1/72nd Huma DFS 230 Eben-Emael Completed pics page 2

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
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This is one of a few projects that I have been wanting to do for a couple of decades. It was one of those builds where I just put off buying the kit until later. But of course when later came, the company had gone out of business and getting hold of the kit was not easy. After several attempts I finally got one off E-bay a couple of years ago and now I have gotten round to starting it.

This build is more about an event than the actually aircraft, but after some thought I decided to post the WiP thread here rather than the dio section

I am using the Huma 1/72nd DFS 230 to depict the German assault on the Belgian fortress of Eben-Emael on 10th May 1940, the first time that gliders had been used to launch a military assault. After doing quite a bit of research and looking at all the photo’s I can find, I have decided to do the glider of Squad 8. This was the first glider to land. The only photo, a rather poor quality aerial shot, seems to indicate the glider was un damaged on landing, which is handy.

The kit I got my hands on was bagged and not boxed, so no box shot, just the instructions.

The first thing I did was sort the wings out. Each wing is one piece, but there were rather large sprue attachment points and some flash to clean up. This kit comes with mounts for a Mistel version and there is a small hole in the top of each wing for these mounts, so these needed filling.

On the fuselage, I needed to remove the rear kick out doors. Some references and photo’s indicate a door at the front left of the aircraft just in front of the wing. But other pics, including those of the gliders used in 1940, show no sign of the door. I believe this may have been one of a few modifications made from lesson learned in Belgium. So all of the troops exited from either the rear doors or through the cockpit

During my research, I learned that the troops sat on a bench which ran along the length of the fuselage. They could face front or rear and each had a folding back rest. I came across a couple of useful pics of this bench, which has been handy. But they include this one, I assume from a training manual. I can’t imagine how the hell these guys were supposed to exit rapidly after a bumpy landing, in the dark, probably leaning over to one side and possibly under fire.

Sardines anyone.

With the canopy and rear doors off and the inside a light colour, it will be easy to see inside, so I am scratch building the bench. I need to clean it up a little and add a full length cushion and the seat backs.

And I made the rear doors using the thinnest sheet styrene I had and some plastic rod.

And that’s all for now. All feedback, comments, suggestions advice welcome as always.

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Neat! Got any references?

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Thanks Joe. I am mainly using 4 books I have, 3 of which I got recently just for the build. They are rather detailed and one includes a break down of each squad including what equipment they carried, which will be handy. There are a couple of rather nice pics online of the gliders on the roof of the fort which have helped with some details such as the colour scheme and I found a couple of nice pics of the cockpit which will need a little work, mainly the instrument panel. But I have just got some random pics saved to the comp for this one.

Given its importance in military history and the audacity of sending 86 lightly armed paratroopers to attack the worlds most impregnable fortress with a garrison of over 800, it seems to have been largely ignored unfortunately.

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Jeez!!! Suicide mission???

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Neat stuff Bish. We can always count on you to do the rarer subjects, and this one is no exception. I’m sure you’ll do great work. Man, Sardines is right! No way would I wanna be stuffed in like that, especially in a bird with no engine.

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That’s a good point. I wonder what the landing was like?

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Bumpy I would imagine. There is actually a glider club just down the road from us at an old US 8th AAF B-17 base. I have considered having a go, but I just can’t get my head round the idea of being in a plane with no engine. But when I did enquire, it turns out I am about a stone to heavy. But my other half got her eldest daughter a glider flight for her birthday present and she is doing that next month, so I guess I will find out.

What gets me about the DFS 230 is that they had to get out with the bench running right down the middle and they would have to straddle it while moving out.

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Well, time for another update. Firs thing to get done was the interior painted. I spray some RLM 02 and followed that with some black Flory wash along the inside struts. I then sprayed some more RLM 02 but very thin to tone it down.

I also got some done on the bench by using a couple of lengths of styrene strips for the cushion and bending some brass rod for the seat backs.

With the fuselage paint inside I could put the two half’s together. I then dry fitted the wings so I could measure up for the base and work out the position of the figures. I normally plan the dio long in advance, some times several years before I start the build. But this time I wanted to wait until the build was under way.

