Raketenrampen-Seekämpfer...................Flitzer at sea

beowulf · January 28, 2011, 10:54:03 AM

Raketenrampen-Seekämpfer roughly translates as Rocket Ramp Sea Fighter

Havnt done anything for my 'Alternative Timeline' saga for a while...thought it was time i revisited it

http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,28666.0.html

1951...... now Argentina has become a member of the Axis Alliance there is increased naval activity in the Atlantic...............convoys carrying troops, materiel and supplies cross to occupied NW Africa and onto Europe. Commonwealth forces try to interdict them to cause disruption. The convoys face problems with whatever route they use........Commonwealth surface raiders/submarines are only one hazard they face. If they take the direct route they face aircraft operating from the few remaining Commonwealth aircraft carriers operating in the Atlantic from bases in Southern Africa, if they hug the South American coast for as long as possible before turning across the Atlantic they face land based patrol aircraft operating out of bases in the Guiana's. Providing some form of air cover proves difficult..............the Graf Zeppelin being sunk in 1947 and the Peter Strasser undergoing a refit after being damaged after an attack by British submarine in the Mediterranean the previous year.
New carriers and the converted Battlecarriers would not enter into service until 1952/3 so a stop gap improvisation was looked for.

The FW Flitzer had by this time been in service for 6 years and like the Me 262 was fast becoming obsolete. It had already been withdrawn from front line service and relegated to second line and training duties. A design was drawn up to fit merchant ships with a launch ramp, to assist the aircraft to achieve launch speed the Flitzer was mounted to a rocket equipped cradle.

Procedure would be to run the aircraft's jet up to speed, ignite the rocket and seconds later release the holding clamp to launch..............the disposable rocket would fall away after leaving the ramp and be lost at sea. After engaging/chasing off any encountered enemy aircraft the pilot would ditch as close to the convoy to be picked up.

Building this came in a roundabout way..........started reading about ZELL...........that led to the Allies CAM ships....of course that led to thinking 'what if the Germans had to do it?'.......my first thought were that it would be over engineered and over complicated ............like most people I have a couple of Revell Flitzers in the stash just needing an excuse to have something done to them and being small and compact seemed like a suitable choice of aircraft..........thought I could work it into my ALT saga

Decided on a simple green over light blue scheme after seeing quite a few Arado seaplanes in this kind of scheme......seemed suitable...........the ramp is made from all manner of junk I picked up!....only regret is that I didn't have something to make a base to stand it all on

Apologies for slightly dodgy pics......still havnt found a set up i like since i moved house and now my Canon has died.....

....had to drag out an old Fuji.....when i bought it a long long time ago it was the latest most spangly thing on the market....nowadays my moble phone's camera has more megapixels!!

GTX · January 28, 2011, 01:06:56 PM

Brilliant!!!!

Regards,

Greg

ChernayaAkula · January 28, 2011, 05:42:28 PM

Yeah, very nice!

That launcher wouldn't look out of place on some Channel Island, Heligoland, Gibraltar or even a sea fort. Don't know why, but I can somehow imagine this very well on a rock cliff overlooking the sea.

NARSES2 · January 29, 2011, 02:34:28 AM

Good stuff

Spey_Phantom · January 29, 2011, 04:56:36 AM

interesting idea, i love it

Army of One · January 29, 2011, 06:55:05 AM

Awesome stuff...!! Anychance of anymore info on the build re the launcher please..?

beowulf · January 29, 2011, 08:00:30 AM

Quote from: Army of One on January 29, 2011, 06:55:05 AM
Awesome stuff...!! Anychance of anymore info on the build re the launcher please..?

sure....it really was made from any old scrap lying about..........theres bits from the spares box...1/24 car and truck, 1/35 armour, 1/72 boat plus stuff i cant even guess at!

....the hard bit was getting all the different media to stick together since there was so many different types of plastic.......first time ive ever had to use a hot melt glue gun or self tapping screws for this hobby

...i just had this Blue Peter moment (that will be lost on you if you aint british)......the first version i made had a square lid from a shampoo bottle instead of the rattle can lid but it just didnt want to play with everything else when it came to being attached.............hope that helps

Tophe · January 29, 2011, 10:16:42 AM

Wow

Weaver · January 29, 2011, 11:58:59 AM

Excellent - I love it!

That launcher's really good!

GTX · January 29, 2011, 12:32:28 PM

And here I was thinking you took the launcher from another model - masterful scratchbuilding and definitely worthy of a Whiffie nomination.

Regards,

Greg

Taiidantomcat · January 29, 2011, 02:44:34 PM

Wonderfully creative

Kruaxi · January 29, 2011, 03:36:30 PM

Wow ! Very amazing.

Salute e Latinum per tutti !

PYF42 · January 30, 2011, 11:58:31 PM

Bonjour
I can't believe it !
Each time I look at this forum, I am surprised !
Good work

Regards
Fred

Mossie · January 31, 2011, 01:45:55 AM

Love the scavenged launcher! Very nice bit of improvised scratch-bashing!

Sturmbock · January 31, 2011, 10:13:46 AM

This is such a Wow build I want one in my garden. 1:1 of course.