Luft46's Blog

No not a talk but the Brengun Bachem 349 rocket plane. I bought the whif in a box version with Japanese, Czech and Israeli decals. Frankly the latter 2 are beyond unlikely, as the primary mission of the Natter was point defence against a bomber stream which was unlikely to happen to either the Czechs or the Israelis in that time scale. OTOH if the Japanese had have got the Natter they at least had a mission for it in attacking the B-29’s fire bombing their cities. Yes it is unlikely but at least vaguely possible.
When I bought the kit I also bought Brenguns detail set. This consists of etched brass and resin parts. The brass details are mostly to add some detail in the cockpit and the exhaust area. The resin pieces are for the rockets and the exhaust area. I chose not to use the rockets as I will use them in some other project and the kit ones are adequate. The rest I will use. Like the old Heller kit this kit goes together pretty quickly even with the extra cockpit detailing. Like the Heller kit it also includes a faux wood stand. The photo below is my work to date before I join everything up.

And below is my other current project. This is also Brengun and a 1/144 Fat Man atomic bomb. This should also be a quick kit of brass and resin.

This is the Ace limited run kit from the Ukraine with all that implies. The main body is now part assembled using my patented Dual Bond technology, that is I used a little super glue to get the initial join followed by some Mr. cement limonene glue for a larger bond. This was done on the middle bit and both ends will be done tomorrow but there will definitely be some filling and sanding needed. I also used some instant “Air turns Blue” spray (otherwise known as swearing ) to get this to all assemble on about the fifth attempt.   The butt join nature of this was a little frustrating. I have also started on the engine for which 5 pieces of 4.5mm guitar string wire will be attached as per the instructions, it helps to know someone who plays. The engine was painted in Citadel Bolt Gun metal followed by a wash of Lifecolor Oil though a second coat of oil may be needed.

Being a typical Sydney summer it has been hot and moist most days which does not agree with airbrushing acrylics. I have done all I can in prep work for both the Hanomag and the E-10.  Now i just have to wait for a dry day. In the meantime I will be starting my next Aerosan being the more basic Ace kit.

Ok its all done bar the final assembly for the small and fiddly bits. As I know this will probably end up in a diorama I am reluctant to do the final bits and then have to do some manoeuvring to get it on the board so it’s back in the box time. Now for a quick desk clean and maybe all the part done kits from last year.

Final assembly tomorrow.

Sprayed this yesterday with Tamiya primer, the foam I used stuck to the sides so not happy with that. I did some quick paint chipping which worked but I overdid it so will back paint in acrylic. Lots of painting left to get the right weathered appearance.

Two weeks ago I placed an order with Jan of Hauler / Brengun and my small parcel arrived yesterday. So below are some quick photos.

From the top is the Zeppelin Rammer – this comes as 2 kits that are quite small, plastic is more limited run style and will need a little cleanup. The wings are a butt join and there are some minimal cockpit details which is all you will need, maybe a seat belt if you are keen. A small fret of etched brass gives you a gun sight, wingtip landing skids and control surface actuators. The canopy is reasonable with a small sheet of decals including the usual non offensive split Hakenkreuz ( swastikas)

Next up is the 1/144 Okha, man this is tiny. This is very nicely moulded with the 3 rocket exhausts moulded with the body and done well. A little dark wash will help a lot here. The kit is the body, 2 wings, tailplane and 2 rudders. Along with this you get 2 tiny vacform canopies , nice if you screw up the first attempt. The etched brass sheet has 20 micro parts which are sure to provoke a few swear words when putting them on. Lastly is a decal sheet with 4 decals being 2 with flowers and I10 and two with flowers and I18.

And the instruction sheet and canopies.

Last up  is the three etched brass sets. From left to right this is the 1/35 shopping cart ( trolley) for the Messy divorce dio – maybe next year, the 6 piece mobile barriers which I may use to renovate my Munchen 48 diorama and two sets of skis in 1/72 which I will use in my Aerosan diorama if I get to it. First I need to build a few Aerosans.

And lastly a fond farewell from my messy modelling area.

The year can be quickly summarised in the following photos, the first two being the completed Reference Material and Putty Hog dioramas followed by the partly done Helldiver and of course the 3 primered kits being the Bv P202, the Hanomag and the E-10. None of these primered kits look like making it over the line for being finished this year. Last up is the Extratech Aerosan and this is a faint possibility for finishing

. Having said all that I have had fun mostly modelling this year, not a lot finished but that happens some years .

Just a short note. After a bit of a break I have done some more work on the Extratech kit. This has consisted of putting those strengthening bars ..8 on the reinforcing mounts and painting some parts. I have in some cases followed the ET advice and in others the Vision 1.35 kit. I did not think copper was a suitable colour for the radiator grille of the engine though matt olive  Xtracrylics Olivgrun for the cushions is not unreasonable.
Radiator grille  , citadel boltgun metal, black and adeptus battle gray ina custom mix, followed by a black wash.
Propeller blades and engine in the above with a little black, the blades are metal unlike the NKL’s.
Interior – Humbrol acrylic wood.
Ski bottoms – darker version of wood
The engine also got a black wash.
I have also applied some white glue to some etched parts to make their cross section circular.

This is a quick comparison between the Extratech and Ace kits. As such the min differences between the GAZ -98 and 98K are in the engine area. The larger engine of the earlier version needed a larger support structure at the rear. The later verion is more open. with no upward sweep but with a strengthening metal rectangle at the rear bottom section. Where the kits differ in terms of detail I have highlighted below.

Machingun support ring – the Ace support ring is thicker and not 2D but the Extratech kit will be able to be fixed with white glue to make it round in cross section. The four attachment points on the ET kit are in brass and more realistic than the thicker prts of the Ace kit.
Seats – here Ace wins with both top and bottom cushions. ET only supply the bottom and will need some Milliput for the back.
Skis – a bit of  both here – the ET kit has much thinner scale realistic skis but is let down by not having the two strehgtheing ridges on the triangular reinforing mount, a little sprue is needed here.
Other parts – such as the support springs, machine gun etc are cruder in moulding and the ET kit has some extra details in etched brass as you ould expect. Both kits will benefit from Little Lenses or similar fo the main light.
Neither kit supplies decals but markings were rrely used on these craft.
Unsurprisingly the ET is the betterof the two but a little ork should make the Ace kit presentble and it is the only version in 1/72 of the 98K.

Below is the cleaned up parts for the ET kit from today. Not seen in this photo is the green putty from Citadel added to the main body due to a slight sawing accident. On the top right is the rather large pile of leftover resin. Below this is the 3 saws I used in this process. The largest is used on bigger cuts such as the main body and engine. The middle one is used on most of the rest of the work and the smalleest was used on fine articles like the springs that are prone to breaking. It is actually an etched steel saw.