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Norwegian Ar.196 ++ Finished ++


CliffB

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Hi all.  My entry for this GB will be my second Nordic build of the year - my first being a Finnish Il-28 in the Nordic GB.  

 

I'm planning to represent each of the five Nordic countries over the course of 2020 and this time it's Norway's turn! 

I'm therefore going to build an Arado Ar,196 float plane, that was briefly operated (for just 11 days to be precise), by the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service.

 

As many of you will know, the Ar.196 was standard issue for larger German warships during WWII and sure enough, my Norwegian plane actually started its career aboard the cruiser Admiral Hipper.

 

At the beginning of April 1940, the Admiral Hipper formed part of the flotilla carrying German troops for the invasion of Norway.  On 8th April, whilst en-route up the Norwegian coastline, Admiral Hipper and the German destroyer Bernd von Arnim, engaged the RN destroyer HMS Glowworm and ultimately sank her.  At the start of the engagement, as was standard practice, Admiral Hipper launched its Ar.196.  Unfortunately, due to bad weather, the plane was unable to return to the ship and had to make a forced landing at Lyngstad, in Norway.  After apparently trying to buy fuel from some locals, the aircrew were detained and handed over to the Norwegian police.  Meanwhile the plane was towed away, repainted with Norwegian markings and assimilated into the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service.

 

On 18th April, the Ar.196 was successfully evacuated to Britain by a Norwegian pilot, but was shortly afterwards destroyed in a crash (whilst being flown by a British pilot), en route for testing at the Helensburgh air base.

 

For a kit, I'll be using one of Trumpeter's 1/200 scale series of naval aircraft.  These are sold as supplements to Trumpeter's 1/200 scale warship kits (the Bismark in this case), but are sweet little kits in their own right.  I made their Walrus in last year's Float Plane GB and really enjoyed it.

 

P1110136.jpg

 

Unusually, the kits are moulded in clear plastic - which thankfully is not at all brittle.

Strangely, Trumpeter have chosen not to provide a plastic canopy piece, but instead give you a PE frame which has to be folded into shape.  No reference is made to glazing.  I'm not sure if glazing is necessary in this scale, but it should be easy enough to do using Krystal Klear if necessary.  PE is also provided for the floats' bracing wires.

 

P1110137.jpg

 

It'll be March before I start, but I'm looking forward to it!

 

Cheers

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Thank you for your welcomes guys and I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to reply.

There's good news and there's bad news.

 

The good news is that I've made a start.  I was printing off some decals yesterday and took the opportunity to make the Arado's Norwegian markings too.

 

P1110213.JPG

 

The bad news is that with more time on my hands at the moment, I've decided to take on additional builds.  One of these will be a Lancaster and, based on completion deadlines, I'll now be progressing that ahead of the Arado.

 

I will get there in the end though!

 

Cheers

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

With my Nordic GB build now safely out of the way, I'm feeling a bit more relaxed about getting both this build and my Lanc finished in time.  So I thought I'd make a start on the Arado.

Seven pieces later and....

 

P1110299.JPG

 

Once the floats are thoroughly set, I'll be sanding their undersides down to make the model a 'waterline'.

 

Cheers

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  • 4 weeks later...

With my Lancaster finished, I'm now back onto the Arado :).

 

Since re-starting, I've sanded down the bases of the floats - along with the tips of my fingers.  The tiny floats are very difficult to hold!

I've also added the main struts and folded the canopy framework, which was actually quite fun.

 

P1110487.JPG

 

This is about as far as I can go with the construction, whilst still being able to paint everything.  So the next step will be to get some primer on.

 

Cheers

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Thanks Rob :)

 

Having said that there would be no more construction before painting, I then remembered that I hadn't fitted the PE bracing struts to the float supports.  Well, it is quite hard keeping track of everything, when your kit has 14 parts :winkgrin:

They're now added though and everything is primed.

 

P1110488.JPG

 

The macro shot has kindly shown up then I've left a couple of PE tags on the rear bracing struts - something that I hadn't seen in 1:1.    Needless to say, I won't be trying to remove them now that everything's in place.

 

Cheers.

 

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A bit of colour on now.

 

P1110489.JPG

 

RLM65 underneath and 70 on the prop.  Researching the spinner colour, I discovered that my chosen aircraft didn't actually have one.  Never mind ;)

I've also put some white on the rudder (as the first stage of the national markings), plus tried out some matt black on the flat shelf that is the cockpit.  The optical effect through the canopy is surprisingly good.

 

Cheers

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20 hours ago, Andwil said:

Wow, that is tiny!

