Blohm und Voss 222 by Chris Wauchop (Revell 1/72)

Revell's 1/72 Scale
Blohm und Voss Bv 222 V2

by Chris Wauchop

Blohm und Voss Bv 222 V2

images and text by Brett Green

Revell of Germany's 1/72 scale Bv 222 V2 is available online from Squadron

Introduction

Here is Revell's 1/72 scale Blohm und Voss Bv 222 V2 Flying Boat.

The Blohm und Voss Bv 222 V2 changed its appearance frequently during its service. At one stage the aircraft boasted gondola and rear turrets that were subsequently removed. The distinctive FuG 200 Hohenentweil arrays bristling from the front of the Bv 222 were a later addition used for Air to Surface Vessel (ASV) search.

The unusual winter whitewash overspray was applied for a specific mission.

Operation Schatzgraeber was the codename for a mission to rescue the crew of a remote Arctic weather station who had fallen ill. The initial attempt was unsuccessful when a Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor was damaged on landing. The Bv 222 V2 was called upon to drop supplies near the station until a second attempt to lift the crew from their icy station could be staged.

The white paint was applied to provide some measure of camouflage against the Arctic landscape.

Construction

Chris built Revell's 1/72 scale Blohm und Voss Bv 222 V2 straight from the box.

This kit is big. The wing span is greater than two feet, and the fuselage is almost as long. The sheer size of the kit meant that it was a major construction project, and the parts breakdown was complex in some areas.

However, the detail of the kit is very good.

Highlights include the cockpit and the crew compartment immediately aft. This cabin contains some very comfortable-looking armchairs, radios, engine dials, throttles and a big circuit breaker panel. A curtain between the main cockpit and the crew compartment is also depicted.

Exterior surface details are equally nice. Panel lines are crisply engraved. All six engine nacelles look impressive, and fine detaills include DF loop, separate actuators for flying surfaces, styrene radar arrays and gun turrets on the fuselage and in the centre of the wings.

The wing turrets were the cause for some concern. The clear plastic was noticeably crazed when it was removed from the sprue. A bath in Future improved their appearance, but the crazing is still visible.

The fit of the main canopy was not perfect at the top rear lip despite trimming and test-fitting.

There are a great many individual windows. It is important to ensure that these windows are securely glued in place, because if they are accidentally pushed into the fuselage they will be lost forever. This was the fate of one of the windows while Chris was removing Humbrol Maskol after painting. Chris used Krystal Kleer to create a new "window" in the empty space.

Otherwise, the fit of the kit was extremely good.

Chris commented that the kit is only let down by the ambiguity of the instructions in places. Some parts were secured only after trial and error.

Painting and Markings

The Bv 222 V2 was finished in a standard maritime finish of RLM 72, 73 and 65.

Paints were custom mixed, starting with Gunze Acrylic RLM 70 Black Green and RLM 71 Dark Green. Each of these colours was lightened and "greyed up" by adding approximately 20% Tamiya XF-18 Medium Blue The distinction is not especially obvious when the aircraft is by itself, but the difference is quite noticeable when placed beside an unmodified 70/71 paint finish.

All paints were applied using the Testor Aztek airbrush fitted with the fine tip.

The massive aircraft was initially sprayed with unmodified Gunze RLM 65 Light Blue, followed by the lighter of the upper surface colours. The splinter camouflage demarcation was masked using Tamiya masking tape and Post-It Notes - quite a lot of them!

The winter camouflage was a 50/50 mix of Tamiya Gloss White and Flat White applied very thinly over the base colours. The white colour was carefully sprayed inside panels and around structural details, creating the impression of a thin, weathered coat. The irregular pattern was obtained by masking with skinny rolls of Blu-Tack

Chris followed the camouflage pattern supplied on the kit instructions, but decided that the starboard scheme did not really look sensible. He oversprayed his first effort and started again.

Reference photos suggested that there was a clear "high water" mark on the lower fuselage, and that the area below the line was cleaner than the remaining RLM 65 Light Blue paint. Chris applied some light weathering to the lower section, masked it off with a straight line of Tamiya Masking Tape and added heavier weathering to the remaining exposed sections.

Conclusion

Even though it was a time-consuming project, Chris enjoyed building and painting this kit and was very pleased with the results.

Revell's 1/72 Blohm und Voss Bv 222 V2 is impressively big, boasts state-of-the-art structural features and is well detailed. The FuG 200 arrays are overscale due to their presentation in injection-moulded styrene, but even these look good from a relatively short distance away from the kit,

The striking camouflage scheme adds to the overall appeal of the finished product.

As for the forthcoming Revell 1/72 scale Junkers Ju 290...

Bring it on!