Messerschmitt Me-somethingsomething & Fw200 C9 'Stiefmutter'

[Tophe]

Nice!

[Modelling_Mushi]

Cool. Reminds me of the Japanese Ohka (spelling??) suicide bombs dropped from Bettys in WWII.

[zenrat]

...You need an excuse for the tail layout I suspect...

To allow for the use of rearward firing rockets or large gun that would be aimed by periscope while flying away from the target.

[Sticky Fingers]

My fellow whiffers.
This little plane has turned into a Proper Project: it was going to be a parasite fighter anyway, but I was thinking, what's a parasite plane without something to hang it from? Well, then it would be just another plane, innit? Thus work has started on the motherplane

(The backstory I'm making up while whiffing, and is probably full of holes, just like my models, but I like it (remember it's not supposed to make sense, it's supposed to be fun) and here's what I've come up with so far:
October 1945.
Having green lighted the Ju-390 C as the first true Amerika bomber, thoughts were turned to added defence in the form of escort fighters. No existing fighterplane was able to cope with the travelling distance from Norway to America and back, though. The solution was borrowed from the Japanese: U-boat based fighter airplanes. But not content with lend-leasing Japanese subs with space for 'only' three planes) this would mean new, even bigger gi-normous U-boats would have to be designed and built, which would be very time consuming.
A stopgap fix was thought up: parasite planes, brought as far to the American coast as possible. These would join up over the ocean with the bomber for defence during its run-up, attack and getaway, and once on the run back to Europe the fighters, having spend their fuel, would 'land' on the Atlantic Ocean and the pilots picked up by regular U-boats. The fighter would be based on the 109 fuselage, modified for range and while that was being designed and built trials started on how to deliver the fighter and the old venerable Fw-200 Condor, having proven itself as a long range recon plane but pushed into the role of transport plane with the introduction of the Ju-290 and He-177, was chosen to be modified for the tests.
First up was a weightloss program: paint removed, gondola ditto, front cupola replaced with just a clear dome, and other measures would enable it to cope with the take-off weight of the Condor + added fighter without sacrificing, preferably increasing, range.
Then an update program (plus a new designation: C9 and, airmen being airmen, nickname: 'Stiefmutter', or 'Stepmother'). Some new (and more lightweight) developments in radar and weapons-stations would be added (also meaning that the crew could be brought back from 7 (pilot, co-pilot/bombadier, radio-operator, mechanic, a radar-operator and two gunners)  to 4 members: pilot, co-pilot (also responsible for the release of the parasite), radio/radar operator and gunner), some 900ltr auxiliary fueltanks were slung under the wings, making up for the removal of some of the internal tanks which needed to make space for the last and in this case most important bit of engineering: the system to carry and release the parasite plane, placed where the ventral gondola used to hang.)

My build will hopefully show the first time the whole contraption was tested, sometime in the autumn of 1946. It will also be the largest project I've tackled in a long time, and will include something I have never done at all, more on that in a later update )

Here comes momma:


Replacing the nose cone, which i.m.o. gave the Condor it's classic, beautiful looks with something else, which will give it a face only its inventor can love.


cockpit and radio room interior, which will be hidden of course, so I'm not going crazy with PE and micro-painting.


And now it's back to the workbench!

[Sticky Fingers]

That new front cupola I mentioned yesterday:


And a how-did-I-get-there collage showing the new rear gun station.


Googly eyes rule, dontcherknow...

[Captain Canada]

Wow...this has really turned eh ? Awesome ! Looks like somebody dropped a spanner on the roof already tho  Be easy enough to weather in....that's one thing heavily used WWII a/c models don't show enough of, the true wear and tear they took.

[Sticky Fingers]

Ofcourse I only noticed that dent after taking the pics. Would be easy enough to make a new turret but I'll leave it, and use your spanner-excuse :-)

Here's the new nose, still busy smoothing it in.



Cheers

[Old Wombat]

I would have thought the original nose was better for fuel efficiency?

Considering that the mission profile of the Fw-200 would have been to drop it's parasite fighters at, or just inside the intercept range of enemy fighters, then to dive away & run for home, I would have thought the increased drag & weight of the nose gun unnecessary, if not actually counter productive.

But that's just the realist in me speaking.

Beyond that I love the concept of the nose turret & it looks like it's going to be a real piece of eye-candy, when finished.



Guy

[rickshaw]

Please, where the did the nose turret come from?   I need something like that for a future build (but as a tail turret).

[Sticky Fingers]

That nose came from RoG's Me P.1099B. Great little kit, that.

@Guy: you're totally right, of course. I'll come up with a plausible implausible reason. Or I'll just leave it. No I'll come up with something. I think.  

[Captain Canada]

Looks like you're building the Truculent Turtle !



That new nose looks awesome....and really changes the look of it. In a good way !

[Sticky Fingers]

The Me-somethingsomething at least is ready for her prop blades, antennae and some light weathering:



The Stepmom is proving to be rather an evil one though. She'll be in a next update.
Thanks for watching

[buzzbomb]

Very interesting scheme

[dumaniac]

love the cannon in the nose

[NARSES2]

Very interesting scheme

It is that. I like it