Thursday, November 6

Review: Zoukei-Mura's new 1/32nd scale Pilot and ground crew figures of the Ho 229 Horten

The new 1/32nd scale Horten Ho 229 fighter from Zoukei-Mura is a lovely kit – we are in the process of having quite some fun making it, but we were very anxious to see how the extras on this kit would fare, and how they would integrate with the kit itself. Well we got our wish when Zoukei-Mura sent out five of these sets to examine and show you – today we look at the human element with the pilot and ground grew figures for the SWS 08 kit

Ho 229 Pilot Figure　
SWS08-F01
1/32nd scale
Type: Resin kit
Included Items:
Pilot Figure x1
Price: 1500 JPY (+P&P)

Ho 229 Ground Crew Set
SWS08-F02
1/32nd scale
Type: Resin kit
Included the Ground Crew Figure x3 (Small parts also included)
Price: 2800 JPY (+P&P)

Both of these as well as the other additions for the Horten are available through the ZM online site and their Distributors worldwide.

Tank modellers are usually flush with figures to include in their dioramas, whereas aircraft guys seem to be a little behind the 8-ball with the human element to add to their models. 48th scale modellers seems to have the most amount of figures while 72nd and 32nd scale aircraft modellers lag behind. It seems anything in 32nd scale is loved by their audience and welcomed with open arms.

When we saw that you could now get the add on figures and pilot for Zoukei-Mura’s new Horten Ho 229 in 1/32nd scale we were very eager to check them out. These two resin kits feature three “Black men” of the aircraft maintenance Korps of the Luftwaffe and a pilot in the very futuristic get up of a pressure suit that was specially made for flight testing in the Horten.
Now I do not know who sculpted these items in grey resin, but I do think that the pilot was sculpted by a fdifferent person to the ground crew just by looking at them – I cannot be sure but it doesn’t matter anyway I suppose. The resin is bubble free on the surface but a few do come out once you trim some of the bits off. These are easy to fill with super glue.

Each of these figures has a socket and joint style fitting of all the arms, legs, heads and pistol. So you are not left wondering! You will have to trim some seam marks off especially on the crew figures and fingers will need some cleaning up as well from excess resin. All of the pieces here have a small pouring block attached to them. All of this is an easy removal from the figure with a cut and a scrape with a scalpel here and there – nothing majorly wrong with the casting.

Let’s cut to it and look at both of these sets individually right now for you…

Ho 229 Pilot Figure
SWS08-F01
1/32nd scale
Type: Resin kit
Included Items:
Pilot Figure x1
This suit is not to be confused with the later Dräger hard shell flight suits made for astronauts –Dräger/(Draeger?) was a German company known for its early space suits (as early as 1942) - diving suits and medical work and for designing Germany's first and only working pressure suit during WWII.  The effects of hypoxic hypoxia - or lack of oxygen above approximately 5 kilometres, was solved through supplemental oxygen sources, or other forms of pressurizing systems so as to give the pilot sufficient air to breathe but as planes flew higher and higher the other issue was called “stagnant hypoxia” meaning the poor circulation of blood in the body which also became an issue in constant high-G manoeuvres.
The suit replicated in this kit was the actual pressure suit created for the aircraft and worn by test pilot Erwin Ziller in the Dräger pressure suit for Ho-IX Go-229. The Horten prototypes did not have cabin pressurization the Horten Brothers never really found a final solution to this, their way of handling it was by testing a prototype pressure suit.
It was tested in the Ho IX V2, and it was the right size to fit within the confines of the cockpit of the ’229, and recommended for service with the aircraft. These pressure suits are also able to operate as G-suits as they applied pressure in the same manner as a G suit does, but all over the body equally instead of at the extremities. This pressure suit was a full-body device which was heavy but necessary to prevent the effects of stagnant hypoxia as well.

