Roger's "Horten Ho 229 Exposed"

White Metal Landing Gear 

Copy of Instructions to Highlight & Scribble on. 

The Washing of the Sprues 

First bit of building, did both turbine shafts together after having fan blade breakages, which will be consigned to the engine that will be closed. That's the one that's not painted, no point! 

Dry fitting of all 8 Stator Blades, in the correct order! 

Setting up a "tackle box" to help keep things orderly. There's 4 of each of the 8, over the 2 engines. 

Perhaps I could substitute the Aires Jumo engines........Nah! they're 48th scale anyway! 

I think I must be a bit anal about this - not content with the tackle box, I've finally found a use for Roman Numerals. My History teacher would be pleased! 

It's like being on an engine line - Snip, Snip, Snip, Snip, Snip - Trim, Trim, Trim,Trim, Trim - Scrape, Scrape, Scrape - Label - Repeat x 32!!! 

Lots of 'em - all painted now! 

Some other sub-assemblies to do with the engines - fore and aft of the compression chambers, awaiting painting! 

Horten Ho-229 Promo Art, pre-release. 

Stators & Rotors prior to assembly 

Snug fit, but they do fit........just dont try to rotate the rotor shaft 

All that work hidden - thank goodness for rubber bands 

not much to see now! 

A pre-requisite to restart the Horten is a clean, clear & organised workbench.
Who knew there was a workbench under all the S#!t I had accumulated. (no before photos - too ashamed!) 

All that work on the internals...................to be sealed up - Sigh! 

final 2 1/2 pieces joined on each engine -next step masking 

The rear-end 

The Front-end 

I dont think there are enough SMALL pieces in this kit for me?!?! 

But then again, this is only the 2nd step in the engine pipes section... 

Had a workbench thought - an extension to hold various round objects, and a wooden work surface for hammering, etc
30 mins carpentry....vioila, with clamps inserted ready to install 

Installed with accessories & upside down Dremel if you canb't work that one out!! 

Revised whole work area 

Some detailed pipe painting & masking after some serious seam filling - ready for the scary bits, then un mask & re-mask.....
( I'm using some 0.7mm paint-pens, by the way - "uni POSCA" & "Sipa PAINT") 

More detail on the tiny pipes & such - not a lot of colour details to go on, so have added some colour licence, just to brighten up the steely pipes - the rivet counters will kill me!! !;^)}
The red is a bit too "pink" - will address that! 

3 tiny & thin pieces to make each set of pipes 

Then painted - 3 colour pens used here - Posca gloss black 0.7mm - another black which is almost matt - then sharpie silver 

pipe sets install on the mount - one for each engine
had to scrape off some of the previously applied "pink", it now looks like gaskets!! 

flipside - added and extra drop of glue to improve stability - the background squares are 1cm, by the way! 

Jumo's painted ready to install piping, etc.
Combination of masking & spraying x 2, Moltow Chrome pen & Silver Sharpie 

PIPING!! - Step 1 - please dont ask me what they're called or used for - refer to the instructions!! 

Step 2 

Step 3 - Black pipe structure added 

Step 4 - and on the other side of the motor.
I would have to say that the engineering of this kit is superb - everything fits!!! 

What else to do on a rainy Christmas night???
Put the piping on the other Jumo - That done, moving on to the airframe!!! 

Decided that I'm going to try to emulate the timber where it appears in the Horten - using as a guide the Marek Rys, Marek Murawski book "Horten Ho229 - Monographs in 3D" #96004 - If you can manage to get a look at it - you'd be amazed!!
I'm thinking that the lower left of the 4 wing stubs is what I'm after - Also added canvas texture to the brake chute bundle. 

Looking like a spider versus stick insect at the moment 

Mounted on the main fuselage truss is the battery mount & case 

Preparing the Landing Gear Hydraulic Cylinder - kinda cute?!?! 

close up on the brake chute 

continuing the "fake Timber" development 

The spider - from right-rear 

adding bits to the spider (close up) 

spider - from left-rear 

Working from reference books is very helpful.....
Unless you look at them in too much detail..... 

Being in 1/32 scale, allows you to do so much detail...............................yeah, I should get a life!!! 

Looking more like an airframe. . . . . .. . . . No, not really!?!? 

