Amusing Hobby's new 48th scale kit in the test shot phase - the WWII German VTOL Weserflug P.1003/1

The weird and wacky world of "Luft 46" and "what-if?" is a popular subject to cover as subjects get rarer. Amusing Hobby has spotted a machine that has not been made in 48th scale before - the tilt-rotor Weserflug P.1003/1 is nearly with us, the test shot going together. We have some info on the proposed design in real life & the model in our preview...

Amusing Hobby's new 48th scale kit in the test shot phase...

WWII German VTOL  Aircraft Weserflug P.1003/1

From amusing Hobby

Kit No #48A002

1/48th scale 

Product Link on the Amusing Hobby Website

The Weserflug P.1003/1 design...
This VTOL (Vertical Takeoff and Landing) aircraft project's design, by Weserflug, dates from 1938. The fuselage was fairly conventional, with a standard tail unit. The real difference in this design were the wings, which were hinged and tiltable about halfway along the length of the wings. Mounted on each end of the wing was a nacelle featuring a large diameter propeller. The wing was mounted high on the fuselage so that the propeller would have the necessary ground clearance when the wing was tilted in-flight position. A single Daimler-Benz DB 600 series engine was located in the fuselage behind the cockpit and drove both propellers. 

The engine was fed by an air intake located in the nose. The main gear retracted into the fuselage, and the rear tail wheel retracted beneath the tail. A crew of two sat in a cockpit located in the top forward section of the aircraft.

A concept drawing of the aircraft landing in hover mode

The concept never left the drawing board, but it was a very similar design was later built by the United States as the Boeing V-22 Osprey that began testing in 1989. Even today, the tilt-rotor concept is proving troublesome, and the fact that there would have had to be a very complex gearing arrangement for the Weserflug P.1103 (to tilt the wings and keep constant power to the large diameter propellers) would have proven a very difficult design hurdle.

The kit from Amusing Hobby:
This new kit of the WWII German VTOL  Aircraft Weserflug P.1003/1 from amusing Hobby (Kit No #48A002) looks to be rather a simple kit out of the box. Some sprues we have and some pictures of parts from Amusing Hobby 

Two fo the kit's sprues (there are the wings and other parts to add to this.) showing some of the breakdown of the kit

The fuselage of the aircraft with recessed panel lines and rivet detail. There is enough detail here to remember a Luftwaffe aircraft we think.

 The central spine of the aircraft showing the recessed rivet detail.

 Tail surfaces, with limited rivet detail and no posable surfaces....

Lastly, the parts put together in construction. The cockpit canopy is not here as of yet. YOu can see from this angle the two rotors have been tilted int to he raised position, you can have them at any in-flight angle...

 You can see the kit's undercarriage is extended here and is the tailplane that fully retracts, so you could show this kit in flight, in hover, or on the deck...

The kit is due for a September release, you can pick it up then from Amusing Hobby's Distributors Worldwide...