Bachem 349 Natter, 1/48

[MichelC]

nice work

Thanks dumaniac!

[MichelC]

Very neat work 

I'm just imagining the marks those seat belts would leave on the pilot during take off 

It's only manned flight was on my birthday, maybe that's why it's always had a fascination for me ?

Often thought of a Japanese version. Allegedly the German's did send the Japanese the full plans, but the submarine carrying them was sunk en route.

Hmmm...I think the pilot would rather have been crushed into the back of his seat rather than restrained by the seat belts.

So you were born the day as Lothar Sieber died...

Didn't the sub go to Antarctica? 

[dumaniac]

I suspect the seat belts were needed after the vertical take-off. There would be some horizontal flight chasing bomber streams. Also be aware the engines (I think) were jettisoned after they were spent. So the return to earth would have been "interesting", particularly if allied fighter were on your six with cannon ablaze. And there was the pilot with no propulsion. Sounds like a great gig. I reckon the pilot might need the seat belts - and a change of underwear.

[loupgarou]

I am starting to think of a version for the Vatican Counter-Demons Air Force. I don't know why, but it seems appropriate. 

[zenrat]

I suspect the seat belts were needed after the vertical take-off. There would be some horizontal flight chasing bomber streams. Also be aware the engines (I think) were jettisoned after they were spent. So the return to earth would have been "interesting", particularly if allied fighter were on your six with cannon ablaze. And there was the pilot with no propulsion. Sounds like a great gig. I reckon the pilot might need the seat belts - and a change of underwear.

The wikipedia page goes into great detail about how the pilot returned to earth.

The Natter had no landing gear, which saved weight, expense, and construction time. Consequently, one of the most unusual features of the machine was the escape of the pilot and recovery of the machine. The proposed sequence of these events was as follows: After the attack, the Natter might dive to a lower altitude and flatten out into level flight. The pilot would then proceed with a well-practised escape sequence. He would open the cockpit canopy latch; the canopy flicking backwards on its hinge in the airstream; he would undo his seat belt and remove his feet from the rudder pedal stirrups. By squeezing a lever mounted on the control column, he would release a lock at the base of the column, which would allow him to tilt the column forwards where it could engage in and undo a safety latch for the nose release mechanism. He would then lean a little further forward and pull a lever hinged near the floor at the front of the cockpit. This action frees the nose section, which self-jettisoned as a result of the reduced aerodynamic pressure at the front of the fuselage. As the nose section separates, it was intended to briefly pull on two cables that release a small ribbon parachute stored on the starboard side of the rear fuselage. The parachute subsequently opens and decelerates the Natter. The pilot would be ejected from the cockpit by his own inertia and as soon as he was clear of the fuselage, he would open his personal parachute and descend to the ground.

[PR19_Kit]

The Natter had no landing gear, which saved weight, expense, and construction time. Consequently, one of the most unusual features of the machine was the escape of the pilot and recovery of the machine. The proposed sequence of these events was as follows: After the attack, the Natter might dive to a lower altitude and flatten out into level flight. The pilot would then proceed with a well-practised escape sequence. He would open the cockpit canopy latch; the canopy flicking backwards on its hinge in the airstream; he would undo his seat belt and remove his feet from the rudder pedal stirrups. By squeezing a lever mounted on the control column, he would release a lock at the base of the column, which would allow him to tilt the column forwards where it could engage in and undo a safety latch for the nose release mechanism. He would then lean a little further forward and pull a lever hinged near the floor at the front of the cockpit. This action frees the nose section, which self-jettisoned as a result of the reduced aerodynamic pressure at the front of the fuselage. As the nose section separates, it was intended to briefly pull on two cables that release a small ribbon parachute stored on the starboard side of the rear fuselage. The parachute subsequently opens and decelerates the Natter. The pilot would be ejected from the cockpit by his own inertia and as soon as he was clear of the fuselage, he would open his personal parachute and descend to the ground.

That's always sounded a distinctly dubious procedure to me. Somehow I doubt the number of volunteers to participate would have been very high..................

[NARSES2]

The pilot would then proceed with a well-practised escape sequence.

Well practised, by who ? You really can't imagine any poor sod detailed to fly this thing getting more than a couple of trips at the most.

[MichelC]

The pilot would then proceed with a well-practised escape sequence.