One of the books I am using, The Fall of Eben Emael by James Mrazek, gives a good account of what each member of squad 8 was doing after landing, the one exception being the pilot. There is no mention of him once the glider has set down. So the figures are positioned based on this account with 3 moving out to take out the squads primary objective and 2moving towards a building that was putting down heavy fire and had caused one casualty as the troops were exiting. The pilot I have placed next to the glider with his MP 40 assisting Weinert, the MG gunner, to put down fire on the building.

Most of the figures are from Prieser. These must have been made for just this sort of thing as they are carrying equipment, namely the 12.5 and 55kg charges, used on the raid. The green pilot figure (Esci) I have since changed for a more suitable Preiser one, as the Esci figure had a shovel and kit on his back I don’t think the pilot would have had. The two lighter figures are from the Revell set.

O, and in case your thinking I have discovered some before unheard of highly secret German weapon, sorry to disappoint you, but its just a pen. I wanted to get the glider over to one side as it was on landing.

I could then start on the base. I wanted it a bit thicker than my usual. So I glued a bit of chip board to a bit of MDF and clamped them together to dry.

I then added the balsa wood edging prior to staining it.

Back to the glider. The kit IP is a flat piece of plastic which is to thick. So I cut a piece of thin styrene sheet to shape and added instruments using the clear section found in PE sets, from the spares box. I also added a handle which I noticed in a pic and I am guessing is the tow cable release.

And a piece of plastic rod for a support bar with PE belts also from the spares box.

And the rear bench was finished off by using some lead foil for the fabric part of the back rests and some lap straps.

And this could then be fitted inside by sliding it through the large rear door on the right.

And that’s how she sits now. I am currently altering the angle of the elevator’s to match the photo’s. I can now add the wings and should soon be ready for some paint soon.

Thanks for looking, all comments welcome.

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I’m happy for you in that you’ve finally achieved this goal.

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Very, very cool Bish! I haven’t heard of this before, so this is very interesting to me. Your scratch work on the interior looks great, although I couldn’t imagine having to straddle the bench and seat backs while hunched over in full combat gear while under fire. That would take some guts, especially if you’re outnumbered 10 to 1! And I love that you have references for where each of your troopers should be. I can’t wait to see this come together.

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Thanks guys.

Bob, I know what you mean. When you think this had never been done before, those guys must have wondered what they had let themselves in for. Its certainly a far cry from the spacious gliders used by the allies later in the war. I am just grateful that we know have helicopters to this sort of thing.

I bought four books for this project. 3 of them are the usually reference type book’s, but its the 4th that’s got the really detailed info. I haven’t not actually read it ye, just been looking for the info I need. But I will have to read it fully soon.

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Bish,

I’d never even heard of this battle (and now I’m intrigued so I’ll probably have to track down the book). This dio is gonna be awesome with all the detail you’re putting into it!

Groot

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Thanks Bish for posting your WIP.

I find this thread fascinating and informative and you’re filling the file in my head with new ways to do things in modeling.

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Thanks guys, and i am glad its giving you ideas. I am trying to get more detail into my updates rather than just skim over things. I have learnt so much from this site its only right I pass something on where possible.

If there is anything you want to ask please feel free.

Groot, there are a few books on this operation, including two from Osprey, one in their raids series and one in the Fortress series. Another book I have is from Ian Allen Publishing’s Secret Missions series. These are all the usual reference types books. The Mrazek book dates from 1970 but is full of great info. that’s more of a traditional novel type book.

The attack on Eben was only one part of a mission which also included 3 other groups each attacking a bridge. It is largely overlooked and unknown by many but in my view is one of the most impervious raids of the war. I will do a write up of the history of the fort and the raid when I post the complete pics.

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I am very interested in this. I was looking for a DFS 230 as well. Glad you found one. I’ve got a single reference on Eben Emael; McRaven’s The Theory of Special Operations ISBN0-89141-600-5. I can scan and email you the biblio if you want. The only photos in it are of the paratroopers post raid, plus a couple present day. I understand it’s quite the tourist attraction.

His analysis is that once all of the gliders had landed, it was a high probability success. You can see why from the picture you posted of the loaded glider; that part of the mission was the area of vulnerability.

