Blohm und Voss BV P.209.02

"TRAUMFLUGZEUG"
BLOHM UND VOSS BV P.209.02

Airmodel, 1/72

About the aircraft modeled

The Blohm und Voss BV P.209.02 was the second of two designs designated P.209, both single-seat jet fighter layouts, but otherwise radically different. The P.209.01 had a tailless layout and was to be powered by a single Hs S 011 A turbojet giving 2,866-lb thrust mounted in the rear of the short fuselage and fed through an intake in the nose. The wings were swept back, with streamlined pods close to the tips. Projecting from the rear of the pods were drooping wingtips with trailing edge control surfaces. Blohm und Voss redesignated this project the BV P.210 and carried it through to through to the BV P.212.

The P.209.02 represented by the model was of a more conventional layout with a normal tailplane, but the wings were swept forward in an effort to overcome the compressibility problems encountered with straight wings at high speeds, while at the same time avoiding the low-speed instability problems suffered with sweptback wings at the time. This version was to have been powered by a single Hs 011 A turbojet fed by a nose intake. Armament was to have been three 30-mm MK 108 cannons with 65 rounds each.

Building the model

Cockpit

The kit includes a joystick, rudder pedals, two sidewall consoles, and an instrument panel. The seat is molded into the fuselage mold, as is the radio box in the rear. I did not like the molded-in seat and cut both seat and backrest away with Dremel cutting bits and finished with files and sandpaper. I substituted a seat I rifled from an old Jo-Han Me-262 and used masking tape for what was to become the leather seat and back pads. The radio box was cut away also, mostly to facilitate the filling and sanding of two large pinholes in the rear cockpit area. It was replaced with a piece cut from sheet styrene. I also went liberal and cut many small slices of thin sheet styrene and attached them to various places on the smooth sidewall consoles to represent other controls. The throttle control was done with a round disk of sheet styrene cut about 1/3 of the way down. A hole was drilled into the control to except a throttle control stick made from a small piece of fine wire. I substituted the kit's control stick with a piece of 0.025-in wire and built up the handle with 5-Minute epoxy. Several other strips of thin styrene were attached to the front and back of the radio box and in the cockpit floor.

The cockpit was painted RLM 66, with the radio box, throttle, small sidewall controls, and control stick handle brushed flat black. The seat's leather pads were brushed with leather and all was given a coat of clear gloss once dried. Small bits and pieces received a brushing of yellow and red.

The instrument panel was done by applying drops of flat white paint into the recessed gauges (I didn't have a punch small enough for white trim film), then applying another gloss coat and the gauge faces were done using Reheat Models Instrument Panel Gauge decals. Reheat Models Control and Data Placards were used also on the radio box, side consoles, and sidewalls.
All received yet another mist coat of clear gloss to seal the decals and once dried, I gave the interior a light black wash and dry brushed a little flat aluminum on the floorboard, rudder, and seat edges. All was given two coatings of clear flat, with the instrument gauges receiving a drop of FUTURE in each. The gunsight was scratch built using 0.020-in sheet styrene and 0.005-in clear sheet styrene. The reflector lens was done using a disk of bare-metal foil and a drop of clear amber applied to it. Seatbelts and shoulder harnesses were done using my printed-paper decals and thinned Elmer's glue.

Exterior

As you can see, the model is butt-simple. All parts need a good scrubbing, then a good wet sanding with used medium grit. As expected, the sanding brought out those many pinholes so prevalent to all resin models. I used CNA for the larger holes, but found something that worked better than CNA for the small ones. I used Min-Wax Polycrylic (the thick variety) and painted it on with a no. 3 flat brush. After letting the Min-Wax dry completely for 48 hours, I dry sanded all surfaces and rescribed any recessed lines removed. Some microscopic pinholes still exist, but they were not noticeable except using powers of 3 X, so I didn't care.

The exhaust nozzle was first painted black, then burnt iron. When the burnt iron was dry, I lightly buffed the finish with SNJ silver powder (ever so little powder). It was glossed and the recesses painted black, then set aside for final assembly. The nosepiece intake is separate of the fuselage and perhaps the most ill fitting of all the resin pieces, being slightly too small and requiring judicious sanding out the fuselage nose to blend it in and maintain the proper contour.

The anhedral horizontal tails and dihedral forward swept wings fit absolutely wonderful, with the built-in anhedral and dihedral angles in the molds and a quality fit. Use caution though and work slowly I usually utilize some masking tape strips to help hold them in place and apply a little CNA with a sewing needle tip to various points, then let them dry before removing the tape and finishing by applying CNA to the entire joint. Good job here Airmodel, I wish many of the injected modeled kits had wings and tails that fit this good.

