{"id":184,"date":"2010-10-06T16:05:38","date_gmt":"2010-10-06T14:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/modeltalking.hobbyart.sk\/?p=184"},"modified":"2014-12-30T19:20:29","modified_gmt":"2014-12-30T17:20:29","slug":"horten-go-229-revell-172","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/modeltalking.hobbyart.sk\/?p=184","title":{"rendered":"Horten Go-229 Revell 1\/72"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\nThis is my Go-229 kit in 1\/72 scale.\u00a0 When Revell Germany reissued this interesting kit I did not hesitate a second. I was always interested in all-wing aircrafts, especially those of the WWII. era, made in Germany. To tell the truth, I had little detailed information concerning Go-229 when starting to build this kit. This is the reason why I had not seen some inaccuracies of the kit and did not fix them. Some of these flaws could be repaired easily, as I saw them later.\u00a0 You will find them later in my notes.<\/p>\n

\"Horten<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Horten<\/a><\/p>\n

The Revell kit represents the “what if” version of Horten 9, thus finished, fighting-fit and armed airplane. The kit is offering two fully hypothetical camouflages of JG400 Squadron – Rote 13 and Blaue 4:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I decided not to build the kit this way, as\u00a0the Ho IX (serial Go-229 A-1) has been neither \u00a0 finished, nor fighting-fit.<\/p>\n

In various publications or on the web you can find many photographs showing only the prototype’s central section with engines installed and smoke sooted upper surfaces:<\/p>\n

\"Horten<\/a><\/p>\n

Some sources mentioned supposable engine tests of \u00a0Horten Ho 229 V-3 with or without the wings attached. Others speculate on further possible tests or maybe flights. Who knows?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I built my Horten as the finished V3 prototype, how it would have looked like. That means ready to fly, with prototype style camouflage but without guns. I also followed the artwork from the Monogram Close-Up No. 12, book by David Myhra 1983:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Building the kit:<\/span><\/h2>\n

I wanted to build my Horten simply, that means straight out of the box, but with some smaller improvements where it was necessary.<\/p>\n

1\/ The cockpit:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The cockpit interior is as was in the kit, without changes. The only improvements are the cables connected to the rear of the main panel instruments – made of a thin lead wire. I also added a part of the airplane frame – an incurved tube holding the main panel. I made the harness belts from a thin paper. I placed the original Revell decal onto the main instrument panel.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You may want to upgrade the interior (or the whole kit) using the EDUARD<\/a> # 72186 Photo etched set. I will surely use it with the next kit.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is the Main instrument panel of V3 prototype:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

2\/ The central part & the engines:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Revell kit has only the jet intakes and exhaust nozzles. Nothing in between them. So when you look inside the center part of the plane through the front wheel bay, you will see the missing engines there… see points 4, 5 and 8:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I made two tubes of thin metal sheets rolled together, protruding a bit at the rear. The EDUARD set is solving this missing part this way too – with two metal sheets to be rolled into the tube. This may be the right way. The Horten 4 prototype photographs are showing cylindrical or similar envelopment, covering the rear part of engines from below:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I have found this picture on the web. Better shots of V4 prototype (and this picture too) can be found in Andrei Shepelev & Huib Ottens book, Horten Ho229, Spirit of Thuringia (with A. L. Bentley’s diagrams):<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"Note: I do not know whether all of the engine length was covered (inside the airplane), or only part of it. The best Horten IX drawings I have found are those from Mr. A. L. Bentley<\/a>. His drawings show also the V3 prototype with engines covered, but only partially, see drawing on the left:<\/p>\n

v
\n2\/ The undercarriage<\/span><\/strong>:<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

As I see it, there is a little problem concerning the front wheel bay covers. Within the Revell kit these covers consist of three parts. Two smaller side covers and one large cover mounted vertically onto the front wheel strut.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This proposal is depicted also on the (upper mentioned) Monogram 12 artwork and some other older drawings. The historical pictures show the V3 prototype under construction with no covers attached.<\/p>\n

The recent sources propose a different design – two larger side covers with NO front cover. I built the kit according to the original instruction sheet, changing nothing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Having this information you may probably want to throw away all three original wheel covers and make new and larger side covers. Me too of course…<\/p>\n

