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1/48 Eduard Heinkel He-280, Jumo engines


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Currently I'm working on an old Eduard kit of the He-280, the first jet fighter in the world, but which did not go into production and ultimately lost out to the Me-262. I found the kit online from an Italian seller and I think it's long OOP from Eduard.

This version has Jumo engines just like the Me-262, as the original prototypes used an engine by Heinkel which was problematic and never performed as expected.

Heinkel_He-280_Jumo_004_Eduard_box_conte

I was a bit disappointed that this version of the kit did not come with resin wheels and a seat, plus photoetch for the cockpit as I believe an earlier version did.

I started with the wings and engines, and I found them a bit tricky as there are no location pins on the nacelles, I guess because this was an early limited run type kit by Eduard.

Heinkel_He-280_Jumo_004_Eduard_engine_na

I added some basic sidewall and wheel well ribbing with some thin evergreen strips which went some way towards busying up a very plain part of the model.

Heinkel_He-280_Jumo_004_Eduard_interior_

For the cockpit, I added a set of the new steel belts from Eduard, these I think are meant for a FW190. I also added some airscale generic photoetch levers for the throttles and so on, but not being able to find a photo of the interior of the He-280 I used a bit of imagination here!

Heinkel_He-280_Jumo_004_Eduard_cockpit_f

Heinkel_He-280_Jumo_004_Eduard_cockpit_a

Some photos of the model put together, I found the seam lines to be a pain on this one, still an area I don't like (getting rid of seam lines!). Not 100% happy, but I think if I kept filling and sanding I'd have no plastic left!

Heinkel_He-280_Jumo_004_Eduard_basic_ass

Heinkel_He-280_Jumo_004_Eduard_basic_ass

Heinkel_He-280_Jumo_004_Eduard_cockpit_i

Heinkel_He-280_Jumo_004_Eduard_wing_root

And now it's primered (Mr Surfacer grey 1200 from a rattle can).

Heinkel_He-280_Jumo_004_Eduard_primer_co

Heinkel_He-280_Jumo_004_Eduard_primer_co

I've now pre-shaded it and the first coat of colour is going on (it's RLM02 Grau all over from Mr Paint). Not so sure about the preshading, I've been black basing instead on recent models and I think it's easier, but I'll see how this one turns out!

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Hello Ronan,

very interesting aircraft, we don't see it often, and good job it looks very nice for the moment!

About pre or post shading, I think it depends on what kind of weathering you want to apply to it; a post shading will make it often more weathered and a pre shading will tend to be lighter.

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Very smart Ronan. Interested to see you mention black-basing as that's something I hope to try on the current build, never having done it before. Watching with interest.

Tony

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Thanks guys, this model I'm trying pre-shading, but so far (i've got a good bit of paint on now) I'm finding it is just disappearing under the paint. Previous builds I've tried the black basing technique and I think it works better for me, but ultimately I'll see how this one turns out. I'll use a Flory models wash on it later and I think that will look good. As it's a prototype plane which I think did not accumulate much flight time I reckon it would be a pretty clean aircraft overall.

I think Eduard released this model back in 1999 according to scalemates, as I really like early jets it was one I had to add to the stash!

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Thanks guys!

An unusual one for sure, and which I think will look good alongside a Me-262 I also plan on building next year.

I could not find that much information about the He-280 online, the Wikipedia page for it is pretty basic. According to the information in the instructions from Eduard, there were eight built, and some only flew as gliders with no jet engines attached. The Jumo engines were added once it became clear the Heinkel engines were not performing as expected, and as the Me-262 was a better match for the Jumo set up, the Heinkel project was cancelled.

It first flew in early 1941, before operation Barbarossa, so interesting to think how much earlier in the war the Luftwaffe would have had operational jet fighters had they prioritised it then (and thankfully they didn't!)

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  • 2 months later...

Progress was stalled on this one due to a house move, but tonight I got back to it and added the first coat of colour (RLM02 Grau by Mr Paint). Coming along nicely now, hoping to get it finished soon.

 

Heinkel_He-280_Jumo_004_Eduard_first_coa

 

Heinkel_He-280_Jumo_004_Eduard_first_coa

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