1/72 Unicraft Bombengleiter

Gallery Article by Thomas Brückelt on May 10 2018

 

      

There is not much information about the Bombengleiter (Bomb-glider). Some assign it to Lippisch, but it´s not proven and compared to other Lippisch-designs I would say it´s not from them.

The idea was to drop the glider, armed with a 1000 kg bomb, from a bomber from an altitude of 8000 m. The pilot would go into a dive, pull up right in front of the target and drop the bomb precisely. After the raid, the pilot would pull up and a balloon would have been blown up to slow down the little airplane. It´s not clear if the glider should land with the help of the balloon or if it should just slow it down, so that the pilot could get out with a parachute.

Click on images below to see larger images

The kit from Unicraft - named "Gleiter Bomber" - is made out of resin and contains a deepdrawn canopy. The resin parts must be deburred, the cockpit must be reworked. The inner surfaces are very rough. So I reworked the cockpit, added a pilot figure and a visor. Further I added a frame behind the cockpit, so that the rear part of the fuselage is closed.

The kit can be seen here:
http://www.unicraft.biz/germ/gleiter/gleiter.htm

It contains no bomb. Airmodel Products offers a nicely detailed SC 1000 bomb I used:

http://www.airmodel.de/product_info.php?language=en&info=p235_sc-1000-c--hermann-bombe-mit-schlitten--1-72.html&

For the display I used a Ø2 mm rod out of acryl glass. I placed the bomb below the fuselage, so that it looks as the bomb was just dropped.

I used paint from Revell (enamels) and painted the little Bombengleiter with brush and sponge. After I attached the decals (printed by myself and from Peddinghaus [Me 163]) I sprayed flat, clear varnish over it.

The Bombengleiter is a unique model with it´s very special layout and an enrichment for my collection. Because of the rework which must be done on the Unicraft kit, I only can recommend it to experienced modellers. The SC 1000 from Airmodel Products is easy to build.

Greetings from Germany

Thomas Brückelt

Click on images below to see larger images

 

Photos and text © by Thomas Brückelt