The Dornier DO-335 "Pfeil" (Arrow)

The Dornier DO-335 "Pfeil" (arrow), also known as the Ameisebaer (anteater) was the fastest piston (prop) driven fighter plane of WW2. Unfortunately, it never saw action.

You'll find more information on this fascinating aircraft at the Dornier Do 335 page.

The DO-335 kit was designed by Marek. It's a 1:32 scale model, a bit complex and has a lot of bad fitting parts. But despite that, I persevered and finally completed the model.

Here's a summary of the entire build.

Front Engine


Unlike most prop-driven card models I've encountered, this one does not have any provisions for a rotating shaft. Damn! I don't want to end up with non-rotating props!

I must come up with something.

Before proceeding with my mini-solution, I do a dry fit to ensure that everything is lined up properly.

I create my make-shift spinner shaft by rilling paper on a bamboo toothpick. As you see in the picture above, the outer 'roll' of paper is fixed to the toothpick. The inner roll, is not.

The propeller cone will be attached to the 'fixed' roll. The non-fixed roll on the other hand will be attached to the main engine part. Once done, I'll plug the shaft with another 'fixed' roll of paper.



All done!


And it spins!

-- end of part 1 --