My dear friend Brian P. Heron was one of the lucky guys who were able to grab a copy of the 32nd scale Zukei Mura Ho-229 on the occasion of the 2014 IPMS USA nationals in Hampton, VA. Of course we checked that thing out right there. I became sceptic that Uschi´s existing products contain sufficient material in order to cover the wings and the fuse of that large bird. Also, I found that some of the wood grain textures just didnt look right on these large panels. I knew I had to do something about it.

Brian has been so friendly and traced the panels on a transparent paper and sent it to me. I now had the dimensions and I was ready to start the design.

This set contains 6xA5 (B5 for the US) sheets, sporting not less than 8 different textures, from "noisy" to clear and crisp. This variation in texture is essential in order to achive a natural appearance of the final model.

Combined with a thin glaze of oil paint (Burnt Sienna) or a thin mist of Clear Yellow/Orange on some separated panels, the modeller is able to achieve both, a maximum realistic rendition of this wooden jet powered flying wing,  or an interesting and attractively aesthetic scale model with pleasing contrasts of natural metal and bare wood.

Usually our wood grain decals work in the 72nd up to the 32nd scale. Wood as a natural material doesnt really have a definitve reference in scale. The Horten however, has some rather huge panels for a scale model and all of them are pretty plain. The entire model "works" via the woodgrain only. If you mess that up, the best NMF wont win a flower pot. We need a perfectly adjusted product which really delivers and helps to produce a wood grain texture which is as striking as possible.

A simple "scalin´ it up" was not enough. It didnt look good enough for my taste. So again I conducted extensive tests in order to find the best possible wood grain textures for the job. I can assure that I did my very best and the product will keep its promise.

I´d like to invite you to check out the Tutorial section here on Uschi´s as well as the application of the Fine Veneer Plywood decals in order to learn how easy it is.

Enjoy and thanks for tuning in. ;-)