OT's Asymmetric Wonder *** Finished ***

[Old_Tonto]

Just a place holder for now.

Here is my victim:


It cost me more than that! But not much.

[Old_Tonto]

My subject for this tribute build to 'Winkle' will be the Blohm & Voss Bv 141B. Eric came across the type on a visit to the Soviet occupied sector of Germany just 10 days after the surrender. This exert is take from page 113 of 'Wings on my Sleeve':

My new friend passed me on to another Russian occupied airfield near Meissen, where I found the hospitality a bit thin and amounted to letting me try out a rather sick German Bv 141 which was due for destruction and they probably hoped that I would save them that bother. Typical British understatement from Captain Brown. I'm sure he would have been drawn to this extraordinary looking aircraft like a moth to a lamp.

Here are the box contents. I suspect I'll lose most of the rivets whilst sanding the seam lines.




And the most challenging aspect of this build will be the green house!


Not too many parts but I suspect 80% of the build will be assembling the glazing. Rather than masking it all I a thinking of using some painted decal paper cut into strips. I won't waste too much time on the interior as not much will be clear through the glass. Red stars will be liberally applied over the original markings as the Russians had already flown it from Grossenhain where they found it. Winkle described it as being "pretty beat up" so plenty of wear will be visible. If time allows and I can find an appropriately under scale pilot figure I may display 'Winkle' next to the aircraft.

I'm looking forward to getting started now.

[gnomemeansgnome]

I love this aircraft and the kit goes together fairly easily as I recall, though I completed it as rather factory fresh with only some exhaust stains behind the stacks. Should be interesting looking enough all clapped out and with Red Stars on it.

[ShaunW]

Very interesting choice OT, this is certainly one of the war's less conventional designs.

[Kitaholic]

This one is going to be very interesting, best of luck with the framework

[Old_Tonto]

Got going on this one last night and within an hour was at this stage:



As you can see not much in the way of an interior. Although the glazing is very thick I'm pretty sure that the 'emptiness' will be obvious so I will add some bits & bobs to make it look a little busy.
I may even do it in flight as crew figures are provided (& I bent the prop!). I'll just add the pilot as it sounds like the Soviets didn't have much faith in the aircrafts survival chances.
I won't fit any weapons either as this is a test flight. There should be a bulk head behind the pilots seat and at least one other seat further back for the observer. The gunner only had some padding to lay on, not sure how to simulate that just yet. Other than that a few black boxes and cables should do it.

The rest of the kit fits surprisingly well.



I'm going to try and maintain as much of the rivet detail as possible as this should help with the weathering process.

More to follow.

I will off course have to tackle the glazing at some point.

[59North]

I will off course have to tackle the glazing at some point.

Sometimes patience and a snifter of 12yr old scotch are your friend, while you toil away.

I like your subject. It's too unusual to be called ugly. Reminds me of something more sci-fi, and I wonder if 'Winkle' was happier that someone else had tried it out first.

[MarkyM607]

It was functional rather than anything else!.

[JamesPerrin]

Rather than mask all the windows it did occur to me I could whiff mine, sand and polish the clear parts smooth and pretend it eventually got the world largest blown canopy

[gnomemeansgnome]

When I built mine I used that adhesive chrome foil, wrapping it all over the canopy, painted it, and then cut out the clear areas with a fresh exacto blade. Worked out rather well, and the frame had a slight chipped paint thing here and there going on which was a nice touch.

[fredk]

Thats a clever idea GmG
I was going to suggest thin Tamiya tape painted and cut into strips.
The problem I sometimes have with decal strips is that applying another often moves a previous one, unless its varnished [Klear] over
Any more progress to share with us?

[Old_Tonto]

Apologies for the lack of updates Fred, work has been a bit hectic of late. I have been messing with the interior and cleaning up the parts.
Will try to post some images tonight.

[Old_Tonto]

FLASH A-ah.

Scourge of my Universe!

Lots of cleaning up done on this one but I got the main parts together and gave it a blast of primer to highlight any issues.

I decided to add some detail to the crew compartment as it will be very visible. This is in no way accurate, just my attempt to make it look busy.









There will be a pilot figure in the front seat hence no harness yet and I will weather that interior before closing things up.

Will try to get a bit more done this week. Definitely a cool looking aircraft.

[gnomemeansgnome]

Gotta get me another one of these. Nice work so far.

[Purplethistle]

Accurate shmaccurate!...it looks superb O.T. Can't wait to se this one finished.