Taking a break from submarines as not to get burned out - I have thrown myself at this late war German fighter, the Dornier 335 A. A plane that I have always found very attractive and fascinating.

I had the great pleasure to see the sole surviving plane close-up at Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air & Space Museum in Dulles, its a big plane, and due to having props both front and rear the undercarriage is very high, so high that I, with my 186 cm is more or less can stand upright under the plane.

The aircraft on display was assembled at Dornier's plant in Oberpfaffenhofen i 1944, and in October 1974 it was returned to the Dornier plant in Oberpfaffenhofen for restoration.

There’s a lot of photos on the net of this particular airplane, including shots of the cockpit area, not being knowable on German late war designs I have no experience on colours, but the colour used on the interior looks way too light for my taste.

The kit is Tamiyas, and with most Tamiya kits, it’s a real treat with splendid details and a good fit. In 1:48 its a big kit, and it takes up a lot of space on the shelve. One of the good things about it size, is that it is a great canvas for the paintjob - and I have always found the late war hardedge splinter camouflage to be very attractive.


As always with planes, I will begin with the cockpit. This will be out of the box with no aftermarket stuff, but some scratchbuilding might find its place here and there. In the cockpit area I will replace the decal seatbelts with some scratched in “redwine” foil as they will look much more 3-dimensional than the decals.

More to follow, but first some snapshots of the real deal:



Yours Truly:





Cheers/Jan

Jan,

I'll be following this build closely. I have the Tamiya Dornier Do335A Pfeil with the Aries cockpit and wheel well set. I'm quite sure I'll get some build ideas and help from watching your build.

Looking forward to your installments!

Mike

I too have this kit in my stash and the Aires cockpit set, maybe it's about time that I started it?

Searching the net shows the reviews on this kit to be relatively scarse but a number of builds can be found. There allso is some other goodies to be found, this is one of them:

http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/do335camomu_1.htm - inspiration for the paintwork. I am going to use Lifecolor for this build, the RLM81 and 82 for the splinter and RML76 for the underside.

More generel info about the plane:
http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/types/germany/dornier/do_335/do335.htm

The NASM Do335 is a A-0 with the Werknummer 240102, and Stammkennzeichen VG+PH. it was apparently delivered from the factory mid april 1945 and captured late april - so I am going to go lightly on wear and wheatering on my finish.

One of the reasons i like this plane is its very distictive shape - so I am sure that the bombbay is to stay closed, but I am allso considering doing it "in flight" - the only problem is, that the kit pilot sucks bigtime, but there have to be resin replacements out there ...

Oh, decisions ...

Hi Jan

if you look for Aftermarket stuff ... there is more than is good for a mentally sane modeller ... if that is possible ("sane")

I started this build once but got lost with all that resin. IIRC (the kit is somewhere down deeeeeeeep in da stash --- probably not even here in my place) I had the front engine as kind of a relief (opened just to the left side) from CMK, Aires Cockpit, CMK Tank, back engine and wheelbays ... and god knows what else. Just have a look at Hannants (e.g.)

As for build reports .. it is big, it is kind of Luftwaffe 46 and the AM goodies can ruin many projects .. sooo it is probable that many of the sold kits rest in the stashes. Also some modellers are not confident to post their effort in public ...

cheers

Steffen

What? There can be "too much" AM stuff? I have yet to experience that... Jan, Squadron is selling the Monogram hardcover monograph on the 335 at a real bargain this month- look it up! Cheers!

chuk

Hi Chuck

yes there can .. have another one ... the Hs 129 with all the CMK goodies .. the model just looses its shape and if you want to compare your ### err skills just go over to HS and ask Herman .. he does it in 72

cheers

Steffen

Heheh, easy now boys, sorry to spoil your expectations, but this will be a "OOTB" build with very little scratchbuild. My fortune is invested in submarines so ....

Cockpit basepainted and with a light wash, drybrush next. - no decals for instruments, but the canopy will be closed, so not much will be visible of the dials etc.



Only dryfitted, the fit of the hullparts are close to perfect.



