JeroenPeters

Thnx guys! In the meanwhile I'm figuring out how the parts where secured on the flatbed. This V1 manual shows the jigs. Since I won't place 3 Re-4's, but one, I won't take off the tail. Only the main wings.

Really cool. enjoyed every pic!! Thnx for sharing.

Hi all, Not much spare time for modeling, but enough inspiration to start this project. It's the recently released and reviewed manned V-1 by HPH models. Full resin kit, packed with goodies which will be placed on the 1/35 Trumpeter flatbed railway gondola. The gondola is built and ready for paint. The jig that will hold the Re 4a in place will be scratched. I found a pdf of the v1 manual showing me what i need to do so. Here goes..

As promised! Here are photographs of the two photo-etch frets. Both made by Eduard. One pre coloured one and one in bare brass. Some really nice detail there. The way the kits are made up you can tell HPH is not planning on selling these kits separately.

Amazing Jeroen. Right down to the oil on the axels... Really cool... Congrats. Cheers, Jeroen

Great review and amazing kit by the looks of it. Thanks!

Aaaahhhh... I had the AutoBlinda AB40 on train tracks too but i sold it. As i did the Sahariana... With all the extra's... Restarting a stalled build from 8 yrs ago, makes it feel OK for me to stop working on a kit. You know you can always pick it up when the urge arises!

First paint is on. I sprayed a semi gloss layer as a base coat. Next up: Coat > Chipping agent > desert camo.

Hi Doug, I love it! Especially the cowling sheen. Very nice. Hope you'll find a new windscreen.... Thnx for sharing these! Lovely...

This is the look I'm going for:

Thnx guys. Here it is. Ready for paint. I'll add some more chains and accessories later. The Black dog stowage set is designed for the Tamiya kit, so I'll have to remove some resin on the bottom in order for it so sit properly.

Looks like you had a great time! Thnx for sharing these pics. Much appreciated.

Almost ready for paint!

Hi Nige, Those brackets I glued today. So there is hope for them making it all the way through.

Off to a great start! I've built the kit with CMK engine too. The fit is fine and detail great. Love the wiring.

Hi all, While going through the storage I stumbled on a stalled build. Started 8 years ago. Time to finish it! It's the Italeri Semovente with Friul tracks, Eduard PE, Black Dog stowage set and a metal / brass barrel. And the best walk around you can think of is this video: (Tip: turn of sound)

Looks a lovely sweet out of the ordinary kit. Something else! Nice review Jim...

Hi Jan, Eye balled this.... yesterday in Houthalen! Really nice build... Love the weathering. Not overdone. Just right. Cheers, Jeroen

Aaaaaahhhh! Another extensive review! Looks like another cool kit that needs to be built. Nice one Jim!

