Arado AR-196 WIP with ship's catapult.

[PAnderson]

Good Day all! I have started my Revell 1/32 Arado AR-196 float plane. A couple builds here have inspired me to start this recently. Here are a few pics of the progress so far and the scheme I am doing. I started the engine first since I am waiting on Eduard's interior sets and some paint for the scheme I am doing.

 

Here is some reference I am using.

 

 

And this is the scheme I will be doing. This plane was aboard the German Cruiser Scheer. I am doing this since she will be mounted on HPH's German ship's catapult.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's it for now. Enjoy.

 

Paul

[Dave J]

Really looking forward to this one Paul! I have both kits so I will be interested how you get on

[rkranias]

watching with great interest.  cannot wait for the catapult build!

[nmayhew]

Nice one

 

I gather the catapult needs quite a lot of extra detail added by way of railings etc but that basically it is an excellent piece of kit

The Revell kit minus the canopy is one of their best

Will you be using a replacement canopy or polishing out the seam line yourself? (I am not even sure it possible tbh)

 

And exactly what colour is the plane?

 

Any photos?

 

Since you are obviously investing a lot of time (and cash!) in this build, my suggestion is try to dig out the pic that profile was based on maybe?

 

I will have a look at my (limited) refs and see what I can find

 

Cheers

 

Nick

[PAnderson]

Nice one

 

I gather the catapult needs quite a lot of extra detail added by way of railings etc but that basically it is an excellent piece of kit

The Revell kit minus the canopy is one of their best

Will you be using a replacement canopy or polishing out the seam line yourself? (I am not even sure it possible tbh)

 

And exactly what colour is the plane?

 

Any photos?

 

Since you are obviously investing a lot of time (and cash!) in this build, my suggestion is try to dig out the pic that profile was based on maybe?

 

I will have a look at my (limited) refs and see what I can find

 

Cheers

 

Nick

I will be using Alley Cat's canopy replacement for this build. As for photo's of the original plane, those might be hard to come by. I did find some WW2 forum posts referencing the "light colored AR-196's aboard the Scheer" That reference book I have seems pretty accurate so I am going with it. The color I am using will be RLM-65.

 

As for the railings, full size plans are included but the only thing they provede are 2 MM Diam. X 4 MM long resin tubes that you have to cut off a block and drill through the side walls. I'm skeptical this will work without breakage. So, I have 2 MM brass tubing on the way and I will scratch the railing joints by soldering them if I have to.The railing themselves are 1 MM brass wire. Unless someone has a line on miniature elbows and tee's. I have looked for those also, no luck yet. Other than that, this catapult kit is sweet and well stocked. I will need to find pictures of that too.

 

Thanks for the interest Gentlemen.

 

Paul

[theseeker]

I have these in my stash too, so I will follow with great interest. Here is a very nice build http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234930005-revell-arado-196-and-hph-catapult-in-132/

[imatt88]

Where did the catapult come from?  That is sweet!  Can't be cheap tho......  

[theseeker]

Where did the catapult come from?  That is sweet!  Can't be cheap tho......  

 

You can get one at Hannats http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/HPH32004

[PAnderson]

Hello All, thanks for the posts. I have been working on this, or these I should say. I will be posting more pics in the next day or so. But I thought I should add some narrative since it has been a while.

 

I am totally impressed with the Revall kit. For the money, it is excellent. The fit is superb if you take your time and do a LOT of dry fitting. Unless I got lucky, the fit of the wings at the root is flawless. Not assembled yet but dry fitting is proving to be really good. She will be buttoned up around the engine because, in my opinion, the focal point will be the HPH catapult. I am using the Alley Cat resin canopy for this build and it is also excellent, It had a little haziness to it but after a dip in Future, it is clear as glass. Really nice. The cockpit is done and the fuse is buttoned up. I decided to do more work on the catapult next. This kit is proving to be a lot more labor intensive. Did I mention I hate resin kits? From the base on up to the launch rail, this a really nice build so far. A lot of work and it forces you to skip steps and go back if you want a nice build. There were some parts missing and I sent an email to HPH and they were more than happy to send them. I am waiting. As for the railing I mentioned above, i found some brass stanchions thus I will NOT be using their less than perfect method of building the rails. Here is a link for those of you that have this kit.

 

Cornwall Model Boats

 

The reason I stopped on the AR-196 is because the launch sled needs to be built and fitted to the fuselage before assembly can continue. So far, this is the only part of the kit that is posing a real problem. Their instructions for the sled are wrong for the Revell kit. They might work for their resin kit but not for the Plastic kit. You need to scratch build two parts for the underside of the fuse but their dimensions are not correct. If you use them, the float bracings interfere. Also, I feel they are not strong enough. These parts have steel pins in the ends to facilitate assembly but on two of them the must have moved during molding and are now useless. So, I will be scratching all of the bracings with brass tube and wire. I will post detailed pics as i move along. Do NOT build the plane complete if you plan on doing the catapult. The fuselage needs to be wingless and floatless if this is going to work properly. If for no other reason than handling while building the sled. Did I already say I hate resin kits?

