Olimp Pro Resin 1/72 Blohm und Voss 137 V2 By Bill Powers

Construction

The Blohm und Voss 137 was to be a candidate for the Luftwaffe's dive bomber competition. Two prototypes were ordered but ultimately the specifications for the dive bomber contract were written to fit the Stuka. The fix was on and this plane was out. The plane might be used for close air support so four more prototypes were order using in line engines. But Udet didn't want close support planes and that was the end of the series. Olimp Pro Resin has produced two kits, one for prototype V2, engined with the German license built Wasp and the V5, fitted with the Jumo 210a. The only change in the kits is the fuselage, cowling, radiator and propeller, see photo comparison of noses.

The kit box has a flimsy top and sturdy bottom. The parts are in three zip lock bags, two for resin and one for the photoetch and clear plastic sheet for the instrument and windscreen. There was a little damage to the trailing edge of one wing and I would expect some damage with the heavy resin pieces bumping around. I repaired the chip in the trailing edge with some of the resin sprue in about ten minutes. The delicate pieces like propeller blades are protected by large resin "bumpers" in the V2 but not the V4, see photo of kit pieces. Only a few pieces have large pour blocks that require cutting with a saw. Most are removed with a Xacto. A nice touch is reference to websites that have photos of the planes.

Your first impression is…WOW what a gorgeous kit. The detail is so delicate and the fit is perfect! It looks like a Tamigawa kit!

This is my first all resin kit, so I was learning as I built. I was introduced to "pin holes" that appeared as I cleaned up some mold lines on the wing's leading edge. Not many but very persistent in resisting all efforts to fill them. Three applications of Floquil Primer applied with a brush finally did the trick. There were only three larger pinholes on the surfaces in secluded places and they were filled with crazy glue. The V4 kit has many pin holes in the top of the wing and bottom of the fuselage!

I sanded the fuselage halves flat and they fit perfectly and the panel lines matched! I had decided to build this as "Out of the Box" or "Box Stock" so no improvements would be made to the kit. The cockpit really doesn't need anything. BUT, there are three items on the plans that I questioned:
First, the control stick, part 15, should be on the square panel on the floorboard, Part 19, not on the round disc alongside the rudder pedals.
Second, I think the seatbelt, part B is upside down in the plans.
Third, don't glue the seat to the floorboards without a test fit inside the fuselage
Also, at the back of the floorboards, the little piece that sticks up, goes behind the bulkhead Part 17. The kit's interior makes up very nicely - see photo of interior pieces

I don't know what it is, but after gluing the fuselage together, if I squeezed the fuselage while holding it, a very ominous cracking sound could be heard!

The vertical and horizontal stabs are beautiful. I used 20 thou brass rod to reinforce the butt joint connection. The horizontal stabs seem to have more curve/airfoil on one side than the other. Keeping the curvier side up gave a better match to the fuselage part. Some sanding was required to smooth the joint.

The wings fit beautifully into the fuselage fillet. I test glued them and something didn't look right. The wing wasn't straight. I noticed, my wife noticed and placing the model in a jig proved it, see photo of plane with black line. Plus the dihedral was excessive and not equal. I tried the wings from the other kit but had the same problem.
Two hours later, after some rigorous sanding and making a new jig to keep everything square, the problem was corrected…without the loss of too much detail…see photo corrected wing. ( I taped the fuselage together from the V5 kit and glued the wings on…same alignment problem but he dihedral was perfect.)

Because I had changed the dihedral, the gluing surface for the spats, part 5, was not "flat". So I placed some 220 sandpaper on a flat surface and very carefully sanded until the surfaces were flat. Note: the hole in the front of the spat is for the 20 mm cannon.

The propeller has separate blades and hub. When cutting the blades away from the molding block, make sure the "ears" are left on the blade. The plans show no "ear", but photos of the Wasp powered version show the ears. I used 20 thou brass rod stubs to strengthen the butt joint of the blades to the hub.. I used a jig to hold the hub and blades at the proper angle and pitch while gluing, see photo propeller in jig. I used another piece of rod as a shaft to mount the propeller to the nose piece.

The engine cowling is a beautiful piece of casting. This and the nose piece require a saw to remove from the casting clock. After slipping the cowling over the nose piece, I rotated it until the rocker arm bumps lined up with the cylinders on the nose piece

During the final sanding, some more pinholes appeared and I used a light coat of Future to cover and fill. Worked great! Before painting, I washed the model with a fairly strong detergent to remove any mold release residue.

I painted the model with Model Master RLM 63 with about five drops of yellow to the entire bottle to give a slight greenish tinge. I thinned the paint more than 50-50, probably 75% and sprayed very thin coats over three days to avoid filling the very delicate rivets. It worked.

The kit comes with the civilian registration numbers for the top of the wing and sides but none for the bottom of the wing? There is a white disc and two piece swastika, but photos of the early prototypes do not show a swastika.

The decals require great care. The carrier film dissolves, letting the letters float loose except they stick immediately and don't want to move! I used lots of water and some soap and still had to move each letter into position. After the decal set, I used some Micro Sol to eliminate any silvering on what carried film was left. Now the decals look wonderful, as if sprayed on!

The windshield as printed is too narrow for the fuselage mount so measure before folding!

The V5 kit has a beautiful radiator with very delicate screening plus exquisite exhaust for the Jumo. Unfortunately, there is still the alignment problem and more pinholes.

This is a beautiful kit that will require some skill to correct the alignment flaw. I thank Oleg for giving us a beautifully molded kit and Matt for the opportunity to build it. Look for this model on the Civilian Aircraft Table at the Nationals in Atlanta.