Carrera Revell Horten Go.229A (03859) 1:48

[Mike]

Horten Go.229A (03859)

1:48 Carrera Revell

 

 

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 their 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 a 1,000kg bomb load a distance of 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 slick 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 a rudimentary ejector seat that was probably as much of a danger to the pilot as being shot down and having to bail out. 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 in Europe for Germany. The third prototype was enlarged, and it was this that fell into the hands of the advancing US troops, and subsequently the Operation Paperclip team, 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.

 

 

The Kit

This is a reboxing of Dragon’s excellent rendition of this unusual flying wing design that inspired a number of efforts to create a flying wing design post-war, most of which weren’t unduly successful with a few notable exceptions thanks to the march of technology.  The kit was first seen in a Dragon box in 1992, and the moulds are wearing well, although a little flash has crept into the moulding for some of the small parts on my example, but that’s the work of moments to remove.  At the time, the kit was fêted for including a cockpit, gun bays and two engines in their compartments, with the option to show them off if you wished.  Those aspects of the kits haven’t gone away, so there’s plenty of options to personalise your model from within the box.  The kit arrives in an end-opening box with seven sprues of pale grey styrene, a small clear sprue, a sheet of Photo-Etch (PE), decal sheet and the instruction booklet with colour profiles on the rear pages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with the cockpit tub, which is moulded into the top deck of what could be called the fuselage.  The cockpit sides are decked out with tubular framing, and the small crowded instrument panel with decal fits into the front with the control column.  The basic ejection seat has a separate headrest and foot pegs, and the last step of the instructions show the application of seatbelts that you are shown making from paper with PE furniture included on the nickel-plated fret, so they can be fitted without painting.  A lot of folks will substitute some Tamiya tape for the paper, as it’s a little less absorbent of paint, and closer to the right colour.  Rudder pedals and the gunsight are installed in the front of the cockpit, with a clear part for the glass.  Attention shifts then to the twin Junkers Jumo 004B turbojets, the front and rear of which will be immediately familiar to anyone that has built an Me.262.  The rear bullet is made up first, with a representation of the aft of the engine visible behind it, then the main casing is made from two parts with a front bullet and the aforementioned rear inserted within on a pair of ledges.  Nine additional parts are attached to each engine to depict the ancillaries, and there are detailed painting instructions throughout for anyone wanting to leave the top panels open to show off their hard work.  The front of both engines are inserted into the nose cone intake trunking on location pegs, then put to one side while the lower fuselage and gun bays are made up.

 

A pair of chunky MK 108 cannon are included in the box, with ammo feeds glued to the sides before they are laid in the floor of the lower fuselage, to be surrounded by the framework structure of the aircraft, and a representation of the ammo boxes that feed these 30mm beasts that consume ammo at a rate of over 600 rounds per minute each, given the opportunity.  A pair of frames are then placed at the wing roots, and the engines with their forward cowling are dropped in place, taking care to align the two parts for a good flush join.  The top of the fuselage is brought in and glued into place, with either the engine cowling panels fitted over the top, or with a little more framework added over the engines, you can choose to leave the panels off to showcase your work.

 

The laminated wooden wings had very little in the way of panel lines, which is faithfully depicted here, with the elevons and spoiler flaps moulded in the neutral position.  Each wing is two parts, and they attach to the fuselage in much the same way as the real thing, mounted on twin brackets with large pegs (read: bolts) fitting through both parts to hold them in place.  You wouldn’t be blamed for adding a little glue to the proceedings to ensure they stay in position however.  A pitot probe slots into the leading edge of the port wing, and wingtip light lenses can be found on the clear sprue.

 

To save development costs and time, the tricycle landing gear initially utilised some parts of existing aircraft, with He.177 wheel rims remaining in this version of the airframe’s development.  The nose wheel is made from two halves with a balloon tyre, and is attached to the strut by a pair of V-shaped yoke parts on a two-part pivot that also holds a substantial mudguard.  The assembly is then linked to its retraction system, with another U-shaped yoke, cross-braces, and surprisingly long links that lead well back into the fuselage.  The main gear legs are more straight forward, having a stub axle and moulded-in scissor link, plus the retraction jack that pulls it sideways into the bay.  Each one has a captive door on the axle, with two smaller doors attached to the edges of each bay.  The nose gear has a large curved front door, and two long side-opening doors covering up the insanely long retraction mechanism.  The two cannon barrels with their perforated muzzle-brakes that are well-moulded for the scale are popped in the leading edge of the wing roots, while an antenna, small intakes, clear light and D/F loop are fitted to the underside, and the lower fuselage/engine bay panels are inserted, leaving a small rectangular chute for the disposal of spent brass casings.  Finally, the canopy is fitted in two parts, with the shallow windscreen glued to the front lip, while the sliding rear has a T-shaped retainer added, which allows it to be inserted into the track in the rear deck, so that you can open or close the canopy at will.

 

 

Markings

The 229 never saw active service thankfully for the Allies, so the two schemes are speculative at best.  From the box you can build one of the following:

 

• Blaue/Blue 4, Luftwaffe, 1945
• Rote/Red 13, Luftwaffe, 1945

 

 

 

Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas.

 

 

 

Conclusion

There’s something impressive about the futuristic look of this 1945 era flying wing, and although it was largely untested as a fighter, it does have an appeal that attracts many modellers, myself included.  Whether the laminated wood construction would have held up to extended use is anyone’s guess, but the tooling for this kit certainly has.

 

Highly recommended.

 

 

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit

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[exdraken]

Thanks for the review!

Great the kit is available again!

The only alternative is the expensive, hard to get but also technically way more complex Zukai Mura kit.

 

Since when is Revell: CarreraRevell by the way? The boxart only shows Revell....

[Julien]

5 hours ago, exdraken said:

 

 

Since when is Revell: CarreraRevell by the way? The boxart only shows Revell....

This is how they wish us to do there corporate branding from now following Quantum buying Revell. Not sure if or when they will change their boxart.

 

https://www.carrera-revell.com/en/

https://www.toynews-online.biz/2020/10/14/revell-to-supply-carrera-brand-to-uk-and-ireland-retail-from-january-2021/

[Maginot]

After cutting a swathe through swarms of moths, I made it through to the cash card and secured one of these today. Way outside my preferred genres, its history is fascinating and its form appealing.