Blitz

The scenario I'm planning on playing next gives the Germans the chance of air support in the form of an Arado Ar-234 Blitz - the world's first jet bomber. As it was raining this morning I decided to stay in and have a go at scratch-building one in 1/300th scale.

I cut and shaped the fuselage from a piece of MDF left over from a building kit. The wings and tailplane are shaped from plasticard.

I then carved the engines from lengths of a thicker-than-usual bamboo skewer.

I discovered that the best way to stick together the various materials was to mix adhesives. Where the bamboo is to be stuck to plasticard, I first sealed the surface of the bamboo with clear adhesive and left it to dry a little. I then slightly softened the plasticard by painting on liquid polystyrene cement before joining the two parts with superglue.

I cut away a chunk of the lower fuselage to make a slot into which I could glue a rare earth magnet so the finished aircraft can use one of my flying stands.

I painted the aircraft in Medium Sea Grey before stippling on Black Green and Reflective Green (all Vallejo) and then hand-painting the detail.

It's far from a perfect model - the fuselage is too narrow and too boxy in cross-section but I'm only ever likely to need an Ar-234 in this one game so I can live with it.