Revell 4312 Horten Ho 229 (Red 13) (Luft 46)

 Kit#: 4312.

Price: 12 Euros.

Decals: Two options.

Notes: Fiddly nose landing gear construction.

History:

From the kit's instructions: "Until the end of the Second World War the Horten brothes Reimar and Walter were, apart from Alexander Lippisch, the most well known designers of flying wing aircraft in Germany. In 1933 they built their first un-powered flying wing, the H-I, and in 1934 the H-II motorised glider. 1937 saw the development of the first flying wing constructed of plastic. This aircraft was however destroyed on its first landing. The plastic used on its construction was found to be too brittle. 

The Horten designs were otherwise not very different to each other. The mid section containing the cockpit was of tubular construction with an appropriate covering and mounting points left and right for the fabric covered wings. Both single and twin engines with pusher propellers and the nose wheel were mounted within this framework.

The H-II was presented to members of the RLM as early as 1934. Ernst Udet was, as Chief of the Technical Office of the RLM, won over to the flying wing lobby.

The development of engined powered flying wing aircraft was continued from 1937 onwards with the support of the RLM. After the start of the war, the brothers were able to continue development within the framework of a special command of the Luftwaffe. The twin engine prototypes H-V and H-VII V1 proved themselves to be successful designs. Reichmarschall Hermann Göering showed so much interest that allowed the H-VII to be demonstrated to him in Oranienburg in 1944.

Preparation of the turbine powered flying wing H-IX began in 1943 in Göttingen. As well as the proven wood and tubular steel construction and the trycicle undercarriage, two BMW 003 engines were envisaged. Apart from the area of the engines, the aircraft was to be completely planked in plywood. With this project, Hermann Göring was promised an aircraft that could carry a 2000kg (4400lbs) weapon load over 700km (400 miles) at a speed of 900km/h (500 mph). 

Work on an unpowered prototype began shortly after. The successful maiden flight of the prototype H-IX V1 took place on February 28 1944. A brake parachute was installed in the tail in order to reduce the requiered landing distance. Further development towards the first turbine powered flying wing aircraft in the world was, however, delayed for months by the Aviation Ministry. Instead of the BMW 003 turbines, the V2 needed to have the larger Jumo 004 engines installed. For this reason, the aircraft had to be redesigned.

The unarmed trial version was completed in Göttingen at the start of 1945. The maiden flight took place on February 2, 1945 in Oranienburg. The aircraft landed 30 minutes later in the hands of the experienced test pilot Lieutenant Erwin Ziller. On the following day, the aircraft sustained damage during landing. The third flight ended after 45 minutes on February 18, 1945 with the total loss of the aircraft. The pilot lost control of the aircraft during the approach to land, and the V2 broke up on the ground short of the airfield. Erwin Ziller lost his life, and the reasons for the crash were never found.

The Gothaer Waggonfabrik (GWF) had already received an order for the series production of the single seat fighter Go 229 at the end of 1944. The Gothaer engineer´s plans envisaged an armament of two MK 103s for the V6. After the loss of the V2 it was decided to continue further tests with the first three Gotha GWF aircraft without additional equipment and armament. The building of these protytpes was halted due to the end of the war in 1945. The completion of the centre section and wings of the V3 continued later under the auspices of the Americans. The aircraft was later taken to the United States of America as part of the war reparations."

The Kit:

Three sprues of light grey plastic and one sprue of clear plastic come inside a thermosealed bag. The sprues have no flash and are perfectly molded. 

Instructions this time were of the glossy type, with 25 black and white building steps, which are clear to follow.

There're two decal options:

Horten Ho 229 Red 13 "JG400", painted in RLM 74/75/76/04.

Horten Ho 229 Blue 4 "JG400," painted in RLM 81/82/76/04.

Construction:

I began by painting every piece from the cockpit with Revell 78 Tank Grey (RLM 66). These consisted on the cockpit tubing, seat, rudder pedals, control stick, instrument panel and cockpit itself. Once dry, I glued all these pieces together and left them aside.

While the cockpit was drying, I went and glued the wings, exhaust nozzles and intakes. The last two were painted in a steel colour and glued to the upper fuselage. The intakes were glued to the nose of the aircraft.

With the cockpit dry and in place, I built up the guns, glued them to the lower fuselage, and also glued the fuselage tubing. With these dry, I glued all the parts and ended up with a fully built central fuselage/wing. Then, the wings were glued to the fuselage, and left that aside while the glue dried.

Colours and Markings:

I had decided to paint this model like my first Revell Ho 229, in the scheme of RLM 74/75/76/04. I painted the surface entirely with RLM 75 (Revell 47 Mouse Grey), then masked the areas that were to be painted in RLM 74 (Revell 69 Granite Grey). After I removed the masking, I was left with a surface without paint ridges. I then painted the undersides with RLM 76 (Revell 49 Light Blue), and left the paint to cure. Then the entire aircraft was gloss coated in preparation for the decals.

Decalling was uneventful. Using hot water, the decals took little time to move from the backing paper. They were a bit sticky when applied to the model´s surface, but were all put into their place without further issues. The decals were then hit with a brush of Microsol.

Once the decals were fully dry, I brushed two coats of Revell's Matt Varnish.

Final Construction:

I had previously painted all the small landing gear parts the night before, so I didn´t spend too much time on this step. However, while I was removing one of the landing gear struts, I accicentally bended it and broke it. Careful use of Revell Contacta and CA gave me a strong bond on the broken part.

After hopping over that issue, I glued the main landing gear with all its fidly bits, glued the landing gear doors in place, and the model was complete!

Conclusions:

I had fun doing this build (except for the main landing gear issue). I hope Revell re-releases this one in the future.