1/72 Revell Horten 229

[Lancer512]

This will be the first of a few "Luftwaffe 46" kits I've aquired during the last year. Although I am not really into german WWII aircraft, a few select aircraft still got me intrigued.

I will build the Revell kit OOB, but it will have a "What If" paint scheme. I'm not revealing anything more about the scheme, yet.

I am not sure if the aircraft is called Horten IX, Horten 229, or Go229. I will use Horten 229 for the time being, as it was only built by Gothaer Waggonfabrik, and not designed. The successor of the 229, designed by Gotha will follow in another build.

Let's start this time with some pictures of the box and the contents:

One of the sprues with very delicate parts for the landing gear.

I've removed the fuselage and wing halves from their sprues to get everything onto one picture. The clear parts are not shown.

I sprayed the cockpit RLM 66. The interior parts and landing gear, as well as the inside of the center section which is visible, was done in RLM 04.

Edited August 19, 2016 by Lancer512

[Lancer512]

Half a day later, all subassemblies are done and can be joined together.

The wing halves are joined and sanded, and the cockpit is completed. The instructions call for the cannons to be installed in the lower fuselage half, but you'll never be able to see them once they are burried inside the fuselage.

The seat was painted with Vallejo Model Air and a Flory Models Dark Dirt wash was applied to tone everything down. Not sure why the harness looks like this in the picture.

I've used three different flavours of Vallejo's Metal Color range: Aluminum for the intake and compressor, Magnesium for the starter casing, and Exhaust Manifold for the turbine and exhaust cone.

[Lancer512]

Well, it's not even been 20 hours after I started this kit, and I am alreay adding stuff that is not in the box.

I've installed the exhaust cones and dry fitted the fuselage halves. Unfortunately, there is light shining from nose gear well right through the exhaust. To prevent this, I added some styrene strips to make some sort of engine casing. And this will look much more realistic than just a gaping hole.

Despite the instructions, I also attached the inlet ducts without the starter. I masked the aluminum colored intake ducts with White Tac flush to the edge of the duct, and then installed it into the forward fuselage. This way, I can paint the model without messing up the painted inlets. Once the model is completely painted, I simply remove the white tack and then add the starters as the very last thing.

[Lancer512]

I've completed the engine casing, which was done by fitting strips of styrene in between the three strips which were glued in earlier. The same was done to the second engie.

After that was dry, I applied a coat of liquid styrene over everything to eliminate any gaps. Once everything is completely dry, I'll sand it smooth and apply a black base coat to the engines to prevent light shinig through. Then a final coat of RLM 02 will be sprayed over everything.

It definately looks different than before. A real shame Revell did not include two simple parts for this. I also might scratch some ducting to replicate the engines from the compresser through the fuselage, as this will be seen from the wheel bay.

[Lancer512]

This model is coming together like a charm!

The instructions call for the nose to be attached to the lower fuselage half first. I've decided to join the fuselage halves first, then attach the wings and only then fit the nose. And it turned out that this was a good decision.

The wings fit perfectly without any visible gap. The dihedral is also the same on both sides. I've used Tamiya Extra Thin for this purpose.

Also on the bottom, no unusual gap. Only a panel line should remain visible on the wing to fuselage joint.

As you can see, there is some slight warpage towards the front in the nose piece. This is why I've choosen to do this piece as the last, as the fuselage and the wings will give me a lot of reference points for proper alignment. Again, Tamiya Extra Thin will do a great job there.

[Sebastijan]

Cool start... I have one in the stash waiting for my flying wing collection.

[Lancer512]

Just some small progress during the week:

I installed the nose piece by glueing it in several steps. I adjusted the piece to match with the leading edges and the top of the wings first. This was then glued in palce by adding Tamiya Extra Thin to the joint. Once this was completely dry, I fitted the lower fuselage to the nose pice by adding temporary shims and clamps to give the best contour match. Each side was done by itself. Any gaps were closed with more Extra Thin and set aside. After one day to allow for drying, a light sanding of the joint did the job.

There was a sink mark on the left intake, which needed some attention. This was quickly rectified with 3M Glazing Putty and Mr. Surfacer 500. Exept for the blemishes I've caused by myself that only required some Mr. Surfacer, this is my first model which absolutely needed no putty at all. During the sanding, I only lost two rows of rivets and two access panels on each intake. But I guess that is acceptable.

Edited August 24, 2016 by Lancer512

[Lancer512]

It's been a week since I've started this kit and today the paint went on.

I masked the cockpit and the area aft of the exhaust, as this area will be highly polished metal. The gear bays were masked, too, but I decided not to bother you with another picture of the bottom of the model. The remaining parts, as wheels and doors were alsp prepared for priming.

The complete model was then primed with Badger's grey Stynylrez.

After the bottom was sprayed with RLM 76, I sprayed the top side with RLM 66. I guess by now it's pretty evident what paint scheme it will have.

[Lancer512]

It seems that my Harder & Steenbeck Infinty seems to have a bad nozzle, as I can't get a fine line without overspray. I've spent the weekend trying to resolve that problem, but to no avail. So I reverted to my old Badger 200 to spray the RLM 80 blotches freehand.

The larger blotches were lightended in the center with RLM 66, resulting in a leopard-like scheme. I've seen this camouflage in another forum and immediately liked it. I remeber the words "If people start copying you, you must have done it right".

[Lancer512]

Did some more painting tonight. The surface was sanded with a fine polishing stick to get rid of some overspray and to give the green paint some sort of weathered look. This will also save the step of gloss coating befre decallng.

The intakes, which were masked with white tac before assembly turned out pretty good.

[Silenoz]

nice camo, wonder if you will apply some Italien markings on this one and a gigi tri ossei emblem... would fit this camo...

[Lancer512]

Sorry, I'll do it in german markings.

Just finished decaling the first half. I initially had a the "Blue 4" and the kit's thin white late-war iron crosses on the wings, but it didn't look right. So I went for this version, which brings some contrast to the model.

[r0t0rdr1ver]

Looks great in that scheme!

[Lancer512]

I'm happy you guys like it!

I applied a chalk wash over the complete model. This has dulled the paint so some degree and the panel lines are visible now.

After I wiped away the wash, some weathering stains were airbrushed on.

The canopy was a nightmare to mask. I masked and sprayed it in three steps. It is just temporarily placed on the fuselage. I still have to paint the windshield frame with some brown color. Maybe I'll add some green spots to the frame.

[Taylor Durbon]

Looks absolutly stunning. Well done!

[Lancer512]

Thank you, Taylor.

Tonight, I installed the landing gear and the small parts. I noticed that I've somehow lost the x-shaped brace for the nose landing gear. Oh well...

Tomorrow, I'll paint the metal panels aft of the exhaust nozzles, do some touch up and it's ready to go to our club meeting. Close, but I can make it!

I'll post pictures of the finished model during the weekend.

[Hajo L.]

Great camo-scheme!

HAJO

[Lancer512]

Thanks, Hajo.

The model is finished!

You can see pictures of the finished model here on ARC in the "Display Case".