Revell's 1/32 scale
Dornier Do 27 Grzimek

by Roland Sachsenhofer

Dornier Do 27 Grzimek

Hobby Boss' 1/32 Spitfire Mk.Vb Trop is available online from Squadron

In the early post-war years newly founded Germany was yearning for regaining international reputation -and for heroes not connected to its Nazi-past.

Both the Dornier Do 27 with its proud status as West Germanys first home-produced aeroplane and Dr. Bernhard Grzimek, a famous biologist, zoo director and animal welfare campaigner, suited this purposes.

The story of the so called “Flying Zebra” started, when Grzimek and his son Michael decided to learn to fly with the intent to explore and save the wildlife of the African Serengeti in Tanzania.

Father and son Grzimek bought a Dornier Do-27, a versatile STOL-aircraft used by the newly formed Luftwaffe and various foreign air forces. Grzimeks zebra-like painted plane gained great popularity as one of the main actors in the Oscar-winning movie “Serengeti darf nicht sterben”, 1959.

Sadly, Michael Grzimek lost his life when a vulture collided with this Do-27. The aircraft had been left where it did crash until 2009: The remains are now displayed unrestored in the Technik-Museum Berlin.

The “Flying Zebra” remained to be an iconic aircraft, still being popular todays: several Do-27 display the distinctive and good looking paintwork of Grzimeks famous plane even nowadays.

The Revell kit of the Do-27 is an odd antiquity in nearly all respects. A whole bundle of corrections had to be done to get a satisfying outcome.

Most important task had been the correction of the interior and scratching all interior details. Seatbelts have been made from metal foil and etched buckles.

The prop had been build up new from spare parts; the exhausts have been improvised with cable insulation. Besides that, the struts have been shortened and rebuild to get a more “weighted” appearance.

Of course the paintwork was a major task. I used the kits patterns, transferred them to masking tape and masked the surfaces I had previously painted black.

All in all it was a very demanding build taking quite it´s time to complete, but now, of course, I am very happy to have a feasible “Flying Zebra” in my collection!]If you are interested in the building process, please have a look here on Scalemates:

https://www.scalemates.com/profiles/mate.php?id=10148&p=albums&album=38480

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As ever, remarks will be appreciated: ro.sachsenhofer@gmx.at

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2018 by Roland Sachsenhofer
Page Created 9 October, 2018
Last Updated 9 October, 2018

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