Blohm and Voss Ae 607 – 1/72 RS Models

Started by David Mills · 29 · 4 years ago · Ae607, Blohm and Voss, jets, Luftwaffe, what-if
  • Profile Photo
    David Mills said 5 years, 5 months ago:

    I have always been intrigued by Blohm and Voss assymetrical designs and recently there have been a number of kits of futuristic late war german designs.
    When I spotted this at Hannants I decided to grab it.
    Background
    Early in 1945, a Blohm & Voss (B&V) aircraft designer called Thieme began work on Drawing Number Ae 607, within the standard drawing numbering system at B&V. His design for a jet fighter was radically different from anything that B&V had done before. A flying wing, it approximated to a 45° delta planform.
    Reports of its existence were not confirmed until 2017, when the drawing was published. No Project number is recorded for the design and its intended status is unknown
    Design
    An all-wing design, the centre section has a V-shaped lower profile deepening its keel and is sharply tapered both front and rear, while the outer sections are sharply swept at approximately 45° and tapered, giving the leading edge a sweep greater than 45° and the trailing edge an M-shaped outline from above. The wing tips are turned down, giving them a slight anhedral.

    A jet engine duct runs down the centre, with the Heinkel-Hirth HeS 011 engine installed towards the rear. A small tail fin is placed above the jet exhaust duct, while the pilot's cockpit is set just in front of the engine, but still well aft, and is offset to one side to give the pilot room alongside the intake duct. It is covered by a teardrop canopy. Two small, low aspect ratio and untapered canard foreplanes sweep forward from either side of the nose intake.
    The undercarriage comprises main wheels retracting outwards and twin tailwheels retracting on either side of the engine exhaust duct. On the ground, it sits with a marked nose-up attitude.
    Estimated performance is unknown. (Background and Design courtesy of Wikipedia).
    The kit has not many parts, nice moulding and fine detail.
    A lack of location aids, and a slightly grainy texture to the styrene points to limited run, type of experience.
    The aircraft itself reminds me of the F-117.
    I like the look of the cover art and think I will go with aircraft '66' or is it '99' - anyway the one with the red nose!
    Any way how about a few photos!

    3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

  • Profile Photo
    Greg Kittinger said 5 years, 5 months ago:

    That is one unusual critter! First exposure to its existence. I'm looking forward to seeing it emerge.

  • Profile Photo
    David Mills said 5 years, 5 months ago:

    A few more pictures... instructions and sprues...

    4 attached images. Click to enlarge.

  • Profile Photo
    Louis Gardner said 5 years, 5 months ago:

    Amazing ... I know that Blohm and Voss made some crazy looking aircraft. Most were way ahead of the times and used advanced engineering as did many of the German planes, weapons and equipment.

    This one is no exception. I never heard of it before today. I have a book on aircraft of the Luftwaffe and in it are a lot of Luft’ 46 planes. I don’t recall ever reading or seeing anything about this one !

    The wing outline does look like a F-117 ... I’ll be watching for updates.

  • Profile Photo
    David Mills said 5 years, 5 months ago:

    Thanks Louis@lgardner and Greg@gkittinger here is the cockpit assembly which for 1/72 is not too bad and will look fine under a canopy. As with all short run type kits there is a bit of clean up and preparation but its not too bad!

    3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

  • Profile Photo
    Ferry Dierckxsens said 5 years, 5 months ago:

    Intresting subject, as indeed, with many of B & V designs. The kit parts look well detailed and I will look forward to your build progress on this one.

  • Profile Photo
    George R Blair Jr said 5 years, 5 months ago:

    This looks like an interesting build. I guess mounting the cockpit toward the port wing gave the designers room for the engine to go down the centerline. Ditto on the F-117 comments, resemblance is uncanny. I have built some RS kits before and really like some of the unusual things they choose to model, but they can sometimes be a challenge to get everything lined up where it is supposed to be. Looking forward to the build. Isn't this like the 3rd or 4th kit you have told us you are building? Don't get all the parts mixed up on your work table. :o)

  • Profile Photo
    David Mills said 5 years, 5 months ago:

    Me neither Louis@lgardner - it only made it to the drawing board and it appears it had been forgotten until 2017!

  • Profile Photo
    David Mills said 5 years, 5 months ago:

    Thanks George@gblair. The kit has been fine so far to build, but I am sure there are challenges to come !
    The first signs of filler can be seen on the join of the exhaust cone.
    Here is the latest with completed cockpit and Tamiya tape belts !

    4 attached images. Click to enlarge.

  • Profile Photo
    David Mills said 5 years, 5 months ago:

    So this is the bit that George@gblair was thinking about.. this bit where what ever you try, you are left with a problem... and the issue becomes which problem are you prepared to live with.

    O.K. so first issue the cockpit tub fouls the tops of the undercarriage mouldings requiring the attention of Mr Flory's coarsest sanding stick.

    Then the exhaust cone fits o.k but sits a bit too high for the fuselage top to close. Like wise the nose cone fitted perfectly on the sides, but left a great step on the upper side - cue more sanding fore and aft.

    Then comes the big choice, despite intensive fettling it becomes clear that the top surface will not match the lower.

    In the end I decide that I will have to fit the wing halves so the nose and the exhaust cones fit and I will take my chances with the overhanging leading and trailing edges... what could possibly go wrong/

    Fortunately the kit is robust enough to put up with all this... one of the things I like about it... perhaps its saving grace!

  • Profile Photo
    George R Blair Jr said 5 years, 5 months ago:

    I had one that had a similar problem with wing edges. I decided to mate the wings at the thin trailing edge and then deal with the large step on the forward edge of the wings. I used a coarse sanding stick to make all the edges mate, then progressively finer sanding sticks to make everything look presentable, then I rescribed the panel lines. I think I only thought about abandoning the build once or twice. I will admit it looked OK once the paint went on. (Sometimes paint can hide a lot of sins) Looking forward to seeing this one done.

  • Profile Photo
    David Mills said 5 years, 5 months ago:

    Thanks George@gblair I am enjoying this one despite the issues. I will have the wing together tomorrow morning!

  • Profile Photo
    David Mills said 5 years, 5 months ago:

    Sometimes it takes a while... but finally the penny does drop!

    After trying to match the leading and trailing edges, it became clear that the real problem was with the fit between the nose cone and the upper wing surface.

    A shame, as I identified the nose cone fit being key to the overall 'look' of the kit.

    However the work needed to correct the leading trailing edges was now minimal and I was confident, although resigned, that the step in the nose cone could be sanded/filled/blended with out the loss of too much detail !

  • Profile Photo
    Louis Gardner said 5 years, 5 months ago:

    Now it really looks like a F-117 ! 🙂

  • Profile Photo
    George R Blair Jr said 5 years, 5 months ago:

    Nose problems or not, the kit is still coming along nicely. Some kits take just a hint of filler and sanding, and others require great patience. Great job on the nose. A little paint and it will be fine.