Cheers/Jan

Wow - talk about a "shake-and-bake" kit, ok the undercarriage is still missing, but that will not be added before the painting is done.

Had a bit to fill here and there - but very little, overall a good and positive fit, especially on the wings - the bar running trough is really making it easy.





Canopy is not glued yet - gonna be real fun masking it ....

Cheers

Hi Jan

Looks great. Must break out the "Heavily Armed Version" that I have in my stash.

As for the canopy - get yourself an Eduard mask - I'm sure they would make one for it, and I find (that for me at least) they make my life so much easier at this stage of the build. I really got sick of working hard on a kit and being really happy with it until I lifted whatever canopy masking I used and seeing something that looked really amateurish. Others can get great results without them, but I can't!!

Looking forward to further progress pics - it really is a cool looking aircraft!

cheers Brad

Slow progress, but masking turned out to be easier that expected with Tamiyas masking tape and a sharp knife.



Preshaded - ready for some light blue. Going to use Lifecolor RLM 76 - UA 509.

Nice job Jan. Looking forward to seeing this done. I like the light colored wash you applied to the cockpit. I really like the lines of this aircraft. It's amazing how big it looks when there is someone standing by it. Good work, Wingman out.

Did the underside last night, think it worked out as it should - first some light passes with the airbrush and then I build up the color in the panels by going closer and painting them in circular movements. I gave some panels more than others, hard to see in the photo, but it gives the whole surface a less uniform look.



Well, its a nice autum day, so I think I will spend the day woorking in the garden, maybe share a beer with the neighbourgs, so no modelling before late, will give the paint a good chance to dry up before masing it for the two tone camuflage.



Have a nice day folks!

Do the happy paint dance - sometimes things just works the way they are supposed to...

First the light green - freehand



Then a load of tamiya masking tape ..... oh the joy of masking ...



And then the dark green - yummi, then a coat of future and a few days to harden up before decals goes on - in the meantime I will throw my attention at the wheels .. and stuff..





Cheers/Jan

Jan:
The paint work turned out great. I can see why the happy paint dance

Delightfully decalized and futurized - in a day or two ready for wash.







Cheers/Jan

Very good build .. I like it a lot! ..

please do not overdo the weathering ...

cheers

Steffen

Thank Steffen, I wont, she was virtually brand new when she was captured.

Just a little bit here and there - not a full dot wash or something like that.

Gadzooks, Jan- that looks splendid! I agree- some dot filters will be perfect to bring this huge bird to life. Looks like a little weed-pulling and a brew with the folks next door agreed very well with you- cheers!

chuk

Thanks Chuk,

Well, beer is good ... anyway, im still considering how to approach the wheatering - as this particular plane, as far as i can find out, was only a few weeks old when captured by the americans.

I will spend the next few days doing the propellers, undercarriage and the seatbelts - so I will have time to decide what to do ...

Cheers/jan

Small progress, here I have done some homemade wheelmasks - I have a assortment of these punches, and they make good use on tanks too.



Bits and pieces, ready for a coat of future before getting a wash.



Cheers/Jan

I have begun with the first washes, first a pinwash with the purpose of bringing out the panellines and details on the kit.



First the untreated wing, coated with future as the semigloss finish of the future makes the wash flow by itself and be distributed evenly in the panellines.



A thin wash with black and brown - applied with a small paínt brush. As can be seen not all has gone into the panellines.



After a few minutes I have wiped of the excess wash with a clean damp papertowel - wipe in the direction of the airflow - a few streaks here and there will resemble oil and dirt and looks ok - if not overdone. Its more or less a factoryfresh plane so carefull.



Here the whole plane have recieved a treatment - since its a dark wash it does not stand out so much on the dark background of the camoflage as on the underside - might have to do a aditional wash.

Funny how the addition of the propellers changes the look of the plane overall.



Bedtime, Cheers/Jan

Hello Jan

nice looking effects!

I just noticed that you have very dark wheel wells. IMO they should be RLM 02 .. what did you use?

cheers

Steffen

Jan:
The paint work on this bird is really top notch. The washes really turned out well

Hi Jan,
looks really good your "Pfeil"
Please send us more pics!