Dandie Dinmont

How badly does Winston bite? Is this in case it turns into a habit? Craig.

Gosh, 9 days since I last reported on progress. this will never do. Initially progress was slow due to a cat on the workbench Worse still, he's casting at the moment and left a large amount of fine black hairs behind when he eventually wandered off in search of food. That'll be fun when it comes time for painting. First job was to make a replacement for the bit that had been lost without trace. Here's my attempt: And here it is in situ: As you can see, having this part missing would have ruined the model. Sometimes I wonder about myself. Next I addressed the issue of the undersized holes (or the oversized pins, take your pick). Some very delicate work with a pin drill opened up the holes enough to allow the fuselage sides to meet, and to provide reassurance that so far everything is in more less the right place. The undersized hole issue also affects the tailwheel mounting points and makes me very nervous of what I may find later in the build, especially when trying to attach the engines. Next, I started work on the cockpit. I think this piston affair must have been the device that allowed the pilot to raise his seat and peer over the top of the canopy in inclement weather. At the end of the session, I couldn't resist comparing the size of the Heinkel with its great foe, albeit a Mk.V rather that a BOB aircraft. Not as great a difference as I'd expected though of course the cockpit and canopy still has to be attached. I can neither confirm or deny that a certain amount of EEYOWWW! DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA!!! took place after this photo was taken. Thanks for reading, Craig.

Hi Bob, you’re racing through this! I’m relying on you to point out all the pitfalls for my own build in the BOB group build! Craig.

yes, hopefully I’ll miss out on all the hassle you had attaching the H-6 bomb racks to the H-3 fuselage. I’m just about to gird my loins and start work on the engines. Wish me luck. Craig.

Thanks min, though I’m really enjoying building the Heinkel, I’ve got a real hankering to build a Spitfire or Hurricane as well. I’m looking forward to following your build, especially as I can look down on the site of Drem airfield from the end of my road. Craig.

Yes, that was a really interesting build to follow. I've got Luftwaffe Over Scotland. Despite a couple of obvious errors (such as a caption identifying a Dornier Do-24 as a Do-18), I found it very interesting and a useful reference for this build. I'll have to keep an eye out for a Separate Little War. Craig.

Yes, our generations are truly fortunate that by and large, they haven't had to endure or witness horrible events like these. I sometimes find it hard to reconcile my enthusiasm for these war machines with the suffering and misery they have caused. Craig.

Hi Lawzer, thanks for this. This would make sense if the Heinkel did approach from the North, it would have passed close by to Seaton on its way to the harbour. I'm hoping to talk a bit more about the route it took over Aberdeen when I eventually get around to modelling its bomb load. Any other snippets you can gather such as whether it had a machine gun or cannon at the front of the gondola would be very useful (or do you think that might be asking a bit much)? Amazing to think, there are still eye witnesses to these events around. Thanks again, Craig.

Pity, I've been searching in vain for the right decals as well. Luckily the characters I need, 1, H, F and T, are probably the most easy to create stencils for! The other problem is the yellow KG26 shield but I'm hoping to revive my long dormant photoshop skills and do something with the white version that comes with the kit. Craig.

Yes, I thought so though it depends what you’re looking for. It’s a collection of reminiscences about Aberdeen during the war by people who were living there at the time and it contains a lot of interesting stories, photographs and contemporary newspaper articles and adverts (‘buy the Acme water pump and extinguish incendiary bombs effortlessly”). I enjoyed it but some of the figures and dates are a trifle approximate, hardly surprising I suppose when people are remembering events from 50 years ago. I have no idea how I came to own it, I think I must have got it from my mum or auntie in Aberdeen. Craig.

Thanks Greg, As I shall be revealing in my next update, I have managed to get the fuselage halves to come together. Can I ask another question about your build of this kit? You mention that you have found the correct decals for the aircraft you’re building. Looking at the action reports for 15th August, it looks like both I.KG26 and III.KG26 lost an aircraft in the sea that day with all the crew being rescued. Which one are you building? And where did you find the decals? I’m finding @Ozzy and your builds a great resource to consult. Many thanks! Craig.

Great to see you back at the workbench, or at least the upstairs table, and a great subject too. I’m looking forward to seeing what you do with this. Craig.

Recently, I've been seduced by the prospect of actually finishing a build and a new distraction but progress has been made with this. Putty has been applied, then sanded away and the various encumbrances such as radiators and oil coolers have been attached. In fact we are fast approaching the point where paint is going to get seriously involved, always a tense point in my builds. Anyway, here's how things are looking at the moment: More news as it happens, Craig.

