Rick K

PM inbound.

Color this done. RFI link here.

A few detail shots.

The Fa330 Bachsteize (Wagtail) always interested me as a unique aircraft with an equally unique mission. This was towed aloft to about 400ft (120m) by the U-Boat so the pilot could see beyond the horizon view (25 nautical miles) and report any enemy activity. Stored in 2 water tight compartments by the conning tower a team of 3 can assemble and disassemble the Fa330 in about 20 minutes. U-boat commanders disliked the Fa330 as the prolonged time on surface make their boat venerable to an air strike or detection by enemy ships. The Fa330 was abandoned in the North Atlantic due to allied air superiority but continued use in the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean. The only recorded successful use of the Fa330 was 5 August 1943 by U-177 on the Indian Ocean off the coast east of Madagascar. Greek merchant ship Efthalia Mari was observed by U-177's Fa330. U-177 proceeded to intercept the Efthalia Mari and sink her with 2 torpedoes. Efthalia Mari lost 1 crew of 43. U-177 did not survive the war and was sunk 6 February 1944 in Atlantic west of Ascension Island by an American P4BY-1 Liberator. U-177 lost 50 crew of 65. Not a easy build as there was plenty of angst and head scratching moments. This build also gave me an opportunity to practice rigging as a WNW bird will be landing on my bench soon. WIP link here. Build Details Replaced over a dozen tubes with styrene rod .5mm .4mm .3mm Scratch All Grab Handles on frame and underside rotors Cleats on skids Parachute Pack and all straps Turnbuckles on Outriggers on top of rotor hub Pitot Tube and mount Instrument Panel mounts Foot Pedal and Straps Rigging & Cables INFINI Medium 110 (.121mm) Black Lycra thread EZ Line Medium ANYZ Black .5mm Braided thread Brown .4mm Braided thread RB Productions P32023 Turnbuckles GasPatch Rigging eyelets Albion Aluminum Slide Fit Tubes .3mm .5mm .7mm Gunze RLM 66 RLM 76 RLM 81 Vallejo 306 Dark Rubber Tamiya XF86 Flat Clear MiG Washes Dark Wash Decals MDC Luftwaffe Instrument Dial HGW Luftwaffe Textile Belts Thank you all for your encouragement and support during this build. I don't get many opportunities to follow and respond to many of the awesome builds on this site. I wish I had the time to as there and many exceptional projects going on here at any given moment.

That PE work hurts my eyes. great job on the progress

Parachute pack and parachute shockcord expoy cured. Epoxy applied for rotor mount. A little assist from my son's LEGO for alignment jig.

Long story short. I lost the WIP images only because of impatience with my Photo Bucket account issues and PhotoShop. I'd always preach to my kids: "Never enough time to do it right. Plenty of time to do it over." This time its a lesson on me. These images will hopefully cover enough for the parachute pack, belts and foot pedals. Shock cord on the tweezers is .4mm braided thread I secured at a garment store with xs Ultra Wire fed through to allow bending. Seat belts and foot pedals in place. Parachute pack with straps and shock cord release. One of my reference images shows the parachute pack as a "treated canvas" pack with lots of straps. So I got a creative. Flat lead wire straps adjusted to final position and secured with CA. Epoxy applied to parachute pack mount area and shock cord glued to mast then set aside to cure.

Thanks Troy. My son is happy to see his LEGO helping me with my bench work.