1:32 Dutch Gloster Meteor F.Mk.4/T.Mk.7 LSK ®NethAF. Decals Dutch Decal Catalogue # 32023 Available from Dutch Decal for €14 For years Dutch Decals has made a niche for themselves in providing decals (among other things) for aircraft used by the Koninklijke Luchtmacht or KLu (Royal Netherlands Air Force). Apart from the national Dutch aviation industry such as Fokker, Koolhoven, many types from different international manufacturers were used. As a result there is a large pool of colour schemes worn by many different aircraft types to choose from. Mainly aimed at the Dutch market, however if you are interested in a Dutch livery this brand is usually where you end up. With the recent release of the HK Models Meteor F4 they have thoughtfully provided a comprehensive decal sheet. Not surprisingly these cover a large number of Dutch operated Gloster Meteors. What do you get? Two decal sheets in A5 format in a re-sealable clear plastic bag. One sheet carries the individual identities of the various Meteors. The second sheet is completely devoted to the airframes stencils. The HK Models kit does have a number of these stencils but the Dutch Decal sheet is in a whole different league. A fold-out A3 format instruction sheet complements the set. These show colour artwork of the available liveries as well as detailed information where to place the decals. This is indeed one of the most comprehensive sheets by this manufacturer. The artwork is first class and clearly show the different liveries used in Dutch service. Most options are for the inevitable high speed silver scheme. Some would call that boring, but for the Meteor this really accentuates the type’s classic lines. The high speed silver is not a natural metal exterior but the whole airframe was sprayed a silver colour. Later in service the meteors were sprayed in grey/green camouflage. Some liveries are for a target towing or photoreconnaissance version. The target towing version had the yellow and diagonal black striped undersides similar to the RAF-version. These are strikingly colourful so there is much to choose from. The instruction sheet also has some very useful photographs showing that parts of the cockpit were interior green as opposed to all black. The photographs were taken from a preserved F4 at Soesterberg. Of course preserved aircraft can be misleading so check your refererences. Stencils The separate stencil sheet is fantastic and worth buying this set for, even if you are not into Dutch Meteors. Due to the large number of small decals you really have to work in an orderly fashion otherwise you cannot see the forest through the trees (Dutch saying). It took Cees five evenings of work to get them all on. They are all in English (apart from the stencil for the T7, which is in Dutch). They are also perfectly legible which is nice. Beware of the instructions Be careful though as there are some mistakes such as misnumbered stencils. The datum stencils are especially tricky as there a more of them indicated on the instruction sheet as there are decals. Luuk Boerman told LSM that the instructions are at fault. Looking at the horizontal tail it indeed looks like a datum stencil frenzy. Luuk also mentioned that information about the stencils was not complete. Thus only the stencils for fuselage and upper surfaces of the wing and tail surfaces are provided. You won’t find any decals for the undersurfaces. Some of the decals are for the fuselage tanks. On the HK Models kit there are no filler details here. Again, check your references. Exercise Cupola Some options are for operational meteors used during Western Union Air Defence Excersise “Cupola”. This was held between august 25th and august 27th 1950. This was the first largescale cooperation between the airforces of Britain, America, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Its aim was to test the detecting, identifying and tracking of enemy aircraft and directing fighters to their interception. During this exercise the noses of participating Meteors were painted red. Some already carried red nosecaps and tail acorns as squadron colours. For this exercise the area on the nose was extended to roughly in line with the front edge of the nosewheelbay. Shape of things to come Surprisingly one of the options is for a Meteor T7 trainer. It is hoped that Fisher Model and Pattern will provide a resin conversion set. Quality One of the options was used by Cees Broere on his HK Models Meteor. The decals are very well printed in good register. Colour density is also very good. There is a limited amount of decal film overlap. This completely disappears using the Micorscale Set and Sol system and a coat of varnish. It is advised to cut as much excess film away with scissors to reduce the risk of silvering. The decals only need a few seconds of immersion in luke warm water and they slide off easily. They are very strong and can stand some handling. Especially in the case where after five minutes Cees noticed that the large roundels were upside down. Using a brush with a lot of water they were lifted off without any damage. Be careful in using the set/sol solutions as the white was affected. But it could be too much of the solution applied. So be careful here. Conclusion? A very welcome sheet. Even if a Dutch Meteor is not to your liking, the separate sheet with airframe stencils is worth buying for that alone. Highly recommended. Available directly from Dutch Decal, the Aviaton Hobby Shop or Hannants Cees Broere en Jeroen Peters

