1:72 Messerschmitt Me 334; aircraft "<o", personal mount of sergeant Heiner Selbach, Erprobungskommando 334; Lagerlechfeld, late 1944 (What-if/Luft'46/scratch-built)
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
A small Luft '46 project, but not an OOB kit but rather a massive kit conversion which comes close to scratch-building: the rather weird Messerschmitt 334, a true 'paper plane'.
Some background
The Me 334 (the project number's origins are not clear, the designation has never been officially accepted by the RLM) is one of the few plane designs that was intended as a conversion from a jet/rocket-powered plane into a piston-engine design, namely the Me 163 Komet.
Due to the early unavailability of the Walter rocket engines for the Me 163 in 1942/43, the Me 334 was derived as an alternative. Dr. Lippisch, the Me 163' designer, modified this aircraft to accept a Daimler Benz DB 605 12-cylinder piston engine. The wings were taken from the Me 163. They were mounted mid-fuselage and swept back at a 23.4 degree angle. The main landing gear retracted inwards and the front gear retracted to the rear - a revolutionary design for its time. The DB 605 would drive a pusher propeller through an extension shaft, alle the way through the fuselage, and the vertical stabilizer was re-located under the fuselage as a protection for the propeller on the ground.
Further development was abandoned when the Walter engines finally became operational and available, and Lippisch designed the P.20 as another evolutionary step of the basic design, but this time with a jet engine.
The Me 334 was never built, and its performance can only be guessed. Sources consider the Me equivalent or even slightly superior to the contemporary Me 109G.
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 7.0 m
Wing span: 9.3 m
Height: 3.72 m
Wing area: 17.3 m²
Aspect ratio: 5.0
Weight: 2.800–3.000 kg
Performance: slightly better than a Me 109G
Engine: 1 Daimler-Benz DB 605 with 1.475 hp
Armament: Two MG 131 13mm machine guns on top of the engine cowl.
The kit and its assembly
Information and details are scarce, so I decided to take the same approach Dr. Lippisch did: take a Me 163, add a piston engine and see where it goes.
The basis for my kit is a Me 163 from Academy - a very good model kit, which nor only comes with a tractor for the model but also offers two fuselage versions: the single seated interceptor and the two-seated trainer version. The latter would be perfect for my conversion, because I could use the complete rear cockpit and its interior!
From this Me 163S, more or less the complete fuselage and the wings were taken, but donations from several other kits were used to "create" something that would resemble a Me 334 (all 1:72 scale):
- Engine from a Matchbox Me 410
- Landing gear from a Hasegawa J7W Shinden
- Main wheels from a Hasegawa XF8U
- Main landing gear covers from an Italieri Fw 190D
- Canopy from an Airfix P-38
- Propeller blades from a Matchbox Fw 190A
- Air intake and jet fan parts from a Kovozavody Su-25
- Exhaust pipes from an Italierei He 111
Many other details like the front grille or the landing gear covers were built from scratch.
Lots of putty was necessary to melt the engine and the fuselage into "one", as well as the P-38 canopy, which is actually a bit oversized for the tiny aircraft.
The propeller was built from scratch - it is the tip of a supersonic drop tank, a wire shaft sits in a plastic tube in the plane's tail. The propeller blades come from a Matchbox Fw 190 - I thought that these characteristic, spade-like blades would add to the "German" look.
All the landing gear wells had to be cut open manually, and filled with some details. This was easier than expected, just the front wheel bay was a bit difficult to install since it would be placed on the intersection of fuselage and engine.
Since I am not certain what would be inside of the radiator intake in the Me 334's front, I decided to put a mesh inside and add a small fan which would be barely visible - a nice effect.
I used the original cockpit from the Me 163 Academy kit, just added safety belts and a radio set behind the seat. Since fitting the canopy was rather complicated and messy, I left it unopened and without a pilot.
Painting
As a true "Whif" plane, total design freedom! But as usual with Luft '46 models, I tried to stay true to contemporary Luftwaffe camouflage and marking designs. The Me 334 would have been ready for trials in late 1943, so I thought that a machine from a fictional "Erprobungskommando 334" (or "EK 334" for short, a temporary testing unit, where a new type would be introduced to real life service, a common Luftwaffe practice at that time) would be fine.
Since all-grey fighters were only about to appear at that time, I settled on conservative colours:
* Wing surfaces in RLM 71/02 (Dunkelgrün/Grau, actually Humbrol #116 and Testors Testors #2071; it is a colour scheme that was common on Bf 109’s, after the original RLM 70/71 turned out to be much too dark an low in contrast)
* Lower surfaces RLM 65 (Lichtblau, Humbrol #65)
* Fuselage surface RLM 75/02 (Humbrol #106 Ocean Grey with additional mottles of Humbrol #140 Gull Grey)
* All interior surfaces including the landing gear were painted in RLM 66 (Schwarzgrau).
Markings come from the donation kit Academy Me 163 and from the scrap box. Among the extras are squadron batches and insignia for the technical officer’s plane (the chevron symbol with the dot instead of a number) from TL Decals, plus some ‘kill’ markings for planes and balloons on the tai fin, also from a TL Decals sheet.
