Horten Ho-229 "Flying Wing"

Arguably the most advanced airplane of WW2, along with the first jet fighters, the Horten Ho-229 was far ahead of its time and the first of a kind; a stealth fighter plane. She was designed by the brothers Reimar & Walter in order to meet Göring’s latest call for light bomber designs, which was known as the “3x1000” project; carry a 1000kg of bombs over a distance of 1000km at a speed of 1000km/h. What started as a glider design became the world’s first “flying wing”, although be it in a prototype version only (the war ended before production officially started). Made from a tubular frame with a few metal panels, she consisted mainly of wood with two powerful Junkers Jumo 004 jet engines, it was the only design ever to come close to Göring’s requirements and as such was the only prototype to receive his approval.

After seeing some of the mega detailed ‘Superwing Series’ models by Zukei-Moura, I was highly impressed with their kits and wanted to build one for myself. My choice for this particular kit came from the fact that she was the first of a kind and a huge step in aviation history. Instantly I wanted to display all the detailed internals and came up with the 50/50 design idea; the right side will be displayed as the finished aircraft, while the left side will be displayed in its wooden & metal form with certain places cut open to show the internals.

All done

Posted on May 30, 2020 by Niek Nijsen

Another beauty added to the collection. I’ve completed the base and all that’s left to do is taking the photos of the finished model, which I’ll hopefully be able to do in the coming few days.

In the previous blog I completed the model itself and started work on the base. As mentioned, the latter was split in half, just like the plane. The left side of the base would present the aircraft in the field as if it’s operational, the right side would be representing the factory during production of the aircraft.

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Nearly there

Posted on April 30, 2020 by Niek Nijsen

You might recall from the previous update this project includes a lot of “first times” for me. I normally don’t paint parts still on the sprue and I’ve never done wood effects using oils before. So how did it actually turn out? Well, funny you ask. It actually turned out pretty good.

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Back to work

Posted on March 30, 2020 by Niek Nijsen

As mentioned in the February newsletter, I was left with a few small jobs before I could start working on my models again. I’m pleased to inform you that these have been completed and we’re back up-and-running again with the creation of more scale models. The spray booth has now been completed, other than the hole in the wall for the extraction itself. The gaps around the filters have been sealed and instantly the increase in suction could be noticed. Good thing I installed a regulator that allows me to adjust the airflow, as at full power it literally sucks the paint out of my airbrush way before reaching the model… Talk about a slight overkill. The main desk has also received another tidy-up, mainly because it still looked messy (or so I’ve been informed). The stash of kits that were initially kept underneath the desk have now been relocated to the loft and I’ve had a good clear-out of my spare parts, which have now been condensed into a single box instead of five.

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The most detailed kit I've seen to date?

Posted on January 01, 2020 by Niek Nijsen

Is it? Surely looks that way straight from the box. I've seen quite a few models over the years but this one certainly packs a lot (if not the most) internal details. So much that the manufacture has made the entire wing and body sections from clear plastic, just to be able to display all these internal workings. I, for one, am certainly impressed by it all. But if that’s not enough for you, they offer a few additional items on their website for sale, which include resin replacement engines, photo etch parts for the cockpit & various figures. Of course, you should know me by now, I bought those along with the basic kit as well. Duh.

Time to take a better look at the kit.

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