Merlin

Hi, has no photos and thread only makes mention of whats in the photos. Italeri has spinner and canopy issues. Revell the reviewer made no comparison to reality or plans, . Old Airfix, not sure the finesse I am after is there. fin issues maybe, and Airfix have brought out new so clearly not happy with their past work. Hoping that in 2018 there would be a decent 1/48 Ju87B. Nothing so far I can a grip on here. Hasegawa, will google see what I can find. Has no one hands on knowledge of how Airfix new B2 compares to WW2 pics of the chin and upper intakes, canopy shape, spinner etc etc ? Cant use B1 as those areas are different. is there a review anywhere that looks at the actual shape as opposed to counting number of parts the sprues have got etc and ploughing through instruction sheets. Cheers Merlin

Hi, Considering finesse, i.e not overscale detail, scale panel lines, as well and importantly accuracy of shape compared to plans and WW2 photos, which is the best 1/48 Ju87B2 kit, the recent Airfix or bit older Italeri ? As Airfix tend to use trench lines and lose the realistic appearance, I am erring towards Italeri before even comparing/buying but how do they both stack up to close scrutiny ? Interested to know how they compare on spinner shape, canopy optical quality , distortion, haze, and shape, ....upper intake scoop compared to photos, Propeller shape, wheel spats, surface detail as the Ju87 does feature some raised rivets on wings, tyre tread treatment, overall shapes and so on. Cheers Merlin

Hi, p2 of book says, All rights reserved, No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying recording or any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from copyright owner. it is A.J Press 1994, Poland. there is a tel number Books International for the English Edition which this is. It is out of print. but does one need to make that call ? If I accompany the scan with source etc details, good advertisement, given the screed, which is often normally found in a book, is that wording the final say...disallowed ? Merlin

Thanks, So far thats two with haze and two without. If I buy the kit and break open the bag and find mine is hazy, and I certainly want clear, as its all about the glazing !..then what ? Its unsettling that there is a chance 50/50 of haze. If it were in a separate bag then one could see before buying. ok guys, those with this kit whats your glazing like ? Just a thought, and might save the day, would dipping in Johnsons Klear remove haze if its present ? Merlin

Hi, I cannot see glazing before purchasing and then opening bag, then its too late to return kit, but in first two videos watched, both reviewers are faltering when reviewing glazing commenting on distortion and haze, both cant be wrong., and importantly, and I agree, one says :- The Heinkel 111 is all about the nose glazing, quote from first video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm-jL2hyJ98 not happy with clarity ..hazy. I will report back on this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93_UBNWF8mE the glass isn’t the clearest,.... let down of the kit, hazy glazing, 18:32 yet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfkAuuIJnS4 says its very clear. so did they have a bad batch or truly is it hazy or optically clear and pure without distortion, as he says Tamiya would deliver better clarity. It is all about the glazing as they say, very much so in fact, so this is concerning. That kit manufacturers have completely missed out yet again in another He111 kit the nose wide metal fairing is beyond belief, as well as missed out the curved inwards area where gun exits, as the correct look of the He111 up front is still lacking in a kit, zero for observation by kit manufacturers there yet again, maybe when interviewing for new staff , use a spot the difference set of drawings !....but filler and other surgery might fix it, extending the cupola fwd with plastic card ring, to add in the missing length, then add inside the gunners rotating ring, the absence of this hand ring tells me they have looked at later He111s and been misled, I wish someone might someday bother to look at a single WW2 photo of type ! There are many of such as well as tech drgs of this nose area in books such as Robert Michulec Aircraft Monograph 2 He111 . In all a distinctive feature is missing..not good. Merlin

Ah, my mistake, I saw what looked like doors but ICM have in fact done the under cowling as two separate panels. Merlin

Hi, Looking at photos of sprues, it seems the doors are equal sized, but they could be for port and stbd engines on one sprue, Looking in a box the sprues are such that unless one opens the cellophane , its tricky to decide what is there. Once opened one cannot take the kit back to the shop ! Has anyone got this kit and is there an error with the doors, symmetrical same sized outer and inner doors on one engine, when reality was a large outer door and a small inner door ? Outer almost 2x size of inner. Merlin

Hi, Most BoB period He111 H and P cockpit shots I have feature a small panel at left with 5 instruments in it arranged at an angle to its inboard edge. http://web.ipmsusa3.org/content/heinkel-he-111-walk-around look for photos of the He111 at Gardermoen museum. Merlin

