IBG Models Gotha Go 242 A - German cargo glider new-tool 72nd scale. Build review day 3

 

Day 3 of the IBG Models Gotha Go 242 A kit build

At the end of day 3 the cockpit has been 'detailed' with the kit PE harnesses and I've done a little 'chipping' by scratching the 02. Not really a fan of etch but IBG have done well here with some excellent scale details in etch that is thin and flexible. The forward internal frames  have been fitted along with the fuselage glazing.

Thanks to Jerzy (George) for answering the question about the Gotha's MG 15s that we asked yesterday.

Jerzy writes.." a diagram of the MG mountings in the Gotha from a friend. The MGs were mounted vertically, supported from the bottom in boxes - you can see them in the drawing below .."

Step 5

Deals with the fitment of the cargo hold/fuselage lattice-like frame as seen in the manual drawing above. As another modeller appears to have done, I deviated slightly from the instructions which would have you fit these pieces into the side of the fuselage halves - where placement is rather vague - to mount them directly on the side of the floor where there are recesses designed to accept them. This method has the advantage of allowing you to concentrate on installing the window/portholes into the fuselage halves.

Step 6

The fuselage halves are finished in a red-brown (doped canvas) not unlike the interior of the Swordfish for example (a build on my modelling blog). It does appear that IBG missed some information about interior colors in the manual. I've painted  these areas slightly less red-brown than others - more of a 'filter' over the 02. But the frame is steel rod, so I've picked this out with a silver pencil. 

The windows are easy to install being mounted in a frame which appears that it should be of wood - although this may just be IBG's method of ensuring the window fits securely. There are obviously options to fit open windows at the MG mount locations easily identified on the internal framework.

BMW 801 'power egg' being unloaded

This image taken inside the Gotha shows a gunner at his window..

IBG Models Gotha Go 242 A - German cargo glider new-tool 72nd scale. Build review day 2

 Day 2 of the IBG Models Gotha Go 242 A kit build

 Step 1. Assembly of the cargo/hold floor and location of the wing spar. The floor parts 'lock' the spar into position. First part to be glued 'H5' is a transparency in the lower forward fuselage. I opted to leave this part until the two fuselage halves are ready to be joined. All internal parts to be painted in 02 are sprayed in black 'primer'. I use Halfords 'Volvo Dark Grey' from the can.

 Step 2. Detailing the cockpit. Part number 'F27' is the pilot's yoke/control column. F10 is a 'stick' for the right-hand seat.  There is a second control column, part number 'F28'  - which is not mentioned in the instructions. I'm guessing this is for the 244 motorised variant. The 242 requires the 'F10' stick. In the end I put both yokes in. Part number 'F22' the trim wheel and lever is difficult to get off the sprue. Mine broke. No idea what F25 is. Seems to be some sort of instrument panel in the lower forward fuselage.

Step 3. Adding the photo-etch rudder pedals and straps. I've left the seat harnesses until after painting. 

Step 4. Having located the cockpit 'module' to the fuselage floor, I'm testing the fit of the fuselage sides. No issues with the spar or floor clipping into the bottom of each side. The internal framework next. 

Below; internals sprayed in 02.  Hold floor (pin) washed around the details and streaked with Raw Umber oil paint. I note that at least one Polish modeller has painted the cockpit in 66 - although there is nothing in the painting instructions. He has also painted the (presumably) doped canvas internal finish a red-brown. I did not know if the internal framework on the fuselage sides was wooden or metal because it needs to be picked out in the appropriate colour..Becker highlights " die Stahlrohrkonstruktion des Rumpfes zeigte Stoffbespannung.."  or in other words 'the tubular steel construction of the fuselage was fabric covered..' I think this is self-evident from the image posted yesterday showing the open Rumpfheck, while this PK photo (below) shows a Go 242 wreck in the Cholm Kessel ('Wrack eines zerstörten Lastensegler Gotha Go 242' by PK Fotograf Muck). This picture appears to show the Gotha tail section on its side with the large clear 'window' being one of the MG 15 positions on the roof of this section. Which raises another question..how were the MG 15s (as many as eight) stowed in the hold when not in use?