Ah, don't you love the first few moments of a build? The pristine plastic laid out in front of you unsullied by your cack-handed mistakes, the instructions opened at step 1 and full of potential, a fixed idea of how wonderful the finished article will look in your head and the heady smell of Tamiya Extra Thin in the air. Stung by a friend's suggestion that my habit of persevering with dulled blades was "perhaps a little too Aberdonian", I even stuck a new no. 11 blade in the old Swann-Morton handle. Somewhat unorthodoxly, construction started with the wheel wells and the main spars. All went well for a few moments and then I did this: Yes, a big gluey fingerprint. That TET gets everywhere. In some ways it's a relief, like when you get the first scratch on a new car. You don't have to worry about it happening any more because it already has. Clever of me to get it out of the way so early in the build really. And no-one will see it. I hope. Pressing on, I noticed that some of the parts appeared to be acquiring a colour not unlike Humbrol 60. Investigation showed that this was because I had sliced a fingertip open at some point without even noticing. Maybe that new scalpel blade wasn't such a good idea. Still, the claret was soon staunched. With the main framework complete, it was time to start adding some detail, namely a circular item that looked like a large doorbell and a fire extinguisher to either side of the access hatch through the rear spar. ICM's suggestion that the fire extinguisher be painted blue made me realise that it was in fact an oxygen bottle (you wouldn't want to get those two mixed up) and when I came to fit the doorbell, an inadvertent twitch of the tweezers, doubtless due to blood loss, sent the doorbell arcing across the room. Thanks to my reasonably sharp eyesight and laminate flooring, I don't lose too much to the carpet monster but there was no sign of the missing mystery object. I told myself that no-one would be able to see it anyway once the fuselage was closed up but as usual, I didn't listen to myself. Finally, I was forced to resort to the nuclear option, running the vacuum cleaner over the mancave floor and sifting through the gathered detritus. This wasn't a complete failure, I found a drill bit I didn't know I had lost and the nose light from a Gnat that pinged out of my tweezers 6 months ago but of the doorbell, there was no sign. With a sigh, I decided to call it a night. One other thing I did do was to cut the fuselage sides off the sprue so that I could test fit the spars. All looked well but I did notice that my kit had the same feature as @Greg Law's, the locating pins on one fuselage side were too large to fit in the holes in the other side. Some careful drilling will be required before I go much further. Thanks for reading, Craig.

Thanks Troy, you're a mine of information as ever, and that Spitfire looks fantastic. I'm hoping to avoid brushing large areas but I'll certainly give this a try if it turns out that I have to make widespread use of the old hairy stick. Craig.

RAF Buchan! I visited there many times during the mid to late seventies since I was in the Air Cadets and the wing held their annual parades at Buchan. The seagull pie served in the airman's mess was both renowned and feared! I should have probably checked whether you had anything to do with the catering side of things before I mentioned that. That is one good looking Stuka. I'll be delighted if the Heinkel comes out looking half as well! Craig.

Hi Mark, A great project and a fitting tribute to two brave men. I’ve been re-reading Stephen Bungay’s “The Most Dangerous Enemy” to set the scene for this group build and in it, he also tells the story of the Wood-Scawen brothers but claims it was Tony who had poor vision, as the result of contracting TB as a child, and was nicknamed wombat as a result, Patrick being known as weasel. It’s strange how after all the research done on the battle, our historians can still flat-out contradict each other some times. Anyway, good progress so far and nice save on the wheel well. I’m looking forward to seeing the end results! Craig.

Thanks Jamie, I did see that in your thread, and found confirmation in a useful diagram I found somewhere on Britmodeller (I think) but of course cannot find again :-(. I wonder if you or @Capri3 have come across this slim volume as part of your research? (for the benefit of those poor souls unfortunate enough to be unacquainted with the language of Northeast Scotland, I will translate: “What was your location when the air raid warning sounded?”, ironic since it seems that in this particular raid, the sirens never did go off). Anyway, the book includes eye witness accounts of the many air raids on Aberdeen during the Second World War. Very interesting on a personal level, they are however woefully lacking in details such as the precise colour scheme of 1H+FT and the disposition of its armament. The artist of the front cover, one Jakec Kapocki, has obviously done his research though and has got the markings on both aircraft just about spot on. He’s also done a good job on depicting the houses of Ruthrieston, my mum’s house would have been just to the left of this picture, across the road. Anyway, thanks again for the help Jamie and I hope this was of some interest. I have actually made a start, more in my next post. Craig.

