**** DONE: 1/48 Arado Ar234B-2 - Jet/Recon/Transport GB

[Crimea_River]

Username: Crimea River
First name: Andy
Category: Judge – Non competing
Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Hasegawa
Model Type: Arado Ar234B-2
Aftermarket addons: The usual neurotic addition of stupidly small scratch-built details here and there.

My subject will be the Arado 234 B-2 (F1+MT) WNr 140173 of 9./KG 76. This aircraft, piloted by Joseph Regler, was shot down on the 22 Feb 1945*by Lt. David B. Fox flying a P-47 of the 366th FG. Crash landing near Selgersdorf, Germany, the aircraft was captured by Allied forces two days later and packed off to RAE Farnborough for evaluation. There are a few pictures of this aircraft available on the net confirming the interesting patchy overspray of RLM76 on the fuselage sides and uppers. Once again, I'd really like to get some feedback on colours and details from those in the know so that I can portray this aircraft as accurately as possible.

 

[meatloaf109]

Sorry, late war LW schemes are still a "Miss Terry" to me, but I am intrigued with the idea.
Looking forward to this one!

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Nice one Andy and that camo looks right up your street.

I've the Monogram No 33 for this machine on PDF so I'll take a look over the weekend to see what it says about the colours. If you want any detailing stuff on this let me know and I throw something together.

 

[N4521U]

You guys sure know how to pick the giant scale kits to build. I'm too limited in space to go for something this size.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Wayne Little]

You guys sure know how to pick the giant scale kits to build. I'm too limited in space to go for something this size.

It's actually not quite as big as you may think Bill...nice looking just the same...

 

[ccheese]

Interesting, Andy. At least there's no rigging !

Charles

 

[Airframes]

Good one Andy. I have a good cockpit diagram of this if you need it, and a Falcon vac-form canopy set which is yours if you want it - just let me know and I'll tie it to an outbound pigeon !

 

[T Bolt]

Good one Andy. I built the Hobby Craft one years and years ago so it'll be interesting how the Hasegawa compares. I'm sure much better.

 

[Rogi]

Same, I did the Hobbycraft variant, was a total disaster building the fit on it was appauling, but then airbrushing it on my old airbrush went smooth as silk Then it failed on the decals

I'm sure you won't have any problems with Hasegawa's bird

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Andy, came up with these pics, the captions typed underneath. Unfortunately though the book it totally written in Polish with the exception of the picture captions being translated. The book also had some drawing details such as undercarriage that may be of interest and of course, stacks of photos.

The 3 above pictures:
Ar 234 B-2, WNr 140 173, code F1+MT which was flown by Staffelkapiän 9./KG 76 Hptm. Josef Regler was forced to belly in near Segelsdorf. His aircraft was the first Ar 234 captured by the allies.

Ar 234 B-2 coded F2+MT with dismounted engines. Of interest are the damaged wing tips and large irregular splotches of RLM 76 on the aircraft's fuselage.

Though this last one is not F1+MT it is its twin with similar camo and of course the lighter RLM 76 colour and I'm assuming the darker would be RLM 70 or 71/72

 

[Rogi]

I'll check my selection to see if I have anything on the Ar-234 in english

 

[Crimea_River]

Wow, great feedback guy. Thanks so much.

First off, Vic, thanks for the photos. I have most on file but there are some new ones there. The last one claiming to be "F2+MT" must be a typo. It's in fact another picture of the same aircraft as the second last pic, just from a slightly different angle. Will send you a PM.

Bill, it's indeed relatively small. Wingspan is about a foot.

Terry, thanks very much and I'll take you up on that offer of the vac form canopy. Very kind my friend. Let me know if you've lost my address or if you're using a different pigeon.

I'm thinking colours to be 81/82/76 although 70/71/65 could have been possible. Would be nice to see a copy of the RAE evaluation report to verify it!

 

[rochie]

nice one Andy, got a few ref's for the Arado so will have a look for you

 

[A4K]

It's actually not quite as big as you may think Bill...nice looking just the same...

Exactly, she's actually quite small! Great choice Andy!

 

[Airframes]

I'll get the canopy and instructions sent off by 'CooAir' early next week Andy.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Terry, but before you do, can you tell me more about this Falcon set? Is it made for the Hasegawa kit and is there any info as to the fit than I can expect? I'd hate to ave you go through the trouble of sending it only to find that it won't work well.

 

[Airframes]

I've just checked Andy. The suggested kit is Hobbycraft; however, in my experience, due to the flexibility of these parts, they can be fitted to virually any kit, given that the fuselage edges are not excessively too wide or too narrow across the opening. The canopy is supplied in two parts, upper and lower, with a suggestion to cut away part of the kit fuselage section.
Can't see any harm in giving it a test fit at least (before doing any cutting) - if they won't fit comfortably, then nothing lost. It's no trouble sending the parts, as I have to go to the Post Office anyway, and the cost is only pennies.
BTW, I've e-mailed the cockpit drawings to you.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Terry. I saw your e-mail before this response and thanks for the information.

I did some more reading as well. One of the faults of the Hobbycraft kit noted by one reviewer was that it was slightly under scale. I would hate for you to send the parts with the possibility that I end up not using them.

 

[Rogi]

When I made my Hobbycraft kit, the canopy (the hobbycraft one) was either too big or too small for the kit, I'll have to check it again to see what I did to the model, if it is too small for the kit and I added sprue to fit you should be ok so if the replacement canopy is bigger then it should be ok for Hasegawa