Subject: Re: do335 from bangalore
From: "Steve Bamford" <[email-masked]>
To: "Avinash" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2001 18:37:58 -0800

Steve Bamford
Aircraft Resource Center
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com

Live like there is no tomorrow;
Love like you have never been hurt; and
Dance like no one is watching!

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Avinash 
  To: Steve Bamford 
  Sent: Monday, December 03, 2001 7:59 AM
  Subject: do335 from bangalore

  hello steve, 
   
  This is Avinash Sosale from bangalore, India.
   
  Here's an article of the  Tamiya 1:48 Do335 A12 trainer that i've finished.
  It's undoubtedly a very interesting model.
   
  (attach do335-1.jpg here)
   
  History:The Dornier Do 335 'Pfeil' was the brain child of Prof Dr Claudius Dornier. By the mid-1930's. he saw the possibility of using this concept to power a high speed fighter.To that end Ulrich Hutter was commissioned to design a small test bed for the arrangement. Designated the Goppingen Go 9, and built by Schempp-Hirth, the test bed featued a pencil thin fuselage containing a 59.6Kw Hirth HM 60R engine.The Go-9 attained a speed of 137mph.
  (attach go-9.jpg here)
  The first prototype dornier Do 335 displayed remarkably good handling characteristics despite its unconventional appearance and configuration and it's turn radius in particular, was significantly better that expected. The airacraft did porpoise and snake at high speed, but did not sufficiently dampen the spirits of the Rechlin test pilots. Development was remarkbly rapid, but production was slow to get started. Fourteen prototypes were eventually completed and flown together with ten Do335 A-0s, eleven Do335A-1s, and a pair of Do 335a-12 trainers... one of which, no. 112 is the subject of this article.Fifteen more were in final assembly when US forces overan Dornier's Oberpfaffenhofen plant.Among other unique features of this aircraft, one of the most notable is the ejection seat (only the second production type after the Saab J21). German pilots told of how, during the test programme, two aircraft crashed and thier pilots were found still in the cockpit but with their arms missing. This was supposedly due to the too firm grip being taken on the handles, which first jettisoned the canopy before the seat could be fired out.Despite of its teething problems the Pfeil proved to be a sound design with no major faults. 
  (attach do335-9 here with foot note: The second production Do-335A-0 wears werk-nr 102 on its tail.To the RLM, the aircraft was know as Project 231, and to its test pilots it was the 'Pfeil' (arrow). But its prominent nose saw it dubbed ' Ameisenbar' (anteater) by its crews.This aircraft was eventually shipped to the USA for evaluation.)
   
  (attach do335-4.jpg and do335-5.jpg here)
  The Kit: the fit was excellent, and hardly any putty was ever used. The kit was built OOB, and posed no problems of any kind. The instrument panel decal was used and hand painted around the dials to bring out the details. The major ploblem arose with the splinter camo colours. Different illustrations show different shades. So I mixed up my own  shades of lime and dark green to match a picture from 'Warplanes of the Luftwaffe'. Here in India we don't get modeling clear matte, so the decal's silvered a bit. No extensive weathering was done as most of these a/c's clocked very few hours.All in all a great kit with few hassels!
   
  Avinash
   
  (attach do335-6, do335-2, do335-3.jpg here)