Hi Bob, Judging by the acreage involved, I’ll be breaking out the airbrush for this one. I know what you mean about Tamiya paint, I really wish they would make their acrylic retarder available in the UK. Mind you, I’ve found the Xtracrylix paint has much the same problem so let’s hope there’s not too much touching up required. By the way, I’m planning to follow @Greg Law’s example, based on some images I found online, and paint the cockpit and bomb racks RLM66 and the rest of the interior, undercarriage bays and the like RLM02 unless someone convinces me differently. Or I’ve got them the wrong way round. RLM66 is the darker grey right? I really don’t know a lot about Luftwaffe colours. Craig.

Thanks for all the interest, kind words and pointers towards helpful information, especially the other builds of this kit. Talking of the kit, here's a quick look at it: The rather nifty Box art: Intimidating amounts of plastic: Still more intimidating amounts of plastic: If you're thinking "He's in trouble, there's only one propellor in that lot", then fear not, there's a duplicated sprue and I didn't think you needed to see both of them. The paperwork: I looked at the other PE sets Eduard do for this kit but realised that as a PE tyro, tackling any of that stuff would have killed stone dead any chance of finishing this by the end of October. I had been intending to use Tamiya acrylics since they were what the instructions specified but having read some of the articles on this site and others about the accuracy of various manufacturers hues, particularly some of the arcane mixtures of Tamiya paint recommended, I decided to go with Xtracrylic instead. I'm no Luftwaffe expert so this will probably be close enough for me. Having looked at all the glazing in the kit, and heeding the advice from you all, I've also ordered up the Montex masking set, another first for me. I have to say, I'm a little intimidated by the task ahead of me. I don't think I've tackled something this big since I completely mucked up an Airfix 1/24 Spitfire 45 years ago. I've also no idea where I'm going to put it when it's finished. I would have preferred a 1/72 kit but H-3s seem to be few and far between in that scale (or any scale for that matter). I did find a suggestion that one could buy the new mould Airfix P-2 and H-6 kits and combine them to produce a H-3 but I feared that would be pushing my skills to the limit, not to mention more expensive than the ICM kit. As is probably obvious by now, not much is known about 1H+FT, other than it was a H-3. The kit comes which a fair amount of alternative weaponry but which to use? One of the marking options is for an aircraft from II.KG26 but it's a 1941 aircraft which, I assume would have been tooled up considerable after the Luftwaffe's experiences the previous year. In the end, I'll probably go for the weapon fit of the early 1940 marking option and wait for someone to prove me wrong. I have a couple of days off coming up soon so glue may well be applied to plastic soon! Thanks for reading, Craig.

Thanks for that Jamie, really interesting. Have you seen the film at https://movingimage.nls.uk/film/0238? If you can get past the riveting footage of battle scarred walls to about the 3:48 mark, there's some footage of the crash site obviously taken at about the same time. I don't think it shows any more than you already know but it's interesting to watch all the same. Craig.

Thanks! I looked for a copy of the book after reading your original build but being an Aberdonian born and bred, quailed at spending £25 on it! I've since read some of the pages available online and it does look pretty interesting so I may yet pick it up. Was this where you found out that the aircraft in question was built by Arado or are there other sources of information available? Thanks, Craig.

Thanks. One of the things I've found puzzling as I've found out more about this incident is was 1H+FT carrying 4 or 5 crew? As I understand it, 5 would be the normal compliment for an H-3 and one comment I found online claimed that there was indeed 5 crew, all interred in Old Dyce Kirkyard but the war graves records don't contain anything that looks like it might be the 5th crewman. Have your own researches cast any more light on the matter? I'd be delighted if you could share anything else your research has thrown up in the thread! Craig.