1:32 Fi 103 Reichenberg Re 4a and Kugisho OHKA Model 11 HPH Catalogue # HPH32033R Available from HPH for €115 The subject(s): An unexpected release by HPH for sure. I for one didn’t see these coming. The Reichenberg has been released by Bronco some years ago. Both in 1 seater version as in the two seat trainer version. But! In scale 1/35. This is great when you’re an armour modeler that wants to incorporate the Reichenberg in a diorama, but not when you’re displaying it amongst other 1/32 aviation subjects. Having built this kit I can say it lacks some detail. Most apparent simplifications are the engine and cockpit. The Ohka on the other hand has not been produced in Injection Moulded version, but is available in resin by two brands. One by OzMolds and one by Lone Star Models. So… were these new HPH releases „needed’’? Yes, and trust me… they are in a whole different league. Here we go! History of the Reichenberg: With the hit and miss successes of the unmanned V1 the need to strike the allies in the heart was getting more and more apparent. While Hitler kept his hopes on the 3 x 1000 bomber project (a bomber that could basically bomb New York), some forces in the Luftwaffe placed their bets on Selbstopfer (suicide) concepts. The Me328 was offered as first candidate for this purpose. Famous Luftwaffe testpilot Hanna Reitsch was one of the leading authorities within this concept. As a matter of fact she was the one trying to sell the concept to Hitler. He however quickly dismissed the idea of german pilots plummeting to their deaths by calling it un-german. He stressed his firm belief in the 3 x 1000 bomber. Perhaps when the concept wasn’t named Selbstopfer, Hitler might have approved. After all, the pilot of these planes were never meant to stay in the cockpit until detonation. They were supposed to bail out after lining the plane up with the target. The project was however able to proceed under strict order by Hitler to not be deployed after his very own instruction to do so. He approved a special suicide unit to be formed under the name: Leonidas unit. Named after kind Leonidas who stood his ground against the Persians. How appropriate! This unit became part of unit II/KG200. A unit that was known for flying secret missions. Jamming radars. And dropping spies in enemy territory. A couple of factories produced the Reichenberg. Including one factory that was based inside a mountain, keeping it safe from allied bomb-runs. There’s even a movie (cinematic) on Youtube showing Hanna Reitsch taking the Reichenberg for a ‚test-drive’. In august 1944 the first Reichenberg Re-1 was ready for testing. It had no engine and was purely tested in gliding mode. These test proved successful. Reason for Hanna Reitsch to come over and watch some rocket powered tests with here own eyes. On this occasion the Reichenberg lost control and crashed. Another two tests resulted in crashes too. This didn’t stop the Germans from building 200 examples and erecting a squadron with 50 pilots undergoing instruction and training. Hanna Reitsch personally took partial responsibility for the training. Until the was injured during a bombing raid. Numerous ideas were exploited and research for possibilities with a manned V1. An armed interception version. A version with a 38cm grenade in the nose to penetrate a Ship deck. At the end of the war American soldiers stumbled on a factory with no less than 54 single seated Reichenbergs, a couple of two seat trainers and 700 unmanned V1’s… The last test flight of the Reichenberg took place on the 5th of March 1945 with a Re-3. After several fairly successful powered flights, this flight ended with the wings breaking from the plane, taking the pilot into a 90 degree dive into a lake. It proved very difficult for a pilot the exit the extremely fast flying projectile, and even if he managed, there was the risk of ending in the ram air intake of the engine. About 12 Reichenbergs were captured and saved from the scrapyard. A couple of them are on display today and some in storage. Here is a list of the ones’ on display: Flying Heritage Collection, Everett, Washington Canadian War Museum, (under restoration 2009). Lashenden Air Warfare Museum, Headcorn, Kent La Coupole, Saint-Omer, France. Stinson Air Field, San Antonio, Tx, USA. It’s a misconception that existing V1’s were altered to manned Reichenbergs. About only 20% of the parts are the same as on the unmanned V1. In other words: Check your references based on manned V1’s History of the Ohka: Unlike the germans the japanese had a little bit less trouble with sacrificing life in order to protect their country. The word ‚Ohka’ meaning Cherry Blossom and ‚Kamikaze’ meaning Godly Wind shows they even romanticized the act. An honorly dead. The pilots of these planes were called Jinrai Butai, or Thunder God Corps. The americans dubbed this plane ‚Baka’, which means ‚Fool’ in japanese. Quite a different approach to the concept. The Ohka was meant to be carried the distance by a large bomber (like the Betty) and to be deployed when the target was in reach. Quite like the way the German Me328 was to be deployed by a He111. When the target was in reach the pilot would fire the three solid fuel rockets and…. aim. Unlike the German efforts made in testing and getting this plane in action, the japanese managed to inflict some