Fly Bachem 349 "Natter"

[stona]

I've got the construction done. There are not many parts but they do need a bit of fiddling to make everything fit. Only the wings and lower tail have locating pins.....and I cut them off!

It's primed in white which doesn't make for exciting photos.

The strange bits on the rear fuselage are the attachments (all photoetch) for the booster rockets which I am attaching at the end.

Cheers

Steve

[Vaughan]

All's looking good Steve Looking forward to the camo.

Vaughan

[stona]

I've masked the white (you'll see) and sprayed and masked the red bands,nose and aluminium access panels. Following all that I've got a basic coat of RLM 76 on.

It was too dark for a photo so I'll take one tomorrow before I attempt the very heavy "scribble" camouflage.

Cheers

Steve

[stona]

Never did take a piccy of the RLM 76! It doesn't matter,it looked like the primer only slightly bluer

I have applied the camouflage. This is what I'm after:

Every reference says that this is an RLM 74 mottle. Well I disagree! It was very late war,RLM 74 was discontinued and more importantly,these aircraft were being secreted in forests. The plan was to have launched them from clearings using freshly cut pine trunks as launch towers. I would camouflage such an aircraft green,not grey,so that's what I've done with a scribble of RLM 83.

Here's my effort:

I'll be masking this and getting the black undersides done tomorrow with a bit of luck.....you can't rush enamels,which is a good thing.

Cheers

Steve

[Vaughan]

That looks really nice you've done a fantastic job on the camo. What pressure and needle size do you use?

Vaughan

[Guest]

ermmm thats way to good for my liking,its a 5* camo job so far

mobear

[stona]

Thanks chaps.

Vaughan I did the camo with my trusty old (very old!) Iwata Revolution BR which I'm fairly sure has a 0.3mm nozzle and definitely has a conveniently small paint cup. I used WEM Colourcoat's RLM 83 thinned about 50/50 with white spirits and a pressure of about 15 psi. I got in really close for some fine lines but varied it a bit. The original was probably sprayed by a relatively unskilled painter and I bet he got further away on the hard to reach bits!

Cheers

Steve

[saguy]

the level of detail is superb as per usual steve ... it is practically an exact replica of the photo ... enjoy yr work ..,. cheers lindsey

[stona]

Ahead of the game! I sprayed the black last night and unmasked this morning.

I'm working from the photos of this machine and this profile. It's not exactly what I've done (you can play spot the difference) but we all interpret B+W images differently.

A coat or two of Klear next,once my den warms up a bit

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

very very cool painting

mobear

[Guest]

I go away for a day and this happens .....

Thats some crazy, brilliantly done, camo mate .... I suppose playing "spot the difference" could be an option but am i right to assume that they wouldn't have had any masks or similar and that these sorts of patterns would be random on the original aircraft anyway ?

[stona]

The scribbled camouflage was definitely random. You can see on the picture of Sieber boarding for his brief and fatal flight that someone has applied it with a spray gun (and maybe a step ladder ).

It's not dissimilar to the camouflage on the one in the US,I believe it was Vaughan who posted a picture back up the thread. It's not a "professional" job. You can see that the sprayer wasn't bothered about maintaining a distance or even the density of spray in some areas. There's plenty of overspray. A MAP inspector in a British factory would have had a heart attack if presented with that for approval.

My biggest variation from the profile and accepted wisdom is to have applied that scribble in a dark green RLM 83 as opposed to RLM 74.

The "Natter" project was staffed by 200 "wounded" SS men and then,apart from a few Bachem Werke skilled personnel, largely by at best semi-skilled workers provided by the SS whose project it was. The Natter,despite its performance,was pretty much a wood work project!

Continuing our theme that models should also enlighten here's the wooden frame of a fuselage at the Bachem plant.

The wings were of similar construction,even the main spar was wooden. The skins were screwed and nailed on,as here on a rear fuselage section.

And then the joins were sealed and smoothed.

You can see all four workers in that picture are women. It must be chilly as they are dressed warmly. I'm almost certain that the chap in the white lab coat is Erich Bachem.

Cheers

Steve

[yak face]

Ive been watching this from the sidelines steve, superb work as usual! The camo is fantastically done and the whole thread has been a pleasure to follow. Great pics too , fascinating stuff the desperate measures that were attempted at the late stages of the war . Looking forward to the finished item ,cheers tony

[colin m]

German engineering during the war was amazing. Mind you, it's not too bad these days.

[stona]

Decals today. It's obvious that the upper wings were marked with a 2 and a 3 and those come with the kit. My quandary is that a witness to the fatal flight said that the lower surfaces were marked with a 1 and a 4 as well. As far as I know there are no photographs showing the underside. This is a quandary! Do I trust to fallible human memory,recalling facts some time after the event,or just leave the underside of the wings unmarked?

If I do mark the black undersides do I do it with red or white numerals? Aaaaaaaaah!

Cheers

Steve