 

 

Thanks AW.  At least it shouldn't take up too much space on display!

 

Here it is with the masking tape off and the airframe balanced on its floats.  There's still some detailed painting to do.

 

P1110491.JPG

 

Cheers

 

 

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Thank you @stevehnz and @helios16v

 

Well, I'm pleased to say that I'm now finished :)

 

P1110495.JPG

 

I decided not to attempt to glaze the canopy using Kristal Klear, as I was worried about the whole thing turning into a big blob of PVA.  It looks slightly odd as just a skeletal frame, but much less so at 1:1.

 

I've enjoyed being a small part of this mega-GB, so thanks to all of you who have supported this build and in particularly to @rob85 for hosting.

 

Cheers

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Thanks for taking part, your build was different and brilliantly finished! I hear what you say about the canopy but I think you have made the right decision not to add the Krystal Klear as it could destroy all your other lovely, tiny work.

 

Rob

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My wife would describe that as cute, she uses that term on all my few completed builds. For once, I wouldn't argue with her. :) 

I would add darn nice too. 

Steve.

Edited by stevehnz
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Impressing work on such a small model!

On 2/12/2020 at 3:56 PM, CliffB said:

On 8th April, whilst en-route up the Norwegian coastline, Admiral Hipper and the German destroyer Bernd von Arnim, engaged the RN destroyer HMS Glowworm and ultimately sank her.  At the start of the engagement, as was standard practice, Admiral Hipper launched its Ar.196.  Unfortunately, due to bad weather, the plane was unable to return to the ship and had to make a forced landing at Lyngstad, in Norway.  After apparently trying to buy fuel from some locals, the aircrew were detained and handed over to the Norwegian police.  Meanwhile the plane was towed away, repainted with Norwegian markings and assimilated into the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service.

 

On 18th April, the Ar.196 was successfully evacuated to Britain by a Norwegian pilot, but was shortly afterwards destroyed in a crash (whilst being flown by a British pilot), en route for testing at the Helensburgh air base.

David Hobbs describes the events a bit different in his well researched book The Dawn of Carrier Strike. It was actually Glowworm that engaged the Hipper. The storm conditions were unsuitable for a torpedo attack, thus Glowworm's commander decided to ram the enemy cruiser and caused significant damage to it in doing so. Glowworm then broke free, turned upside down and sank. The damaged Hipper made slowly for Trondheim and flew off her Arado Ar 196 catapult floatplane to see if other British warships were in the vicinity.

 

After capture, the Arado was given Norwegian markings and flown to Åndalsnes by a Norwegian pilot. There it joined two FAA Walruses and a Norwegian Høver MF 11 floatplane, to form the Romsdalsfjord Flying Group, carrying out valuable local reconnaissance for a few days. The Walruses came from HMS Rodney and HMS Glasgow, both having also ran out of fuel. On 19 April, the four aircraft evacuated and they set off for the Shetlands, which was the nearest point in the UK.

 

Nils

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Thank you @rob85 @stevehnz @bianfuxia and @Vingtor

 

Nils, thank you in particular for your different take on the Glowworm v Hipper encounter.  I've read a few internet accounts now, including one that suggests that the collision may even have been accidental (on the basis that a surviving officer reported that Glowworm had sustained several hits from Hipper and was uncontrollable at the time).

 

To complete the story, I should add that HMS Glowworm's captain, Lieutenant Commander Gerard Broadmead Roope, was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions.  The first VC of the war. 

 

 

 

 

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Having just read an article that refers to notes of Lt Lie, one of the Norwegian pilots of the group. It states 17 April for the evacuation of the four aircraft to the UK, the Arado taking off at 03:30 and the three others departing 15 minutes later.

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12 minutes ago, Vingtor said:

Having just read an article that refers to notes of Lt Lie, one of the Norwegian pilots of the group. It states 17 April for the evacuation of the four aircraft to the UK, the Arado taking off at 03:30 and the three others departing 15 minutes later.

Would that be first light at that time of year Nils?

 

I've got a couple of 1/200 Walrus's in my stash, so that's a thought for the future.

No MF.11 though (I had to Google it) :winkgrin:.

 

Cheers

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Sunrise in Trondheim, slightly further north is around 05:45. The dawn would start an hour earlier, so the take-off and first part of the flight would have been in darkness. Unless there was a full moon.

 

I would not bet my pension on a 1/200 scale MF11. There are two kits in 1/72 though, a vacuform and a resin kit. The fuselage and wing shapes are quite simple though, so it should not be too difficult to scratchbuilt. Unless you want to keep the high standard of your Arado.

 

Nils

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