serious damage to american ships. And this is exactly what this plane was designed for. Anti ship warfare. The USS Mannert L. Abele was the first Allied ship to be sunk by Ohka aircraft, near Okinawa on 12 April 1945. In the end three american ships were sunk and three badly damaged… The fact that the americans quickly realized a protective rind of defensive fire was the answer to these attacks and protect their carriers is reason the Ohka attacks had little or no real significance. The only operational model was the model 11. The model that is featured in this kit. In total 852 Ohka’s were built and like the Reichenberg roughly 12 examples survived. They are on display in the United States, UK, Japan and one in India, New Delhi. An interesting video of the capture of an Ohka can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR85s6pOMto In february 2014 the Fleet Air Arm Museum in the UK announced they will start restoration on their Ohka which has been hanging from their ceiling for 30 years. During this restoration the original paint and technical stenciling have been found under a thick layer of paint. The restoration is estimated to take over a year. A list of all the surviving examples can be seen here: http://www.abpic.co.uk/search.php?q=Yokosuka%20MXY-7%20Ohka&u=type A comparison between the two: Length: Reichenberg: 8 meters Ohka: 6,06 meters Wingspan: Reichenberg: 5,72 meters Ohka: 5,12 meters Weight: Reichenberg: 2250 kg Ohka: 1200 kg Speed: Reichenberg: 650 km/h (level) 800 km/h (dive) Ohka: 650km/h (level) 804 km/h (dive) Range: Reichenberg: 330 km Ohka: 37 km As you can see the two had quite similar performance, except for the range. The Ohka being a parasite type (leeching on the wing of a large bomber until within reach of the target) it did not need a large range. What’s in the box?: When you open the box the first thing I noticed is how tightly packed all the resin is. Well wrapped in plastic and air cushions and the resin divided by compartments. Transparant resin for the canopies. Traditional yellow resin for all the parts. HGW seat belts. (Coloured) photo etch. Metal nozzles / exhaust pipes. A CD rom containing the instructions. Canopy masks and decals. Very complete. All you need. The fuselage halves are hand coded with a number. A sign this is indeed a limited offering and kind of gives you the feeling you’ve got something special in your hands. The decals are minimal. Only a small piece of decal paper contain all the decals needed for both planes. The Reichenberg did not usually carry any unit markings and the Ohka only had minimal markings. A cherry blossom (after it’s name) and some stenciling. The HGW seat belts are of their late type. This means they are pre-cut and very detailed. Last but nog least, the kit contains the by now famous cookie HPH includes in all of their boxes. I guess that is to sweeten the deal. The instructions come on a CD-Rom in pdf format. Unlike the Me410 instructions with photographs of the parts during construction, these are drawn. In my opinion this makes for clearer instructions than photographs. Metal exhaust tubes and brass pitot tube. The famous HPH cookie! A small decal sheet. HGW seatbelts. Example page of the instructions. The Reichenberg kit: First of all. Let’s place the HPH 1/32 fuselage alongside the 1/35 Bronco model. The size difference is huge… Apparently the difference between 1/32 and 1/35 is not something to underestimate. Two full length fuselage halves make up the hull. Minimal cleanup here. The crispness of the surface detail is great and will have to be carefully re-sribed after glueing the fuselage halves and sanding away the seam. I reckon this will be the most tricky part of this build. The cockpit of the Reichenberg is a spartan one. A seat, simple instrument panel, basic control stock and limited sidewall details. Checking my reference every detail that needs to be there is there, down to the rivet. Even the exposed sidewall wiring is included in photo etch. The coloured Photo etch instrument panel and the HGW seat belts top it all of. I was not able to find colour indications for painting the cockpit in the instructions. My reference shows the cockpit (and inside of the engine) to be brown / red primer coloured. This goes for the sidewalls and floor. The seat, mid console and instrument panel was mid grey. The other feature that really pleases me is the Ram air intake of the engine. The louvres in the rear of the engine and the honeycomb with fuel injection frame are all included. All of these details are not included in the Bronco kit. The rest of the construction is pretty much straight forward after having tackled the cockpit and engine. All the control surfaces are separate and have delicate photo etch hinges. Control rods are featured too. Again: all of these features are not present on the Bronco kit. I keep repeating the differences between the much cheaper 1/35 Bronco kit, in case you think: I’ll pay less and settle for less. This way you know exactly how much less, less is When looking at the way the resin is casted, I predict cleaning the parts will not prove a big challenge. The fuselage, wings and cockpit part are cleverly casted with as little as possible sanding needed in the most visible areas. The rear of the engine is made from a provided metal tube. I think this part would