mustang1989

In flight photo: and in-flight video: https://youtu.be/V9GqxOAofio

Ok everybody. I’ve got my next aircraft lined up and ready to put on the bench next to my other couple of builds that are going on. This one is a bit of a different style bird than most folks are used to seeing. The Blohm & Voss BV-141 derived from the need for a Reconnaissance / Light Bomber role for the Luftwaffe in 1938. The idea behind this highly unusual aircraft was to allow an unobstructed view to any area being surveyed from the R/H side. The aircraft never saw operational service due to the German Air Ministry’s disapproval of it’s odd appearance and being underpowered despite its power plant being that of one of Germany’s “Top Dog” fighters, the Fw-190A series. Having a top speed of 229 mph was not enough to impress the Ministry and the project was cancelled in favor of the much nimbler and sleek conventionally designed twin engine Fw-189 reconnaissance aircraft. Several 1/48 scale kits have been released to replicate this unusual aircraft in scale but IMO (as well as the general modeling community) this seems to be the best kit in which to do that with. The kit I’ll be going with will be Hobby Boss’s release of the BV-141B. I’ve been wanting to build this aircraft for about 15 years and now’s my chance.

What a great story, a great tribute and beautifully built aircraft. These are, hands down , truly one of the most beautiful fighter aircraft ever built. Very well detailed, very cleanly built and beautifully painted Mustang James. Thanks for sharing.

Every bit of it. This thing is beautiful.

Thanks Andre for the good comments.

Well fellas....It's finally come to an end. I started this kit over three years ago and ran into a lot of problematic areas with this kit. To say that this kit has now moved into #1 on my most difficult/ frustrating and sometimes angering build would simply be an understatement. It was so bad that I stepped away from aircraft building altogether for those 3 years. Some of it I brought on myself by making things more difficult than they needed to be and other areas were just plain ridiculous the way Hasegawa put this thing together. This kit is touted to be one of the best scale model representations of this iconic plane and on that point I'll agree once it's built. Getting there was the difficult part for me. Enough of that banter though. Thanks go out to all who followed, commented and helped out since its beginning. After 3 long years my Arado is finally completed: Finished cockpit photo In progress cockpit photo: aaaaaaaaand engine shots:

Thanks Ken!!

Masterfully done!! Looks very close to real!!

Thanks for the comments Ron and Ray. Ron...thanks for the quick run down on plant care.

Nicely done and very well photographed.

I couldn't have said that better myself. I remember these kits back from my childhood and while I'll never build one I can certainly admire the good work that you've put into this.

Thanks Ken. Still working away on this one and should have an update by this weekend.

It's all in the details here folks. I'm enjoying every minute of this build. Can't wait for more.....

I started up on the engine paint up this morning. I have really come to like these macro shots as I use them as a tool to go back and fix certain things that either I miss or made a mistake on. Found a couple of areas that need some attention in the shot below. Anyways....after a base coat, a very light wash just to bring the details out and a little bit of detail painting this is the latest progress:

Ok folks....the main body of the build is now completed after dulling the screw head shine down. I'll be starting on the engine assembly and painting next. I've been doing my research so as to build as accurate of a 004 as possible. Stay tuned:

You had your work cut out for you on this one. Very intense labor went into this one.

Man this is great! Truly good work happening in here. Your friend should be very happy with this!

Thanks Rusty! I came from aviation modeling and do intend to do more. Thanks for following along bud. Well.....I finished the screw head application as of this morning but still need to weather the framing somewhat to tone the brightness of the screw detail down. They pop just a little too loudly.

I'm learning a lot through the comments here. I do agree about the headlights though. I wonder if the headlight buckets from Revell's AAR Cuda kit would work if graphed in?

A post just to show that I'm still working on this bad boy.... This morning saw the finish of the aerial antenna and I'm currently working on those painting those 2000 rivets on the cockpit framing. I'm just glad the hard part of this build is now behind me.

Truly remarkable.

So much to see...…. You're a true ace at this stuff. Watching.....

Thanks and that's a good question Andy. As for the snap kit, I don't think this kit has any association with it.

Thanks Dann and .................I'm not sure......

Blown...........away!