Note: the configuration using three front covers appeared within both the Original V2 and the Final V2 prototypes. This may be the reason why some authors adopted the same configuration also in their drawings of Go-229 V3 prototype.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

And the rear wheels covers? They look O.K. I think.<\/p>\n

3\/ The surface details:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

There are some minor details I added: The antenna was replaced by a circle made of a copper wire and glued onto its original drop-shaped base. The airspeed tube is made of an injection needle. The Revell kit has the airspeed tube placed as shown on my model.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

However, the other sources can depict this tube in another position. For instance, it is positioned on the left wing, much more to the wing’s tip within A. L. Bentley’s diagram:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The kit has delicately engraved panel lines, evenly pronounced over the whole surface. Some drawings depict much more panel lines as this kit is covered by (mainly on the wings). But it is disputable whether all of these lines could be seen in reality, particularly on a finished machine. It looks like the most of the surface was made of plywood sheets, so many gaps could have been filled (sealed) due to the relatively high planned speeds – the natural way how to lower the overall drag.<\/p>\n

The more drawings and blueprints I found the less I knew about how the paneling looked like. So I did not modify the surface panels and\/or did not add any other lines.<\/p>\n

4\/ Camouflage and decalling:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

As my kit is trying to depict the V3 prototype, I decided to use the colors typical for the previous Horten prototypes: RLM 75 gray violet (Mr. Color 37) for upper surfaces and RLM 76 light blue (Mr. Color 117) for lower surfaces. I used Mr. Surfacer as the base.<\/p>\n

I colored the front undercarriage mechanism, mudguard and inner surfaces of the wheel bay covers using RLM 02 gray (Mr. Color 60).<\/p>\n

I left the rear wheel bay covers and some other parts in bare metal finish (ALCLAD II<\/a> Aluminium).<\/p>\n

The pilot’s walkway is a red line: tape-masked out and airbrushed.<\/p>\n

I did not use original Revell decals, but Aero Master AN72230, Late Luftwaffe Crosses instead – with Mr. Color Super Clear 155 (Gloss) as the base. I sealed all the surface overspraying it with Mr. Color Super Clear 181 (Semi Gloss) and added some oil stains – oils colours for artists: burnt sienna + paine’s grey, both mixed with MIG<\/a>‘s\u00a0Thinner for washes. And finally the next Semi Gloss varnish again.<\/p>\n

Shape problems.<\/span><\/h2>\n

I have not made any measurements of this kit or any exact comparisons… basically it resembles Go-229, so I can be satisfied.<\/p>\n

\"\"Some reviews mention the remarkable “dark side” of this kit – its lower, mainly lower rear surface of the central part and the air brakes position. Within the Revell kit a shape of this area can be seen here:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Comparing this more or less boxy (or angular) shape with roundish and fluent shape seen in A. L. Bentley drawings, we can really see some differences within this area.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And here It is visible too:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Comparing with the 3D render from Andrei Shepelev & Huib Ottens book, Horten Ho229, Spirit of Thuringia:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

All these possible mistakes could not draw me back from building this nice kit. But it is on you, of course.<\/p>\n

For more finished model-kits please see the\u00a0Built Kits<\/strong><\/a><\/span> category.\u00a0If you enjoyed this post, I\u2019d be very grateful if you\u2019d help it spread by\u00a0sharing it on Facebook.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Model, Images and Text Copyright \u00a9 2010 by Marcel Meres<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is my Go-229 kit in 1\/72 scale.\u00a0 When Revell Germany reissued this interesting kit I did not hesitate a second. I was always interested in all-wing aircrafts, especially those of the WWII. era, made in Germany. To tell the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3opQF-2Y","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/modeltalking.hobbyart.sk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/modeltalking.hobbyart.sk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/modeltalking.hobbyart.sk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/modeltalking.hobbyart.sk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/modeltalking.hobbyart.sk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=184"}],"version-history":[{"count":77,"href":"http:\/\/modeltalking.hobbyart.sk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6959,"href":"http:\/\/modeltalking.hobbyart.sk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions\/6959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/modeltalking.hobbyart.sk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/modeltalking.hobbyart.sk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/modeltalking.hobbyart.sk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}