have been near impossible to make from resin. A feature i love in this resin kit are the locating rods you get for joining the two fuselage halves. Not often seen on resin kits, but very helpful to say the least. Cockpit left sidewall. A great source of reference for the Reichenberg is the magazine: FliegerRevue X (issue 40). It features a 30 page special on the subject, dealing with it’s background, design history and an extensive walk around of a couple of restored examples from Alexander Kuncze. He is known to be an authority on this subject. Actually this magazine is a must have when building this kit. Forward engine part. Main wing. A comparison between the Reichenberg and Ohka wings. Control surfaces. The only downside I can think of with this kit is the single available scheme that is provided. On the other hand, the decals provided of the stenciling can be combined with other colour schemes as well. The Reichenberg usually had no unit markings or swastika. The Ohka kit: As said, two resin offerings have been around for some time, one done by Lone Star models and one by OzMolds. I’ve followed a couple of these builds on forums and decided I’d wait for something better (or less challenging) to come around. To give you an idea: Here’s a link to a review of the OzMolds resin kit: http://www.hyperscale.com/2013/reviews/kits/ozmodsomkit3201reviewbg_1.htm Inside detail of the tail end. Like the Reichenberg the Ohka comes with HGW seat belts, metal exhausts, coloured PE and a great transparant resin canopy complete with masking. The only thing you’ll need to add to this plane is some lead / weights for the nose when placed on the trolley to prevent it from tipping on it’s tail. The instrument panel is made up in the same way as the one in the Reichenberg. This time in thicker resin to give it some more needed thickness in detail in combination with a colored photo etch backing. Add a few small drops of Micro Clear and you’ve got yourself one stunning instrument panel. Left cockpit side wall detail. Cockpit floor, seat, ip, nose cone and locating pins. Bulkheads and mixed Reichenberg / Ohka parts. The Ohka needs a bit more careful clean up than the Reichenberg. The bulkheads and cockpit floor are moulded flat to their casting block. Easy to remove with a micro saw though. The trolley cart (as with the Reichenberg trolley) is also casted in this way. No problem, just a bit more time consuming to clean up. The smaller details that make up the control rods, cockpit hinges, ‚bomb’ sight, etc.. is just amazing. You even get the parts needed for the control linkage arms that can be seen when looking in the rear end! Checking all the details that need to be inside and outside the Ohka, I can only conclude that again HPH have really done their homework. Same as with the Reichenberg I found no colour coding for the cockpit in the instructions. There is a nice walk around to be found here: http://www.largescaleplanes.com/walkaround/wk.php?wid=3 that shows the interior being green. Since this cockpit is missing the instrument panel, it’s hard to say to what extend it is completely authentic. There is also a walk around with the Ohka in orange colours which appears to have a light grey cockpit: http://www.j-aircraft.com/walk/rick_geithmann/mx.htm The trolley is a little different than the one under the Reichenberg. Again: careful cleaning of these parts is needed due to the way they are casted to their blocks. It’s a three wheeled short trolley that holds the Ohka in place with a belt. This is where I guess the needed added nose weight comes in play. If you don’t add this, the whole assembly will pivot on the two main wheels and become a tail sitter. Tail section and control surfaces. The trolleys: Conclusion: Overall I’m blown away (no pun intended) by the detail provided. When I built the Bronco Reichenberg I added a lot of cockpit and surface detail myself. This kit takes a few steps more and adds detail that I didn’t even spot before when going through my references. Both the Reichenberg and the Ohka are subjects that make you think about what humans are capable of. Both in technical sense as in in-humane sense. They were not desperately rushed in production, but tested, fine tuned and planned. A proper representation of the Reichenberg was pretty high on my list, and suddenly here it is, with an Ohka in it’s wake. I’ve started work on the Reichenberg and research on the subject. So far I haven’t been able to find anything to complain about. Except maybe for the fact that both planes only come with one marking option. But, as said, this is not a problem, since both almost only carried stenciling. Very highly recommended Our sincere thanks to HPH for this review sample. To purchase directly, click THIS link. Please let these guys know where you saw this review. And my personal thanks to James Hatch for the superb photo's Jeroen Peters PS. Photographs of the photo etch will follow shortly as they are en route to LSM.

Extensive kit deserves an extensive review! Really nice... Can't believe the amount of detail you get with this. Really cool. Can't wait to see you build this...

A little tear to my eye. Just lovely.... Rudolf Hess would be proud!!!

My thoughts exactly. Let this be the kit that raised that bar.

That's a YES. I'll bring the cowl. Remind me a day ahead to bring it!