Blohm und Voss P.192.01

[NARSES2]

And dawn shall follow the darkness  

Well after sanding down the putty she wasn't as bad as I thought. So she has had some PPP and sanding today and I think that will do. She will still have her better side profile, but don't all the attractive ladies ?  

So get some primer on that putty latter and start painting tomorrow  

I've also changed her prospective markings but I might change my mind again yet 

[NARSES2]

Well I've got the painting done today, which isn't bad for a 3 colour camouflage scheme  Never read the Xtracrylic instructions before and it dries in 15 mins  Gave it 30 mins never the less and it did indeed dry  Also helps it's a late war scheme based on a Fw 190 I've seen so has no splinter to mask and the lower/upper demarcation is also loose rather then a hard masked edge.

[NARSES2]

Got the transfers on and she's had her matt varnish, so should get her finished Saturday.

The transfers are all from the spares box ('s) and I had a bit of a problem with some of the national markings. The outline crosses in particular were a bit of a  Some of them just wouldn't release themselves from the backing sheet at all (15 mins was what I gave them before the bin !) and they weren't that old. Others broke in two or three pieces as soon as I took them off the backing paper 

In the end I used crosses from an old His Air Dec sheet. Now I have to have bought this from the old BMW's in Wimbledon when I was between 13/15 so that is some 50 years ago ! They behaved superbly  Can't remember what I paid for it  but the US price on the packaging was 75 cents. I've still got a fair few Almark sheets of the same vintage as well and they still perform superbly as well.

I look back fondly to BMW's. I'd go there every other Saturday and spend an age going through the catalogue books of transfers they had. It was my introduction to the aftermarket and I was like the cat that got the cream. Must have built 15 Airfix 109 G's in all sorts of schemes and nationalities. Still got a sheet for the Fiat CR 42 which includes a nice Hungarian option. Good days when the world was still innocent to a young teenager 

[NARSES2]

Well after a few trials and tribulations, mostly mine apart from the foreplane/canard problem she's here and within the deadline. I enjoyed this most of the time and the added pressure of 1 week was good for my mojo as well but I'm not doing it every week  

Blohm und Voss BV 247 Hungary 1947

With the sudden collapse of the Axis Front in S.Eastern Europe in the spring of 1947 Anglo/French forces started their final push through Hungary and then into Austria which, once they had joined forces with the Italian based group of armies and entered Germany proper from the South and South West latter in that same year led to the complete and utter collapse of the German Reich .

In the chaos that became the Axis Hungarian front the German's had diverted a lot of resources from other sectors in a vain attempt to stem the tide. Amongst these resources were a number of the new Blohm und Voss B&V 247 ground attack aircraft. Like many other new aircraft found on the recently abandoned airfields they appear to have been relatively little used, some having only a few hours in the air, indicative of delivery and perhaps a few training and acclimatisation flights. Although it has to be said that "3 strange, mid propeller mounted aircraft" were reported shot down by a group of R.A.F. Tempests, these presumably being on such a flight.

Thus here we have a B&V 247 of an unidentified unit found abandoned near Budapest in the summer of 1947. The insignia carried is presumed to be that of the unit's C.O. an ex Fw.190 F-8 pilot rather than that of the unit's as no other aircraft found on the airfield carried it. It does have to be said at this point however that no proof of this has ever been found, nor the pilots interrogation reports recovered so it is purely conjecture on your author's part.
The model is the Planet Models kit and apart from the canard wings, or whatever they should be called, went together very well, as most Planet models do. The canard's mounting points on the fuselage sides were not symmetrical when looked at from the front and caused a bit of a problem. I just about got around it, although one also appears to be slightly warped but a bit more time would have meant it could have been properly overcome (that and a better modeller). Other then that it went together very well, as indeed have all the Planet models I've built. Paints are Xtracrylic, and they really do dry in 15 minutes, whilst the transfers are all from the spares box, and yes she was a tail sitter.

As an aside this very aircraft was shipped to Farnborough and test flown by Eric "Winkle" Brown. His comments on the pilots survivability in any air accident were left un-recorded, perhaps all the better for our younger readers, but he did report that it was a docile, pleasant aircraft to fly although it had no apparent virtues over more traditional aircraft. It had no major vices other than the pilot egress problem. According to documents seized latter at the B&V plant in Hamburg this was to have been solved by the provision of an ejection sheet for the pilot. Unfortunately none were available at the time it entered service. Another solution that B&V had suggested to this problem was the fitting of explosive bolts to the booms. This would, in theory at least, separate the pilots module and enable it to fall clear of the propeller before the pilot bailed out ! This was tested in a ground rig and on no occasion could the bolts be synchronised accurately enough to ensure simultaneous explosion with disastrous results for the cockpit module and dummy pilot.


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[Captain Canada]

Don't you love it when a plan comes together ? Came out really well in the end. I like the configuration and it sure leads to ideas....as for the pilot egress problem, wonder if some kind of jam pin or somat to seize the engine ? Or at least halt the prop suddenly ? Might even have the advantage of letting go a blade or two to aid in said egress.

Any road, nice build Chris and interesting to read/ watch it all come together !

[PR19_Kit]

Weirdness Rules OK! 

Nice job on a complex kit Chris, specially in the short time.

[Librarian]

Lovely plane, build and colours. I like much. Very interesting ideas are fruiting from this .

[PR19_Kit]

Does the prop actually rotate on the model Chris?

I presume that the booms/winglets held the cockpit and nose still on the real thing, but do they do that on the model?

That's always seemed a stumbling block on modelling those 'prop-in-the-middle' types to me.

[Mossie]

Great job Chris and wonderfully odd subject.

[Glenn Gilbertson]

Great build, Chris - it would definitely have been included in Eric Brown's "Wings of the Weird & Wonderful"! Well done.

[Weaver]

Nice one - that came out well. 

[NARSES2]

Does the prop actually rotate on the model Chris?

I presume that the booms/winglets held the cockpit and nose still on the real thing, but do they do that on the model?

That's always seemed a stumbling block on modelling those 'prop-in-the-middle' types to me.

Right to answer your questions.

The prop doesn't spin on my model but could be easily made to if wanted.

On the real thing the booms held the cockpit to the wings, it was not connected to the rear fuselage at all so was a separate module. It has to be understood that this was nothing more then a concept therefore whether this would have changed in an actual aircraft is open to conjecture. On the model the cockpit fits solidly to the ring holding the propeller meaning that the fuselage is in 4 parts (3 fuselage sections + the prop) all of which are great and solid fits. If wanted you could model a version without booms and winglets, perhaps with canards ?

Other then the problem with the winglet alignment it was a very nice kit and went together well as all Planet kits I've built have done.

[su27rules]

 

[dumaniac]

nice project

[zenrat]

Looks great.

Anyone know what the thinking behind the prop in the middle layout was?
My guess would be put the engine at the CoG and then avoid having a long heavy prop shaft.