Horten Ho-229: Part 2 - Cockpit, Wheels and Wings

Published on
Review Author(s)
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$152.00
Product / Stock #
SWS08
Company: Zoukei-Mura - Website: Visit Site
Provided by: Zoukei-Mura - Website: Visit Site

Diving back in, we'll build the cockpit. It is similar to the frame itself. This starts with the two side walls which are detailed with extra levers and gauges and the throttles. These are painted RLM 66 so it stands out from the RLM 2 frame. The rudder pedals are painted and they are sandwiched between the two side frames and attached to the fuselage. Fit is perfect. The instrument panel is next and there are two choices. One is clear and there is a decal that can be added to the back. The second is solid and you can add the decals to the front. I built the clear version with Elmer's in the glass parts and then painting and adding the decal to the back. Once dry, I sprayed the back of the panel black as it is visible in the plane. To finish off the cockpit, the instrument panels is added to the frame and then added to the cockpit with its bracing. The linkage rods and control stick are added and the cockpit is done.

The landing gear are handed so make sure you keep the right and left parts separate. Construction is straightforward and fit is perfect. Oleo links are separate and the wheels and rims are also separate which makes painting easier. Detail is superb all the way down to the tire markings which are included. there are also brake lines for the main gear legs. Then nose gear is last and you can build the strut and add the wheel later as it can be spread. The gear is pretty stout also but there is an option for metal gear also.

The next step in the instructions is to skin the main fuselage. I skipped this step and built the wings. The main wings are primarily large one piece spars that need cleaned from their attachment points but are an unbelievable example of injection molding. A mounting frame is added to the end of each wing for attachment to the fuselage. Each wing has four fuel tanks which are built. The spar is RLM 02 and the fuel tanks are silver. Add the linkage to the wings and they are ready to be skinned.

Before actually skinning and finishing the model, I attached the wing and shot some pictures. You could leave the model here with just some addition of the seat and a few details. You could also detail the heck out of the interior more with cables and wiring and leave it as is and it would still be impressive.

In Part 3, I will finish the kit with skinning and painting the kit. To date, the fit has been perfect. As highly recommended as a kit could possibly be. I would like to thank Zoukei Mura for the opportunity to build this kit. Stay tuned.

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