The landing gear struts and wheels, however, were useless, being only blobs of resin representing the struts and barely more for the tires. I scratch built all struts from styrene tube, rod, and sheet. Small wire was used for wheel attachment points and fuselage wheel bay attachment points into predrilled holes. Gear oleo scissors were taken from the spares box (I knew building all those gear up planes would come in handy someday) and cemented to the scratch-built struts. The wheels were rifled from the spares box also. The struts were painted RLM 66 and the oleos painted bright silver. Gear retraction struts were done with fine wire and painted RLM 66 and bright silver. Wheels were sprayed semi-gloss black and the tires brushed in grimy black.

The canopy is a one-piece vacuform. But by using great care in cutting it out and sanding, it fit like a silk glove. So well in fact that I decided to take the plunge and cut it open. After many sweeps and two finger punctures with an X-Acto #11 blade, the canopy was halved. Once the blood had clotted, I sanded the cut ends ever so little and permanently attached the windshield. The sliding canopy was held in place using two-sided Scotch tape strips. I masked the entire canopy with strips of blue medium tack masking tape, as I had decided from the get-go to use painted decal trim film strips for the framing. The clear film was first paint RLM 66 and allowed to dry. The painted area was then cut into two pieces, with one piece painted RLM 81 and the other RLM 82. A coating of Microscale Superfilm assures that the painted film will not tear when you cut the very narrow little strips on a glass pane with a straight edge and sharp #11 blade.

The small direction finding loop was included, but I dare anyone to cut it out of the resin film. I substituted one made by wrapping aluminum beading thread around a drill bit of the proper diameter to match the kit loop and attached it into a predrilled hole. I drilled out the cannon ports, but did not add any barrels.

Painting and decaling

I primed the finish in RLM 78, which appears way too blue for that color, but that's what it said on the bottle (Polly Scale). But 'what the hey' this is a Luft '46 jet, n'est pas. The exterior was masked and the gear bays were painted RLM 66, as well as the interiors for the seven gear doors.

After masking the undersurfaces, I painted the uppers in RLM 81. The camouflage pattern is strictly off-the-wall and I just randomly cut a splinter pattern from masking tape and applied it at my choosing (isn't Luft '46 wonderful for this). Once the masking patterns were attached, the uppers received a couple coats of RLM 82. All masking, except the canopy's, was removed and all parts received a couple coats of clear gloss for decals prep.

Decals are a mish-mash taken from at least four different Superscale sheets. A couple of Reheat Data Placard decals were used in the gear bays. The rear black/white identification band was done using black and white decal trim film respectively. The guns cartridge ejection ports were done with small cut strips of black trim film. The exhaust nozzle's opening was done by measuring the kit exhaust nozzle's diameter and then, using a circle template, I cut out the proper size in black trim film. Once dried, the exhaust nozzle was cemented in place using Krystal Kleer. The intake was done by first applying another circle cut from black trim film to the rear of the intake. A day later I cut a strip of RLM 66 (I keep half of a decal sheet painted this color, very useful) and applied it to the intake opening's interior. It was a lot easier than having to paint this.

Once the decals were dry, I gave all a sealant coat of clear gloss and applied a black wash to the gear bays and interior gear doors. The control surfaces recesses were given an India ink treatment using a 0.005-in tech pen and swiping the areas after filling them with an ever so damp tissue or cotton swab. All was given three misty coats of clear flat and set aside to dry.

Masking from the canopy was removed and as mention, I used my strips of painted decals trim film for the framing. I had to do a little brush touch up to the windshield/fuselage joint, but otherwise, nothing but the decal was required. Folks, this is the only way to go on vacuform canopies, particularly those with little or no framing represented.

Lastly the landing gear and landing gear doors were applied. The gear was attached using CNA, but I attached the doors with Elmer's glue, using tape strips to hold them in the proper position while the glue set up. Why, you might ask? Because if one muffs it, one simply swipes the area with a damp swab and starts over and if a door breaks off it transit, one doesn't lose any paint and just has to apply a little Elmer's at the transit site and nothing is lost.

Conclusion

This is my fifth resin kit built and other than the landing gear replacement, which was easy, probably the easiest one I've built. Besides, it's a subject almost guaranteed never to make it into a mainstream kit. And it is a Luft '46 subject, which always attracts my attention. Also, with any 'What-If' aircraft, one can have a field day in the finish of it and not have to worry about bean counters telling one that the color is wrong, there were more rivets here, etc.!

Lastly I would like to give a special thank you to IPMS/USA for giving me the opportunity to construct this little jewel. It was fun and a little work in a different medium is always welcomed by the challenged.

Page created September 16 2002