1:72 Messerschmitt Me 334; aircraft "<o", personal mount of sergeant Heiner Selbach, Erprobungskommando 334; Lagerlechfeld, late 1944 (What-if/Luft'46/scratch-built)
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
A small Luft '46 project, but not an OOB kit but rather a massive kit conversion which comes close to scratch-building: the rather weird Messerschmitt 334, a true 'paper plane'.
Some background
The Me 334 (the project number's origins are not clear, the designation has never been officially accepted by the RLM) is one of the few plane designs that was intended as a conversion from a jet/rocket-powered plane into a piston-engine design, namely the Me 163 Komet.
Due to the early unavailability of the Walter rocket engines for the Me 163 in 1942/43, the Me 334 was derived as an alternative. Dr. Lippisch, the Me 163' designer, modified this aircraft to accept a Daimler Benz DB 605 12-cylinder piston engine. The wings were taken from the Me 163. They were mounted mid-fuselage and swept back at a 23.4 degree angle. The main landing gear retracted inwards and the front gear retracted to the rear - a revolutionary design for its time. The DB 605 would drive a pusher propeller through an extension shaft, alle the way through the fuselage, and the vertical stabilizer was re-located under the fuselage as a protection for the propeller on the ground.
Further development was abandoned when the Walter engines finally became operational and available, and Lippisch designed the P.20 as another evolutionary step of the basic design, but this time with a jet engine.
The Me 334 was never built, and its performance can only be guessed. Sources consider the Me equivalent or even slightly superior to the contemporary Me 109G.
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 7.0 m
Wing span: 9.3 m
Height: 3.72 m
Wing area: 17.3 m²
Aspect ratio: 5.0
Weight: 2.800–3.000 kg
Performance: slightly better than a Me 109G
Engine: 1 Daimler-Benz DB 605 with 1.475 hp
Armament: Two MG 131 13mm machine guns on top of the engine cowl.
The kit and its assembly
Information and details are scarce, so I decided to take the same approach Dr. Lippisch did: take a Me 163, add a piston engine and see where it goes.
The basis for my kit is a Me 163 from Academy - a very good model kit, which nor only comes with a tractor for the model but also offers two fuselage versions: the single seated interceptor and the two-seated trainer version. The latter would be perfect for my conversion, because I could use the complete rear cockpit and its interior!
From this Me 163S, more or less the complete fuselage and the wings were taken, but donations from several other kits were used to "create" something that would resemble a Me 334 (all 1:72 scale):
- Engine from a Matchbox Me 410
- Landing gear from a Hasegawa J7W Shinden
- Main wheels from a Hasegawa XF8U
- Main landing gear covers from an Italieri Fw 190D
- Canopy from an Airfix P-38
- Propeller blades from a Matchbox Fw 190A
- Air intake and jet fan parts from a Kovozavody Su-25
- Exhaust pipes from an Italierei He 111
Many other details like the front grille or the landing gear covers were built from scratch.
Lots of putty was necessary to melt the engine and the fuselage into "one", as well as the P-38 canopy, which is actually a bit oversized for the tiny aircraft.
The propeller was built from scratch - it is the tip of a supersonic drop tank, a wire shaft sits in a plastic tube in the plane's tail. The propeller blades come from a Matchbox Fw 190 - I thought that these characteristic, spade-like blades would add to the "German" look.
All the landing gear wells had to be cut open manually, and filled with some details. This was easier than expected, just the front wheel bay was a bit difficult to install since it would be placed on the intersection of fuselage and engine.
Since I am not certain what would be inside of the radiator intake in the Me 334's front, I decided to put a mesh inside and add a small fan which would be barely visible - a nice effect.
I used the original cockpit from the Me 163 Academy kit, just added safety belts and a radio set behind the seat. Since fitting the canopy was rather complicated and messy, I left it unopened and without a pilot.
Painting
As a true "Whif" plane, total design freedom! But as usual with Luft '46 models, I tried to stay true to contemporary Luftwaffe camouflage and marking designs. The Me 334 would have been ready for trials in late 1943, so I thought that a machine from a fictional "Erprobungskommando 334" (or "EK 334" for short, a temporary testing unit, where a new type would be introduced to real life service, a common Luftwaffe practice at that time) would be fine.
Since all-grey fighters were only about to appear at that time, I settled on conservative colours:
* Wing surfaces in RLM 71/02 (Dunkelgrün/Grau, actually Humbrol #116 and Testors Testors #2071; it is a colour scheme that was common on Bf 109’s, after the original RLM 70/71 turned out to be much too dark an low in contrast)
* Lower surfaces RLM 65 (Lichtblau, Humbrol #65)
* Fuselage surface RLM 75/02 (Humbrol #106 Ocean Grey with additional mottles of Humbrol #140 Gull Grey)
* All interior surfaces including the landing gear were painted in RLM 66 (Schwarzgrau).
Markings come from the donation kit Academy Me 163 and from the scrap box. Among the extras are squadron batches and insignia for the technical officer’s plane (the chevron symbol with the dot instead of a number) from TL Decals, plus some ‘kill’ markings for planes and balloons on the tai fin, also from a TL Decals sheet.