Cutting Edge CED48230

1/48 Ar 234 C3

"Blitz Bombers"

product # CED48230

Review by Steve Bamford on Jan 30 2004

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This is a new decal sheet from Cutting Edge Modelworks. The sheet includes markings for 7 different Luftwaffe Ar 234's in 1/48 scale. Three of these are operational aircraft and four of these are "Luft '46" planes.

A total of 210 Ar 234B's and 14 Ar 234 C's were built during WW2. The Ar 234C had 4 jet engines (BMW 003 jet engines) as opposed to the two Jumo 004's used by the Ar 234B's and the Me-262. The Ar 234B was equipped with skis for landing and used a dolly for taking off, but the AR 234C was equipped with landing gear. Lack of fuel and general chaos kept the Ar 234 from having an impact on the outcome of the war. An Arado 234 prototype did successfully fly over the Normandy beaches on Aug 2 1944, thus giving the German command the first photo confirmation of what the German ground commanders had suspected.......a huge Allied build up on the Normandy beaches. It was only the Ar 234's ability to fly higher and faster that Allied fighters that permitted it to successfully over fly the Normandy beaches.

The first plane on this sheet is a Ar 234 C-3 W.Nr.250001 from Prague-Rusin. This plane wore an RLM 81/82 scheme on top and was RLM 76 on the underside. The large Swastika on the tail is wearing off and appears faint.

The second plane on this sheet is a Luft '46 Ar 234 C-3 with KG 51. This plane wore RLM 81 on top and was RLM "84" on the underside. A late war scheme. Plane # is 100 and on the side of the fuselage it wears a blue crest with a white flower.

The third plane on this sheet is a Ar 234 C-3 W.Nr.250006 from Munchen-Riem. This plane wore RLM 81/82 scheme on top and was RLM 76 on the underside. The large cross on the side of the fuselage is wearing off and appears faint.

The fourth plane on this sheet is a Luft '46 Ar 234 C-3 with KG 30. This plane wore RLM 79 desert tan on top and was RLM 78 on the underside. Plane # is 250120 and on the side of the fuselage it wears a red crest with a black bird of prey in attack position with talons extended.

The fifth plane on this sheet is a Ar 234 C-3 W.Nr.250012 from Prague-Rusin. This plane wore RLM 81/82 scheme on top and was RLM 76 on the underside. The large cross on the side of the fuselage is wearing off and appears faint.

The sixth plane on this sheet is a Luft '46 Ar 234 C-3 with KG 3. This plane wore RLM 81/82 scheme on top and was RLM 76 on the underside. Part of the upper paint has been white washed for winter operations. Plane # is 250150 and on the side of the fuselage it wears a red crest with a yellow lightning bolt.

The seventh plane on this sheet is a Luft '46 Ar 234 C-3 W.Nr.250101 with Kommando Sperling. This plane wore RLM 81/82 scheme on top and was RLM 76 on the underside. Of the side of the fuselage there is 3 different colours of artwork for you to choose from. The artwork is a song bird racing along at jet fast speeds and carrying an item in his claws.

The decals were flawlessly printed on 1 decal sheet and the clear carrier film is trimmed very close to the crisply printed colored areas, which is always good to see. A nice addition on this sheet are a selection of decals to represent the riveted canopy frames.

The instructions are clear and an extra page of text instruction is included with a small bit of general info as well as instructions about basic decal installation.

It's very good to see Cutting Edge Modelworks is doing some Luft '46 topics.

A very nice product and highly recommended.

Steve

I would like to thank Cutting Edge Modelworks for providing me with this review sample.

Click on images below to see larger images of the instruction sheets