Restoration of a Bucker Bestmann; Pictures

L

Lionheart

SOH-CM-2014
Hey all,

Back when I did the Bucker Bestmann, which turned into Operation Valkyrie, a gentleman in Germany was helping me with technical questions and details on the airframe and engine. His name is Ralf and he has a Bucker Bu-181 and has been restoring it for 5 years now. He emailed me yesterday to say its nearing completion. I thought I would share the pictures with you all to show you the actual plane that alot of my help came from on the FS model.


Bill
LHC
 
FengZ said:
nice! how the heck did he get the plane into that tiny driveway of his??

-feng
Click to expand...

I think he stuck the wings on to see how they fit. Like a 'pictures' day, see how far along it has come.

There were thousands of these in WWII. I believe 7,000 were produced between Germany, Yugoslavia, and Sweden. Now there are perhaps 5 or so.

They are exceptional little planes with some neat features, like retracting (lowerable) seats, and rudder pedals that you can adjust fore and aft. The instrument panel 'sections' also hinge forward for maintenance on the gauges.

The airframe used alot of wood, including some wood surfacing, such as the fuselage and leading area sections of the wings.

After the war, they were all sold off for civillian use. Alot of people would race them in Europe in small competitions. They werent fast, but evidently fun to fly.



Bill
 
Bestmann up again!

Good news:

The restored Bestmann D-EKYF (c/n 25016) made its maiden flight after restoration on November 28th, 2009.
Pics here:
http://www.buecker181.de/
Navigate to "Projekt 25016" > Bildergalerie öffnen
Nice video on this site too.

I think nobody will be surprised that I'd love to set my digital brushes on this baby.
Bill released a bunch of historical liveries within his awesome package, but I think this contemporary skin would be a nice addition, allowing the Bestmann to hop around in today's airspace.

I know some people here already did some repaints on it, but I hope the current EKYF isn't done yet...

Cheers,
Markus.
 
First step:

ekyf1.jpg


I think this one wil turn out quite nice - but it's hard to spoil a repaint on an aircraft as beautiful as this anyway...
 
That's looking good Bill, line up the red on the nose and she's ready to fly. I still love that Bestmann, fly it along with Gunter's 108.

Caz
 
Thanks, Caz!

Just took her out for a quick hop from Schönhagen (current restoration base of the real Yankee Foxtrot) to Tempelhof:

ekyf10.jpg


ekyf11.jpg


ekyf12.jpg
 
Yup - have to play some more with the various model versions:
The civil model Bill created (with this guy in his ugly Hawaiian shirt sitting in the pit!) sports gear strut skirts, a RAT (ram air turbine, this funny little prop thing on the belly) and a venturi tube on the cockpit's port side.
The real D-EKYF doesn't have any of these features, including the unappropriate dressed fella...

Let's see which of the further non-Panzerfaust-carrying versions will fit better.
 
Wild Bill Kelso said:
The civil model Bill created (with this guy in his ugly Hawaiian shirt sitting in the pit!) sports gear strut skirts, a RAT (ram air turbine, this funny little prop thing on the belly) and a venturi tube on the cockpit's port side.
The real D-EKYF doesn't have any of these features, including the unappropriate dressed fella...
Click to expand...

arrghh.. Hey, I tried.

You know, I was going to mention changing his shirt out. I had all types of clothes on that pilot in the Bucker series. Even the military guys should be able to wear a diff color of fabric. Just through a swatch of wrinkled fabric on the shirt area and he should look fine. You might also take a military version like the trainer, use that as the model, and use 'colorise' on the pilots shirt (military shirt) and change it to blue or white, etc, to fit the plane better. Maybe even plaid.

Looking good Bill.. Nice work Sir. Those are neat old planes..



Bill
 
Thanks, Bill!

Funny coincidence: I was just colourizing the shirt. Think this is better now:

ekyf13.jpg


If anybody wonders what "Rangsdorf" is about:
The Bücker works were located in this village, just some kilometers south of Berlin.
Rangsdorf also was used an an important base of the Luftwaffe (Tempelhof never served as such). Stauffenberg landed there on July 20, 1944, returning from the Wolfsschanze...
 
Thanks, Ed!

It's available right here - right now!
This new improved uploading mechanism with 'instant access' sure is great... :wavey:

Cheers,
Markus.
 
Thanks Markus for the info on Von Stauffenberg.

Too bad he didnt succeed. How awesome would that have been.

I have seen pictures of that airfield. I had wanted to do it for the package, but couldnt find enough detail on it. The hangers are used for city functions and or just sitting there, aging. There was a huge Bucker flyin there a couple of years ago. I downloaded a ton of photos from the event, but mostly the airplanes were Jungmans and Jungmeisters. Maybe 2 Bestmann aircraft showed up if any. (Sorry, cant remember). It may be a yearly thing though, now.


Great work on the blue shirt! I find adding a bit of noise helps with the fabric realism. Also, copy/pasting a swatch of wrinkled fabric can do wonders as well. Textures can sure be tricky but man, when they start looking good, they can sure give you a high, lol... Better then model glue. ;)


Bill
 
Wow!
I thought this repaint would rather be a niche product, but more than 500 downloads at flightsim (and 59 at AVSIM...) shows that a contemporary Bestmann still cuts a fine figure.

Maybe some day soon I'll have to take a ride to EDAZ Schönhagen to get a close look at the real thing...

Cheers,
Markus.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top