My Contribution

[Maverick]

G'day Gang,

I've decided to throw my hat in here, working with Revell's E.555 too.  My will, however, be a Luftwaffe machine and I've knocked up a rough backstory to suit.


Arado Backstory

Lt Hermann Wittmann wandered around the large bat-like shape of 'his' Arado 555B Valkyr in the twilight, prior to his aircraft's most important mission yet.  The big Arado was a developed variant of the earlier 'Anton' model, its six engines being replaced by two completely new Junkers turbojets of such a power that it would easily push the aircraft through the skies faster than the original version.  In addition, a bombing radar had been fitted into a pod on the aircraft's wing, allowing true 'blind' bombing of area targets and the target for tonight certainly classified as such.

Earlier in the year, 'Ami' (USAAF) bombers had obliterated the Japanese airbase at Taichung on Formosa in the first 'atomic' attack of the war and then an even more devastating attack against the Kyoto naval dockyards.  The Japanese quickly sued for peace after the US then sent another aircraft over Hiroshima to drop a powerful magnesium flare as a 'warning shot'.

Most within the German High Command realised that this was also a demonstration of the US' technology for the benefit of the German state.  Wittmann's unit (Fernkampfgeschwader 1) had been responsible for the thermite bomb attack on Stalin and his cronies in 1943 flying large four-engined Heinkel 177Bs.

The 'Ivans' quickly signed an armistice once their leadership lay dead under the ruins of the Kremlin, freeing up those units on the Eastern Front in time to repel the attempted Allied landings in Normandy in 1944. 

The thermite weapons had come as quite a surprise to the Allies, their destructive blast far exceeding any 'conventional' explosives and they stepped up their atomic program to provide some sort of answer to these new bombs.

Now the Allies could lay claim to a powerful weapon of their own, although their first attempted raid against the Peenemunde research establishment saw the large American bomber shot out of the sky by one of the Hochleistungsjagdgruppen stationed there with the American aircraft crashing into the nearby sea, rather than take the risk of allowing the Germans access to their atomic secret.

Realising the stakes were considerably raised, the German High Command approved an operation by FKG 1 and 2 that would hopefully delay return US forces from the Pacific and allow the Wehrmacht time to reorganise for the renewed Allied offensive.

Flying from their base in southern Bavaria, a three ship formation of Arados would make a thermite bomb attack against the Suez Canal with another trio from FKG 2 flying from a secret base in South America to attack the Panama Canal.

The destruction of these targets would be crucial to stop any massive US buildup from their Pacific forces and would hopefully turn the tide of the stagnant War in the favour of the Fatherland.



Regards,

Mav

[GTX]

its six engines being replaced by two completely new Junkers turbojets of such a power that it would easily push the aircraft through the skies faster than the original version.

Maybe some of the Daimler-Benz 109-016 (I think that was the engine) turbojets proposed for the "Project B" bomber:





I understand these were to to supply around 12930 kg (28446 lbs) of thrust.

Regards,

Greg

[Mossie]

Looking forward to it Mav!  Are you just building the one, or all three machines that appear in your back story?

[Maverick]

G'day Simon,

Just the one for the build.  Even if I had three in the stash, I doubt I'd be doing three of the same type, etc.

Regards,

Mav

[Maverick]

G'day Gang,

Finally got the Arado completed.   I faffed about quite a bit on the camo, but finally got there.
As well as changing the powerplants, I modded the bomb-doors shorter (the forward section housing fuel) and changed out the supplied stores for a couple of large generic weapons that look a bit more 'special'.

Regards,

Mav

[GTX]

I like the camo pattern - was it all by freehand or did you use a stencil?

Regards,

Greg

[Maverick]

Purely freehand Greg,

It was one of the reasons the build took as long as it did.  It's amazing how hard 'random' can be when you actually try!

Regards,

John

[Mossie]

Good job on the camo Mav, looks like it was a long slog!

[Brian da Basher]

Wow is that ever a stunning camo scheme, Maverick! It's even made more impressive by the fact you did it freehand! It really looks the part! Fantastic!

Brian da Basher

[darkwolf29a]

VERY COOL!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry for the loudness this early in the morning, but...that rocks!!!!

[Weaver]

Purely freehand Greg,

It was one of the reasons the build took as long as it did.  It's amazing how hard 'random' can be when you actually try!

Regards,

John

Our pattern-recognising primate brains are a damn nuisance sometimes arn't they?

Good looking model in a great colour scheme, Mav.  Never in a million years would I find the patience to do that....