I really hope you plan to install a gun cupola in your dio!.

from Wikipedia

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Thanks GM. Those72nd gliders are hard to find, I want to get another for a Crete dio. Special Hobby do a couple in 48th though. Anything you would like to post would be great. I would agree with that analysis. I think once the troops were on the roof, there was little the Belgium’s could do. The fort was just not designed to deal with airborne assault

I did originally consider adding part of the fort. But I want to be as accurate to the landing as possible and squad 8 landed about 80m from its target and that would mean a gap in 72nd of over a meter. Even bring a cupola in closer would mean doing a new base. I know it would add a nice point of interest, had I given it more thought sooner, I could have incorporated it in, but I have been so focused on the glider. But I am going to se if I can make some 72nd barbed wire and add that to the base.

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That’s true. A while ago a guy was talking about plans for a 1/35 Flakturm model. But a 50m tower at 1/35 is a BIG undertaking.

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ye, it can get a bit much.

This is a modern pic of the target for squad 8, and this is roughly the direction they would have approached from.

It would be nice, but I think just to much. Those positions would make a nice scene all by themselves.

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That time again. In the last update I missed something. The kit canopy has a glazed portion behind the opening section. This appears to be another later modification and is not present of any of the gliders at Eben. So using some sheet styrene I added this portion of the fuselage.

With the pit finished and the bench in pace I was able to finish off construction by fitting the wings, tail and the few other parts.

When I was adding the lever to the cockpit IP I think is for the tow cable release, I realised there was no attachment point for said cable. On checking some pics I noticed a small hole at the front just under the nose. Guessing that this is for the tow cable, I drilled this out.

Next up was a coat of primer and some paint. Its hardly the most challenging scheme in the history of aircraft and makes RLM 70/71 splinter look exciting. The Germans painted these aircraft a single colour, which I believe was RLM 02, just before the assault, including covering up all markings, in an attempt to confuse the Belgium’s

I have never pre shaded an aircraft before, and now I know why. A lot of images show a dark circle on the fuselage side where the black cross would be. I am guessing the cross was painted over with black first to stop the cross showing through. I painted the black circle before painting, but despite thinning the paint sand spraying very lightly over that patch, the circle vanished, as you can tell above. After about 3 attempts, I finally got it, though it is very faint and doesn’t show in the pics below either.

After finally getting this sorted, I used some Flory wash in the recessed areas and then lightly dry brushed with the base colour and white oil paint. Its still wet in the pics below and I will have to wait a day or two before I can do the underside

So that’s how the glider sits for now. next, the base. The side received a single coat of wood stain and then several coats of varnish.

Once dry, the celluclay, mixed with some white glue and acrylic paint’s to get the colour wanted, was added. I use the paint sold in large bottles designed for children and you get lots of it and its pretty cheap. This was left for a couple of days to dry in a warm place and then just went around the edges filling in where it shrank. I must have got the mix right this time as shrinkage was minimal.

Then today I got all the grass and some bushes added.

Finally, the weapons and figures. Squad 8 carried 2 of the large 50kg hollow charge weapons.

And 3 of the smaller 12.5kg weapons.

The Preiser set has 3 of the larger devices and 2 of the smaller. As you can see, the small device is pretty well replicated, but the larger one is just a flat dish.

You can see in the image of the large device a join towards the bottom. It can in two sections, and several accounts report it being assembled on the objective. This makes sense as trying to carry 110Ib load one handed, as 2 of the Preiser figures are, while running in a crouch would be near impossible. carrying that load on your back is bad enough. So using some sprue from the kit which was just about the right dimensions, I scratch built the 2 large devices and one of the smaller ones.

I still have to add the carrying handles to these.

And finally the figures. The trousers were painted with Tamiya field grey, I then dry brushed these. The smocks were done in Vallejo Green Grey.

Next up i’ll get on with the figures while I leave the oils on the glider to dry. I also have to finish off some barb wire

Thanks for looking. All comments welcome of course.

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Looking very good so far Bish. It took me a long time to make preshading work, and even then it’s hit or miss for me. Great work on those explosives as well.