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Raketenrampen-Seekämpfer...................Flitzer at sea

Started by beowulf, January 28, 2011, 10:54:03 AM

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beowulf

Raketenrampen-Seekämpfer roughly translates as Rocket Ramp Sea Fighter


Havnt done anything for my 'Alternative Timeline' saga for a while...thought it was time i revisited it

http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,28666.0.html

1951...... now Argentina has become a member of the Axis Alliance there is increased naval activity in the Atlantic...............convoys carrying troops, materiel and supplies cross to occupied NW Africa and onto Europe. Commonwealth forces try to interdict them to cause disruption. The convoys face problems with whatever route they use........Commonwealth surface raiders/submarines are only one hazard they face. If they take the direct route they face aircraft operating from the few remaining Commonwealth aircraft carriers operating in the Atlantic from bases in Southern Africa,  if they hug the South American coast for as long as possible before turning across the Atlantic they face land based patrol aircraft operating out of bases in the Guiana's. Providing some form of air cover proves difficult..............the Graf Zeppelin being sunk in 1947 and the Peter Strasser undergoing a refit after being damaged after an attack by British submarine in the Mediterranean the previous year.
New carriers and the converted Battlecarriers would not enter into service until 1952/3 so a stop gap improvisation was looked for.

The FW Flitzer had by this time been in service for 6 years and like the Me 262 was fast becoming obsolete. It had already been withdrawn from front line service and relegated to second line and training duties. A design was drawn up to fit merchant ships with a launch ramp, to assist the aircraft to achieve launch speed the Flitzer was mounted to a rocket equipped cradle.

Procedure would be to run the aircraft's jet up to speed, ignite the rocket and seconds later release the holding clamp to launch..............the disposable rocket would fall away after leaving the ramp and be lost at sea. After engaging/chasing off any encountered enemy aircraft the pilot would ditch as close to the convoy to be picked up.











Building this came in a roundabout way..........started reading about ZELL...........that led to the Allies CAM ships....of course that led to thinking 'what if the Germans had to do it?'.......my first thought were that it would be over engineered and over complicated ............like most people I have a couple of Revell Flitzers in the stash just needing an excuse to have something done to them and being small and compact seemed like a suitable choice of aircraft..........thought I could work it into my ALT saga ;D
Decided on a simple green over light blue scheme after seeing quite a few Arado seaplanes in this kind of scheme......seemed suitable...........the ramp is made from all manner of junk I picked up!....only regret is that I didn't have something to make a base to stand it all on

Apologies for slightly dodgy pics......still havnt found a set up i like since i moved house and now my Canon has died..... :angry:....had to drag out an old Fuji.....when i bought it a long long time ago it was the latest most spangly thing on the market....nowadays my moble phone's camera has more megapixels!!  ;D


.............hes a very naughty boy!
allergic to aircraft in grey!
The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time........Bertrand Russell
I have come up with a plan so cunning you could stick a tail on it and call it a weasel. ......Edmund Blackadder

GTX

All hail the God of Frustration!!!

ChernayaAkula

Yeah, very nice! :thumbsup:

That launcher wouldn't look out of place on some Channel Island, Heligoland, Gibraltar or even a sea fort. Don't know why, but I can somehow imagine this very well on a rock cliff overlooking the sea.
Cheers,
Moritz


Must, then, my projects bend to the iron yoke of a mechanical system? Is my soaring spirit to be chained down to the snail's pace of matter?

NARSES2

Do not condemn the judgement of another because it differs from your own. You may both be wrong.

Spey_Phantom

on the bench:

-all kinds of things.

Army of One

Awesome stuff...!! Anychance of anymore info on the build re the launcher please..?
BODY,BODY....HEAD..!!!!

IF YER HIT, YER DEAD!!!!

beowulf

Quote from: Army of One on January 29, 2011, 06:55:05 AM
Awesome stuff...!! Anychance of anymore info on the build re the launcher please..?

sure....it really was made from any old scrap lying about..........theres bits from the spares box...1/24 car and truck, 1/35 armour, 1/72 boat plus stuff i cant even guess at!  :lol:....the hard bit was getting all the different media to stick together since there was so many different types of plastic.......first time ive ever had to use a hot melt glue gun or self tapping screws for this hobby  ;D...i just had this Blue Peter moment (that will be lost on you if you aint british)......the first version i made had a square lid from a shampoo bottle instead of the rattle can lid but it just didnt want to play with everything else when it came to being attached.............hope that helps  :thumbsup:

.............hes a very naughty boy!
allergic to aircraft in grey!
The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time........Bertrand Russell
I have come up with a plan so cunning you could stick a tail on it and call it a weasel. ......Edmund Blackadder

Tophe

[the word "realistic" hurts my heart...]

Weaver

"Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot."
 - Sandman: A Midsummer Night's Dream, by Neil Gaiman

"I dunno, I'm making this up as I go."
 - Indiana Jones

GTX

And here I was thinking you took the launcher from another model - masterful scratchbuilding and definitely worthy of a Whiffie nomination.

Regards,

Greg
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

Taiidantomcat

"Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality." -Jules de Gaultier

"My model is right! It's the real world that's wrong!" -global warming scientist

An armor guy, who builds airplanes almost exclusively, that he converts to space fighters-- all while admiring ship models.

Kruaxi

'Build what YOU like, the way YOU want to, above all have FUN'-Al Superczynski-

PYF42

Bonjour
I can't believe it !
Each time I look at this forum, I am surprised !
Good work  :thumbsup:
Regards
Fred

Mossie

Love the scavenged launcher!  Very nice bit of improvised scratch-bashing!
I don't think it's nice, you laughin'. You see, my mule don't like people laughin'. He gets the crazy idea you're laughin' at him. Now if you apologize, like I know you're going to, I might convince him that you really didn't mean it.

Sturmbock

This is such a Wow build I want one in my garden. 1:1 of course.  :thumbsup: