Jump to content

Arado E-377, Cammett kit - He-162 in progress


dutik

Recommended Posts

Group builds - my never ending story. Tried a lot, never made it to the finish line :crying:

 

I'll give it another try. The Spirit of Olympics - no need to win, just be part of the games :whistle:

 

 

 

This is one gem out of my stash - Cammetts E-377 Mistel conversion. The real deal never materialized. All we have are some drawings and proposals for the RLM and some scarce informations. The winged bomb was to be made of wood and some metal parts. For the Heinkel 162 guided variant there were two jets proposed, because the Volksjaeger was not able to get airborne with such a load. A trolley was used to move the the whole thing as well as to launch it into the air.

 

Lets see whats inside the box:

 

 

img_4400v2bdc.jpg

 

Beautiful cast parts. Written instructions with images too. Sufficient mounting pins, even at the wingroots. And all parts are keyed by pins or notches! :wub:  So it is impossible to fit the handed parts at the wrong side or to mismatch front/back or top/bottom orientation of the parts. Because I know my SOP I will try to get all parts glued and painted within 10 days. If I take it into the next month, all will be lost. Trust me :unsure:

 

 

Oh well, I screwed it right at the start: There was a slight gap here and there between front/rear part and main body of the bomb. So I sanded them to level just a little bit. Intended to avoid filling, sanding and loosing that nice rivet details all around. Not a lot. Just a part of a millimeter here and there.

 

Wrong! The shape is not tubular, it is ogival. So the gaps are gone, but I have a step at each end now :whistle:

 

OK, I will add some sheet styrene to fix this. Doh! :BANGHEAD2:

 

 

Enjoy!

- dutik

Edited by dutik
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Because of ABAM "as is". The 162 is IM, so I have to leave it off :whistle:

 

Honestly, I would be glad to finish this kit ootb without further complications. I know what happens to my projects too often. I have just one finished LSP in the gallery, while my cabinet looks like the Kabul scrapyard :closedeyes: 

 

 

 

But in a future far, far away I'll add a 162 on top :rolleyes:  Have another 162 in the stash with some very special conversion parts too B)

One day, maybe. But not next time.

 

Regards

- dutik

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fuselage glued together. 3 parts only. Looks easy, but wasn't. Superglue refused to bond. Both thick and thin brands. But it was able to bond my fingers together.

 

Well, after some serious head scratching I took the nail colour remover (contains acetone) to clean the mating surfaces from any residues of glue, added some strip of paper tissue and started again using thin superglue. When no more superglue got sucked into the joint I touched it with some wet tissue, and the glue started to bond. Well, it was the lacking humidity of the air. My hobby room is down to 15° Celsius now, so there is not enough humidity in the air for superglue to harden... It took a whole day to harden finally.

 

cammett0000cpsgc.jpg

 

The white "collar" is the styrene I added to meet the different diameters of the fuselage parts. Also discovered that some parts are egg shaped, leaving a step at top and bottom of the front joint and to the left and right of the rear joint. With some sanding I flushed out most of this, but the front top is in need of some putty to get a smooth transition.

 

...

 

One of the elevators was a short shot at the trailing edge with some major bubbler too. I added some 25 thou styrene at the less curved surface and cut it to shape using the other elevator as template. I filled the profile (and the bubbles) with superglue and filler/microballoons. I had good luck to get a bottle of some softer microballons some years ago, which are sandable with sanding sticks (most microballons are hard as stone and have to be sanded with a diamond file). Ready now. Just need to rescribe the trim tab:

 

cammett0001vispy.jpg

 

Enjoy

- dutik

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wings on:

 

cammett000241fir.jpg

 

Mating surfaces at both joints were somewhat rounded (front-rear line), which I used to align the wings and engines. Filled and sanded the gaps. Will rescribe panel lines tomorrow, wash the model and check again for blemishes.

 

The smaller parts are not so nice. Some struts are too short and have have bubbles. Cut one side down and will add some styrene to bridge the gap:

 

cammett0003ked7r.jpg

 

Another not so nice discovery was a broken support strut for the upper airplane. If I want to add the Heinkel 162 I have to make a new one. Maybe two, because both main struts are somewhat flimsy. But that is no problem when building the bomb (and trolley) only.

 

Oh, in the box were 7(!) struts for the front wheel of the trolley. Only one will be needed, so I have some spares now :D

 

Regards

- dutik

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice! That looks great........................I assume finding this kit now a days is like trying to find tails on crabs?

 

I agree. I own it only because I have a stash large enough to be an online shop :innocent:  Some years ago some fellows were in need of some mines, life rafts and other resin parts fot Italeries S-100 craft. Oversea orders are my part of the club life. To be honest, I had then and again a look at this conversion, but never was in a hurry to place an order. Not to mention all that other ongoing projects and the budget limit. But so I ordered the parts from Cammett and added the Arado too. So its here now and (with good luck) this year to see at some German modelling exhibitions too :rolleyes:

 

Meanwhile some progress. Rescribed the lost panel linesand rivets. Re-sawed them, to be correct, because I am lacking a proper scribing tool. Worked like a charm around all that curved parts.

Dryfitted and glued the engine gondolas. Tried to add the axles to the trolley, but the superglue failed again to cure. Except I glued 2 fingers onto the trolley and had to trim them somewhat. Not an issue. Was able to sand the finger parts off of the trolley :whistle: Have to visit the craft store tomorrow to buy some steel pins to strenghten the butt joints.

 

Regars

- dutik

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just give me note if you got bored by my tales about adventures in superglue land. Will skip that part on request. :tumble:

 

 

 

Axles glued onto the trolley. Added a 2mm steel nail inside each butt joint.

 

cammett0004ftkgu.jpg

 

The bogeys are dry fitted only. Will add some last small parts and then paint them before assembly.

 

Keep rolling

- dutik

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That is a FANTASTIC looking little kit Dutik!

 

For those of us looking for this kit, there may yet be hope....................Im not sure when/if the release date is, but a 1/32nd E-377 Mitsel IS listed as a "forthcoming item" from MasterCasters on White Ensigns web site:

 

1/32nd E-277 Mistel

 

YAY! I hope it comes to fruition...............

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Would that be a re-release of the Cammett kit, or a new one?  Either way, looks really cool. Might even be an excuse to build another He-162, so I can build it as a Mistel.

 

 


Great build so far, looks like it's going together without too much issue.

 

 

 

Matt  :frantic:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes and no. Large parts are fine, but the small parts are marred by short shots and bubbles. One of the main supports ot the upper airplane (i. e. the Heinkel) was broken. I am on the way to fix this with a steel nail. Will also add a nail to the other sides strut to get a sturdy support (just in case I add an upper airplane). Well, this kit is consuming steel nails with growing appetite :help:

 

Parts of the trolley are ready. Now waiting for the ordered paint to arrive. My plan is to paint the trolley dark yellow (like anything of Luftwaffe non-flying late war equipment) and looking somewhat used. Also have some ideas for the bomb, given that the wings had wooden paneels and the bomb was a one-use only device... :coolio:

 

Regards

- dutik

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Engine nacelles are on. Added the exhaust cones. The exhaust shell has a very tight fit. It took some hours of sanding to fit one of them. Had to remove some resin from inside too, as well as a ring at the immer face. The nacelle is at the wing also much wider than the exhaust shell and there is a 1-2 mm wide gap between the mating surfaces of the wing and the exhaust shell. Will add some sheet styrene, sand it flush an rescribe the paneel lines. When ready I will tacle the other engine:

 

cammett00051alel.jpg

 

In the background are the trolley parts in the painting process.

 

Enjoy!

- dutik

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...