Mistel 5/6 - E377/a - 48 Special Models

e-mail: info@48specialmodels.com

Facts on the

Since February 1st 2002 the E-377 /E-377a with trolley is released. This strange German Defense Airforce Project which never became operational, is now available from 48 Special Models as a impressing resin model, in a limited edition of only 200 kits.
The kit consists of more then 60 parts of a very good quality and is therfore worth its price of € 99,-.

The kit contains the launch trolley and the flying bomb E-377 /E-377a with two different warheads ( hollow charge and SC1800).

The guidance aircraft needed to complete the kit would be either the He 162 "Volksjäger" or the Ar 234C. They have to be purchased seperately!

The He 162 is available from Dragon (inlcuding the V-rudder Version).
The Ar 234C from Hobbycraft, but there are roumors there will be a new kit soon.

Depending on which aircraft is used there are six possible versions (!) that can be build from the kit:

Mistel 5 He 162/E-377a (powered and Sc 1800)
Mistel 5 He 162/E-377a (powered and hollow charge)
Mistel 5 He 162 with V-rudder/E-377a (powered and hollow charge)
Mistel 5 He 162 with V-rudder/E-377a (powered and Sc1800)

Mistel 6 Ar 234C/E-377 (unpowered and Sc1800)
Mistel 6 Ar 234C/E-377 (unpowered and hollow charge)

The E-377 is a so called Mistel configuration, consisting of a winged bomb and on top of it a guidance aircraft. So this Mistel was a most forward project (wind channel tests had been started with at the end of the war) it never flew.
48 Special Models releases this kit because it is an impressing example for engineers creativity in these days.

As a guidance aircraft ether a Heinkel He-162 Salamander (Volksjäger) or a Arado Ar 234C "Blitz" (first jetbomber) should have be used.

Therefore two variants of the winged E-377 Bomb where planned. For the He-162 Version more thrust was needed so the bomb would be equipped with two jetengines underneath its wings. This version was named E-377a or Mistel 5.

The Ar-234C version didn't need this because of the Arado's four engines. It also had the advantage that the engines wheren't lost on the mission, because they were attached to the guidance aircraft. This version was named E-377 or Mistel 6.

Both types where designed to be aimed against ship targets, bridges and bunkers. Therfore a hollow charge was designed to be mounted in the tip. There were also plans to simply use a SC1800 Bomb which would be faired over.
The E-377 would have been a woodbuild, shoulder winged aircraft, controlled from the guidance aircraft during flight. It also would have contained extra fueltanks for the guidance aircraft to widen the range.
The Mistel would have taken off from a trolley, like the early Ar-234, because the E-377 wouldn't have a landinggear to save weight and material.

Separation of the trolley as well as of the guidance aircraft was managed by explosive bolts which cut the struts first at the rear then at the front.

Aiming the target would have been done by a autopiloting device, which would have been activated by the pilot before separation. After separation the E-377 would fly on course until it hit the target.

Model built by Thorsten Schrecke
Photos by Wolfgang Hartmann

The He 162 is the Dragon kit which is not included in the E-377/ a kit! The E-377a was built straight from the box and spraypainted in the splinter camouflage pattern. This pattern wouldn't be used at the time the Mistel would be operational. It is more ore less an idealised look. It is to assume the bomb would have been painted in a light grey all over, to protect the wood,, with no markings at all.


right side view	left side view

front view	back view





	cockpit detail

frontwheel construction	mainwheels

detail backview	connection struts


The E-377A without guidance aircraft Ar 234C	The E-377A differs from the E-377 in lack of the jet engines.

Side view of the E-377A with trolley

Detail of warhead , here the SC1800 bomb.	Camouflage scheme is late war tradition, fast and individual.

Paintpattern is RLM 76, 02 and 81, in this order.	The trolley is tank grey painted, but could be any other RLM colour too (that was available).

Front view

Here are the main kit contents in an overview. The very small parts are missing. The struts for connecting the two airframes are made from brasswire, as well as the wheel axles.


