Blohm und Voss BV P.212.02 in 1/48 scale

[Isaac]

On we continue with my 1/48 scale Luft 46 hotel build while in Montreal hotel on temporary duty here.

This one I have built before scaled up to 1/33 and with an interior and a clear canopy. That previous built was done while I lived in Japan.

Here is the complete link to that version:

Blohm und Voss BV P.212.02 – Eric Son model

The kit was designed by Eric Son and in my opinion is a great model and is suitable for detailing.

Here is his design thread:
Blohm & Voss P.212.02 (Luft46)




However, since I am on TDY and do not have all my tools, I am limited in my ability to detail it, my version will now be much simpler.



The kit:

There are 2 pages of external skins and one page of frames.






Isaac

[Isaac]

Fuselage

Here are the parts.

The frame centers will be cut out using a hole punch. However only as needed and some will not be at all since I have simplified some of the inside details.




Also, the glue tabs are regular printer paper ( not card ). This makes it easier to join the sections together.



The engine intake tube is shortened. This is a modification I made.





Sub assemblies






Isaac

[Isaac]

The nose sections are thin and assemble to a sharply sloping curve. Color all the joining strips black



Add the nose gear bay




and now the intake tube from the inside




Mid section comes in pieces. Upper one is joined first.




Isaac

[Isaac]

The forward and aft sub assemblies are joined with the exposed open area for the gear.


I did not extend the engine intake tube beyond the nose and did not need to cut the frame interior. I added the 2 center section interior frames at this point





The main landing gear bay is added.





Isaac

[Isaac]

The parts of the inner structure are a bit too complicated for me at this scale, so I simplified it.


Here are the parts




I added wood spars to get the right dihedral and strength/





Once the spar is attached, I slipped the inner wings on.





Isaac

[paperengineer]

Very nice so far isaac

[Isaac]

This is a flying wing design. However to add some directional stability, extra fins were attached to the tips to act as sort of a combination elevators/rudders. If this did make it to production there would have been lots of wing tip broken on takeoff and landing. So whatever aerodynamic advantage they may have had would have resulted in a super delicate airplane not suitable for war time combat.


Here are the tips





and there are tip cones. Those were difficult to roll. I used short wood dowels to connect the 3 segments.







And the outer fins are glued on and canted down.





Isaac

[eric_son]

Hey Isaac,

I love reading your engineering feedback about the Luft'46 design concepts.
Was the wingtip weakness attributed to the way it was affixed to the main wing?
How about the BV P.209.01 (http://www.luft46.com/bv/bvp20901.html)? The wing tips on that design were attached to big, sturdy booms.

Cheers!

Eric

[Isaac]

Originally Posted by eric_son

Hey Isaac,

I love reading your engineering feedback about the Luft'46 design concepts.
Was the wingtip weakness attributed to the way it was affixed to the main wing?
How about the BV P.209.01 (http://www.luft46.com/bv/bvp20901.html)? The wing tips on that design were attached to big, sturdy booms.

Cheers!

Eric

Eric

Downward facing wing tips are bad news for low or mid winged aircraft. Sooner or later they will drag on the ground and be damaged. On high winged aircraft they are better. However, since the landing gear is so narrow and close coupled with the nose gear, the lateral control will be difficult especially in cross wind condition and again there will be a ground strike.

All of the BV design shared a similar issue in which the gear was narrow and wing tips were too close to the ground. The BV P. 210 was a better design. The gear was in the wings and was spaced wide apart. The tips also were not canted down as sharply as the other designs. I did build that one in 1/33 scale. What fun.

I have to say the the BV designs are my favorites of the Luft 46 collection. They are funky looking but not outrageous like science fiction stuff.


Unfortunately, German designs of WW2 sacrificed practical use to ease of production. Look at the Bf 109. The landing gear was attached to the fuselage so the aircraft can be moved on its wheels while being assembled. However, that foolish design caused a large percentage of aircraft accidents with both inexperienced and experienced pilots. A better design would have been a wide gear like the FW-190. Same with aircraft in which the pilot is in a prone position. very uncomfortable after 15 minutes on your stomach. And forget about bailing out. Or the Heinkel 162 , engine intake on top with no ejection seat. You get sucked into it if you try to bail out.......

Aerodynamic perfection is not everything.


Thank you for sharing your designs.


Isaac

[Isaac]

I needed to check the model Center of gravity so it is not a tail seater. I attached the rear struts and a simple tooth pic for the nose. The model was barely on the nose gear. I will add a bit of weight under the canopy later for a better balance.

For now here it is.




Isaac