Miniart 41001 FL 282 V-6 Kolibri

FL 282 V-6 Kolibri
Miniart 1:35 Scale Kit #41001
Kit Preview by Terry Ashley

Introduction:

The Flettner Fl 282 Kolibri ("Hummingbird") which was the world's first series production helicopter. It was of an intermeshing rotor configuration and powered by a 7.7 litre, 7-cylinder Siemens-Halske Sh 14 radial engine of 150-160 hp. The engine was mounted in the centre of the fuselage with the transmission mounted on the front of the engine with a drive shaft running to the upper gearbox, which split the power to a pair of opposite-rotation drive shafts to turn the rotors.

The kit:

This new kit from Miniart brings us the first 1:35 scale kit of the Fl 282 V6 prototype during a period of shipboard trials in 1942/43 with this brief preview showing the kit contents and instructions with images of the kit details.

The kit consists of:

172 parts in light grey plastic on 8 runners.
2 clear plastic parts.
11 Brass PE parts.
1 small decal sheet.
1 x 12-page instruction booklet.

Etched and clear parts
Miniart

The standard of moulding is excellent with clean crisp details and zero flash to be seen, there are the usual excess moulding nodes on the parts to be carefully removed and a bare minimum of small pin marks, most of which can't be seen after assembly. There are many fine delicate parts such as the fuselage framework that only have very fine mould lines to be removed, this is often easier to do while the parts are still attached to the runners and given the delicate nature of the details obviously care is needed during the parts removal and clean-up.

The kit features a fully detailed radial engine with separate cylinder heads, push-rods and exhausts with the multi-part gearbox also having excellent bolt head and other details. The kit also includes the control linkages from the pilot's levers to the gearbox and an intricate rotor head assembly with all this detail visible if you leave off the fuselage engine panels. The open cockpit is fairly simply as was the real thing with pilot's levers, foot pedals, seat with PE seat belts and an engraved instrument panel with decals for the dials supplied.

The finely moulded intricate fuselage framework is most impressive as is the fabric texturing on the rear fuselage and control surfaces, the engine bay panels have internal ribs enhanced with PE braces should you wish to show these removed from the model. The four rotor blades come with moulded in 'droop' for a good effect when sitting on the ground along with a sturdy undercarriage and wheels with nice tread detail.

The parts count is not high but what you get is extremely well moulded with intricate fine details included and should build quite easily into and impressive model, the instructions are the usual Miniart exploded view drawings that are well laid out and east follow along with colour 5-view illustrations of the four marking options included on the well printed decal sheet.

Erprobungs-und Lehrkommando 20 on board the Minelayer "Drache", Trieste, Adriatic Sea, November 1942.
Tests on the floating base hydroaviation "Greif", Travemünde, Lübeck Bay, Baltic Sea, August 1942.
Erprobungs-und Lehrkommando 20 on board the Minelayer "Drache", Trieste, Adriatic Sea, January 1943
Erprobungs-und Lehrkommando 20 on board the anti-submarine ship KUJ 13. Baltic Sea, April/May 1943

Conclusion:

As mentioned this is just a brief kit preview but the high quality of the kit parts and intricate detail should build into an impressive model of this important aircraft in the evolution of rotary flight and being in 1:35 scale to take it easy to incorporate into any diorama setting without problems and my initial impression is highly recommended.

The Part Runners:

Click on thumbnails for larger view

Part detail images

Instructions
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