 

Pics to be coming real soon, thanks for reading.

 

Paul

[mikec]

Greetings Paul;

 

 

Nice looking model kit, and it is in 1/35th scale .............

 

 

I'll have to put this one into my must get folder.

 

Thanks for the photos,

 

 

Mike

[imatt88]

Paul,

 

You must post pics of this build as this combo is on my bucket list! 

 

Its a bummer that the Arado just doesn't mate up with the catapult.  It seems Murphys Law applies here

 

Cheers,   Ian

[Matt_]

Hi

 

If you look here at the last two images on second row, looks like the machine you've chosen....

 

http://www.wwiiaircraftphotos.com/luftwaffephotos/lar1965.htm

 

Matt

[PAnderson]

Hi

 

If you look here at the last two images on second row, looks like the machine you've chosen....

 

http://www.wwiiaircraftphotos.com/luftwaffephotos/lar1965.htm

 

Matt

Matt, thanks a lot for those. I have been looking for some photos of this scheme. At least I now know this scheme did in fact exist.

 

Paul

[PAnderson]

Ok, now for some promised pics. Between work, redoing the floor in the upstairs bath and other required stuff, I have not had an aweful lot of bench time until recently. Then, to top it off, I am fighting certain parts of the HPH catapult. Again, I will stress, this is a great kit. But a few parts leave a lot to be desired. Mostly, the launch sled support bars are useless in my opinion. Note I said "in my opinion". Very subjective from a resin amateur's point of view. Did I mention I hate resin kits? All that beautiful work to make really detailed parts and they skimp on the instructions. Why are the support bars useless you might ask. Well, they are resin, and they suck. A nice touch was that metal rods were molded through the center core so the tips could be bent into position and assembled into drilled holes in the mating parts.

 

The following picture shows three of the support bars. The middle one is missing the metal pin from bad molding.

 

 

They are already sending me parts that were missing, so I didn't want to ask for parts again. Besides, I'm convinced they are not adequate. This is where the bad instructions come into play. They give basic instructions and dimensions for assembling but nothing detailed. Problem is most of the dimensions will not work, at least for the Revell kit.

 

So, I decided to scratch the sled  from brass rod and soldered it. The only resin part was the base. One dimension in the instructions was correct. The distance from the loops under the fuse to the tail support post.

 

Here is the fuse on the sled after soldering. What a pain in the ass it was. I duplicated the resin parts with 2mm, 3mm, 4mm. and 5mm brass tube and 1mm brass wire. And I learned how to solder yesterday. LOL,

 

 

This is why I couldn't proceed with the aircraft until the sled was done. The locations for the loops under the fuse were questionable. The instructions had them at 32mm apart. But if you used that number the struts would have been in the way. So, I had to settle on 26mm, no big deal. Which means the sled assembly changes also. Pay attention to this if you build this kit. I believe this is the only important mistake.

 

The loops under the fuse are my design. The instructions call for these parts to be scratched. This was the simplest way I could think of. Not what their picture shows but tough, this was aggravating enough.

 

 

Here is finished sled.

 

 

 

And now a few shots of the fuse build. I went with the Eduard interior but did not use the belts. This will be on the catapult and focus will be the two together, not the interior.

 

 

 

 

And one of the floats. A nice little jig in the form of the display stand, which will not be used.

 

 

And the catapult platform with finished rails. Of course not finished.

 

 

 

That's all for now. The hardest part is done. Now to prime the fuse since the wings and floats are already primed. First though, mask the canopy and install temporarily to prime and paint together.

 

More to come Gentlemen, thanks for reading my ramblings. Stat tuned.

 

Paul

[Dave J]

That sled looks fantastic! I was looking at doing the same, as I a bit worried that the resin would hold up the weight of the plane.

[PAnderson]

That sled looks fantastic! I was looking at doing the same, as I a bit worried that the resin would hold up the weight of the plane.

Thanks Dave, I do appreciate that. I think it's a must to build a stronger sled. I might have tried if it weren't for the missing steel pins. It gave me no choice. Still, the kit parts look flimsy. Watch your geometry.  There is a 26mm height dimension on the height of the tail support. Absolutely wrong in the instructions.

 

Paul

[Mikester]

Some damn fine soldering work on that sled!

[Jamme]

NIce Job Paul.

