Now here is something that I think most of us who like nautical stuff and aircraft will find of interest. This is a Kriegsmarine Catapult and Launch Cradle for an Ar-196. Not exactly the most common thing one has ever seen, eh? This particular design is one used on the Heavy Cruisers such as the Hipper or Prinz Eugen.

What makes it really nice is that it isn't the usual morass of teeny bits that need to be carefully placed in order to have a nice finished product. What White Ensign has done is to maximize things and give us the minimum number of bits that will provide the finished product. As a person who is rather sloppy with superglue, I applaud this approach.

There are 20 parts made of superbly done brass on one very large fret that consist of three major assemblies (catapult, servicing platform, and launch cradle) with the usual smaller bits to make it all work. Two compressed air bottles are included that are made of white metal. You have to supply the Ar-196 on your own!

The only parts that have to be made are the turntable, which can easily be cut from card stock, and a couple of 1mm diameter rods. Instructions are very complete and easy to follow so there should be no problems in that respect at all. While no color information is provided, I'd think that it would probably be some shade of grey.

This is a really great idea and one that I hopes catches on. The possibilities for other similar catapults are great as there are all sorts of interesting aircraft (Kingfisher, Walrus...) that can be so displayed.

Thanks to for the review samples. Click on the logo to visit their website.

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