Well practised, by who ? You really can't imagine any poor sod detailed to fly this thing getting more than a couple of trips at the most.

The answer is by dummies. All tests were done with dummies, most of them returning to earth with their chutes, unscathed. Only one manned flight ever took place, which ended with the death of the pilot, as you know. Apparently he had his neck broken due to a badly conceived canopy/head rest assembly. That of course couldn't have been detected with the dummy tests so the flaw was only uncovered when Sieber died. BTW, his (posthumous) claim to fame is to have been the first man ever to have taken off vertically with rocket power. The fact that the feat was repeated only around 2 decades later says a lot about the accomplishment. The Natter was certainly a hazardous bird to fly. But it was also a technological breakthrough and way ahead of it's time!

M

[NARSES2]

BTW, his (posthumous) claim to fame is to have been the first man ever to have taken off vertically with rocket power. The fact that the feat was repeated only around 2 decades later says a lot about the accomplishment. The Natter was certainly a hazardous bird to fly. But it was also a technological breakthrough and way ahead of it's time!

M

Absolutely 

You've certainly got me thinking about a Japanese version now.

[AS.12]

Well practised, by who ? You really can't imagine any poor sod detailed to fly this thing getting more than a couple of trips at the most.

Perhaps in a ground-based mock-up? 

Natter is symbolic of the duplication / triplication in the German arms R&D at that point of the war.  I can understand that the Me 163 was too tricky for pilots with minimal flying experience, but then why develop it AND the Ba 349 as a manned back-up to SAMs?  And then the SAM programme itself had multiple teams across both the Heer and Luftwaffe all chasing the same goals.

[MichelC]

The airframe is finished!



After sealing the decals with a coat of Future, I continued with the next steps.

I used Tamiya X-19 Smoke for shading purposes, accentuating the overhead lighting effect where needed e.g. on the darker upper side, picking up panel line shading and making some doors and hatches stand out by darkening them.















A light colored wash was applied to the (very few) panel lines, brown on top and gray on the underside. The movable parts, such as elevators and canopy, as well as the joints between the fuselage sections designed to separate before landing, received a black wash to show dark shadow rather than accumulated dirt. Oil paints thinned with lighter fluid were used. In areas where the wash wouldn't grip, e.g. around raised detail, I used a propelling pencil sharpened on a piece of sandpaper to produce the effect. It is easy to follow the raised edge with the pencil and any mistakes are easily removed with an eraser.



An oil filter was applied to the engine inspections hatches, tank caps and a few other areas that are naturally dirtier, as a means to add some variation. The oil was thinned with lighter fluid to the same consistency as a wash, applied with a brush and once dry a clean brush was used to blur it and lighten the effect. Filters were further used to accentuate the light and shadow effect in some areas, using white and dark gray.



The tank caps and engine inspection hatches got some chipping, partly to add realism and partly to hide some misalignment between the decals and the edges of the hatches.



The canopy edges were chipped a little as well. I applied Vallejos with a brush and used a toothpick to erase or tweak the chippings when too big.

 

The kit's pitots made of flat pieces of PE were replaced with lengths of hypodermic needle and a grab rail was made with a piece of copper wire and installed near the windshield as can been seen on reference photos.



The canopy frames were outlined with black ink to give them a cleaner, sharper look. 



The Natter's business end was given a lot of attention as it will be a focus point in view of the fact that it will be sitting on its tail. The gray honeycomb wase "metalized" by lightly going over the ridges with a soft lead pencil. This allowed for more control than rubbing with a brush or cotton bud dipped in lead pencil powder, the usual method.



Chipping and weathering overall were kept to a minimum as the Ba 349, while not exactly disposable, wasn't meant to last very long and I don't think a very weathered operational Natter would have been a common sight had it entered into service.

Next: the Schmidding rocket boosters.

M

[dumaniac]

nice camp scheme - also nice work with the detail

[NARSES2]

Glorious 

[zenrat]

So the bees live in the hive at the front and swarm out to attack the enemy?

[MichelC]

Time to tackle the Schmidding rocket boosters! After assembly the round front part was cut and sanded flat as can been seen on some of the Natter photos, the main reason being to make it easier to apply the decals in that area.



Then painting and weathering as usual.



Final assembly!













Next: the base!

M