Making a minor detour along the What-if? road of 1/72 ModelCollect kits, we arrive with the Haunebu kit. Originally a Hand & Head kit, that made it’s way to Wave and finally, as most people know it, to Revell, (who wrongly call it the Haunebu II) this is a Nazi flying saucer. Well, we have kits of tanks on legs, why not a flying saucer? You can google the Haunebu hullabaloo, it’s pretty wild, and of course that sort of whacko conspiracy theories lead to films like the insane Iron Sky, which is still more realistic than the dire Pearl Harbour. Anyway, this is the same kit, whichever version you have, the only difference being the instructions and decals. I have both early Wave kit and Revell version, so eventually I’ll make both, (and the Squardon Haunebu II, which is genuinely twice the size in each direction, more of that to follow) bot for the time being just the Wave kit is on the board. A very nice flight deck, which you can build and actually see if you leave the kit with the roof of the saucer unglued. None of the kits include clear parts for the bulged but slitted viewing ports, so some clear adhisive will be used for those. The rivets that are slice and apply are a nice touch, with several sheets that you have to carefully slice off each rivet and then glue on, trying desperately not to lose each one, and get them all to line up. The next one I build may be without the rivets, as though a more advanced version. Anyway, it’s great to have the choice. The underside has three turrets, (seen not yet in place and you can choose between landing geat deployed or raised. No stand is included for the latter. So far the surface has just had a base coat of blue-grey, (not the bright blue of early war aircraft) and later I’ll begin to apply the camo. Which I choose is so far a mystery to me, but I have several in mind. A nice kit to build with lots of options, and again, a totally bonkers subject.
Not much progress on this kit, but instead, because I’m a glutton for punishment, I’ve started on the Haunebu II by Squadron Models. So while I’ll be carrying on this thread when I get to the stage of painting both, and will start a new thread for that kit because, well, it’s a biggie, and wow is it impressive, and flawed, I thought I’d just post a photo showing the difference in dimensions of the two kits, both in 1/72.
And only a week after finishing the Haunebu II, here’s close the the finale for the Haunebu I. Decided to go for a less extreme camo scheme, especially since the I would be the fore-runner for the II. So here’s the little guy and in a comparison shot the one beside the others. Add the decals and we’re done, and onto finishing five 1/35 German tanks, varying in size from the E-10 to the E-100.
