Building a 1/72 Mistel 2 with the Aires Conversion Set (and a lot more)

By  Jim Pearsall, IPMS# 2209

Aires 1/72 Mistel 2 (Ju-88G1 + FW-190 F8) Kit # 7201 For the Hasegawa Ju-88G1 and FW-190F MSRP: $17.49 Thanks to Aires for providing the review kit. www.aires.cz The Aircraft The Mistel was one of those wonderful concepts which goes back to a corollary of Murphy's Law which states: "If it's a stupid idea, but it works, it's not really a stupid idea." The idea of a "grossbombe" (large bomb) was first proposed by Junkers' chief test pilot Siegfried Holzbaur in 1940 as an anti-ship weapon. Junkers had developed a crude autopilot, which allowed an aircraft to fly unattended for up to 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). Junkers patented the idea, but not much was done for a while. Then, after the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe's mission changed to include attacking surface ships. The Luftwaffe did not have great success sinking Royal Navy and British merchant ships, losing 27 aircraft per ship sunk. The concept reached Major Dietrich Peltz and Hauptmann Werner Baumbach, who were bomber pilots, and the idea of exchanging one unpiloted aircraft for one ship was much more interesting than the 27-1 ratio. They managed to interest Reichsmarschall Göring in the idea, using aircraft no longer fit for combat due to age or damage. The concept could be thought of as a pilotless kamikaze, using war-weary aircraft. The warhead was approximately 1250 kg (2755 lb.) and utilized a "shaped charge". The concept was that the front of the explosive had a cup shape, and the charge was detonated at the rear. What happened then was that instead of blowing up in all directions, the force of the explosion was channeled into a single jet of extremely hot gas, which would penetrate most armor and cause lots of damage. The same effect was used in the bazooka rocket, allowing a small charge to penetrate fairly thick armor. Flying trials of the concept began with a DFS 230 glider, carrying a Klemm 35 trainer. The duo had to be towed to altitude by a Ju 52, and it was found that the Klemm didn't have enough power to keep both aircraft flying. Nevertheless, in the one trial, the aircraft separated successfully. Another try with a FW-56 also showed the need for more power, as this combo also had to be towed to altitude, but the FW could keep them both level. Finally a Bf-109E was tried, and the whole thing could take off by itself. The controls of the lower aircraft were tied in to those of the upper, so one pilot managed both aircraft. The project was then code-named "Beethoven Gerät" (Beethoven device). The more common, but unofficial, name Mistel (mistletoe) refers to the parasitic nature of the plant. The first real Mistels were Ju-88As with Bf-109Fs or Gs on top. The fuel systems were tied together, allowing the Bf-109 to fly much longer missions. These were Schul (training) misteln, without a warhead, but instead had a standard Ju-88 cockpit, so the aircraft could be recovered after the pilot in the fighter could learn how to handle the beast, and generally turned the 88 loose to get home, since landing the entire aircraft combo wasn't part of the mission. Additionally, the Ju-88 tires couldn't handle the stress of a landing with the fighter and warhead. The Mistel 1 was a Ju-88A4 with a Bf-109. The trainer was the Mistel S1. Subsequently a number of Ju-88G1 night fighters became available. Since the G1 model had BMW radial engines not the Daimler-Benz Vs, they used 100 octane fuel instead of 87. The 109s used 87 octane. It was decided to match the G1s with FW-190s, which also used the 100-octane fuel, and could "share". This was the Mistel 2 and Schulmistel 2. Because of the greater weight of the FW-190, the supports for the fighter had to be made stronger. This is the basis for this conversion. Building the Kit The Aires kit has the warhead and the connecting hardware for the Ju-88G1 and the FW-190. It's nicely molded in light gray resin, and there were no mold flaws, bubbles, or voids. The supports between the 88 and 190 had a slight bow to them, but this fixed itself when the V supports were added. One part of doing a conversion like this is that the reviewer gets to buy the kit(s) and then do the conversion. I tried. The idea is to use Hasegawa's Ju-88G1 for the bottom aircraft. What happened is that the Ju-88G1 was a limited run kit, and it's out of production. It's out of stock everywhere. I even had Dave Morrissette use his connections at Dragon USA to see if they had a kit in the warehouse. Nope, sorry. HLJ? No. Everyone else I could think of didn't have one either. I did find one at the local Chapter meeting. After I explained the problem, he said he had the conversion kit too, and selling the base kit to me would mean he had the same problem. Sigh. I pored over the Mistel section in Warplanes of the Third Reich to see if there was any way to get around this problem. I did find that Kora produces a complete kit of the Mistel 2 in resin. This wouldn't do, partly because I needed to review the Aires conversion, partly because the Kora kit is sold out, and also partly because the Kora kit sells for $80.99. I also found that Zvezda, from Russia has a Ju-88G6. Back to Warplanes, only to find that the difference was that the G1 had the BMW engines, the G6 used DBs. Then fate intervened. Brian Baker, fellow modeler, reviewer, private pilot and general good guy noted that the Italeri Ju-188 kit has both DB and BMW engines. OK, I've got that kit in my stash. But even better, he built the Ju-188, didn't use the BMWs, still had the engines, cowlings and firewalls in his spares box, and would donate them to the review project. Well, it wasn't really that simple. I had to get the Zvezda kit first. And as long as I'm not using the Hasegawa Ju-88G, let's continue and use the Academy FW-190. I got the Zvezda kit from Great Models for about $23, along with the Quickboost correct tail for $7. The FW-190 I got from a LHS for $11.50. So I lucked out here. The Hasegawa kit sold for over $40 plus the 190, and I'm in at $42. Let the building begin!

