AMP 1/48 Doblhoff WNF 342 Kit First Look

By David L. Veres

First Look

This little Nazi German machine certainly sent me running for references!

“The Doblhoff/WNF 342,” Wikipedia reveals, “was the first helicopter to take off and land using tip jets to drive the rotor.”

Its “conventional piston engine drove both a small pusher propeller (to provide forward thrust) and an air compressor to provide air (subsequently mixed with fuel) through the rotor head and hollow rotor blades to combustion chambers at the rotor tips.”

So I guess that really makes Hitler’s diminutive device an autogyro.

Deutsche Kriegsmarine evaluated four prototypes for light-observation and anti-submarine roles aboard warships. And the Allies captured one at the end of WWII.

Now AMP/Micro-Mir offers a gorgeously detailed, 1:48-scale, multi-media Doblhoff WNF 342 V4 – sole two-place derivative of the original single-seat design.

Grab magnifiers for this one. Over 40 gray and clear plastic parts on three trees comprise main components. And 15 petite photoetch details augment those.

The cockpit alone sports around 30 parts.

Keep magnifiers handy during the finishing stage, too. You’ll need them for the kit’s equally small decals. Assembling the tiny, two-part Swastikas – and applying the minuscule instrument panel array – will probably demand plenty of patience.

AMP/Micro-Mir’s eight-page, Ukrainian-English instructions include a thumbnail history, paint matches keyed to Humbrol colors, 29-step assembly sequence, and two-page color guide.

But trees carry no component numbers. So carefully follow parts maps – and reference component callouts above each construction step.

Hard to believe that AMP/Micro-Mir’s remarkably detailed effort is “limited run”. Just muster your planning skills, pack plenty of patience, and don’t forget magnifiers.

After all, how many injection-molded, 1:48-scale Doblhoff WNF 342 will we ever see?

My sincere thanks to Micro-Mir for this review sample!