Ls(R)-13 - LuftSchiff Rakete No.13, "Herman Münster" -- powered by two Henschel Hs-833 slow-burn rocket engines, Ls-13 was the first Luftschiff to be converted from parasite-fighter carrier to rocket-launch attack-ship with radars in the tail & under the control-gondola to warn it's one remaining onboard parasite fighter for self-defence.
Many years ago I wanted Trumpeter's Chinese Type-33G missile-submarine (a derivitive of Russia's Romeo class subs) but local shops couldn't supply it
Brian da Basher's builds inspired me to try an airship project & the idea of a missile-firing airship came to be. So I started looking around for suitable kits, checking scale plans against each other, kit sizes, shapes etc and settled on combining Trumpeter's Kilo class sub plus their Chinese Type-33G missile-sub - both in 1/144 scale & both around 21" long - HobbyEasy had both kits on discount so I ordered them.
I started with the Kilo class sub, building the three-part hull was easy but it required a fair amount time to bog & smooth in the 3 full-length joins & several small moulding blemishes. As I had almost run out of my favourite tube putty & it's no longer available, I bought some car bog that seems to be better for large jobs but not for fine work like scratch filling. The hull, used upside-down, would be the basis for my LuftSchiff.
Next I assembled the missile section from Trumpeter's Chinese Type-33G missile submarine, mounting it on top - as it sat proud, I had to fair it in fore & aft with more bog. This section has six pop-up missiles & the parts are well molded with only two small mounting holes for the sub's conning tower which won't be fitted on this model. I assembled the missile-tubes & doors but had lost one somewhere so replaced it with a suitably-sized part from an AFV kit & faired that in too.
The sub's fin, now being on top, forms the LuftSchiff's vertical stabilizer, I fitted the rudder upside-down & found that it looked rather World-War-One in style but left a large-ish gap under it, so I extended it with a bit of plasticard.
Trumpeter's Chinese Type-33G kit contains all the parts for a standard Type-33 model so can still be built as a regular model.
More later ...
