Tim's Triebflugel **Finished**

[TimJ]

User Name: TimJ
First Name: Tim
Manufacturer: Huma
Scale: 1/72
Model Type: Focke Wulf Triebflugel

Luft '46, not so much with a twist as a rotation. This has to be one of my favourite Luftwaffe projects if only for its bizarre looks.

Box art.



Sprues & decals



Instructions





It looks like it shouldn't be too tricky a build. The only problem I can foresee is getting all the wheels on the ground.

[TimJ]

More information on the Triebflugel.

http://www.luft46.com/fw/fwtrieb.html;

[TimJ]

I thought I'd start at the bottom and work my way up. I thought it might be a little top heavy when it's finished so I put some ballast in the tail.



After the fuselage had dried I fitted the tail and outrigger wheels. It stands OK at the moment, we'll see how it is when I fit the main wheel.



It looks a bit like an avant garde vase at the moment.

It needs a bit of filler on the fins but apart from that it's going together well so far.

Tomorrow, the cockpit.

[Dirkpitt289]

This is my all time favorite Luft 46 craft. I really wanted to do one of these but couldn't find the lit in time. I will really be looking forward to seeing this one built

[TimJ]

Not exactly tomorrow but I've been doing some more work over the weekend. The cockpit interior is quite well equipped.



I'm not sure I put the IP in the right place though as the pilot has it in his lap.



Once the fuselage halves are together you can't see much though. The rotating collar has been assembled too so it's time to see how it all goes together.



Next on the agenda are the wings/rotors. I've painted the insides of the engines.



I should have these together tonight then it will be time for a bit of filler.

[Dirkpitt289]

Oh how very cool. I love this one

[Ian]

Nice to see one of these in 'Captain America'

[thomasweir]

Looking good Tim

[kruaxi]

Really a strange object...

[TimJ]

As there are only a few days to go I thought it was time for an update. The rotor arms have been attached to the collar.



When they had dried I gave the model a coat of primer. This is how it stands at the moment.



I'm still undecided about a colour scheme. I did have an idea of painting the rear RLM81 and the nose and rotors in a mottle of RLM82 and RLM83 in an attempt to make it look like a tree when on the ground but I'll probably go for something more traditional.

[kruaxi]

Weird... but... you believe this thing would fly ?

[MerlinJones]

It's my understanding that helicopters could not loop, due to the flexibility of the blades. Once rigid blades were introduced, all manner of aerobatics became possible...including flying sideways, with the cabin orientated parallel to the ground.
Assuming those wing-blades were rigid enough, I think the beast could fly 'horizontally'.

The suggested camo souunds interesting...There I was, sir...flying over a copse when the bally trees took off and attacked me!

Regards,
Bruce

[TimJ]

I've started painting, first with an overall coat of RLM76, then I painted the upper surfaces of the rotors and fuselage RLM83. To add some colour I decided to paint the engines red.



I'm not sure about the green on the fuselage, I may repaint it RLM76 and apply a random pattern of stripes in RLM81,RLM 82, AND RLM83. Either way it should be finished in the next day or two.

[TimJ]

A couple of days late but the Triebflugel is finished.

After sanding off the green paint on the fuselage and repainting it RLM76 I painted some stripes on it but didn't like those either so I went back to the traditional splinter camouflage with a bit of mottle, finished off with some spare decals as only crosses are provided in the kit.









The trickiest part of the build was fitting all the undercarriage doors without knocking the ones I'd already put on off, apart from that it was a straightforward build..

[SJPONeill]

That looks damn fine, Tim - great build! Huma offers some interesting subject and I'm almost tempted to dig out mine and have a crack at it...but my focus (til they evaporate) is to stick with my NY resolution to finish off some current builds before hooking into any new ones...