Below; cockpit layout for the Go 244. The lower panel is a set of engine instruments. The upper panel of instruments is mounted in the cockpit ceiling as per the Go 242. 

Note the cockpit  inscription below is decal 1 on the instruction sheet indicated with an inverted triangle. Nearly missed it.  Frst part"..Bei vollem Fluggewicht nur langsames Abfangen.."  -  'only slow descent at max. flying weight' - ie on landing from the approach (descent) into a parallel flight along the ground.

End of day 2. 

IBG Models Gotha Go 242 A - German cargo glider new-tool 72nd scale. Build review day 1

 

Between 1937 and 1940 the Gothaer Waggonfabrik AG (Ltd) had constructed some 80 DFS 230 combat gliders for the Luftwaffe. The RLM recognised early on that a bigger glider than the DFS was required for transport duties and in 1941 GWF was awarded a development contract to build a machine roughly twice as large as the DFS. Capable of carrying 20 fully-equipped soldiers the Gotha 242 proved to have decent flight characteristics and its high-wing, twin-boom double tail, rear-end opening cargo door gave it an easily recognisable silhouette that would soon become familiar to German troops in Africa, the Mediterranean, the Balkans, but more especially in Russia..

The Luftwaffe blog has been lucky enough to pick up the new IBG models Gotha Go 242 (thank you Adam!) and we'll attempt to build it this week. This is the first boxing of a series of the type with the  Go 242 with fixed landing gear and the motorised Go 244 already announced. As usual with IBG you get a beautifully crafted product, from the fantastic box-art to the full-colour instruction sheet. The cockpit and interior are fully detailed, the cargo hold door/ramp can be deployed open, a full set of defensive MG 15s are also provided with open/closed mounts and bench seating for the hold. 3D printed accessories are also available- pilot seats, wheels, and MGs and an option to fill the hold with a set of seats for paras. Big box. Lots of highly detailed plastic parts cellophane-wrapped with four markings options. 

The first thing that struck me was how easy it will be to set up a little diorama or even just a small base showing a couple of BMW 801 replacement engines, a BMW bike and sidecar or a 2 cm Flak 38 being loaded or unloaded (Be-und- Entladen). The provision of a nicely detailed wing spar is welcome because you might want to leave the  wings 'detachable' for transport to shows etc. although on reflection the large strut might make that 'option' a little problematic. We'll see. 

A few sprue shots...click on these to get in closer..

Wing parts still in cellophane - ailerons and flaps are separate parts of course.

A little more tomorrow... we'll leave you with two of the four kit markings options in the BA photo below..the aircraft coded "8-12" is decal option No. 4 in the kit and depicts a Schleppgruppe 2 machine in 1944 in the East.  Note the red '2' is not visible in this photo. The lighter colour  here may be 79. "8-5" is the airframe at bottom in the mottled finish. The mottles are most likely in 02 or possibly even in 65. These have been crudely brush-painted. Note the absence of upper wing crosses and the small Hakenkreuze - which are available on the decal sheet. Both these aircraft operated in southern Ukraine ferrying supplies to troops cut off in Crimea from late 1943 through early 1944..

Hs 126 and DFS 230 Agentur Karl Höffkes film archive

 

Del has been trawling through the footage made available via the Agentur Karl Höffkes film archive (AKH) and has come across some DFS 230 colour footage;

 " ...from the Agentur Karl Höffkes film archive - home movie taken by a Luftwaffe officer while training on the DFS 230.." 

This footage almost certainly looks to have been filmed in the south of France presumably during the summer of 1943, prior to Gran Sasso. Either Valence Chabeuil or Lézignan-Corbières. It features a Staffel of Luftlandegeschwader 1 equipped with DFS 230 gliders and Henschel Hs 126 and Avia B.534 tugs training for a new mission... Hauptmann Joseph Karl, Gruppenkommandeur of III./LLG.1 is seen in the footage. 

