der Spatzfalke! The operational Ho-229

[Rhino]

Are those little bitty magnets Tamiya makes available separately? Removeable panels would ROCK!!
It is a cryin' shame to cover up all this intrikate schtuff!

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Actually I have some that are even smaller, but won't be using them on this.

The table top wargamers have been using magnets to allow changing out their armament on the table top models for years. I am going to place some rare earth magnets in the tires for placement on a display board. I have some 1/16th diameter by 1/16th magnets (someplace) that are great for making doors on autos and other light items stay put.

 

[sharkman]

Nice work on the last update with the belts Paul!!

Its looking great!

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Thanks Warren! I should have an update tomorrow (Sunday) as I have finished the landing gear and have them attached. There is also a major FUBAR with the kit landing gear but more on that when I post the update.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

I finished up with the landing gear sub assembly and here is the update. I can positively say that the metal landing gear are not that good. Also the resin tires will be a problem for most folks. The front tire wasn't all that bad and only needed a little light fit work to get the hub parts to fit properly.
The rear tires were really messed up though.. The holes were not round and were a little undersized. The lower part where the bulge is had the hole pushed up and flattened there a bit. Also the center ridge inside is too thick. This made the hub parts stick out too far and they would not mate up properly so as to align. Yeah a lot of trouble to get the weighted tires. In addition the lettering on the sides while crisp and clear stood out way too far. This was easily taken care of with a fine sanding stick and carefully sanding the letters down to where they were just there.

Now on with the photos.

 

[moon puppy]

Love it, mud guards on futuristic top secret special weapon.
Looks great Paul!

 

[Skinny_Mike]

Nice work Paul. The complexity of these ZM kits is both impressive and scary at the same time!

Mike

 

[jeaton01]

I've never understood why they had to put such a large tire and wheel on the 229 nose gear. Surely it had to have most of the weight on the main gear or it couldn't rotate for take-off.

 

[moon puppy]

Lookin good Paul, just want to let you know I've moved this to Wesendorf Field because I'm cleaning up old campaigns.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

I've never understood why they had to put such a large tire and wheel on the 229 nose gear. Surely it had to have most of the weight on the main gear or it couldn't rotate for take-off.

John, the nose gear was a repurposed He177 tail wheel unit. I suspect that if it had reached full production it would have had something much different in the way of tires and landing gear.
Also I don't think the weight on the gear was an issue. Most of the engine weight is in the front half on these engines. The main gear is actually behind the engines so I suspect the front gear has most of the weight. I also don't think it rotated so much as it reached flying speed and lifted off.

If you look at this drawing (from the instruction manual) it sits at a 12 degree angle and most of the engine weight is on the front wheel/gear.

Lookin good Paul, just want to let you know I've moved this to Wesendorf Field because I'm cleaning up old campaigns.

Thanks Bob, I knew the campaign had finished, but I am still going fairly strong on it. I am getting ready to work on the most difficult part of this, "chopping on the skin". The clear plastic helps in that I can see through it to get what I want uncovered, BUT it is also a pain in that clear plastic is a bit more brittle than the colored stuff.

Also I used this for "Armored Fury" forum. It seemed to fit just right.

 

[jeaton01]

Paul, I worked a bit on the Ho-229 trying to determine where the cg ought to be, and with a simplified method that treats it like a swept wing with straight leading and trailing edges I came up with a 25% Mean Aerodynamic Chord location 111 inches aft of the nose on the full scale airplane. I expect this is in error because it ignores the effect of the bat tail, but if that were properly taken into account it would move 25% MAC aft some. In 1/32 that would be 3.47 inches. So the weight is evenly balanced between the nose and the main gears and it does show that the nose gear needs some heft. The airplane has to have the incidence it has on the ground because it would require an enormous amount of tail power to raise the nose on the ground, something that is very difficult for a flying wing to achieve with it's short tail moment. I realize the weight of the engines is forward, but the structure of the wings is well aft and the fuel load is probably centered near the 25% MAC position. Does the kit have the fuel tanks?

I hope someone else here finds this interesting, it interests me as much or more than the paint!

