Thanks to Neil at HK models for providing the IPMS/USA with this pre-release kit for review. We appreciate and value your contributions and look forward to more releases from your company. Thanks also to the IPMS leadership for trusting me to get this thing done!

As a pre-release kit, I received the HK Models Do 335 without instructions in a basic shipping box. This was a bit of a daunting challenge; could I do it? Of course I whined when I found out the engine compartments and some of the interior were a bit more complicated than I thought. I was subsequently sent a PDF of the basic instructions from the fearless reviewer corps leader, Dave, and I began to breathe again.

Molded in light gray, along with clear parts and two metal weights for the nose, I held in my hands a large Dornier kit. I had photographed and walked around the original aircraft when it was in the Deutsches Museum in Munich back in 1989. It was originally on display there, and it is now in the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy museum annex at the Dulles airport near Washington, DC. Thus, I had a pretty good idea of the interior colors, with the exception of the cockpit, and that gap was handled by a bit of web surfing.

Surface detail is excellent and restrained. This kit has some complicated areas, some simplified areas, and so far appears to be a great start for one of my favorite Luftwaffe aircraft. Pictures shall follow. The kit has 283 parts on seven sprues; the final kit will have photoetch detail parts and three marking versions from Cartograf. This pre-release kit in my hands doesn’t have those, so I cannot comment on them.

Starting with the forward cockpit section, it is apparent there will be several versions of this aircraft to be released in the future. This release is the up-gunned Do 335 B-2 with two wing-mounted Mk 103 30 mm cannon in large fairings augmenting the standard “through the engine” Mk 103 30 mm cannon. Extended wing tips are also provided for a potential B-4(?) version. The canopy has bulged upper panels to mount rear-view mirrors that were added to correct the shortcoming of poor rear visibility for the pilot. As to the leading edge cannon, this addition meant the fuel that was originally stored in the leading edge had to be moved somewhere else. As this variant was intended to be a bomber destroyer, there is a fuel tank that goes in the unused bomb bay.

As I cleaned up the parts and began assembly, I was impressed with the overall fit and accuracy of the parts. Detail on the DB 603 engines is superb with the now-common slide mold technology coming into play on the exhausts, along with a “click fit” on the engine parts themselves. Everything lined up as it was supposed to, and the hoses and mounts fit perfectly into place. The internal fuels tanks also fit very well, and they dropped into place on the longitudinal floor to which the cockpit and engine are also mounted.

I am certain there will be PE detail parts available for this kit from aftermarket sources soon. These PE upgrades would be worth it, as the cockpit is large. In this case, seat harnesses, a basic instrument panel, and throttle and mixture levers would be all that I would expect. Beyond these parts, any more would be too much complexity for me. (But who am I, huh?) As it is, the basic kit parts are more than acceptable. Additionally, the side panels are actually representative of the real item. With careful painting and a bit of drybrushing, the cockpit parts show off very well.

This was about as far as I got with this part of the build, and there is more to come!