The kit overview	The front wheelfork

The axles	The breakparachute

The rudder	SC 1800 and hollow charge warheads

elevator, trolley struts and frontwheelfender	fuselage, wings and warheads

connection parts and turbine parts	right main jet engine

Update:

So the Ar 234 C-3 kit from Hasegawa / Revell is available now, here is an update to the E377 Assembly Instruction.

While this kit wasn't released during printing and shipping of the first kits, a bending pattern for the Ar234C struts couldn't be attached. This can now be downloaded and printed from the link:
Bending Pattern Ar234C.
The bending pattern can also be viewed below, together with some hints for building and pictures of the Ar234C / E377.

All kits shiped from now on will have this updated Instruction!

Attention! Note on the E-377

Due to our policy of quality management we keep our standards high on our products. Therefore all 48 Special Models kits are test built by myself to check them before they are released. Also we keep an eye on them for a long term to see how they may change during their lifetime. We hadn't had any problems jet, but during a check on the E-377 we recognized an effect that can be prevented during building the model.

Due to the fact that the E-377 bomb is quite heavy, it turned out that the struts on the trolley may bend after a term of one year or longer! To prevent this we recommend to lighten the bomb by drilling the interior out. The hollow bomb is much lighter than. Also we rcommend to glue the struts, the bomb sits on, to the trolley and reinforce them by putting in a steel or brass wire!

Reason for this effect is only the weight of the bomb, which needs to be manufactured this way. The effect occures after a long time of more than a year and can be prevented by actions dicribed before. This is not a quality defect of the kit!

Assembly of the guidance aircraft Ar 234C
So there was only the hobbycraft kit which was not available while writing the instruction, an detailed update by 48 Special Models for the new Hasegawa/ Revell Ar 234C Kit is handed out. The new kit by Hasegawa / Revell gives the opportunity to build the Mistel 6 Ar234C / E 377. Therefore the needed struts have to be made from the Ø1mm brasswire that comes with this kit.
The assembly is done by use of the drawing that comes with the kit and an additional new bending pattern. Little divergences in dimentions may be possible! Therefore we recommend to check them prior to assembly.
The Ar-234C has unlike the He-162 a V-shaped rear strut and two V-shaped struts on the lower side of the engines. So there were ETC bombmounts it is to assume they would have been used for conneting to the E-377! This means the V-struts stayed on the E-377 while it was ejected from the ETC. The rear strut would have been seperated by explosive bolts.
Assembly
The front struts on the Ar 234C are connected to the bombmounts underneath the jet engines. Drill two Ø1mm holes into the depressions of the bombmounts on each side. Because the bombmounts are used for connection, connectingplates are not needed here. The struts will be cemented in place only.
These struts are parallel and go vertical into the upper side of the E-377 Wing (distance right to left strut 86 mm). The connecting point is 29mm back from the wing root, exactly on the engraved centreline. Drill here a double hole in each wing, each Ø1mm. Here rests the front strut. On each side of the strut two angles can be placed. Therfore sand off one side of the angles, so it becomes an L-shape and place it to the left and right beside the strut on the top of the wing.
The rear strut has a V-shape. It is connected to the E-377 fuselage by an angle. Point of connection is the double engraved ring (like to be seen in the sketch). It is connected to the Ar 234C to the left and right lower side of the fuselage. The distance inbetween is 19mm. The strut is tilted backwards a little, so a trapezoid shape is formed with the other struts. This prevents the whole structure from vibrating.
The rear strut is connected to the Ar 234C with the rounded connecting plates, also used for the He 162. Therfore drill the holes into the fuselage first and cement the plates in place afterwards. Put the strut in place and cement it to the Ar 234C. We recommend to first testfit all the struts and cement them to the Ar 234C only. After painting is finished the Ar 234C can be fixed to the E-377 finally.

Original and Fake

Some things you might not believe although you hold them in hands. This is what happend to me when I got this new Dragon Kit. It is another sequal of the "Fairy Tail of Third Reich Aircraft Engineering". Except for the components, say aircrafts, noting is true in this kit.


