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"Rocket science" - Fly's Bachem Ba-349 Natter


dutik

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Great cockpit shots! What the doctor has ordered! This will help me a lot to detail the dashboard :yahoo:

...

 

Well, no nutters at all. We are living in a civiliced part of the world! At least the Austrians told me so! :wicked: Thats where this Natter will finally come to a rest :whistle:

 

OK, maybe. Later, after the Americans had grabbed it, maybe then there was a time for nutters. But our Austrian rocket scientists are very serious people! Very! :fight:

 

Regards

- dutik

 

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On 3/20/2021 at 4:19 AM, Gazzas said:

Nice pics!  I look at those stubby wings and I think....   Nahhh...  not me.

 

Well, the germans flight-tested the gliding characteristics before the first hot launch. They towed it with a He-111 up to some thousand metres and untied the bird. The pilot testified the Natter a very pleasant flight behaviour and good respose to the controls. Nevertheless he had to bail out in the end, pre-planned, because the Natter had no landing gear. It worked fine.

 

...

 

My plan for the weekend was to go ahead with the build and to get the cockpit ready, but it got shattered by reality. As always :D

 

Michaels photos above are showing a very different cockpit layout than what Fly has provided for the kit, so I started an in-depth research of the topic. The mighty world wide web to the rescue! Type "Bachem natter" and you will find a plethora of images. Final verdict: Fly got it wrong. They ask you to add some pulleys and wires to the right wall, that were nowhere at the real thing. The dashboard is too small, inverted and at the wrong location. Even te supports for the headrest are wrong, which were two simple crossbars. Not to mention the lack of electrical lines and the canopy locks...

 

Well, I will correct this as I move ahead with the build. Lets see what we have now at least:

 

nat-1769kq6.jpg

 

Painted the plywood interior. Not my best plywood, but it will do the job. Front and rear bulkheads will be painted RLM02.

 

nat-195bkol.jpg

 

Here you see the correct position of the headrest supports (the white parts on top of the bulkhead). Also started to fill the cutouts of the fictional pulleys. Cut out the moving surfaces to position them in a lifelike manner. A bit of putty and sanding is still required. Don't cut off the rear panels of the wings! The Natter had no ailerons, the wings were solid :ninja: The aircraft used elevons (something new I've learned about the Natter).

 

nat-18pdksq.jpg

 

This is a really superdetailed transport cradle :punk: I've added woodgrain to the plain styrene parts, using a knife and a wire brush, added some crossbars and also pinheads. Done! :thumbsup:

 

Thats what our rocket scientists achieved until now. Enjoy!

- dutik

 

Edited by dutik
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Had a deep look into a glass of pinot noir ...err, no, wrong story! :oops:

Had a deep look in my stash, yep, stash :fight: , but I must admit I own no instrument bezels. Placed an order at Airscale UK. Lets pray that the bezels (WW2 and modern set, and some early russian jet gauges) will made it fast and smooth from the besieged Albion to the continent... :shrug:

 

At least I own a nice collection of placards and instrument faces. And there are enough other parts left to go ahead with this build :D

 

Regards

- dutik

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BTW, coming to the the end of the construction of the aircraft rises one new question: Which color?

 

Fly calls out for a "light grey". Not RLM02, that is the other marking variant. Just "light grey" :ninja:

 

Any ideas? I don't know a late war RLM "light gray". RLM75 grey? Is this a "light" one? Doubt so. RLM76 blue? At least it is "light". :shrug:

I tend towards RLM76, with green mottling and pine branches. Other estimated guesses?

 

Regards

- dutik

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55 minutes ago, dutik said:

Which peasants? :shrug: Here are only rocket scientists :fight: wearing regional fashion. When in Austria behave as an Austrian! :whistle:

 

Ordered some grass and flowers for the camouflage of the workspace. You never have enough flowers in a rocket research facility.

 

Regards

- dutik

 

 

Dressed up like Kontrust then.....?:rofl:

They would count as being nutty enough . 

 

Edited by Panzerwomble
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:D

 

...

 

Our technicians got the fuselage closed. Fit was OK after some sanding here and there, but some putty needed along the seam. I drilled a hole into the bottom to fill it with some superglue and filler to prevent cracking off of the fuselage seams. Proven drill. Of course the fuselage leaked like a sieve - at some seams and aft along the exhaust insert. The whole working table got drenched with superglue puddles, I'v glued some fingers together - proven drill, as usual :D After some sanding and polishing I completed the cockpit interior. Now look at this:

 

nat-21kuks1.jpg

 

nat-22aajj8.jpg

 

I added a second handle to the control stick as visible at original photos. No problems so far. Well, now we need some canopy locks and a new dashboard. The kit part is ok for the M24 prototype, but there were a lot of modifications following the different prototype numbers. I have a drawing of the late dashboard design that we need here. Will show this when I have the new dashboard ready.

 

Regards

- dutik

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Good stuff Dutik - your scientists have obviously been working overtime on this one! :)

 

I have the same kit (the box is now so flattened, that now looks like an A4 size envelope!). My chief reference material is this book:

 

Projekt Natter: Last of the Wonder Weapons, reviewed by Scott Van Aken

 

It will be made one day.

 

Cheers

 

Derek

 

 

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