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A bit late, but may I join the GB? When the Heller Classic GB was announced I had no Heller kits. I'd made a few in the past, but the stash was bare. So off to King Kit where this caught my eye; Amazing, if not to say imaginative box art! Sprues; All looks very good! A bit of background on the planes; These were a couple of late WW2 'wonder weapons' that the Nazis hoped might stem the tide. The Bachem Ba 349 Natter (Viper) was similar in concept, and used the same Walter HWK rocket motor, as the Me 163. A point interceptor designed to be launched from a tower as the bomber stream passed overhead, bring down a bomber with a salvo of Henschel Hs 297 or RM4 rockets carried in the nose, before gliding back down to a lower altitude where the Natter would break in two. The pilot would be 'ejected' and parachute down, the rear section containing the rocket motor would also float down under it's own parachute to be re-used. The front part was disposable, crashing to the ground. Unlike the Me 163, the Ba349 would take off vertically so didn't need an airfield to take off or land where it would be more vulnerable. It was a complete failure. Initial towed flights proved that the Natter was aerodynamically quite stable and easy to fly, but the only powered vertical test flight resulted in the death of it's test pilot. And during an earlier test the rear section exploded when it hit the ground due to the highly volatile C and T Stoff fuels. But the Germans persisted with the idea and 36 operational examples were eventually built, never to be used as, luckily for the Allied bombers and would be pilots, the war ended. The Fi 103 Reichenberg IV was an even more dangerous and radical concept, a piloted version of the V1 Flying Bomb. The idea being that the pilot would fly the plane/bomb to it's target and bail out just before it hit. The chances of the pilot surviving were reckoned to be about 1%. But unlike the similar Japanese Ohka rocket plane, the German pilot would have had a parachute and the concept was not a deliberate suicide attack, even if the result would probably have been the same. Several test flights were made (more deaths) but test pilots Heinz Kensche and Hanna Reitsch both flew the plane and survived. In the end, and again luckily for the pilots and potential targets, the project was shelved in favour of the Mistel project. Info from Wikipedia, War Prizes Butler) and other internet sources. The last remaining Bachem Natter is in the US, preserved at the National Air and Space Museum's Silver Hill facility. I was lucky enough to be sent by work to Washington DC in 1998 and went to Silver Hill for a tour and photographed the Natter. This is roughly how Heller suggests painting the kit, but as with other German planes in the US, the paint job was spurious (as were the markings, disposable planes apparently carried no national insignia) and it may have originally looked more like this when displayed at Wright Field, Ohio, during the “Army Air Forces Fair” on October 13, 1945, presumably without the swastika on the tail. So, to try to answer Pat's @JOCKNEY question about the colour, it might have been painted... your guess is as good as mine Pat! I'm guessing RLM83 Dunkelgrun. The Natters captured by the US Army in the south of Germany look much lighter, and as Peter @PeterB has suggested and may be in RLM02 primer? Looking at photos on the web, The Fi 103 was painted in a variety of finishes but generally carried a more usual V1 light undersides and mottled upper surfaces. Note various sections, made in different locations, painted differently. Interesting square jet intake? Or is it a cover? A (pedantic) note for Jeroen @JeroenS if he wishes to add these aircraft to the subject list. The Bachem Ba 349A Natter is a Rocket Aircraft and the Fi 103 Reichenberg IV is a Jet Aircraft. Better get cracking then! Cheers,

new version of Natter: http://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=598&t=93941#p1737724 http://www.hauler.cz/cs-cz/e-shop/1-72-plastikove-stavebnice-28/bachem-natter-22-23-1135#!prettyPhoto

Brengun is to release in 2016 1/144th Bachem Ba-349 Natter kits. - ref.BRP144001 - Bachem Ba-349A Natter - ref.BRP144002 - Bachem Ba-349 M52/M58 Natter Source: http://www.detailscaleview.com/2016/02/plus-model-and-brengun-stand-on.html V.P.

Here is my Bachem Natter from Dragon with the 43cm's tall launch tower. The Natter itself was an easy build but the tower was a different story, glad I did managed to finish it and not tossed it away! Dragon did not made a 100% correct representation of the real M17 prototype inside the box but for me it was not important, I wanted to build something different and I'm very happy with it. Looks good in the display cabinet Erik

Hi, all I have noticed a lack of this model on forums so I thought I'd give it a go whilst I decal some Spifires. Also worth mentioning is the fact that the parts aren't numbered on the sprew, this lead me to having to keep referring to the instructions for any multiple parts to make sure the weren't number specific. And the funny looking T thing near the top right of the sprew shot is actually two peices, the control stick and the foot rest (pedals supposedly). On the location diagram in the instructions they are shown seperately. So you have to carefully seperate them. So far I have Pledged the canopy and managed to paint and assemble the cockpit, rocket exhaust and the fuselage halves. Next up I'll give the cockpit a wash and seal up the fuselage halves. Ashley.

Hi all, The Bachem's finally ready. Build thread is here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234937749-brengun-172-bachem-ba-349a-natter/ Colours are as follows: RLM 76 - Revell 49 + 05 (4:1) RLM 75 - Revell 74 + 05 (4:1) RLM 74 - Revell 39 + 79 (2:1) RLM 66 - Revell 77 RLM 02 - Revell 45 Others are Humbrol and Revell TTFN Ashley.