A figure wearing this pressure suit is included in the extras from Zoukei-Mura on their website – it is made to fit the joystick in it’s hands and throttle in the left. The figure comes with a page of instructions. The words are mostly in Japanese but there is also an English translation on the website for these instructions as well. Not that you need them as the kit all but puts itself together for you – it is only three parts.
Now before I talk anymore on this I must say I am a little vexed as how to paint the pilot’s head in this. The grey resin is not see through and as you can see by the picture of the Dräger suit it is very see through. My only guess is to make it reflective with a little dark tint. This would suggest a mirrored surface and that might work.
The other parts of the suit match the pictures pretty well and it really looks pretty cool. The arms go to the right places – the right on the joystick – and mine I set slightly off the throttle at a poor guess. I would fix this before I painted it to the right position right on top of the throttle. The joint in the left arm allows you to do this.

The smooth finish and details make me think that this is a different sculptor to the ground crew. And the detail are very fine – I think this is a very good job of a cool suit.

Here is mine mocked up in the completed cockpit.
And here it is painted up from the ZM Website.

Ho 229 Ground Crew Set
SWS08-F02
1/32nd scale
Type: Resin kit
Included the Ground Crew Figure x3 (Small parts also included) 
These three figure are a little mixed group. All three are supplied with a parking chock each for the aircraft to lump onto. These have eyelet holes on them so they can be attached to each other. The resins is fine on these loops so be careful!
Chocks away!
Again there are full instructions for these fifteen parts of grey resin. At first you think “where do the bits all go?” well the makers have made it easy for you as there is a  “1”, “2” & “3” on each of these part’s casting blocks which easily lets you work out which arm is on which figure and so on. Easy!
The resin is not sculpted as finely as the pilot figure – the hands, ears, nose and face are less sharp in detail than the pilot so you must do a little more carving and smoothing of seams on the whole body, hands and head. The work is worth it and if you are careful with the knife and take a little more time than I did with this review you can get a good result.

All three of the figures are mostly just needing arms and a head added – so the construction is simple and the socket and joint helps here as well. You will need to do some trimming here again but they all fit well.

There are three ground figures included here – I’ll go through them in order and we will look at them all put together.

“1” - The pointing man.

This pleasant looking chap is seen in coveralls leaning forward either fixing or paying attention to a tyre. He is made from four parts of grey resin.
His face shows a broad smile as he reaches forward into action. He has gloves on which is odd but acceptable. I put a slight split between each of his fingers with my hobby knife to add some realism.
His arms fit will with only a negligible gap and his thick hair is seen bellowing out from under his flat service cap.
His overalls clean up nicely after you remove the seam from the sides.
 
You can see he looks like he is paying attention and the body language is right. He stands easily without leaning on anything which is also a good sign.

“2” – Kneeling man –pointing the way!
This “black man” of the groundcrew is seen again in full overalls, flat service cap and with a pose way down low working under the Horten.
He is seen pointing as he works – maybe he is agreeing with the third figure or maybe not – he might be pointing something out?
 
The wrinkles in his pinched overalls looks pretty impressive as he is hunched over working. The seams on this figure once removed give a nice and wrinkled pair of overalls on the figure.

“3” – with the right arm resting upright lookin’ real cranky.
This man is seen here looking again not too pleased – his face is a stern looking affair. He is kneeling on his knees as he leans or points – your choice – to his right side. He could be pointing the way for the aircraft to head off or resting his hand on that massive front tyre of the Ho 229. 
Again this fellow is wearing gloves and the flat service cap and overalls as he goes about his work..
 
This fellow I think may be the groundcrew chief – he has the manner and the pistol in a holster on his left hip.
 
You can see the wrinkles in his overalls pinched in by his tight belt around his waist which I like in this sculpt. Although the head is a little high I would trim his neck joint by a few millimetres more than you can see here. He will look more natural then.
Here they all are together..
And with the pilot in the Horten – I left the wings off so you can see them all a little better…
We are still in starvation rations when it comes to good 32nd figures for your aircraft. These figures help and although there are one or two things I noted they are a great step in the right direction and with a little work they can look great with your new Horten.
Adam Norenberg
Part I: Review is here
Part II – Building up the power..
Part III – The frame of the plane
Part IV - Big wheels and Cockpits
Part V - Skeletor…
Ho 229 "Concept Note" Review
SWS 080 Extras : Pilot & Groundcrew Review

SWS 080 Extras: Aircraft improvements
Both of these sets, as well as the other additions for the Horten are available through the ZM online site and their Distributors worldwide.