1/72 Revell Blohm & Voss BV P-194 

by Joe Youngerman 

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There is no question that Blohm & Voss built some interesting aircraft for Germany during the Second World War...remarkable floatplanes such as the Bv 222 and Bv 138, strange prototypes such as the Bv 141 and almost, but not quite, the Bv P-194 attack aircraft combining both piston and turbojet powerplants. It never saw the light of day but would have certainly have been one of the stranger designs to see service in the conflict if it had! Revell released a series of interesting Luft 46 subjects in the nineties in 1/72 scale that were really quite nice kits. Many of us wondered why they spent so much time and effort on such obscure subjects when so many important WW2 aircraft are still ignored by manufacturers...why not a 1/72 A-20 or a nice Devastator for example? I decided I needed to build at least one of these odd-balls and found an example of the Bv P-194 in a local hobby shop...off I went with it!

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The kit is very nicely molded with recessed panel lines, detailed interior and optional position bomb bay doors. There are decal options for two aircraft, but I chose my own scheme and markings using decals from the spares box. Hey, its a hypothetical a/c  so why not use a little imagination! The kit fits well overall with no real problem areas though you need to be careful to get all the wing sections aligned properly. I added some minor details including photo-etch seat belts to the cockpit. I also added I little detail to the decking just behind the armored headrest. Other minor improvements included the whip antenna on the top of the stub fuselage and brake lines from copper wire added to the main landing gear.

I pre-shaded the model and began to do the camo work.  I decided to go with a scheme of RLM 84 by ModelMaster on the belly and RLM 82 Dark Green by Pollyscale and RLM 82 Light Green from Gunze.  My aircraft was on the Russian Front in 46' so the yellow theater markings were applied with Pollyscale RLM 04.  Weathering/chipping was applied using Prismacolor pastel pencils and pastel chalks.  Exhaust stains were airbrushed using a 80/20 thinned mix of Pollyscale black and Rust. My spares box decals went on well after a coat of future and then finally a coat of Testors Flat coat sealed the job.

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 I enjoyed this project though I can't say I'm burning to do another Luft 46' model again any time real soon. There are just too many "real" aircraft I need to get done!

Joe

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Photos and text © by Joe Youngerman