80 years ago today, Lt. Herbert Huck, Gefr. Georg Kerkhoff, Uffz. Paul Plischke and Fw. August Skokan of 9.KG26 based in Stavanger, Norway were briefed to attack the airfield at Leuchars in Fife with shipping and dock facilities in the Firth of Tay as an alternative target. They departed mid-morning in Heinkel He-111H-3 1H+FT but there seems to be some confusion over whether this was in the company of other aircraft or alone. We will examine this later. We next hear of the Heinkel approaching the city of Aberdeen from the North, a good 60 miles northeast of its intended target. One possible explanation is that the crew had opted to minimise their time over the North Sea, making landfall over the nearest part of Scotland to Norway, then making their way to Leuchars inland avoiding the massed defences and radar sites around the firths of Tay and Forth. Their hopes of remaining undetected en-route to the target were frustrated by a raid earlier that day which had left the Observers Corp, responsible for tracking enemy movements inland, on full alert and able to sound the alarm in time for the three Spitfires of yellow section, 603 (City of Edinburgh) squadron to be scrambled from RAF Dyce (now Aberdeen Airport) and intercept the intruder. The Heinkel flew across Aberdeen towards the sea, harried by the Spitfires and jettisoning its bomb load until reaching the sea it turned southwest, possibly deterred by the barrage of fire coming from the defences on the coast and ships in the harbour. Pilot Officers J. R. Caister and G.K. Gilroy and Sergeant I. K. Arber finally delivered the coup d'grace over the city's Duthie Park and the Heinkel plummeted into a nearly completed ice rink on South Anderson Drive striking the top of a tree on the way. All four members of the crew were killed instantly. Eye witnesses related how one crew member was hanging out of a hatch on the aircraft when it crashed, presumably attempting to bail out. Friday 12th July 1940 was known as Black Friday in Aberdeen for many years afterwards because of the bomb damage caused that day. Hall Russell shipyard was struck along with a nearby bar where many of the yard workers were spending their lunch killing 25 and injuring close to 100 men, according to council records. Several other areas in the city also received damage with further loss of life. As you can imagine, this was a memorable event for Aberdonians and growing up, I often had the tree the Heinkel had hit pointed out to me. Right enough, it did have a bit of a lean and a truncated look to it. So when I saw that this group build was coming up, I decided that I would build the doomed machine as it might have appeared before setting out on its last flight. To my surprise, I discovered that this would not be the first time 1H+FT has appeared on Britmodeller. @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies built this very aircraft here and I will be brazenly appropriating some of his findings such as the fact that the aircraft appeared to be carrying its full serial on the underside of its wings. As Jamie says in his build, there doesn't seem to be much information available about this aircraft so much of this build will be based on hopefully not too wild surmise. I'll be building the ICM 1/48 He-111H-3 as one of the few things about this incident there seems to be much consensus on is that the Heinkel was indeed an H-3 and this was the only model of that version I could find readily available. I'll be building it OOB apart from some PE harnesses. Finally, a personal note. Seconds before plunging into the ice rink, the Heinkel narrowly missed the houses of the Ruthrieston area of the city. At the time there was speculation that Lt Huck had made heroic efforts to avoid the houses, though others maintained that he was instead trying to reach the open fields beyond the ice rink or had mistaken the rink for a factory and had decided to make the ultimate sacrifice for the Fatherland. It's equally likely that Lt. Huck had been killed or disabled by that point and the aircraft was out of control. Whatever the truth of this, the fact is that my mother, who would have been 7 at the time, was living in one of the houses under to the doomed aircraft's flight path and a small alteration in its course might have resulted in me never existing at all, a small matter in the great scheme of things but pretty important to me. Makes you think. More soon, Craig.

I think a lot depends on what you want out of the hobby. I assume that most of us do this for enjoyment so if something is turning into a slog and you 're hating it, why struggle on? Put it on the shelf of doom, get on with something you'll enjoy, and come back to it when you're in a better frame of mind. Some people like building models that fight them all the way, others get pleasure from building kits that fit so well, just shaking the box will cause a fully formed model to fall out. Do whatever gives you maximum enjoyment. I find that my builds have three phases, the honeymoon period where I survey the crisply moulded parts in front of me and dream of the fantastic model I'm about to produce, the mid period where things are still going more or less ok though I feel I could have done some parts a little better and I've made a couple of errors (gluey fingerprints, that sort of thing) which could have been avoided, and then the long slog to the finish line when the model is not as good as I think it should be (and because I have a wildly over-optimistic view of my own skills, it's never as good as I think it should be) and just want to get the thing finished and move on to the next one. This is the point at which the model may well move to the shelf of doom for a while but I think I'm right in saying that since returning to the hobby, I've finished everything I've started. Oh, apart from the nearly completed Swordfish that had a cat land on it from the top of a wardrobe producing an effect not unlike if the real thing had received a direct hit from the Bismarck's main battery. That model was unsaveable but I still have the bits in case they come in handy some day. I seem to have rambled on a bit but the executive summary is: It's your hobby and you're meant to be enjoying it. If you're not enjoying it, stop what you're doing and move onto something else, hopefully a better kit. Craig.