Not sure if you are referring to Cybermodeler, but as an insight into Cybermodeler site, I shall add...What Cybermodeler is doing is comparing the different painted out samples to swatches , he scans with a special scaner that converts a pigment colour to RGB, he is not trying to display on screen the colour, some colours may not have an ability to be displayed in RGB on screen, so if Valejo123 matches the bar above it , it means it matches the original official colour swatch. Monitors cant always represent pigment colour, and sRGB colourspace is poor at greens, the AdobeRGB gamut triangle is far larger into the green area of the spectrum, so calibrating ones monitor to AdobeRGB1998 is the best approach (Spyder device etc), likewise Photoshop colour settings set to AdobeRGB1998, and gamma 2.2 by the way. beware though if creating artwork for progs that use sRGB such as PC games. Merlin

Hi, I have scans now of my plans I refer to of the three cowling variants in Michulec's book, whats the situation regards posting them here though ? Merlin

there is a panel line running around the entire cowling just aft of the spinner, denoting a curved fwd cowl section that remains in situ when cowls removed, on some this is quite close to the spinner ,on others much further back, measuring quickly the Michulec plans I calculated those two values as fore/aft distance (not taken on the curve but on datum) Merlin

Hi, good initial pointer P port H stbd intakes :-) as Kaldrack asks... I would be inclined to take Heinz Mankau's research as being pretty solid. If you could post the relevant issue numbers for the “Modell Magazin” articles it would be appreciated. This would be brilliant to see, though without the magazines we would still be pondering, can the articles be posted or viewed somehow ? I have found the book I was thinking of, what are the rules regarding posting a scan of the relevant parts from the plans ? For the moment I will describe as best I can. It is Heinkel He111 Aircraft Monograph 2 Robert Michulec AJ Press 1994 Poland ISBN 83-86208-12-0 page 38 has 5 view drawings (plans) of each cowling (port one) for DB601A, Jumo 211A-1, Jumo211A-3, D and F DB601 shows the larger of the two external coamings with adjustable rear flap, Jumo 211 A-1 is the 'internal' variety, Jumo211 A-3 the smaller of the two externals with no rear flap. DB601 has the 170mm deep front cowl section, Jumos the 60mm deep variety. (done without mag glass quickly) DB601 a circular intake port side, Jumo211 A-1 a shallow arc of an intake, other Jumo a 'three quarter' circle. Some smaller surface detail differenes in access panel ad minor vents also evident. Page 37 has 7 different exhaust collectors, H-23, one of the most widely used type E/F-4/early H version, very early type(very rare He111E) night version Late He111H mainly He111P He111H middle versions another type night late He111H I will scan and post here pending feedback on rules. What Jumo would a H-3 have ? Warthunder site says 211 D. Regards Merlin

Hi, With the ICM 1/48 He111 H-3 out it sees me studying the cowling differences of early H and P model He111s, partly because it has omitted the front fairings on the upper external cowl. (also the nose glazing wide metal 'collar' clearly visible in all the following photos but I mention this in the review thread). What do you guys know of the differences in He111 engine cowlings. I have a Czech (?)book I cannot get to right now, with drawings of the variations in the plans section at rear, but with the advent of the ICM 1/48 He111 H3 I am looking at their take on the cowling, looking at pics on the internet, and the different exhaust stacks and trough shapes as well as the two varieties of intake up on top. Did the H-3 cowl vary at all ? I see two types of air intake atop cowling, and two types of cowling design just aft spinner. Internal type where the air vent is going under the cowling top and external type where a raised coaming is used. This has curved fairings at its fwd edge, if there are variations on these I cannot find such ater a quick look on the WWW tonight, though Revell seems to think they went all the way to the spinner backplate with their H1 1/48. Do the differing intakes correlate to Jumo or DB601 inside, I dont think so as I found H models with both (H being Jumo211) , and the P series is Daimler Benz. Here are some pics to ponder over:- http://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;u01192&pos=1&action=zoom&id=36548 h-5 Norway hiilside https://ktsorens.tihlde.org/flyvrak/lagodal.html (may have to copy paste this link to address window ) H-2 with internal type (note the internal stiffeners on the raised top cowling) https://imgur.com/gallery/q4KeY External type https://stukablr.tumblr.com/image/114167422380 H-3 external http://www.aircrewremembrancesociety.co.uk/styled-15/styled-17/styled-261/index.html http://www.hambledonsurrey.co.uk/?page_id=511 scroll down external type H-1 external, note the exhaust troughs, pic below has front panel line an inch or so aft of cowl front, then in P-1 pic and 2nd pic after that its more like 6 inches. P-1 (NO+GO) external H-6 external note the different exhaust system Sub types I mention are taken from the articles of image names for these pics., they might be wrong. Can one tell by looking at a cowling if its a H1 H3 H6 or P1 ? Merlin

