Planet Models 1/48th scale FW Flitzer

By Allan Wanta

History

The war situation for Germany was indeed looking bleak. Shortages of raw materials and skilled labor made assembly and construction of fighter planes most difficult. A project developed by Focke-Wulfe called the Flizter was well into the mock-up stage when the RLM decided it was no better than the already in production Me-262 and canceled any further development. Utilizing a Heinkel turbo jet for propulsion, it also had a Walther rocket motor for quicker climb to altitude performance. Although this aircraft never made it into production, its design influenced many post war designs such as the DH Vampire, Sea Vixen and Mistral.

The Kit

The kit comes in a standard white Planet models box with a sketch of the Flitzer (Madcap) on the cover. All parts are neatly poly-bagged and are wonderfully flash and air bubble free. This is quite a substantial kit considering what you might pay for other Planet kits and it's in 1/48th scale. Decals include basic crosses and split swastikas. A clear vacuformed canopy, only one is also included

Step one, getting rid of the numerous and often massive pouring mold blocks on all of the parts. Who ever designed the parts did a wonderful job, but placement of the pieces in relation to the mold blocks is truly awful. Rather then molding the gear assembly's upright as in most resin kits, they are laid horizontal making it impossible to sand off the pouring block and have a round finished piece. The nose gear is scratchbuilt using the original as a master; other pieces are similarly molded, so be extra careful.

The cockpit is well done, molding rudder pedals and side panels with the rear fuel tank bulkhead in one unit. A front gear bulkhead and rear engine exhaust cone completes the needed interior components. The instrument panel is good, but could be reworked to represent a more detailed version, I just cleaned it up and it looks acceptable. All that's really needed to complete the interior are seat belt and harness; these come from an etched Airwaves set.

Two pieces make up each wing; this is done as to represent the air intakes with greater accuracy, and requires careful sanding and fitting. Another area and probably the hardest part of this kit are the fitting of the finished wings to the fuselage. Be very careful to sand the correct dihedral into the wings, this is one area that takes time and dry fitting, use a slow setting epoxy when you think it's correct. The same holds true with the two pieces that comprise each of the tail booms. I drilled and inserted brass tubing into each end of the tubular boom section and mated it to the wing and rudder piece, this allows easier alignment cause it's one of the fiddliest parts of this kit.

The gear doors are removed from their blocks-o-resin and cleaned up, a couple of hinges and we're all set to attach these as a final assembly. With three pieces for each main gear, strong epoxy will be needed. The wheels are surprisingly detailed, tread design and with positive locating holes in the wings makes quick work of the main gear placement. The overall structural strength of the finished gear legs is questionable so be gentle when handling the final product. As stated before the canopy is very clear but a bit thin in areas especially around the protruding telescopic gun-sight. A small hole must be cut from the forward part of the canopy to allow the sight to stick out, this is not mentioned in the instructions but is just a common sense thing.

Conclusion

Well, it certainly looks like a Flitzer, and though it did have a few gray areas as far as construction is concerned looks very much like a last ditch effort on the part of the German Air Ministry to stem the Allied domination of the sky in late 1944. This kit is perhaps one of Planet's more technical designs and really should be attempted by an advanced modeler with plenty of sanding skills and a very good scriber, both of which I'm still improving on.