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Paul, I worked a bit on the Ho-229 trying to determine where the cg ought to be, and with a simplified method that treats it like a swept wing with straight leading and trailing edges I came up with a 25% Mean Aerodynamic Chord location 111 inches aft of the nose on the full scale airplane. I expect this is in error because it ignores the effect of the bat tail, but if that were properly taken into account it would move 25% MAC aft some. In 1/32 that would be 3.47 inches. So the weight is evenly balanced between the nose and the main gears and it does show that the nose gear needs some heft. The airplane has to have the incidence it has on the ground because it would require an enormous amount of tail power to raise the nose on the ground, something that is very difficult for a flying wing to achieve with it's short tail moment. I realize the weight of the engines is forward, but the structure of the wings is well aft and the fuel load is probably centered near the 25% MAC position. Does the kit have the fuel tanks?

I hope someone else here finds this interesting, it interests me as much or more than the paint!

The kit has a very complete interior which is a hallmark of ZM kits. Here is what the wing structure and fuel tanks look like John.

The kit has the ammo boxes for the 30mm cannon set behind the gun with a weird feed chute that would definitely NOT work. In addition it is a little close to the rear part of the engine. Just a little too much heat there in my estimation so I am going to mod the wings to have the ammo boxes just behind the front spar and reduce the fuel tank size a little bit. I am going to have ammo being loaded in one wing (from underneath) and the engine on the other side will be getting looked at. The wings were all wood construction with wooden ribs spars and skin. Access panels were screwed through sheet metal into the wood skin which was about 1cm thick on the actual aircraft (from looking at photos). The kit also goes to great pains to have all the linkages for flaps, ailerons, and other control surfaces and could be built like the old Monogram Visible Mustang and Visible Huey kits.

I will probably not use any of the internal wing parts except around areas that will have access panels opened up. Thus lightening the weight that goes on the pin points connecting the wings to the center section.

I am not real sure how well this mounting will work and if the plastic parts will be strong enough. Thus lighten the wings as much as possible and maybe use some brass pins instead of the plastic. If the kit were built as the plane at the Udvar-Hazy center without guns and as is this would be a bit different. That plane is a prototype and what I am modeling is supposed to be of a possible production machine. I also can't see there being nothing panel or other protection between the pilot and the engines in a production machine. It just does not make a lot of sense.

 

[jeaton01]

It wouldn't be real comfortable for the pilot without some kind of armor between him and the compressor and turbine blades, would it. On the PT-6 turboprops as used on a number of planes I used to fly there is armor around the rotating parts because they usually end up being in areas along side crew or passengers.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

In Germany at the end of the war they weren't thinking much about armor around jet engines yet. I am not so sure the front of the engines even got all that warm. One or two stages back in the compressor I am sure it would start warming up a bit but that would be at the back of the cockpit. Oh well lots to do yet, and have chosen a MMM2021 kit to build. All I will say is it is an American plane made by Tamiya. Something different and going to try my hand at aluminum.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Before fully committing to my MMM2021 build for the month, here is another update on this interesting bird.

Thanks for looking in, Hope this finds everyone well and getting over the CCP virus shutdowns. Hopefully the MMM2021 P-4j7 will go together quick and easy without much of a hitch so I can get back on this.

 

[Rhino]

Precise and thorough progress on an impressive build!
A reminder,

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[moon puppy]

Love it Paul, that's always been a sticker with me with open panels, the lip is never represented. Well do and the adjustable router is just off the hook!

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Thanks Chris, and thanks for the meeting reminder for tomorrow night!

Bob there is a lot of work to be done to add the material in the "hole". I have some scrap clear from the AM packs that the resin tires and metal machine cannon barrels came in that I will use for doing the patterns. One side closed the other open being looked at. As to the router trick I thought some folks might like the little tool trick. You can use any cutter as long as it has a 3/32 shank and will slide inside a piece of 1/8 tubing.

 

[SdAufKla]

Oh wow... Glad that this was moved to the A/C forum. I'd have continued to miss it, I think.

Gott agree that adjustable router idea is outstanding! Thanks for the detailed share on that!

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Oh wow... Glad that this was moved to the A/C forum. I'd have continued to miss it, I think.

Gott agree that adjustable router idea is outstanding! Thanks for the detailed share on that!

You should also go to the tools forum and check out some of the threads there. As a watchmaker I work with a lot of tiny parts and it is a must to have good tweezers that don't spit parts across the room. I did one post on how to maintain tweezers here.