Cheers,

Jamme

[Grant]

Wow, the sled may have been a pain in the ass but it was definitely a worthwhile one Paul, that's some fantastic work.  I'd love to be able to learn how to solder like that.

 

(How did I miss this topic ?? I must be a complete Muppet!!)

[rkranias]

Outstanding soldering on the sled Paul.  I have done many circuit boards (think Archer kits) and I know a good solder when I see one, bravo  Did you use a jig?

[rkranias]

Hello All, thanks for the posts. I have been working on this, or these I should say. I will be posting more pics in the next day or so. But I thought I should add some narrative since it has been a while.

 

I am totally impressed with the Revall kit. For the money, it is excellent. The fit is superb if you take your time and do a LOT of dry fitting. Unless I got lucky, the fit of the wings at the root is flawless. Not assembled yet but dry fitting is proving to be really good. She will be buttoned up around the engine because, in my opinion, the focal point will be the HPH catapult. I am using the Alley Cat resin canopy for this build and it is also excellent, It had a little haziness to it but after a dip in Future, it is clear as glass. Really nice. The cockpit is done and the fuse is buttoned up. I decided to do more work on the catapult next. This kit is proving to be a lot more labor intensive. Did I mention I hate resin kits? From the base on up to the launch rail, this a really nice build so far. A lot of work and it forces you to skip steps and go back if you want a nice build. There were some parts missing and I sent an email to HPH and they were more than happy to send them. I am waiting. As for the railing I mentioned above, i found some brass stanchions thus I will NOT be using their less than perfect method of building the rails. Here is a link for those of you that have this kit.

 

Cornwall Model Boats

 

The reason I stopped on the AR-196 is because the launch sled needs to be built and fitted to the fuselage before assembly can continue. So far, this is the only part of the kit that is posing a real problem. Their instructions for the sled are wrong for the Revell kit. They might work for their resin kit but not for the Plastic kit. You need to scratch build two parts for the underside of the fuse but their dimensions are not correct. If you use them, the float bracings interfere. Also, I feel they are not strong enough. These parts have steel pins in the ends to facilitate assembly but on two of them the must have moved during molding and are now useless. So, I will be scratching all of the bracings with brass tube and wire. I will post detailed pics as i move along. Do NOT build the plane complete if you plan on doing the catapult. The fuselage needs to be wingless and floatless if this is going to work properly. If for no other reason than handling while building the sled. Did I already say I hate resin kits?

 

Pics to be coming real soon, thanks for reading.

 

Paul

very nice Paul. this is critical data for me, thanks for sharing your build angst.  what size for the brass rail stanchions and type of wire/size for railing?

 

remember:  Hitler bad, Resin good! 

[PAnderson]

very nice Paul. this is critical data for me, thanks for sharing your build angst.  what size for the brass rail stanchions and type of wire/size for railing?

 

remember:  Hitler bad, Resin good! 

Thanks Rick, really appreciate this. The brass stanchions I used from Cornwall are the 2 hole, 25mm ones. Also get the 1 hole, 6 mm for the hand rail around the base, 32 of them. Not bad at about 38 cents a piece. Way worth it just from saving all the aggravation. Also, the stanchions all use 1mm wire.

 

I had to use a jig to support the tail support while setting the longer supports. All the other pieces were soldered using my fingers. Could have used a few sets of extra hands.

 

Regards,

Paul

[rkranias]

Thanks Rick, really appreciate this. The brass stanchions I used from Cornwall are the 2 hole, 25mm ones. Also get the 1 hole, 6 mm for the hand rail around the base, 32 of them. Not bad at about 38 cents a piece. Way worth it just from saving all the aggravation. Also, the stanchions all use 1mm wire.

 

I had to use a jig to support the tail support while setting the longer supports. All the other pieces were soldered using my fingers. Could have used a few sets of extra hands.

 

Regards,

Paul

Thanks Paul.

 

Ok so I need:

 

32 - 1 hole, 6 mm brass stanchions (for the hand rails around the base)

8 - 2 hole, 25mm brass stanchions (for the hand rails around upper platform)

 

Best - Rick

[PAnderson]

Thanks Paul.

 

Ok so I need:

 

32 - 1 hole, 6 mm brass stanchions (for the hand rails around the base)

8 - 2 hole, 25mm brass stanchions (for the hand rails around upper platform)

 

Best - Rick

Rick, yes that is what you need, the 25mm stanchions come in packs of ten if you like. If you are going to solder the sled like I did, I used solder paste with flux in it. It was a lot easier.

 

Paul

[efrick]

The Arado floatplane, perched on it's catapult and awaiting it's next patrol, will be a dramatic presentation indeed! Can't wait!