Adding "after-market" detail - metal MG Barrels.
Careful removal olf existing barrels, then exact centering for new barrels 

Like so - then etch-primed the barrels, prior to painting with "Gun Metal" 

All "between-deck" components (linkages & stays) in place - lots of fiddly manouvres & connections 

Close-up of this mess 

Clearer view of central linkages 

MK103's and Magazines in place - attachment points seem a bit flimsy, until the final connection (outside of the frame) of the ammo chute between magazine & MG. - I continue to be impressed by the quality engineering of this kit!! 

Preparing the Heat shields that sit under the engines - I was going to have them "smoke" coloured, rather than the specified Black, just to continue my "Visible Horten" theme, but wasn't happy with the smokiness, so stripped them and just outlined them instead. 

Jet engines mounted in bottom frame - have to be very careful with stay, pipes, mounts, etc 

The engine heat shields are only mounted in 2 rear points each, and the engines sit so well in the shields that I haven't glued them in place. 

Now to matching top frame to bottom, here showing the unpainted item. 

There are 40 attachment points between the top frame & the airframe!!!! 

There are NOT 40 glue-points - more like 50 - I have created this composite photo to illustrate better... 

Ever thought of using PE to replace the kits' cockpit details?? Here's the YAHU Models replacement.
The Yahu product is great, but the instructions are..........NOT - Have to remove the existing detail first 

Making sure every part of the dash was glued to the backboard 

Then glue the Yahu in place - Superb end result 

Same with the side panels, but here I used the Z-M (Eduard) PE - Two layers to glue on 

and on the other side - Two layers to glue on 

Tried the PE pedals, which fit very nicely around the pilot's boots - don't quite know how I'm going to do up the buckles in side the cockpit????.............. solution! I cut off the buckle straps! 

Pilots after initial painting - Metallic Blue , White, Brown POSCA paint-pens. 

Broke a part today - have to say that this part was under-engineered - when fitting PE pedals.
Had to resort to some "Bugatti" repair skills - should be OK!!! 

Cockpit frame assembly - a bit fiddly and awkward as you have to do it in the airframe between the engines. Cant assemble it outside then move it in. 

pedals in situe. 

decided to replace the canopy rails as the plastic ones were very thin (1mm) and pretty flimsy. various tests trying to get the bend right. finally used sidecutters as the vise to get the end sharp enough. Also used 1mm s/steel pipe with 0.6mm bronze core to get a shaper bend. 

in place - gonna leave these as is - no paint for now - also the dash is now installed 

front view 

does anyone els have problems with gluing 2 pieces of enamelled PE together - 2nd time the face has come off this panel, using a thicker CA this time. 

More of the cockpit in place 

Control column in place 

Oil tank in place - meant to look like the unpainted resin/fibre it was made from 

This is the front wheel hydraulic assembly, which connect to the FW trailing arm, and a key point in the airframe.
'I RECKON' this part should have been installed earlier in the instructions....... 

Here's the upside-down airframe, with the rear wheels almost complete & in place, and the "HUGE" front wheel test fitted in place. 

Here's a top view of the airframe circling where the FW hydraulic arm connects - you can clearly see there's a proper place for it.... 

Withe the Front Wheel gear removed, here's where the FW hydraulic arm goes......... 

Closer.........way back there!!!!
Need to think about this some more!!! 

There it is - IN!! 

Not a lot to see for all that fiddling 

Not much to see up here either 

The bottom the bydraulic arm connects here - sorry about the blur 

rear gear being CA glued & clamped with SMS fine reverse tweezers 

Now on its wheels - lets see how the front body fits - this had better work.....
it did - happy with that test fit 

Even the modified MG's fit where they should 

How to fit the pilot into that seat 

I reckon he's 1/28th scale - he's too big! too wide, too tall! 

Had to take so much off with my knife that he started bleeding!!! 

He bled everywhere!! 

took 90 minutes of shaving & test fitting to get to this pose 

and I'm happy with that!! - this was my final test fit using plasticene - some repainting required, after I clean up all that blood!!!  

I'm wanting to keep the body mainly clear, however the ejector pin marks are alarmingly LARGE here - must work out a way to remove these discretely.... Disappointing though!! 

The 'fuselage' body parts - each piece of masking tape indicates where I am going to "timberise" the panels.... new word, but I'm sure you get my drift...(wood) - sorry , poor pun! 

