Me 321 B-1 Gigant

Overall, a large kit; about 30 inch wingspan. 

Contents 

Note the fuselage size. 

Note a single wing size. 

Kit provided locating marks - very hard to find/see and after painting I felt would be lost. 

Modified locating marks, I felt I would be able to find these more easily. 

Drilled holes for holding the flaps for painting. 

Floor added to fuselage subassembly. 

Open area behind cockpit, would have been seen through canopy. 

Scratch built bulkhead behind cockpit. 

Scratch built rear cockpit area, with details added as seen from below.  

Cockpit installed as, prior to painting. 

Cockpit console, added with spare PE. 

Cockpit rear area. 

Front doors with added feature. 

Wings added, with special assembly requirements for wing ends. 

Primed 

Primed 

Black green camo, with Dark green taped over. 

Side doors 

Front doors open and gluing in place. Note there were NO guides or tabs to set the doors, simply glue to the side of the fuselage; hence the supports to keep them in place. 

Doors open with new scratch built hinges. Couldn't really find a good reference photo of the hinges, but I felt I needed to add them to ensure the doors stayed on. 

Hinges painted, doors set. 

Original decals. Had to create a set for the kit from spares, hence the designation may be wrong, but it will do. 

Completed topside view. Overall flat varnish finish. 

Glider with Tug - an He-111z (see my album for details) 

Glider with Tug - an He-111z (see my album for details) 

Glider with Tug - an He-111z (see my album for details) 

Note rear fuselage support. There is no room in the front of the fuselage, especially when the doors are open. It took about 7.5 oz to bring the wheels down to the table top; simply too much. I opted for a rear support. This will required when the front ramps are put on for the diorama planned. 

Underside showing landing gear. The front and rear wheels were jettisoned upon takeoff. The skids were used for landing. As such a limited number of airfields could receive the Giant as it required special gear for future takeoff. 

Underside showing booster rockets and light weathering. Like the wheels, the rockets were jettisoned after the rockets helped the tug get the glider airborne. 

Simple diorama/display with Me-321 and He-111z planes along with several German vehicles and a Flak 18 gun.
Note the base is 48" long, cut from a 24"x24" sheet of insulating foam. The grass is train layout sheet with vinyl backing. Road is made from sandpaper. Shrubs are from a train layout.
I made it this way so I could fit it on a shelf. As the Me-321 wingspan is over 30" and the He-111z is over 15". See the separate photo albums for each kit show. Kits are listed on last picture. 

Me-321 loading a Krupp Kfz 70 with 20L Jerry Cans and 200L Oil cans on the side. 

88mm Flak 18 gun for protection of the airfield. 

Another view of the Me-321 

This shows the He-111z and the width of the base. 

Kubelwagen and stairs to rear door. Stair are from an HO stair kit, but they fit well. Due to the overall weight of the tail of the Me-321, I had to add a support as there was not room for ~7.5 oz of weight to keep the front wheels on the ground. 

Overview with each plane and vehicle called out. Note the silver cables, made from two strands of jewelry thread, twisted and glued with PVA glue. Once dry I created the loops on each end of the cables.

If you got this far, thanks for looking and feedback is welcome.