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Focke-Wulf Triebflügel (48A001) 1:48


Mike

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Focke-Wulf Triebflügel (48A001)

1:48 Amusing Hobby

 

boxtop.jpg

 

Toward the end of WWII the Nazis were desperately casting around for wunderwaffe, or Wonder Weapons that would turn the ever-increasing tide against their attempt to take over Europe and probably the world.  This resulted in some possibly more left-field designs being considered, when under normal circumstances they would more likely have been dismissed out of hand.  One such project that has since gained traction in the minds of the Luft'46 community and beyond is the concept of the Triebflügel from Focke-Wulf, which was little more than a rocket body with a rotating set of arms with ramjet engines at their tips providing the motive power.  This arrangement was to enable it to take off vertically, which was of greater interest as the front lines got closer, as was the use of the simple ramjet that was propelled up to speed by rockets, all of which used little in the way of strategic materials or complex technology.

 

It went nowhere of course, and had some critical issues that would have needed to be addressed if it had gone further, such as the counter-rotation required to offset the torque of the motors was supposed to be supplied by the cruciform tail pressing against the air, it would have to land vertically with the pilot facing forward and the rear view obscured by the still rotating engines to name but two.  Post war the Convair Pogo was to attempt a broadly similar flight profile with similar issues raising their heads and helping ensure its demise.  If you've been following the Marvel Avengers film franchise (MCU), you'll have seen Red Skull absconding in a very Triebflügel-esque aircraft at one point, which although undoubtedly CGI could actually be attempted now with our computers and other technologies.  Can we convince Elon Musk to give it a go?

 

 

The Kit

This is the first winged project from Amusing Hobby, and it's great to see them applying their sense of the unusual and what might have been to their choice of aviation subjects too.  Because the Triebflügel only got as far as a general arrangement design, there is also little in the way of "you got that wrong" that can be said about the subject unless you enjoy being ridiculed for being a know-to-all with a crystal ball.  Arriving in a slightly smaller box than their usual AFV kits, there is a dramatic CGI render of a Triebflügel in action on the lid, and inside there are eight sprues in sand coloured styrene, one small clear sprue, a sheet of decals, instruction booklet and two separate painting guides that fold out to provide quite a few options.  There's a relatively small part count due to the speculative nature of the design, but what is there is nicely moulded and has fine panel lines and rivets throughout.  The sprue diagrams show the centre ring (part 1) attached to the end of the main sprue, but it had been nipped from the runners before dispatch, probably to prevent damage during transit.

 

sprue1.jpg

 

sprue2.jpg

 

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Construction begins with the cockpit, which is built onto an L-shaped floor and rear bulkhead, with side consoles, rudder pedals, control column and instrument panel, all of which has good raised detail, and once the seat is dropped in, other small details such as the gun sight finish it off, with the nose area closing up around it.  The two-part canopy can be posed open or closed, and the rotor base is added at the back of the nose from a cylindrical arrangement of three parts that can be left to rotate so you can show off those rotors.  The tapering rear fuselage is made of two halves that close around the large tail-wheel, which sits inside on a platform and is allowed to rotate.  The fuselage is completed with a DF loop and aerial, then put aside while the rotors and tail assembly are build up.

 

The three rotors, which I keep wanting to call wings because they are, are all identical and are made from two halves, tipped with the ramjet cowlings that have the simple mechanism inside, most of which I'd paint black or rusty.  Each cowling has two halves and an intake lip, and one of the drawings incorrectly has an intake fan drawn inside in step 8, and there is a fan on the sprues, so maybe they were considering making it jet propelled?  These are glued into the holes on the centre fuselage section, or left loose for storage or posing later.  The tail has four cruciform fins that are made of two halves with a slot down the centre for the landing gear castor, which has a separate yoke and wheel, replicated four times over.  If you are posing your model landed, the clamshell aerodynamic covers are glued in place split, while in-flight they are posed closed over the four castors and the big central wheel.

 

That's it!  You're done, but part of the fun with this type of hypothetical is the painting.

 

Markings

The decal profiles have been drawn in conjunction with AMMO using their paint codes, and there are four choices with absolutely no facts involved, as it's pure fantasy.  The world really is your oyster, and with the addition of some home-made hydra decals you could even paint it as the Red Skull's personal ride from Marvel's The First Avenger.  There is no backstory to the options provided, so the profiles will have to speak for themselves.

