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Horten Ho.229 1:48 Zoukei Mura The Horten brothers were a pair of visionary siblings that designed a series of flying wing gliders in pre-WWII during the period when Germany was prohibited from having an air force. Each design improved on the last, and once the Luftwaffe broke cover in the expansionist phase before WWII, development began in earnest. The requirement for a light bomber capable of the 3x1000 by the RLM, which was for an aircraft capable of carrying 1,000kg 1,000km at 1,000kph in 1943 set the wheels in motion that resulted in the Horten.IX, which is better known as the Ho.229, and sometimes referred to as the Go.229 due to the fact that the Gothaer factory had been chosen for production examples. The flying wing had a low drag form, and the addition of two jet engines gave it the potential to fulfil the requirement, although it suffered a little from lateral instability due to its shape. The first prototype flew un-powered and with fixed landing gear in 1944, with results that bore plenty of promise before crashing due to a pilot error. Gotha altered the design in practical ways to ease production and increase longevity, as well as adding an ejector seat that was probably as much of a danger to the pilot as being shot down. Another prototype was lost due to an engine fire, but this did not deter the RLM from striving to reach production, despite the worsening situation for Germany in Europe. The third prototype was enlarged, and it was this that fell into the hands of the advancing US troops, and subsequently the Operation Paperclip boys, who took it back to America with plenty of other advanced designs. It remains there to this day, in the restoration area of the Smithsonian's NASM, and you can see some stunning photos and interesting text on their mini-site. The Kit If you've already seen their superlative kit of this very same aircraft in 1:32, the text above might sound familiar, and once you open the box, the contents will too. I did a part-by-part comparison between the two kits, and although the sprues are laid out quite differently from the larger one, the parts are almost identical with only a few differences to comply with the constraints of injection moulding styrene. A few of the clear skin parts are frosted now too, which actually makes a little more sense than previously. I'm still scratching my head about the usefulness of the clear skin however, but that's just me. The box is clearly smaller, but just as well packed at the big one, with nine sprues in a mid-grey styrene, and four in clear – most of which is frosted. There is also a large decal sheet, instruction booklet, plus two sheets of additional instructions that should help to clear up any head-scratching moments. Detail on the sprues is superb, and the whole airframe is depicted, as you'd expect from ZM in any shape or scale. It's important to remember too, that ZM's ethos is to give the modeller a construction experience, which is subtly different from just building a model. They like their customers to know what is going on under the skin of their kits, and as such if you build the kit with everything buttoned up, there is bound to be some detail lost to darkness. Construction begins with the engines, and here there are the most changes from the complexity of the 1:32 version. Instead of dozens of compressor blades, you get just the front and rear parts, which is entirely understandable to be honest! There are still a lot of parts, and all of the external greeblies are included, along with a stand that is built into the sprue runners, should you decide you want to leave one or both of them out for display. The completed engines are set aside while the airframe is built up, and frame is an excellent description of the tubular interior construction. The main bottom frame is the floor for the assembly onto which the various additional frames, control linkages and ribs are installed. There are statements about the correct construction order throughout, and this is one time where even engineers would be best served by reading the instructions. The big Mk.103 cannons and their magazines are installed just inside the wing root ribs, and here the detail on the muzzles is superb. The ammo feed exits the side of the rib, and re-enters lower down into the breach of the cannon on both sides. With the lower interior completed, the heat-resistant armour-plating parts are laid in their recesses and the engines if fitted are installed over them. Now the upper framework is added, and numerous scrap-diagrams show the correct location of the attachment points, which will be very helpful indeed. The cockpit is held on a framework between the engines, and these trap the rudder box in position, with the instrument panel frame and braces added over the top. The panel itself has a great deal of raised detail moulded-in, and two decal options are included. One option that covers the whole panel plus two more for small side dials, and the other which has individual decals for each instrument face. If only this was included in every kit. The landing gear was a mish-mash of existing parts, with a large single nose wheel and two smaller main wheels that gave the aircraft a distinctly nose-up stance on the ground. The legs are single parts with separate oleo-strut scissor links, and two-part wheels on each axle. The separate hubs of the larger kit would have ended up too fiddly for moulding, I'd imagine. A scrap diagram shows the correct angle of the aircraft on the ground after installation of the wheels and struts. With the internals almost done, attention turns to the exterior panels, all of which are moulded in clear styrene that has a frosted finish (in case you hadn't noticed). Again, the underside is first, with a central panel covering the majority, plus two shaped panels curving toward the rear "pen-nib". The nose is moulded in a beautiful, complex slide-moulded single part that encompasses both the cockpit aperture and engine intake lips. The air-brakes are next, which can be used deployed through the slots in the lower fuselage, or stowed by cutting off the actuator rams. With those in position, the upper fuselage can be added along with the two engine nacelle tops. The wings are built up next, with one being a mirror image of the other. They are constructed around a core framework, with four two-part fuel tanks placed within the "meat" of the wing, plus a joining rib at the root. They're joined to the fuselage by two pins each on the top and bottom surfaces, just like the real thing. The wing skins are then put in place, allowing you to fettle the joint to best match the fuselage skin. The flaps are all separate from the wings, with three sections per wing, and the rudder function is performed by drag-rudders that deploy from slots near the wingtips top and bottom. These are again supplied as parts with actuator struts, which are clipped off if you are planning to stow them for a clean airframe. The gear bay doors are also clear, and these are fitted to the edges of the skin or mounted on the gear legs as appropriate, plus a small compartment with two doors for the drag chute that is deployed on landing. The balance of the cockpit in the shape of the rudimentary ejection seat is glued together and installed, after which you can add the highly curved windscreen and the canopy, which has a grey styrene sub-frame added along with a cross-brace that contains the canopy retraction peg to allow it to slide open or closed. Adding a DF-loop, navigation lights, pitot and a long whip aerial so commonly seen under German WWII aircraft. Markings There are two schemes shown in the painting and decal diagrams, but there are three tail bands and two runs of numerals in white, yellow, red and green, so the world is your oyster in terms of markings. The painting guide shows one colour scheme of RLM81/82 over an RLM76 underside. Decals are printed in-house, but are of a high standard with good register, colour density and sharpness. The Swastikas are printed in halves to appease territories where its likeness is deprecated, and there are three types to choose from: white outline, black outline and solid black. Conclusion Again, there's the susurration of Dragon 229s being pushed to the back of the stash, as this is now the definitive 229 in 1:48, and as it is almost a smaller carbon copy of the 1:32 kit, there's a lot to like about it, and a great deal of wow factor to be had from the level of detail. A few of the cylindrical parts have had to be moulded subjectively slightly thicker due to the scale, but unless those tiny details bother you, there's nothing to complain about. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of