Zoukei Mura’s new 32nd scale Horten is making some “clear” progress..

The new 1/32^nd Horten Ho 229 kit from Zoukei Mura is still in development and we have some of the photos of the development of this kit in clear form from that is maybe in the works maybe not – let’s have a look at some of the info from their old man blog..

Zoukei Mura Clear progress of the Horten Ho 229 in 32^nd scale

Zoukei Mura’s Horten Ho 229

1/32 Scale

Plastic Model Kit

Total Parts: TBA

October 2014 (TBC)

From the response Zoukei Mura have been given in the wake of their last “old Man Blog”  with the pictures of the clear skinned Ho229 there has been some pressure to bring this transparent skinned kit out as one of the boxing options of the SWS Horten

 The president hard at work

These pictures show the prototype transparent test kit of the SWS32 Horten, firstly the wing parts. These show the internal spar structure and everything inside the wings

ZM have warned that such a kit would take a lot of care in construction! You cannot fill or putty clear plastic if you get it wrong! You can see here they have the outer skin of the wings as one piece so your glue fingers will not scar the plastic unnecessarily. The president brings up three points about a clear boxing of the kit

It is a disadvantage of material 1. Transparent part is the hard and brittle.

" Visible contents through the transparent outer plate even after completion

The plastic of the clear type is of a little more brittle substance than regular styrene plastic – it is also a hazard if you do not take care when snipping a sprue from the runner that it could crack a part. – Imagine if you did it across the big wing (eesh)

2. What to glue it with?

By the usual way of securing parts to one another it is impossible to get around it without melting – and scarring the clear plastic…

3. Transparent parts cannot be repaired with the putty.

There is a big one – the parts of this kit – if there are any gaps (or if you make any yourself) this just cant be fixed easily with the putty most of us use – maybe some clear resin we have thought – but it isn’t something most modellers use easily.

Now we have this kit which is the work of the virtuoso Naoki Kobayashi-san – he has completed the test kit with the transparent parts.  In this work he used pin point superglue to secure the pivotal points of the wing parts. This work is what for magazine advertising packages in forthcoming modelling mags – they have added the prototype kit of the Jumo engines which have been painted with the rest of the internal structure up like a model you might see in a museum.

This complex steel frame cockpit is here on display and very evident with the clear boxing. IT seems that ZM really do want to listen to modellers and make a clear kit of this aeroplane – but the learning curve is steep for both the manufacturers and the modellers when the kit is released!

Most kit makers would be happy with this kit as a release – but it seems that ZM are going to great lengths to make the very best kit of this type they can. This is a way of doing business we thought was forgotten in modern times - so good luck to them for taking the longer – but more rewarding route!

The earlier test shot pictures and article is here..

This kit is still in development and we will let you know more as it arrives with us! – Check out “ZM’s Old Man Blog” for more details as well!