in the hopes that it makes it less tricky to mask that. Once they’re painted and masked, I’ll assemble the engines. The last bit I turned my attention to was the top gun turret. Nigel modified the turret on his build to allow him to add the guns to it after painting, which seems like a good plan. I’m taking a slightly different approach as my plan is to trim the retaining ring from the bottom of the turret so the whole thing can be removed/refitted at will, not just the guns as Nigel did. I removed the bits from the sprue to test my theory before I make irreversible mods and it looks feasible. Unfortunately, when I went to remove the guns, this happened: That happened as I clipped the first attachment point, as seen still attached in the photo. No idea what caused the gun to shear off, however I had been planning on replacing the barrels with tube anyway. I just hadn’t planned on replacing the section that joins the pivot as well! Out came the drill and I cut a length of 1.0mm tube for the outer and 0.8mm tube for the inner barrel. It looks off with the spacing in this picture, but I centred the hole on the mark left by the snapped off barrel: A bit more work later, and I had a matching pair: The barrels aren’t quite parallel with each other, but I have a plan to straighten them with some 0.5mm rod pushed down them to prevent kinking. I just wasn’t going to attempt that at 1:30am. Until next time James

Back with another one (coming thick and fast, hah). I've had this kit for at least two or three years. I initially built it all up, painted interior, and ran out of a specific paint colour for a single part in the cockpit. Ended up forgetting to do that for probably a year, leaving it with a loose, masked off canopy in place. It wasn't until I got an He-162 kit in the same scale and started pondering a combined 'what if' diorama that I restarted work on it. Unfortunately, that plan didn't come to fruition due to space concerns, and after I painted up, decaled and weathered the kit, I placed it in a shoebox for safety. Now that I've freed shelf space, I finally pushed to complete it on a new, smaller idea, still within that 'what if' concept and using my own scheme and markings set up (some of which were from the He-162 kit spares). This is the second completed on hold kit/diorama after my Corsair one, found here: And that's a wrap. Thanks for looking as always Gaz

The is a place setter for more pictures etc. to follow. Classic Luft 46 subject, legendary Unicraft quality of parts and fit. I'll post a picture of the parts later on I just need a stiff drink to steady my nerves first 🥃 Good luck everyone. cheers Pat

Here is another Luft 46 project I built back in 2014. It's a Blohm und Voss P.209.02 forward swept wing fighter project by Anigrand Craftswork in 1:144 and in resin. I added some belts in the cockpit, thinned the undercarriage bay doors as much as possible and split them according to references as opposed to what Anigrand seemed to propose. The kit was fully painted and varnished by brush. Thanks for looking Miguel

Here is my 1:144 scale Anigrand Craftswork resin Blohm & Voss P.215 which I built back in 2014. This was an unbuilt German WWII nightfighter project. I added details to the cockpit as this was meant to be a three-seater and the kit only came with two. Apart from scratchbuilding a third seat, I added belts, headrests, a stick for the pilot and some boxes in the rear section. I also thinned the undercarriage doors and added gun barrels from metal rod. The kit was fully painted with brush and only the Vallejo Satin varnish was airbrushed. This scheme came about as a way of fixing a scheme I wasn't happy with but since it's Luft'46, I can just about get away with it! Thanks for looking Miguel

Here is my Jach 1:144 Messerschmitt P.1101N which I built back in 2010. Jach offers a two-kit box covering two possible variants (A and N) of this unbuilt German WWII project. The "N" is a proposed nightfighter variant. I scratchbuilt a cockpit since there was none. The aerials came as etched metal parts. The kit was fully painted with brush except for the final matt varnish which was airbrushed. Thank you for looking Miguel

I started building 1/72 German WW2 jet & rocket models years ago and when I started building kits a few years back I got a Revell Messerschmitt P1099B kit. I saw some Luft 46 sketches of the P1099 built with just the upper rear facing guns and since the kit came with a rounded nose option I built it that way. I went on to start a Horton Go 229 kit as that aircraft always fascinated me. About half way through I started building 1/48 Cold War jets and the Go 229 got shifted to the shelf of doom. About 5 or more years ago I guess. Then recently @The Spadgent started his multi build project and I thought the Go 229 needed to be finished. So here they both are. Not the greatest builds, thing I would do differently now, but I like them, hope you do too.

