History

In order to increase the effectiveness of the Luftwaffe night fighting force, a new role as an airborne early warning aircraft was studied for the Ar 234C. This concept was wind tunnel tested in early 1945, a rotating dish was to carry the scanner for a FuG 240/4 Bremen radar set, while the rear facing operator was to occupy the forward camera bay in the rear of the aircraft.

The Kit
This conversion arrives in a clear plastic bubble pack with the instruction sheet forming the title and backing sheet. The parts make up a very easy conversion and consist of just two resin parts, the pylon and the dish. The parts are very fine with engraved panel lines, the dish and pylon having a peg with a notch for alignment whilst the pylon to fuselage matches up with panel lines on the donor kit. Speaking of which Fusion recommend the Revell Ar-234C as the kit to use.
No parts are supplied for the operator’s position but the instructions suggest how to make this area up.

The Instructions
The instructions are on one side of a folded out sheet smaller than A5 but give enough written information in both English and French to get the details required across. One black and white photo is shown of the assembled radar on one quarter of the sheet while the last quarter is used as a title and header sheet.
Information is supplied on making a radar operator’s position but as the aircraft was never built this area can be left to the builder’s imagination, the kit suggests adding a seat in the bottom of the fuselage against part B2 plus adding various boxes for the radio and radar equipment whilst leaving the clear camera hatch clear!
One part that made this reviewer chuckle is where the instructions give the warning information for working with resin and the English has been cut off leaving you with a message to ‘Work in a well’

The Marking
No markings are supplied but the instructions give some advice, as a hypothetical aircraft as none were built any night fighter camouflage could be used, plus as they may have been converted bombers you could use a standard camouflage with a RLM76 scribble pattern applied over it, so the imagination is the limit on this one.

In Conclusion
Very simple conversion but very nicely detailed, this would cause no problem for the novice builder although they may require some Luftwaffe colours knowledge. Operator position is an option for the kit builder to either scratch build or paint over the clear hatch on the kit.