Heinkel He111Z-2 long-range bomber

[Paul A H]

Heinkel He111Z-2 long-range bomber

1:72 Hasegawa

By the time the colossal Messerschmitt Me321 Gigant transport glider made its first flight in late February 1941, work was underway on the development of a dedicated aircraft design powerful enough to tow the Gigant into the air. Following the abandonment of plans to join together three or four Messerschmitt Bf 110 airframes, Heinkel Flugzeugwerke proposed a design comprised of two He111 bombers joined together and fitted with an additional engine. For obvious reasons the design became known as the Zwilling, or twin. The Z-2 was a projected heavy bomber variant which never actually entered production. It would have been capable of carrying a 7000kg payload over a long range.

This is the second boxing of Hasegawa’s Zwilling, the first being the original He111Z glider tug. The substantial top-opening box is adorned with attractive artwork and inside is literally crammed with parts; 228 in total, spread across well over 30 sprues. It is almost possible to build two He111 kits from the parts supplied in the box. All that is missing is the extra pair of wings. The quality of the mouldings is what we have come to expect from Hasegawa; delicate details, fine sprue attachment points and crisp, recessed panel lines. The panel lines on the new centre wing section are finer than the original fuselage halves and outer wings, but that shouldn’t look too obvious once the thing has been treated to a paint job.

Inside the cockpit the level of detail is good. The fuselage halves feature raised ribbing and the cockpit itself looks suitably busy. Decals are provided for instrument panels as well as raised surface details. The defensive machine guns are also nicely moulded. Care will need to be taken when adding the nose glazing as this is a multi-part affair and any stray blobs of glue will stand out like a sore thumb, especially given the clarity of the transparent parts. Armament is comprised of impressively large SC1000 ‘Hermann’ bombs and accompanying bomb racks which are to be fitted over the original kit bomb bays and under the centre wing section.

The construction of the wing is deceptively complex as each of the five engines is different. Fortunately Hasegawa’s instructions are nice and clear and show the breakdown and placement of parts very nicely. As was the case with the original Hasegawa He111, the fuselage bulkheads incorporate wing spars which should lend this large model some much needed extra strength.

Two marking options are included, although as the aircraft never entered production both are fictional and the builder could easily concoct their own. Both suggested schemes are for aircraft operating over Russia, one in standard daylight camouflage of RLM70 and RLM71 over RLM65, and one in standard night camouflage of RLM70 and RLM71 over black, with a broken cloud finish of RLM76. The decals are typical of Hasegawa, being nicely printed but rather thick.

Conclusion

With a wing span of 493mm, this is a sizeable model that should look very impressive once completed. Although at first glance it looks complex, the instructions are very clear and it should be reasonably straightforward to put together – provided you have a large enough workspace to accommodate it!

Review sample courtesy of UK distributors for

[Mike]

It looks like a scorcher - probably the only practical option for a Z too - in 1:48 it would be huge, and in 1:32 humongous!

[The wooksta V2.0]

Not quite the only 72nd option as Italeri did it in the 70s and it's periodically available - I picked one up in Germany in 1990. Not as refined but certainly cheaper IF you can find one.