 

profiles.jpg

 

decals.jpg

 

The decals have only the Amusing Hobby name on them, but have good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas, with lots of different types of crosses, a few unit badges but no swastikas, so if you're stickler for your Hakenkreuz, you'll need some of your own.

 

 

Conclusion

Awesome!  Lunatic, with a touch of bonkers, and a hint of desperation.  I've had a hankering for one of these for a while, but as this is the first injection moulded kit in my preferred scale, it's been an idle quest until now.  I just need to find the time to build it now.  Why are you still here?  You need to track down and buy one of these at your earliest convenience! :frantic:

 

Excruciatingly highly recommended.

 

Review sample courtesy of

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Definitely one for me! I'd like one in RAF prototype markings of the kind they used to apply to captured aircraft! All it would would be a little figure of the now sadly deceased Capt Eric "Winkle" Brown looking at it with horror and trepidation! I really love these "out of the box" (no pun intended) subjects!

 

Allan

 

 

 

ps - Would I be right in guessing you like this one Mike?🤣

Edited by Albeback52
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10 minutes ago, roginoz said:

Don't tell Martian......

If he hasn't already got one on order to go next to his Haunebu, I'll be a monkey's uncle :)

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I would suggest that operationally this airframe would have been known as "Der Grasshopper" (I've no idea what the proper German would be). Could it have ever been used in combat? Or would it have been another Natter - an act of utter desperation and folly?

 

Chris.  

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12 hours ago, spruecutter96 said:

I would suggest that operationally this airframe would have been known as "Der Grasshopper" (I've no idea what the proper German would be). Could it have ever been used in combat? Or would it have been another Natter - an act of utter desperation and folly?

 

Chris.  

That would be der Grashuepfer or die Heuschrecke.

I can't find these for sale anywhere. My Google-Fu is letting me down. Anyone any clue?

 

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9 hours ago, MadNurseGaz said:

I can't find these for sale anywhere. My Google-Fu is letting me down. Anyone any clue?

I think they're on the boat from China by the looks of things - if you check Scalemates, there are a couple of companies with them for pre-order, so that's my conclusion at least :shrug:

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56 minutes ago, spruecutter96 said:

I'm going to ask the mega obvious here..... have you tried the big "H"? 

 

Chris. 

They dont seem to carry Amusing Hobby ?

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On 04/05/2019 at 10:39, Work In Progress said:

grr it's not even listed as available for pre-order yet! I want one!!

Why don't you give Tiger Hobbies a call?  He might be able to reserve you one manually, or it might trigger him to add the kit as a pre-order :)

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Tiger Hobbies are the importer of Amusing Hobby but often do not put the model up for pre-order as that is the job of our retailers.

 

The following retailers are already taking orders and have been doing so for a good while.

 

This information was released on our page that few seem to look at, but often if we put release information other than our page it is removed for what ever reason.

 

The Kit will land late Jun in the UK

 

Halifax Modellers World 

Scale Model Shop Limited

Red Coat Soldier Models

Mr Models

Mainly Military Models

E Models

Widness Models

MJR Models

Scoonie Models

PM/Flory Models

Model Junction

AMS Models

Jumblies Models

 

Google its amazing

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?source=hp&ei=-lHRXNvxOM7Yabm1tzg&q=Amusing+Hobby+48A001+UK&btnK=Google+Search&oq=Amusing+Hobby+48A001+UK&gs_l=psy-ab.3..33i160.3707.11715..13203...0.0..0.107.1311.22j1......0....1..gws-wiz.....0..0i131j0j0i70i249j0i131i70i249j0i22i30.2JpxsIi6ImU

 

Rgds Tiger Hobbies Limited

 

 

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On ‎01‎/‎05‎/‎2019 at 12:08, Mike said:

If he hasn't already got one on order to go next to his Haunebu, I'll be a monkey's uncle :)

I am delighted to confirm that an example is on order, thus keeping your family tree free of intruding simians!

 

Helpful of Mars 👽

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20 hours ago, Martian Hale said:

thus keeping your family tree free of intruding simians!

You're about three generations too late in that respect :shrug:

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