PM 1/72 DFS 194

PM 1:72 DFS-194

Reviewer: Carlos Giani (carlos_giani2002@yahoo.de)
Kit Review submitted: 4 September 2006

Kit Details:

PM 1/72^nd scale DFS-194 (Kit N° PM-215). Produced in Turkey.

Aircraft History:

The DFS-194 was designed by Dr. Alexander Lippisch as a rocket propelled research aircraft, powered by a Walter RI-203 rocket engine mounted in the tail, which developed some 400 kg thrust. During January of 1939, Lippisch and his design team transferred from the DFS to the Messerschmitt company, taking the project with them. The DFS-194 made its first flight during early 1940, reaching speeds of 550 km/h under rocket power. The success of the design directly led to the development of the Me-163 Komet.

Instructions:

One little sheet of paper printed on both sides, with history (Turkish, German, English), a three-view diagram showing the overall paint, and two construction steps. There is no painting information for the details, but for the overall colour you are given numbers for Humbrol, Revell, ModelMaster, X-tracolor, Molak (?), Gunze and Tamiya, plus RLM05 and FS33434. Great, isn't it? Well, unless I'm blind and Humbrol 74 (linen), Revell 16 (light khaki), Gunze 33 (Russet) and FS33434 (sand yellow) are the same as RLM05, perhaps you should better forget all this and search for your own match.

Construction:

Well, this review will be short, since all what you get in a beautiful end-opening box are 12 (!) styrene parts in sand yellow and one clear canopy. Surface quality is very acceptable, and there is absolutely no flash. I don't know who makes the forms for this company (having some shockers in their program[*]), but this one is O.K. and clearly „long-run“.

Work begins with the cockpit, for which you get a floor with simplistic molded-on pedals and seat, a rear bulkhead with molded-on headrest and a control stick. The cockpit is easily positioned between the two fuselage halves, and then the instruments panel is glued in, having recessed dials. The joint of the halves was very good, only needing a bit of sanding. Since this aircraft was finished all-wood, there are no panel lines to take care of. The tail fin is integrated in the fuselage halves.

Each wing is one-piece, and they are glued trouble-free, the joints needing a bit of filling and sanding. Same as the Me-163, this plane has no stabilizers. The canopy is now glued with ClearFix, just needing a bit trimming and careful filling with the former. The last piece to mount is some kind of pitot located in front of the cabin, which is too thick and was replaced by wire. Voila! That was it! Wait, this makes 9 parts, so where's the whole rest? Well, you get two wheels and a transverse „block“ to build the land-carrying trolley, which is released after take-off.

Having found no photos of the cockpit, I painted the interior with Humbrol H31 (I ran out of H92 and it was Sunday), with a leather seat and a black instruments panel with white dials. The canopy was polished, given a coat of clear and then masked with Tamiya tape. There's a long wooden landing skid in the bottom of the fuselage; this was painted H29, then „rubbed-off“ and finally masked. The plane is all painted in RLM05, and after some (confusing) research I made a mixture of H93 dessert yellow and H74 linen, according to a sample founded with Google. The last step was a thin coat of H135 satin clear. There are no decals to place on, and according to the few photos I've found this is correct.

Colour Schemes:

Only one, of course.

Decals:

As stated above, no decals are needed.

Overall Recommendation:

This isn't a bad kit, and I'm sure that it is the only injection-moulded DFS-194 on the market. Like the old song from „The Who“, this is „a quick one“ -> perfect cure for AMS! If you have luck and get a photo of the cockpit, then you could detail the cancel, since the canopy is clear enough to see in. Looks like a DFS-194. Recommended.

[*] Ta-154, T-38 Talon, Canadair F-86E.

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