Brengun 1/72 Blohm & Voss BV-40 Glider Fighter
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
Overview
The Blohm & Voss BV 40 was designed to be a simple attack glider that would be towed to altitude by Bf 109 fighters, where they would then dive down on Allied bomber formations before gliding down to a landing. The high wing and prone position of the pilot made for a stable design that had a small, hard to see cross section. The two 30mm MK108 cannons, while limited in ammunition, gave the BV 40 a good chance of downing a bomber. The first flight took place in May 1944, but the concept was canceled before the type entered service.
The Kit
This cute little kit from Brengun is both simple and well detailed, making it a great subject for a quick break from more complicated kits. Molded in gray plastic, with a small injection-molded canopy and a fret of photoetch, the kit features fewer than two dozen parts (not counting the photoetch). The decal sheet provides markings for two of the prototypes.
With as few parts as this kit, construction will be quick. The interior is made up of a floor, a rear bulkhead, two control sticks, and a front panel. There is no sidewall detail, and most likely there was nothing on the sidewalls anyway. The completed cockpit is then trapped between the two fuselage halves, and the canopy will hide almost all of the interior detail due to its small window openings.
With the fuselage together, the rest of the assembly will be fast, if the fit is good. The wings are butted up against the fuselage, while the horizontal stabilizer rests atop a ledge on the vertical fin. Photoetch control horns are provided for the rudder, elevators, ailerons, and flaps, as well as outrigger skids and main landing gear support struts. The landing gear itself features a one-piece axle that gets two wheels and a skid, while the rear end gets a simple skid. With those parts in place, this model is essentially finished and you can paint it up.
The instructions indicate that the prototypes were painted in a simple scheme consisting of RLM 83 on the upper surfaces and RLM 76 on the undersides. As few photos of the plane exist, and they're in unclear black and white, the upper surface color could in fact be any one of the shades of RLM greens, so if you don't have RLM 83, you could use 70 or 71 just as well. The two schemes cover the first prototype, PN+UA and the sixth prototype, PN+UF.
Conclusion
This looks like a fun diversion of a kit, both simple to build and with an interesting history. It would be interesting to display this tied up to a Bf 109, waiting for takeoff, or even in flight at the end of a rope. My thanks to Brengun for the review sample.