Here are the other two of four Jach 1:144 Lippisch P.20s I built in 2018. As mentioned with the previous two, apart from scratchbuilding a cockpit and wing probe, I built them OOB. This was a proposed jet-engined development of the Me 163 Komet. Jach suggests the N1 version has an earlier radar type with nose antlers and the N2 has a dish-type radar. The aerials were etched metal parts. Both versions have hardpoints and I decided to use different loads, with a pair of drop tanks for the N1 and an assymetric load of a tank and an X-4 missile for the N2. They were fully painted and varnished by brush. First: Lippisch P.20N1 "Red 4", NJG2, Luftwaffe, 1946 (fictitious). Second: Lippisch P.20N2 "White6", NJG5, Luftwaffe, 1946 (fictitious). Thank you for looking. Miguel

Here are a pair of Messerschmitt P.1101s in 1:144 scale I built in 2010, one of Jach and the other of FE Resin. Since the Jach kit came with two different variants in the box marked as "A" and "N" (nightfighter), these are both"A" variants. First. Jach kit in fictitious JG3 markings. This was a plastic kit. I scratchbuilt a cockpit since there was none. The kit was fully painted with brush except for the final matt varnish which was airbrushed. I based the scheme on that used by several Me 262s of JV44. Second. FE Resin kit in fictitious JG7 markings. This was a resin kit. I only added a headrest to the cockpit. The kit was fully painted and varnished with brush. Thanks for looking Miguel

Here are two of four Jach 1:144 Lippisch P.20s I built in 2018. These were simple kits which, apart from scratchbuilding a cockpit and wing probe, I built OOB. This was a proposed jet-engined development of the Me 163 Komet. Jach suggests the B version has hardpoints for drop tanks or X-4 missiles whereas the A is clean so I did it this way. Both were fully painted and varnished by brush. Lippisch P.20A. Yellow 3, JG53, Luftwaffe, 1946 (fictitious). Lippisch P.20B. "<", Stab/JG27, Luftwaffe, 1946 (fictitious). Thanks for looking! Miguel

Here is a Focke-Wulf Triebflugel I built back in 2012. It is a Takara 1:144 gashapon pre-painted partially-assembled kit which I took apart, had the paint and markings sanded down and re-painted and re-assembled. The kit was a nightfighter variant hence the thimble nose for the radar. The kit was fully painted and varnished with brush and decals came from various sources. It represents "Black 3", of an ISS (industry point defence) unit, Luftwaffe, Germany (fictitious of course). All comments welcome and thanks for looking Miguel

Here is my Special Hobby 1:72 Blohm & Voss P.212.03 "Strahljäger" which I built back in 2005. It represents a fictitious "Blue 14", JG54, Luftwaffe, in a winter scheme on the eastern front. This was a German WWII jet fighter project which was never built. The unusual wing design was proposed in several Blohm & Voss projects from a piston-engined fighter to a final twin jet-engined heavy fighter (I've built one and will post it eventually). Like all older Special Hobby kits, it wasn't an easy build. I recall adding details to the cockpit. It was mostly painted and varnished with airbrush with decals coming from the kit and elsewhere. The scheme was inspired by illustrations I had seen in a book. Thanks for looking and all comments are, as always, welcome. Miguel

1/72 Revell He 177 Greif, KG40 - Nuclear Torpedo Bomber - Luft '46 He 177, GP+RH, Kampfgeschwader 40 - Fliegerführer Atlantik (Flyer Command Atlantic) Imagine, if you will, that Germany, during the dying days of World War II, was the first to discover the atomic bomb. With the threat of submarine deployed nuclear suicide strikes off the coast of American cities, the War in Europe was brought to a swift and terrifying stalemate. This allowed Germany to rebuild and re-arm itself. Here we have the Heinkel He 177 long range nuclear capable maritime patrol bomber. Advanced lightweight alloys were used in the construction, improving aerodynamics and range. A bold red tail signified this as a nuclear weapons platform able to deliver the newly developed nuclear torpedo (2 carried). This advanced weaponry could destroy an aircraft carrier and most of it's Battle Group with a single strike. 2 x modified and highly advanced Henschel Hs-293 were carried for BVR reconnaissance and to guide the aircraft to potential targets. The dawning of a new age was amongst us..... Cheers all, Stay safe. Phil

Hello everyone! Here is my Anigrand Craftswork 1:144 Horten Ho XIIIb finished in fictitious JG5 markings. I built this one back in 2013. The kit was built OOB and I only thinned the undercarriage doors as much as I could. Painting and varnishing was all done with brush and decals came from various sources since the kit's insignias were wrong for late-war fighters. Thanks for looking Miguel