Back on Photo 73, I mentioned that I'd replaced the canopy rails with metal - This isn't the reason why, but I'm taking advantage of that change - here are the "wheel" that the canopy runs along.........................hmmmmm 

Into the tiny DSPIAE vice, perfect for this sized work - I'm wanting to remove the "wheel", but keep the mounts either side 

There you go - some fine razor saw cutting and minute knife work 

Have you ever tried manouevring a magnet into place with metal tweezers - bloody hell!!
Even worse when you get some superglue involved - anyway - done 

A little easier doing the 2 forward "wheels" on the canopy.
This SHOULD enable the canopy to be placed in any position, and stay there - I do also need to convert the centre rear canopy rail to metal......Didn't really plan ahead on this bit!! 

and it actually works!! 

Both sides!! - I will add some extra timber detail alongside the rails which will help to keep the canopy "on the tracks", along with the rear rail conversion to metal. 

This is the centre rail for the rear-canopy-wheel to run along - to be removed!! 

Starting the cuts at the rear of the centre rail 

The rail removed, I drilled a 1.0mm hole into the cross-member, to accept the new metal rail.
Black markings to be painted & excess glue to be scraped off too - this is at 4x magnification 

Rear of the new rail glued in place, fitting in between the existing braces.
Again, cleanup required to neaten everything 

side view of the canopy frame sitting on all 3 rails - arrows point to magnet-wheels 

I mentioned earlier that I would use timber to contain the rails - then thought that perhaps the front bodywork might help.
In fact the edges of the front bodywork do exactly what I want - might detail that in timber colouring ?? 

see-thru view showing the rear magnet-wheel sitting on the centre rail.
The canopy frame slides nicely along the rails - NO - I won't be motorizing it!!! 

With the front body in place, treated the edges to a faux-timber look as in the real aircraft - this also contains the canopy as it slide to & fro on its magnets 

Started creating templates using tracing paper - a bit clumsy... 

then used a mix of masking tape & tracing paper - still clumsy 

switched to just using masking tape, initially drawing on that & then cutting it out... 

Final solution is to just tape all the areas to be timbered and cut them into sections using the panel-lines as cutting guides.
The cut is IN the panel line, so not visible........so long as you're vewwy, vewwy careful!!! 

All the wing surfaces taped up ready to template.
Thank goodness for 50mm masking tape!!!! (I have plenty of tape!!!) !;^)} 

A brief glimpse of my work in progress......hmmmmm??!?!?!?! 

Nose-piece decals completed - top view 

bottom view 

Marking out the wings for decalling - and yes, there's 2 more of these 

Middle bottom fuselage decals completed - 7 on each side 

Rear bottom fuselage decals completed - some decent curvature in the middle!!
Focus could have been better, sorry 

One of Four wing surfaces decalled - took around 2.5hrs - that makes 7.5hrs to go....................to go MAD!! 

a refeernce spread from the book I'm using, just to give you an idea of what's ahead...
The book is "monographs Special Edition in 3D #4 - Horten Ho 229 - by Marek Rys & Marek J. Murawski"
Worth a good look, if you can locate it... 

Wing spar completed, painted pale timber, then 2 other "wood" colours to get what I want - now attached to the wing butt bracket 

playing with the colouring of the fibreglass fueal tanks & control arms/links 

Wing spar with almost-finished tanks 

Completed Right wing top view 

Bottom view - now to do the Left wing & get it to look the same.... just avoiding wood-grain decal time, can't you tell!! 

Decided that the clear plastic pins meant to hold the wings in place would be too fiddly & not robust enough...
SO, this is the final iteration of the replacement parts - 1.5mm copper pipe, tapped at each end to 1.0m, to hold 1.0m bolts, with washers as the bolt heads are a bit small. The 4 top plastic pins have been turned into covers and glued to the upper fuselage cover. 

brass pipe just poking through 

Bottom bolts going in 

ALL Bottom bolts IN 

almost ready to fly off the workbench 

Will be displayed on this lovely round mirror, thanks to Harry Edmond 

and from the back 

Still progressing on the wood-grain decal work, trying to be as random in the timber-pattern decals as possible.
Very slow work having to be very precise with the panel placement between panel lines. 

I'd had 3 magnet pairs holding the fuselage top to the airframe, but that left a gap where the rear of the fuselage panels should meet. As I DON'T want to glue this down I improved the fit of the bottom panel & installed 2 more magnet pairs to pull it together. (circled to show their whereabouts - had to manufacture mounts for the back 2) 

Side view show that it's just about right - I think I might leave "well-enough" alone.
Now free to work on the upper panel wood-grain. 

Been having many problems with these Uschi wood-grain decals "silvering" - I've tried drenching them with every decal product know to man, well, me anyway! and no success - must be something I'm missing.????????? 

It's weird, coz it's random - no pattern to it..... 