Orginal and...	..."Fake"

Sold as a He-162 Mistel by Dragon, this kit in 1/48 scale proofs that the company shows no respect for modelmakers as well as it has no clue of the history of German aircraft development during WWII. Has the Mistel 4 by Dragon only been a bad fake of our resin kit, they put one atop by releasing a absolutely fictional Mistel kit. It shows clearly that they are not afraid of selling a model to the customer which never was planned by the RLM and never existed at all.

Big words you may say but here is the proof. I not simply sell the Mistel 4 and 5/6, but also check the facts and make the master models myself. During recherche I never came across any kind of information or hint which let me assume there could be such a project. Nore did I
find a clue that some aircraft engineers did even think about such a constellation.

You need to know the development facts on the Mistel 4, a Me 262 Mistel, from which this kit is a sequal, as well as the facts on the E377/a (see our page on this item).

The problems which would have occrured on the Me -262 Mistel 4 would have been some of controlability. Consisting of two Me-262 with 4 engines in total, there was a simple, but unsolvable problem without the help of a computer. Four engines where to much to be controlled by only one pilot. Also the tended to malifunctions and accidents. The mailfunction of one engine would have led to a desaster. In combination with a jato rocket, which was necessary for lift of, the whole thing was not to be controlled at all.
More important is that the combination with the He -162 "Salamander / Volksjäger" and the Me-262 bomb wouldn't have left the ground at all and if it wouldn't made it far. The reason for this was the lack of enginepower in general. To lift the Mistel of the ground most of the cargo (explosives and fuel) would have been canceled. Which made the whole thing useless.


Walther HWK 109-501 mit 30 sec. Brenndauer (Bildquelle: "Die deutschen Raketenflugzeuge 1935-45", Motorbuch Verlag)	Schnittzeichnung des Walther HWK 109-501 (Bildquelle: "Die deutschen Raketenflugzeuge 1935-45", Motorbuch Verlag)

The kit itself has the same mistakes as the Me-262 Mistel 4 kit before. It shows that this was only a fast shot to be released, which has obviously been inspired by a resin kit. To let this not show to obviously or/and because it wasn't checked firmly at that time some details lack accurcy or are simply wrong.

The troly for example was welded not bolted!
The used jato rocket would have been a HWK 109-501 with 1500kp thrust for 30sec. The one in the modelkit used is a HWK 109-500 wich has only 500kp for 30sec..This one would have pushed the whole thing to slowly if at all. It never had lifted of the ground!

In the kit the same wrong trolley was used again, like included in the Me 262 Mistel 4 kit (see our info on the Mistel 4 page). Instead of the Me-262 A1 a He-162 was added as a guidance aircraft ad best of all to save thinking they used the same struts like on the 48 Special Models He-162 / E-377a Mistel 5 kit.

Who ever buys this kit should know that he buys pure Science Fiction or a nice spare parts box with parts to build several better Mistel Models . Because the good on this kit is it contains the He-162 with V-tail! This one fits as a guidance aircraft on the 48 Special Models Mistel5/6 kit, which you should order in addition the same time!

From the Dragon trolley and the Me-262 bomb you may convert a more or less correct Mistel 4 by useing a Me-262 U2 (bombercockpit) from Dragon. By checking our website you may find the way to make the correct struts for this Mistel version too. I would change the tyres on the trolley to the Ju88/Ju188 tyres from the Dragon kit or flatened tyres of the same type ;0)) .

Seen this way the kit isn't that bad at all it after all makes some sense. But who builts it as it comes from the box risks to be the "greenhorn of the day" on the next model exhibition!

Ah, by the way, the markings on my Mistel (see pic. above) I choose freely from different other decal sets. Especially the remarkable "yellow 1" , which comes from a kit I can't remember and which I chose because of the prototype like character of the model.
Nice of the artist, who made the box art on the Dragon Kit, to be the same oppinion on this point even with the color!

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