1:72 Mistel 2 conversion set version 2

A Ju 88 and fighter composite over the Oder

A flying bomb with a pilot on top was one of the strangest German projects of the end of the war. The forward cabin was removed from a twin-engine bomber and replaced with an enormous shaped-charge warhead; struts on the back of the machine carried a fighter whose pilot flew the whole pair, aimed it at the target and released just before impact. The version designated Mistel 2 combined a night Ju 88 G-1 with an Fw 190 A-8.

Its use was brief and desperate. The planned strike on Soviet power stations never took place on the scale intended, and in the end the composites flew against the bridges over the Oder and the Vistula in the spring of 1945, where fighters and anti-aircraft defenses brought them down before they could aim. Even so the Mistel remains one of the most photographed curiosities of its time, and at shows it draws attention even among display cases full of ordinary machines.

This conversion makes it possible to build such a composite in a small scale. It is an accessory for more experienced builders: the parts are cut off casting blocks, the surfaces are trued and they are glued with cyanoacrylate rather than plastic cement. According to the manufacturer the set is prepared for the kit from Hasegawa, so the dimensions fit without much adjustment.

Neither the kit itself nor any additional struts are included in the delivery, so count on it as the conversion part of a project.

When building it, it pays to think about the total weight in advance. Two joined fuselages are heavy at the top and the landing gear of the carrier may not hold them without reinforcement, which is why a wire reinforcement is added inside the legs. The angle of the struts calls for particular attention: in period photographs the fighter stands noticeably forward above the fuselage and its axis points slightly upward.