Time for a diversion, as I noticed that the cockpit glazing and framing had come adrift - 7 clamps & several days later!! 

For my next attempt at decalling this wood-grain, I decided to remove all the templates from the upper fuselage - now there's 40 minutes I won't get back!!
"Stan realized now which had stuck him like a smacker oh blurred
He never focused before...." or in Simpson's lingo "D'oh"!!!
So I have now painted the target surface with "Future" - remembering that "Decals must be on a gloss surface" debate..... 

Now, to get these decals OFF!! - Research suggests that hot water & detergent will do the job... 

Practise suggests that the research was right - although its by no means a speedy process - lots of refills of hot (straight out of the tap HOT) and plenty of detergent - all promoted by scrubbing with a fine short-bristled brush - I cut down a cheap one!!! 

Also, as owners of this kit will know - the outer surface of the clear parts appears frosted, because the surface is minisculedly dimpled. - Hence, "Silvering"!!! - Geez, I hope I'm right on this...........and Geez again, so many decals to redo!!! 

Ready to go - All the upper fuselage templates placed on various timber grains... 

Upper fuselage wood-grain decals finished - all seem to show the same (Good!) level of adhesion! 

Next to redo the templates for the 4 wing surfaces - 1 of 4.. 

4 of 4 done (over a couple of days) including breaking out the hatches 

Getting ready to remove the templates from the wings, and transferring them onto tracing paper.
I dont want them to be on the decals too long, as I have seem some lifting of the decal details where the masks have been on too long. 

Voila - 1 complete wing done - systematically!! 

Then the other wing. 

Voila!
Now to "Future" the wing surfaces.... and I will be able to make a start on wood-grain selection while they dry... 

First fit on the display I'm planning to use - USB Power bank powered, plus battery in a carousel base. Motion sensing lights....which are great, except when the carousel is rotating...... 

Fitted the pilot's windscreen and was absolutely amazed of the fit of this Zoukei-Mura kit, here shown with the canopy fully closed, and the nose piece "push-fitted". 

Another view to show how good this fits . . . . . .however, it highlights something else I've been unsure of - The nose piece and canopy "wood-grain" decals are quite silvery...................OFF with them!! 

Here's the canopy AFTER "FUTURE"ing and reapplication of really bold wood-grain decal.
That's Better!! 

Another view, showing the ebenefit of FUTURE on the glazing and the wood grain. 

So let's strip the nose piece too.
I used this Levelling Thinner & it works a treat without damaging the surface. 

New decal templates prepared (on the nose-piece) and ready to apply to the wood-grain decal sheet, AFTER I FUTURE the parts of the nose piece. 

Somewhere during my cockpit canopy build I left some excess glue on the front-left corner of the "glass". My thinking was that a coat of "FUTURE" would disguise this later on. - I was wrong, so it was time to fix that. After many minutes of chiselling to remove the glob, then gently smoothing the are with all 3 levels of Tamiya polish.... 

It's not perfect, at least under x3 magnification, but I think it will do!! Now back to those decals - the finished canopy here is after 2 coats of Future, bolder wood-grain decal, then a coat of MicroSol Satin Finish. 

Left Lower wing fully decalled with wood-grain - I decided to break-out the hatches and accentuate them with a "dome" of future.
The "windows" to the soul of the Horten, so to speak!! 

Left Upper wing get the safe treatment - will be brushing on a clear Satin finish when I'm done decalling the Right Wing. 

it may look a mess, but there is a system - * transfer the masking tape panel shape template on to the most appropriate wood-grain template - * cut out the decal around the masking tape - * label the back of the decal with the same number as the template - gently remove the masking tape from the decal & tape the decal upside down on the wing plan with the masking tape template.
What could go wrong??? 

On a rough "stand", looking more like a Gundam, preparing to fit Air Brakes 

Tipped over for a better angle 

RHS Airbrakes in place 

LHS Airbrakes in place 

External view of deployed Airbrakes, from the rear 

Found a large aircraft Jig, so putting that to good use 

Shaving off the excess decals on the inside of the lower wing 1/2 

Initial clamping to hold skin in place while gluing 

latter clamping - gotta love the old clothes pegs 

I can't believe how small these lights are 

and fitted 

and the RED one 

and fitted 

Penultimate photos on a small carousel 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and with the canopy closed!!! it can be positionedanywhere thanks to the steel rails & magnets
By the way, I had to abandon the magnetic wing tops - became too much of a headache - so all glued on!