# First and Last - Natter M23 Done!



## Faust (Dec 1, 2012)

When they say “Truth is stranger than fiction”, sometimes, they aren’t kidding! The desperate last days of WWII in Germany saw any and all ideas for defence of the Reich at least given consideration, no matter how outlandish they were. That some of these ideas were greenlighted, and even made it to the flying stage, says a lot about the state of Germany’s science and politics in the early-middle ‘40s.

One of the weirder and more dangerous vehicles to make the leap from napkin to launchpad was the Bachem Ba-349, or BP-20, “Natter”. A vertically-launched, tiny, rocket-propelled point-defence interceptor, it was the original “missile with a man in it”. Not surprisingly, there are a lot of kits of this weird contraption, and one of the newer ones is the Brengun model in 1/72. This comes in a bunch of realistic and “What-If” flavours. The one I opted for was Mustermaschine M23, which is the first, and only, Natter to launch with a human pilot on board.

Check out this neat little kit at the link below, and tell me what you think: Red or Black for the underside?









Brengun 1/72 BP-20 Natter “Mustermaschine M23”


The Brengun Natter M23 captures the look of this fatally flawed flying machine very well. If the key to defence is a good offence, how are you supposed to defend yourself when you’re on the ropes, …




adamrehorn.wordpress.com


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Faust said:


> ...Check out this neat little kit at the link below, and tell me what you think: Red or Black for the underside?
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> 
> 
> ...


I know nothing of this aircraft, but I've always thought they painted the underside of military aircraft in an effort to "disguise" it, make it harder to be seen by ground troops; various shades of gray seemed to be used to good effect. As such, that's how I would probably proceed--I'd choose a gray similar to the background color in that photo, and that's the color I'd paint the underside of this odd machine. I have no idea of how accurate that would be, but in my mind it would at least make some sense every time I looked at the finished build-up.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Sometimes test vehicles are painted with red or yellow so they can be easily seen by the folks conducting the test. British prototypes had bright yellow bellies, or yellow and black stripes. That of course makes one wonder why the TOP is camouflaged. But there you have it.


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