Friday, July 6

Focke-Wulf Triebflügel in 1/48th scale launches Amusing Hobby's aircraft line vertically with a test kit preview...

Amusing Hobby continues into an alternate 1946 with their test shot build up of the Focke-Wulf Triebflügel in 1/48th scale. We look at the test kit partial build up and a little of the proposed and known facts about this "thrust-wing hunter" in our preview...

Built test kit reveal from Amusing Hobby.

Focke-Wulf Triebflügel 
From: Amusing Hobby
1/48th scale
Kit No #48A001
Kit Includes: Plastic sprues, Photoetch, Waterslide decals, Clear parts
The Focke-Wulf Triebflügel, or Triebflügeljäger, literally meaning "thrust-wing hunter", was a German concept for an aircraft designed in 1944, during the final phase of World War II as a defence against the ever-increasing Allied bombing raids on central Germany. It was a vertical take-off and landing tailsitter interceptor design for local defence of important factories or areas which had small or no airfields.
The Triebflügel had only reached the wind-tunnel testing phase in mockups when the Allied forces reached the production facilities. No complete prototype was ever built.
This Focke-Wulf VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) fighter/interceptor was designed in September 1944. The three untapered wings rotated around the fuselage and had a gradually decreasing pitch towards the wingtips, thus acting like a giant propeller. At the end of each wing was a Pabst ramjet, Since ramjets do not operate at slow speeds, either the rotor had to be driven by a fuselage mounted takeoff-booster or small Walter rocket engines could have been fitted to each ramjet pod. 
The pilot sat in a cockpit near the nose and the armament consisted of two MK 103 30mm cannon with 100 rounds plus two MG 151/20 20mm cannon with 250 rounds. Although the Triebflugel was not constructed, a wind tunnel model was tested up to a speed of Mach 0.9.
Specifications

General characteristics
Crew: one
Length: 9.15 m (30 ft 0 in)
Wingspan: 11.5 m (37 ft 9 in)
Gross weight: 2,500 kg (5,512 lb)
Powerplant: 3 × Pabst ramjets, 8.9 kN (2,000 lbf) thrust each
Powerplant: 3 × Walter liquid fuel rockets
Powerplant: 2 × standard German Walter 109-501 RATO units , 14.71 kN (3,306 lbf) thrust each

Performance
Maximum speed: 1,000 km/h (621 mph; 540 kn)
Never exceed speed: 2,700 km/h (1,678 mph; 1,458 kn)
Minimum control speed: 230 km/h (143 mph; 124 kn)
Service ceiling: 15,300 m (50,200 ft)
Rate of climb: 50 m/s (9,800 ft/min)

Armament
Guns: 2 × 30 mm MK-103 each with 100 rounds + 2 × 20 mm MG-151 each with 250 rounds

 This new kit from Amusing Hobby
Moulded in plastic in 1/48th scale, this kit is soon to be hitting out local hobby shops with the test shot already designed, moulded and constructed. Usually, it is at this phase that they are looking for any last minute bumps and fit issues, and with no real aircraft to measure it against, Amusing Hobby have done a smart thing by re-creating this What-if? aircraft as the first in their aircraft model series...
The sprues that have been shown...
 A little closer look, showing the detail of the recessed rivets of the kit. It looks pretty good to us so far. We would like to see a cockpit in place, to see that very important part of the kit come to life.
 Here it is built up, showing the odd angle of take-off and landing in this position. It would also be nice to have some crew access ladders to the kit, but we will see if those are added int he near future as the kit is scheduled to be released in the next month or so.
More about this kit of the Focke-Wulf Triebflügel in 1/48th scale as it comes to light - check out more about Amusing Hobby's kits on their Website.