On 19 August 1943, 12./LLG1 was transferred to Ottana (Sardinia), then on 11 September 1943 to Pratica di Mare (south of Rome). Its mission in Italy was the transport of 1./FJR.7 (Fallschirmjäger-Regiment) to Gran Sasso for the ‘liberation’ of Mussolini. I have extracted a couple of time codes which correspond to the stills below... 

 10:40:11  arrival by train at a town in France, possibly Valence. Does anyone recognise it? 

 10:43:00  engine start Hs 126 tugs of LLG 1 on the airfield.

 10:43:27  pilot in cockpit of DFS 230. Note MG 34 with muzzle flash guard  attached to the fuselage and MG 15 mounted above the cockpit

 10:42:47  a group of officers chatting. In the white cap the Kommandeur of III./LLG 1  (I think..). Another officer in white cap shows off his "Kreta" cuff band for the camera.

 10:48:13  colour section - a DFS 230 with nose-mounted braking rockets, also shown in close-up

 10:49:10   DFS 230 comes into land and the glider's braking rockets are fired. This section concludes with a few shots of the DFS 230 passengers disembarking...  

 At this point I would provide a link to view reel M349 ..but since preparing this post I can no longer find the film... 

 As always these stills are reproduced here with the kind permission of Karl Höffkes. 

LLG 1 DFS 230

 

 An ECPA-D image from the FALLAOK files depicting an LLG 1 DFS 230 coming in to land on an airfield in the south of France during training for the Gran Sasso 'raid' (Mussolini rescue, September 1943)). Photo by Bildberichter Wolfgang Stocker  via the imagesdefense.gouv.fr website. Stocker died in Italy in 1944. 

Ostermann's Friedrich - ebay photo find #387

 

Sold as an 'original' photo for 172 euros, this 'white 1' of 7./JG 54 is an F-2 sometimes assigned to Max-Hellmuth Ostermann and is an image previously published in several JG 54 books. Note the 30 black Abschussbalken. Ostermann claimed his 30th on 5 September 1941. click to view large. Via 'Snautzer'

Hptm. Josef 'Jupp' Pützkuhl, Eastern Front nightfighter ace - new Nachtjagd/Luftwaffe aces books from Casemate,

 

Brief extract from a Jägerblatt article detailing the career of Hptm. Josef' Jupp' Pützkuhl, an Eastern Front nightfighter ace with NJG 100. 

The text describes how a 'wilde Sau' Bf 109 - running out of fuel - landed on top of his Ju 88 at the runway threshold in the darkness as he was waiting to get airborne (lighting extinguished due to prowling Mosquitos). Although apparently uninjured, he was trapped for an hour in his wrecked Ju 88 along with his BF Hänschen Klug  before being extricated. Post-war he served for several years in the Bundeswehr before becoming a film/TV actor! 

 According to Kracker he had one victory in the West, a Lancaster on 14 April, 1943. His first known Soviet victory was an R-5 on the night of 16-17 July, 1943.He claimed a PS-84 on the night of 19-20 July, 1943. The majority of his victories though were claimed during a brief period in June-July 1944, his Staffel detached to operate independently around Pinsk, as detailed in my 'Nachtjagd Ost' article  published in "Luftwaffe fighters -combat on all Fronts 2" (Mortons, 2023). His exploits included six Il-4s near Pinsk on the night of 5-6 July, 1944. An extract from August Fischer's book 'Bis der Wind umsprang';

“..the front moved nearer and nearer.. The advancing Russians were pushing our Würzburg radar trains back to areas from where they had set out when first deployed. Just five days ago, Oblt. Josef Pützkuhl (3./ NJG 100) had flown in from Pinsk..[..]…in only a few nights operations he had downed some twenty enemy aircraft - in one night, six Russian machines had fallen to bursts from his slanting armament (July 5/6, 1944); only Wittgenstein had accomplished a similar feat on the Eastern Front prior to this…”

The last 'kill' in his logbook was an Il-4 10 km E of Warka on the night of 25-26 July, 1944...

New Nachtjagd aces books from Casemate,  Volume I (40-43)  is available now, Vol II (43-45) is due at the end of the month...