Me 1109 Luft '46

Here's one of my 1/72nd  Unicraft kits. Thought I'd better introduce at least one of my aircraft models whilst I'm waiting to return to that genre. Busy as I am painting up wargames units, there's still one hundred plus unfinished aircraft projects in the work-room. This is one of the rare finished items.

Originally purchased from Unicraft of the Ukraine this model would be hard to source from elsewhere. A paper project / Luftwaffe '46 Me.1109. This aircraft would have had a pivoting biplane configuration. Opposed wing planes would advance opposite wingtips, producing two sets of fully swept swings. As you can see from  the pic below I've built up a complete cockpit and added cones to the nacelle interiors, but what you can't see is the scratch-built main undercarriage.

 After plenty of sanding and filling  some old fuel tanks were used to make fan fairings - front and back along with a scratchbuilt nose and main gear well.

I figured the undercarriage would be too long  for easy maintenance if good ground clearance was needed - so I presumed a hydraulic undercarriage that would  lower the fuselage when the engines were powered down.

 A fully equipped cockpit was scratched along with air hoses, wiring and etched harness. Gear covers were made from thick aluminium tape and the cockpit was opened and given appropriate handles.

 Pitots and aerials finished the job. Damn... I forgot nav lights...again!