Hello everyone! Here is my latest kit, completed this past weekend. It's AZ Model's 1:72 Messerschmitt P.1106T - the navalized carrier variant. I thought the concept so crazy and absurd that I couldn't resist getting it! I believe it's a first in Luft46 kits since I don't recall anyone releasing carrier-borne aircraft in this field. The instructions that came with the kit were for the B variants (the other two boxings), I'm not sure if by mistake or that's how they come with this kit. I had to refer to the boxart for the variant-specific parts (arrestor hook, underwing fuel tanks and gun pods. The build wasn't easy. The parts were a bit crude and with flash and needed plenty of cleaning up, reminding me of earlier Special Hobby and MPM kits. I built it mostly OOB only adding belts from Tamiya tape and replacing the wing pitot tube with one made from stretched sprue. I opened up the holes at the tip of the gunpod barrels. To get it to sit on its legs, I packed weight inside the engine and in the nose area above it. I made a forward u/c bay bulkhead to hold/hide the lead weights. I managed to get a reasonably good join of the wings to the fuselage but the other joins needed plenty of filling and sanding. The canopy was a poor fit and I only managed to get it in place after plenty of trimming and at the third attempt when I resorted to CA gel to hold it in place. The kit was fully painted and varnished with brush. I didn't like the options proposed by AZ Model so I made my own scheme. I used the decals from option 3 plus the anchors of option 2, all placed as I saw fit. The decals behaved well and reacted to Micro Set and Sol. Despite the difficult build, I enjoyed it and am glad I decided to build this "flying fish"! Thank you for looking and all comments are welcome as always Miguel

Here is my PM Model 1:72 Horten Ho 229B which I finished in a fictional nightfighter scheme back in 1999. This was a very basic kit and I recall scratchbuilding part of the cockpit. The main scheme was painted and varnished with airbrush and some decals came from the spares box. As always, thanks for looking and all comments are welcome. Miguel

Here is my Anigrand Craftswork 1:144 Arado E.555/1 bomber project which I built in 2008. The fictitious markings are for an aircraft of 4./KG26, Luftwaffe, in the MTO. Some of the thicker parts like doors and guns were thinned, some guns being replaced by metal wire. The kit was fully painted with brush with only the varnish being airbrushed. The codes and emblem decals came from a Minicraft He 111H kit. Thanks for looking and all comments are welcome Miguel

Heinkel He 111H-24 AEW "Blue A", the first of the H-24 series, Erprobungskommando Bremen, Luftwaffe, Germany (fictitious). Once the go-ahead was given for project Obertasse with the FuG 244 Berlin N-4 (later Bremen) rotating dish radar, it was proposed to use surplus He 111H aircraft as proof-of-concept machines due to the then unavailability of Ar 234s (the type chosen for the project) due to their need as bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Three He 111s were converted to the new H-24 sub-type with all weapons removed, the Bremen radar in a rotating dish on a pylon on top of the fuselage, and several other detection and communications systems installed, the most noticeable being the thimble nose attached to the forward turret. All windows were covered and the top radio mast moved back. The aircraft were flown by Erprobungskommando (operational test detachment) Bremen. At first they flew only at night under He 219 fighter cover and although several problems were encountered, these were solved in over a month and the concept proved a success. Seven more conversions were made before the concept was finally applied to Ar 234s and other aircraft. Only one was shot down and two were destroyed on the ground. The survivors were later used for tests. (This history is, of course, fictitious. Project Obertasse was real though, but it was never built). Once I learnt of the Obertasse project in the third book of the "Luftwaffe Secret Projects" I always had the idea of making an Ar 234 in this configuration but without a readily available 1:144 kit I haven't yet been able to. The idea for this He 111 "what-if?" came when I fouled up the clear parts for a previous Minicraft 1/144th kit. I could restore clarity to the two main parts but not to the nose turret. It hit me that the He 111, having been designed also as a transport plane, would also be an ideal AEW platform, and like this recover what could have been a lost kit. Thus, I made up a non-exitant final sub-type. The kit was fully painted and varnished with brush. Decals came from spares. Thanks for looking and, as always, all comments are welcome. Miguel

Hello everyone Here is my Platz 1:144 Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-12/R14 (early) I built in 2013. Inspired by one of the unbuilt variants of the Fw 190D family illustrated in the Valiant Wings book, I made this rather simple conversion from a D-9 to a torpedo-carrying D-12. The forward cowl had the gun bulges and troughs removed and smoothened out, the wing bulges removed, the supercharger intake enlarged, a cannon hole made in the propeller tip and the blades sanded to a more rounded shape. The torpedo came from a Minicraft He 111 and I added the pylon clamps to hold it and the torpedo's tail wing. The tail of the D-12 was supposed to be of the Ta 152 type but that was beyond my skills so that is why it's a D-12 (early)!! The kit represents "Blue E", KG200, Luftwaffe, in 1945 (fictitious of course) with a scheme of my own making. The kit was painted and varnished with brush. The decals came from various sources. Thank you for looking and all comments are welcome as always Miguel

Here is my Revell 1:72 Focke-Wulf Fw 226 "Flitzer" which I built back in 2005 in, naturally, fictitious markings. This kit was from the first release (it has been re-released with new decals). It was painted with airbrush. Thanks for looking Miguel