Arado 1055
Don’t get me wrong but the Arado E 555 is a great kit. I will be building several OOB. Inspiration struck while I was watching “V for Vendetta”. But that stubby nose just does not look right to me. And Hugo Weaver is one the best good/bad guys ever. Elves notwithstanding. Right, Agent Smith?
So as part of a design review to making the Ar 555 a cool Nachtbomber, it was determined that it needed:
- Bigger nose
- more noise and
- canards
to make the 555 an effective, greater carrying capacity, shorter range night bomber.
So an extended nose was added as well as two canards supporting 4 additional engines. The bombing radar was reversed engineered version of the H2S, named FuG 400 “München”.
It has a crew of 4:
- Pilot
- Flight Engineer
- Navigator / Gunner
- Bombardier / Gunner
The forward fuselage included a tandem seating for the pilot and the navigator/gunner. The Bombardier/gunner was located in the fuselage and flight engineer in the wing root. A small window was installed in the forward right fuselage for the Navigator / Bombardier. There is a crawl way between the cockpit and the aft crew area.
Defensive armament consisted of four MK 103 30mm cannon under the cockpit, a remote controlled turret armed with two MG 151/20 20mm cannon located just behind the cockpit, two remote controlled FPL 151 20mm cannon barbette mounted above the wing and out board of the tails and a further two MG 151/20 20mm cannon in a remote controlled tail turret.
External bombs will be carried under the front engines like the Ar 234 and 4 more under the wings.
Bill of Materials to date:
- Ar 555 (doh!!!)
- Me 1099B1 Front fuselage
- Ar 234C Wings and engines
To combine the Ar 555 and the Me 1099, I sawed off the cockpit and tail, attached bulk heads which I then glued together to get a large contact area for the glue. The wings were are easy fit after a quick touch of the dremel tool and also cut back.
I have not installed the radar yet, under the fuselage bridging the area between the Ar 555 and Me 1099. Lots of PSR ahead to hide the joint.
By the way "10" is the number of engines.
Pictures temporarily removed. Migrating them to Flickr.
