Helicopters GB: Doblhoff WNF-342 v4, AMP 48008, 2019
After receiving the invitation to participate in this great helicopter group build from our friend Colin @coling, I felt fotunate to participate in it.
Since my building preference is the WWII, I thought it would be difficult to find a helicopter from this era. Surprisingly it seemed that the Germans were already developing some prototypes and had some impressive results already.
The Doblhoff WNF342 was one of them.
The fourth prototype was very innovative for that time. The blades had little jets and was used for lift-off, hovering and landing only because of the high fuel consumption. The foreward movement was created by a 140hp Siemens-Halske engine.
Buidling this helicopter was a real pleasure and the outcome is, even in 1/48, a nice little kit. Not that easy to construct because there are no alignment pins. Following the instructions is not the easiest way forward. It is important to look ahead a few steps to make life easier for this build, ask me how I know. Inside the kit masks and PE are added, both are a nice addition to this kit. The PE is really nice and good to work with, this however cannot be said about the sprues, most of the parts contain a lot of flash and because of the tiny pieces difficult to clean. Positive parts are the horizontal and vertical stabalizer, they are nicely thinned and therefore realistic, but need to treated gently. The rigging on this kit is done with Uschi wire. Aligning the main blades was tricky but CA glue did eventually the trick and seems to be strong enough.
I would like to thank all who contributed during the building process and special thanks to Colin @coling who started this wonderful group build and made me build my first ever helicopter.
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- 1. tiny jets
Wow! This is a real rarity and an excellent build.
@pikofix, thanks Csaba.My thoughts at first were, did this really exist.
Wow, John@johnb - what a surprised to see this wacky looking whirlybird. Never seen a Doblhoff before or heard of AMP. That instrument panel looks really cool. Terrific work.
@eb801, thanks a lot Eric, both were unknown to me as well. It was great to learn about this prototype.
Great job John @johnb, this turned out to be a great looking build. And a very interesting and unique subject to boot. The extra little details, fine cables and the undercarriage on how it was assembled makes these areas look sharp and realistic.
The jet tips are pretty unique, the fuel was burned from here combined with the air from the compressor.
@v1pro, Bob, thanks a lot for your kind words. The helicopter principle was already unique that time but with jet driven blades made it exceptional.
A wonderful result out of the challenging AMP kit, John!
This is a unique looking bird, a real rarity! Really amazing to see it as a finished model, let alone an excellently built one.
Your build thread was equally wonderful, a joy to follow!
Congratulations!
@fiveten, thanks a lot my friend. It was my pleasure to have you following my build thread.
Nicely built odd looking machine , @johnb ! Very unique looking.
Good job !
@ssgt, thanks Jay. Defintely odd looking but a beauty due to its uglyness.
@johnb, Wow, what an unusual and intriguing machine! ? That is a very cool lil' chopper John, and it's great to see such a rarity here! ?
@garybrantley, thanks a lot Gary.It is even nice to have a bit of rarity on the shelf now.
Excellent result, John! Be careful handling it.
@j-healy, thanks a lot John. It is indeed very fragile. Now safely on the shelf behind glas.
John, you did a fine job on what looks like a fiddley kit to build.
@gwskat, thanks Gary, it was indeed not easy to get it together, can you imagine how this kit must be in 1/72.
Great little build there John, @johnb, I almost missed the post because of the frenzy of posts that just occurred. It really turned out nice...looks extremely delicate and fragile.
@luftwaffe-birdman, thanks a lot Walt. Indeed very fragile, but it is safely stored on the shelf now. And indeed, it got away from the first page very quickly, unfortunately.
A real pleasure to see, John, and, I too was lucky to spot it, excellent modeling and definitely liked.
@chinesegeorge, thanks a lot George.
Really beautiful this build @johnb early VTOL aircraft are very interesting! Well done my friend!
@michel-verschuere, thanks a lot Michel. I was really surprised that so much innovation was already done by the end of WWII
That looks like a very nice model build John.
Germany sure did innovate in helicopter design. I had never heard of this one.
None Of any preserved unfortunately.
@bernardbedeur, thank you Bernard. The V4 prototype was shipped to the US after the war, I could not find if it was preserved. There seems to be a 1:11 scale model of this aircraft in the Helicopter Museum Bückeburg.
That is very cool! Great build of a very rare subject.
@gkittinger, thanks a lot Greg
Wow, what a unique aircraft! You did excellent work in capturing the finer details. Great job!
@mmatys, thank you Michael.
Beautiful work, John@johnb. Apologies for not having commented sooner as I have been busy with life and employment responsibilities for the last month or so. Your intricate little model was a great addition to the Helicopter GB and the results are outstanding. Fine job on the cockpit and IP, in particular.
@coling, thanks for your compliments Colin. It was great to receive this invitation for this GB. I had to step out of my comfort zone. But I did like it and even learned more about the history of helicopters.
Yesterday I ordered this kit from Ivan at ModelsUA, and boy am I glad I found this today! John, yours is a great build, with lots of helpful info and clear photos. The kit looks like a lot of work, but if I do get around to it, you've shown the way to make it an interesting little gem. Thanks, and congratulations!
@brummbaer, thank you, Christopher. Would love to see yours once finished. The kit is not too complicated and goes together quite nicely. Parts, at least to me, are quite small, even for 1/48. Good luck.