Valejo 873 I found to match the RAF Museum series chart, which is the chart to match to, no colour pics etc etc. or also Spit 1 at Cosford, as that was painted to accurate RAF dk Green and dk Earth, I was offering up my chart and it matched after being told they made sure they did their homework and got it right ! (Medway Aircraft Preservation soc) I also found a valejo matched the dark green, I see the article says 893 so thats probably it, my notes dont say the number but the bottle is here and I will confirm when I find it. Try also Phoenix Precision paints (enamel) as they match to original RAF colour chips as well. Given the fact that we have all these differing matches, and some suggested RAF Dk Green colours were wildly out, someone out there given the job of coming up with a mix for a certain brand either is colour blind when it comes to matching or they just cant be bothered, to match a true reliable chart or just to even get the chart ! RLM70 and 71 is a case in point, nothing matched except for Phoenix ! I have seen stukas and he111s looking like they are in 71/02, GS paints usually used, but I digress. If a manufacturer says we matched to RAF Mus chart or went to Hendon or obtained original BS swatches and liaised with RAF, then we know we are onto a potential winner, when they cant say what they matched to, then beware. If they are proud of their accuracy they will say what they used, else if they shuffle their feet then beware ! Colour matching should by the way be done with at least 1" size windows cut into neutral grey cartridge paper etc masks, not white or other colour paper ! see also Cybermodeler.com where Michael may have compared RAF paints with his colour analyser. https://www.cybermodeler.com/color/bs381c_table.shtml Merlin

Hi, Some further observations that might be of use for some. From the CAD artwork and what I can see of the glazing on the sprue, I am wondering if ICM have captured the engine intakes and nose metal fairing of the earlier He111s ? I have not yet seen a manufacturer recreate the distinctive look of the cupola area with its broad metal fairing of the early H series and P , that differentiates it from later He111's, in 1/48 or 1/32 scale and ICM were so observant on their Do17Z I had hopes for this at last. Airfix have with the 1/72 but Revell failed to do so with theirs. I am going by what I see in the CAD visuals though, so before I commit to buy, and one cannot always tell until parts are assembled, I ask does the kit recreate this wide fairing as per pics below ? It goes from a circular shape fwd of the joint to a faceted edge aft of joint below centreline, I also can see some filler is required to create the fillets at the engine top intakes. https://stukablr.tumblr.com/image/114167422380 Notice in the photo below as well as above the metalwork follows the curve of the glazing aft of it. I found these pics in 30 mins of trawling the net. I do wish manufacturers would just study things for 5 mins. It goes without saying when recreating aircraft as kits. Notice the landing lamp port wing, encroaches above centre line a little its mostly below wing, they are lighting the gorund ! I see the kit will need filler here as it takes an equal bite out of the upper wing. I hope they have captured the sweep inwards of the glazing at the cupola m/gun exit ring , I cant quite tell from photos on the sprue and hope they havent fallen to assumptions of spherical as no other kit has captured this as yet. Again distinctive difference else it becomes a late He111. Some deft work with file and polishing compound otherwise. Wishing to know how it compares to general shape, I have attempted to offer the pics up against plans by Granger M.I.S.T.C and see some variances on window placement, spacing and angles, tail fin is spot on as is rudder. Wing plan view has a shallower S curve at trailing edge inboard, aileron hinges are their own width out, aileron is good, and leading edge has a slight more sweep back different angle, but the true test is with the actual kit laid on, as opposed to picture for the angle. Again for those who get their plans out. Folk do buy He111 books featuring plans and I presume they check kits against such for the more obvious differences then battle with their conscience on if its worth the surgery to fix it. Pics sprues show doors of equal size though outboard u/c doors are notably larger in plans showing view fwd. uside plan view shows centre seam offset to one side further supporting this fact though wing dihedral in that view could play a part, checking with view fwd/aft though proves the door difference, quite pronounced. Other things spotted though not so distinctive to represent type is upper wing rear cowlings are straight sided V shape in plan view when in fact they have a slight curve in reality. The under side coamings are also asymetrical but I think the kit isnt, may be something to do with the doors as well. Sort of detail that again might matter to some modellers, I have seen folk fine tuning such things, each unto their own. I hope the doors in the sprue are an optical illusion as the He111 doors do differ. Have not looked further yet as other aspects require better views and the actual sprues in hand. Merlin