Hello,
It has been quite a while since I last took the time to drop by the forum.
To be honest, it's been a tough year with a very heavy workload.
So, I've started working on this big, beautiful beast the very first WNW kit, in 1/32 scale, which is a scale I've never built before.
The kit is beautiful, admittedly, but not without its flaws.
The latch systems indicated by the red arrows are missing:
Additionally, WNW seems to have omitted some of the reinforced, cut-out metal bulkheads visible in these photos:
So, here is my interpretation:
Let's move on to the cockpit:
The seat looks nice, but it is a bit wide. I reduced its width by 1.5 mm, which will allow me to attach the harness in the correct position on one hand, and route some of the plumbing on the other. A few missing details were also added:
In blue, these are the hooks to attach the harness. WNW recommends gluing them to the sides of the seat.
In red, this is missing from the kit, and probably incomplete in the reference photo, but I added it anyway.
In green, the raised details are too soft on the kit, so I rebuilt them.
So much for the seat.
In green, the plastic part has since been replaced with a sturdier metal rod.
And I added thin strips of scrap PE to slide the harness hooks into.
A few holes to drill in the bulkheads:
Next up is the instrument panel.
The original photo:
I don't see any panel above the IP (red arrow); instead, I see an opening that allows a glimpse of what's behind it.
As for the radio, it was a real headache. I could have done a cleaner job, if it weren't for the thickness of the plastic, which was difficult to work with.
Just this photo to show what else is missing. The rudder bar in the kit is pure fiction. Apparently, it slots into the rear section of the bulkhead and features a triangular bracket to attach the cable, as frequently seen on German aircraft of the period. I scratch-built it but didn't take a photo. The return pulleys on the fuselage sidewalls are also missing.
Regarding the fuselage, this part is missing:
Painting stage:
Once everything was closed up, I looked into the missing elements on the fuselage:
The radiator walls are really thick, especially when compared to photos of the real aircraft.
Cutting them out of brass sheet and adjusting the fit.
The ailerons needed to be lengthened, a well-known issue with this kit. A word of warning here: I've seen modelers lengthen the wing structure to fill the gap instead of lengthening the ailerons themselves.
Consequently, this creates another issue: the protective metal plating is also too short...
Originally, this was a thin metal sheet, and period photos often show it looking a bit warped or buckled.
I scraped it all away and remade it using aluminum sheet from a food tray:
A small addition to the wings, using No. 0 entomological pins, after adding some relief/definition to the reinforcing plates.
Arnaud