The most intimidating step for me will be the instrument panel. The attachment of the IP to front tube will be executed as I noticed on the real Fa330. I drilled out the with a 7mm drill and used Ultra Wire size medium/gray. Once wire is secured to the IP the wire will be fed into the front tube and secured with epoxy. The resin pitot tube provided is replaced with scratch work. New pitot tube was fashioned with 5.mm aluminum tube and glued to the styrene strips with epoxy. At bottom one 2mm disc and one 3mm disc punched from sheet styrene are used to split bottom. A .30mm hole is drilled on each strip to accept the exposed wire from the braided thread. The pitot mount is secured to IP with thin cement. The photoetch panel with bezels is glued to the kit IP. Seat cushion painted Gunze RLM 81. Panel painted with Gunze RLM 66. IP wire is ANYZ .5mm braided thread with Ultra Wire xsmall threaded inside the braided thread to hold the bends and shapes. I lost the build images of this. The IP wires are attached to the pitot mount. The other ANYZ .5mm braided thread runs from base of rotor mount along frame to the IP and will be secured after IP is installed. IP painted and MDC Luftwaffe IP dial decals used. You can see where the wire IP mount will fit in front of tube. A toothpick and clay alignment jig is fashioned to keep the IP assembly in position. Notice the white wire behind the seat cushion and halfway up the main mast? Think belt locators. While epoxy cures HGW seatbelts are used in lieu of the photoetch belts provided. I loathe the time needed to assemble these textile belts. However, the end result is well worth the effort.

Thanks Kev.

Let the rigging begin. INFINI Medium 110 (.121mm) Black Lycra thread will be used for Rotor Blade rigging. Begin with the Outrigger to Rotor. Secure with tape. This is stretchy so tug just a little so its taught. Radu P32023 Rigging Turnbuckles are used for each line. In lieu of tying at each eyelet thread the string through. This will allow position adjustment of turnbuckle later on. The rigging from rotor blade to another is one line fed through the eyelets on the rotor wings. be sure to install Radu's turnbuckle before securing the next rotor rigging. Last outrigger done. Secure with drop of CA then carefully trim with fresh blade. Rotor blade rigging complete. At this point you can carefully slide the turnbuckles to desired position. Test fit of rotor assembly on mast. Color me happy. INFINI Medium is used for rudder, joystick cables and skid brace. EZ Line Medium is used for joystick pulley cable EZ Line is flat and works well on the wheels at joystick base and mast base.

One of my biggest issues with any short run injection kit is lack of locator holes or pins. Fly's Fa330 is no different. To get the correct rotor angle I enlarged the top view profile drawing on the last page of the instructions. I drilled .5mm holes on the rotor hub for the 3 outriggers. Then with a small drop of CA glue the hub to the enlarged profile view of rotors. Carefully drill a .5mm in each outrigger. Inserting a .5mm brass rod with just about 2mm exposed will give enough for the brass rod to align and keep the outrigger in place while epoxy cures. Prior to inserting the brass rod I decided to create the turnbuckle for the rigging. Using a .5mm aluminum tube and Ultra Wire extra small I created turn buckles. The aluminum tube will bend very easy and that's a good thing. Turnbuckle is inserted and secured with epoxy. After epoxy cure (i gave it 3 days) you can carefully bend the turn buckle to the proper angle. *Outrigger and rotor blade are dry fitted. Take photo etch piece #18 and carefully align with the outriggers. This is where you very carefully bend each outrigger to align with #18. Once in place secure with epoxy and let cure for a few days. After outriggers are cured it's now time to glue the rotor blades to the rotor hub. Using LEGO pieces come in handy to give the rotor blades desired pitch. Make sure the rotor blade shaft ends are clean of any paint. Same goes for the mount holes on the rotor hub. If they are not clear the possibility the epoxy will not hold. While epoxy is setting align rotor blade and place the Lego piece to give desired angle. I've seen varying degrees of angles on actual photos and a real Fa330. All ranging from Droopy to Neutral to Upward. I elected to go with a neutral with a slight rise. It's up to the builder. *15 minute epoxy will afford plenty of time for fine adjustments. Once satisfied...walk away for 2 days. Let the epoxy cure.

Looking good Marc. Looks like you are in control of the short comings of this kit. You are in for an interesting experience

Cheers Marc. Any assist I can offer, just ask. Good luck with your Fa330. I'm watching.

The parachute pack gets some scratch love with styrene rod replacing the pe retainers. .33mm styrene rod wrapped around a mandrel and heated with hair dryer. Then trimmed to desired shape. I added kit decals and data plate decals from MDC at this stage as I want to lessen any opportunities for breaking delicate stuff. GasPatch rigging eyelets attached to rotor blades then painted. Data plates also added to each blade.