New Arrivals | Takom
Winging it
Just in from Takom is the all-new tooling WW II Henschel Hs 129B, a twin-engine ground-attack aircraft of the German Luftwaffe, under the recently-introduced Takom Wings sub-brand.
The Hs 129 was developed to fulfil the roles of close-air-support and ground-attack for the Luftwaffe in WWII. Lessons from the Condor Legion’s experience in Spain—where German pilots learned the value of armoured, low-flying aircraft for striking ground targets—convinced German planners that a specialised aircraft was needed to strike ground targets. Henschel’s 1937 prototype, the Hs 129 V1, featured a compact, heavily armoured cockpit protected by 75 mm of armoured glass and was powered by two Argus AS 410 engines. Flight tests began in 1939, but early prototypes were underpowered and unreliable.
Fourteen pre-production Hs 129 A-0s saw brief service in France, yet poor performance halted full production. The design was refined with captured French 700 hp Gnome-Rhône 14M radial engines, creating the improved Hs 129 B series. It carried two 20 mm MG 151 cannon, two 7.9 mm MG 17 machine guns, and could mount a small bomb beneath the fuselage. This version entered combat on the Eastern Front and in North Africa as a tank-buster.
As Soviet armour grew tougher, heavier weapons were fitted. The B-2 variants added successively larger guns: twin 20 mm and 13 mm weapons, then a 30 mm Mk 103, a 37 mm BK 3,7, and finally a 75 mm PaK 40 cannon carried beneath the fuselage.
Two versions of the aircraft kit have been produced, with the necessary armaments and housings to complete the Hs-129 B-2 and Hs 129 B-3.
Both kits come with an additional sprue of clear parts with optional port side fuselage and upper wings, to allow the detailed interior and wing structure to be displayed. Regular grey styrene fuselage and wing parts are included as well. As an additional measure to protect the clear parts from accidental scuffing Takom have wrapped the clear sprue in clingfilm before bagging – simple but effective.
Each aircraft has a choice of four markings. The Hs 129 B-2 decal sheet includes R.A.F. markings for a complete aircraft captured by the British in North Africa in 1942 and brought to the U.K.
As an alternative to the individual boxings, Takom also released a limited edition Big Box containing the B-2 and B-3 plus two 3D-printed pilot figures and a German Panther A tank in matching 1:48 scale.
