So good, you gotta twin it! The FW-380

[Faust]

If there’s one thing that can be “blamed” for my ever-increasing love of weird aircraft models, it’s the crazy world of “Luft ‘46”. I LOVE concept aircraft, especially those churned out on the napkins and lunchroom tables of the final days of Nazi Germany! There was no real end to the ideas those engineers and designers were willing to consider, and there weren’t apparently any rules as to what should and shouldn’t be tried.

With a situation like that, it doesn’t take much to really fire up my imagination, and often I find myself MAKING UP my own Luft ’46 creations instead of going with more “mainstream” and “legit” options, of which there are quite a few!  To that end, I thought the following:

If a Mustang was good, and they made a Twin Mustang, then it stands to reason that since the FW-190 D9 was good, there really should have been a twin of that! Thus, another one of my forays into the dark reaches of my imagination began. The result is the FW-380; check it out and let me know what you think.  I always love input, especially on my Luft ’46 creations!

http://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/planes/hellerairfix-172-focke-wulf-fw-380/

[Kerick]

That looks like it could have been built for real. Great job!

[elmayerle]

Very nice!!  Just the thing for the defense of the failing Reich.

[FAAMAN]

Super concept and build!!! Love the 'Schräge Musik' on the stbd. fuselage!!!

[davecov]

Nicely executed. :)

Dave

[Tophe]

Wonderful!
Is this a new build or an old one? (I think I had seen it somewhere else a long time ago)

If a Mustang was good, and they made a Twin Mustang, then it stands to reason that since the FW-190 D9 was good, there really should have been a twin of that!

I don't love Reality but I just tell what I have read in Edgar Shmued (the Mustang's designer) autobiography: the Twin-Mustang was not at all a double P-51, but a far bigger airplane than a double P-51, just a derivative of a very different twin-fuselage airplane on which were installed Mustang-like features: bubble-canopy, belly-air-scoop, etc. I don't want to divert from your wonderful Fw-380 subject, so I will post the illustrated explanation in my own topic, later.

[Faust]

Good eyes, Tophe!

This is one that I built a long time ago, and was up on the IPMS London website in the mid 2000's. I think it has long disappeared from there, though. I wanted to "dust it off", so to speak.

That's interesting about the Twin Mustang!

[davecov]

As I understood it, the P-82 fuselages were P-51H fuselages with an extra 57" section behind the cockpit, the P-51H itself being a bigger version of the standard P-51.

Dave

[Tophe]

Dear Faust,
Thanks for this confirmation. I approve you totally for enjoying the World again with this creation, alas forgotten or unknown by many ones. Congratulations again, this is jewel, a marvel!

Dear Dave,
I am not pretending to tell The Truth, feel free to think differently. I am just informing that the Twin-Mustang designer explained differently. He said that the N.A. marketing department of that time invented a (nice) lie to sell: "this odd project will work for sure, because it is just a double P-51! no risk at all in buying it!", while the designer's knowledge was very different: the 1941 RD-1120 twin-fuselage fighter (see the 3-view of it at http://xp-82twinmustangproject.blogspot.be/2011_10_01_archive.html ) was not a Mustang at all, and adapting on it the Mustang canopy and belly-scoop made the XP-82 design... I like this history (or tale?), I do not pretend this is the very Truth.

[kitnut617]

As I understood it, the P-82 fuselages were P-51H fuselages with an extra 57" section behind the cockpit, the P-51H itself being a bigger version of the standard P-51.

Dave

That is what I found by comparing a number of different kit parts Dave, see here:

http://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=988.0

[GTX_Admin]

Outstanding!