If you want to do a Mistel 1, find Italeri's kit. For about $25 you get the Ju-88, Bf-109, warhead and connecting hardware.

I began building both the FW and the Ju at about the same time. When I hit a point on one where I had to stop, the other was usually ready for some sort of work. The 190 was straight from the box, so it required no special work. So I'll just cover the parts of the 88 that were "special". I assembled the Ju-88 fuselage and determined where to cut to remove the front of the aircraft, allowing installation of the warhead. It sure saved a lot of time, not having to detail the cockpit or paint all those glass areas. On the other hand, the warhead is designed to fit the Hasegawa fuselage, and Zvezda and Hasegawa seem to have different interpretations of the fuselage cross-section at the point where I made the cut. Good old green putty made up for this difference. I also had to use some putty on the wing roots, as Aires and Zvezda's wing roots aren't perfectly aligned. Some putty here means that there was a gap of about .3 mm to be filled. Not huge, but visible. Another thing to watch out for is that the Aires warhead has very delicate little winglets all around the circumference. I only broke 2, but if I had this to do again, I'd put thin bubble wrap around the warhead to protect it.

I used the Quickboost corrected tail, as the unit provided with the kit is probably too small, as shown in the Ju-88G drawings above. I then mated the wings to the fuselage, and I was ready for the next challenge. The challenge was matching Italeri's engines to Zvezda's. The fit was much closer than the fuselage, requiring no putty, or bad words. A quick hit with a file to round the edges of the Zvezda mount matched the parts nicely. And here Brian Baker came to my rescue again. The BMW radials had a cooling fan behind the propeller to give more airflow through the engine when the aircraft was on the ground or operating at low speeds. Italeri left off these features. Brian's innovative fix is to use lock washers. They have the little fins, and fit the Italeri nacelles cleanly. Paint them RLM 02, and when the props and spinners are installed, they really look like they belong there. The really cool thing is that they only cost 15 cents each at the local hardware store. When's the last time you got an add-on for a model for that price?

After adding the outer wing panels and horizontal stabilizers, the 88 was ready to paint, as was the 190, which was kept up while waiting for the putty to set up on the 88. I left off the landing gear on both aircraft, except for the tail wheel on the 88, which has to be installed when the fuselage halves are mated. Paint and Decals

The great thing about this combination is that although the FW-190 and Ju-88 look a lot different, the paints used aren't at all. The 88 night fighters used RLM 76 with a mottling of RLM 75 over it. The FW-190 used the same 76 on the underside, with a sort of modified splinter camouflage of 75 and 74 on the upper surfaces, with a mottle of 75 on the fuselage and tail sides. Therefore, I was able to paint 76 on both aircraft without having to clean the airbrush, then clean and paint the 75 on both. Then I finished with the 74 on the 190. Markings were simplicity. Many Mistel 2s carried no identifying markings of any sort, so the markings were German crosses in 6 positions (top & bottom wing, fuselage sides) plus the swastikas on the tails. I used left-over markings from my spares box for all markings. Final Assembly

I finished both aircraft landing gear, and added the canopy to the 190. It was not time to add the Aires parts to the 190, and time for the one moment of truth I had been warned about. My friend Dave has built several different Mistel sets, and the one thing he worries about is that the landing gear on the fighter must clear the top of the bomber fuselage.

Well, in this kit, it does. One problem solved. I drilled holes in the top of the 88 wing, and put in the supports for the 190. There isn't a lot of help from anyone's instructions, photographs or drawings on where the supports go, and it would be real easy to get the FW at some sort of weird angle compared to the Ju-88. This was when I noticed that there was a slight but definite "bow" to the supports. The good news is that when I added the braces which run from the top of the fuselage to the supports, they straightened the supports. I was able to get the 190 to mount pretty close to true in all 3 axes. I did have to cheat a little on the holes I drilled in the bottom of the 190 wing to get this, but it's not readily noticeable. Overall Assessment This is a review that almost didn't get written, and a kit that almost didn't get built. I owe Brian Baker a big thank you for the help getting this project started. He also lent me the Mistel book, and didn't bug me when I kept it for almost 3 months while putting this project together and building it. Overall, the Aires conversion is eminently useable. Having to use the Zvezda kit instead of the Hasegawa isn't a big player, but obtaining the radials from the Italeri Ju-188 kit could be a show stopper. On the other hand, kit bashing can be FUN!!! If you've wanted to build something that is almost (but not quite) Luftwaffe '46, this could be your project. It's certainly an attention-getter. Thanks to Aires for the kit, and Dave Morrissette for being patient while I went WAY over time getting this project together. Bibliography Dabrowski, Hans-Peter, Mistel, Schiffer Publications, Atglen PA, 1994. Forsyth, Robert, Mistel -German Composite Aircraft and Operations 1942-1945, Ian Allen Publishing, Hersham, Surrey, 2001 Green, William, Warplanes of the Third Reich, Galahad Books, New York, 1986 Green, William, Warplanes of the Second World War, Fighters Volume 1, Doubleday, Garden City NY, 1960 Hall, Alan W., The Spoils of War, Scale Aircraft Modeling V18 #9, Nov 1996 Rolfe, Mark, World War II, the Final Year, Luftwaffe Colors & Markings, Scale Aircraft Modeling V26 #12, Feb 2005 Weir, Andrew, Luftwaffe Night Fighters, Scale Aircraft Modeling, V13 #11, Aug 1991