1/48 Monogram HE-111H-2

[Tail-Dragon]

I am currently working on Monogram's 1/48 HE-111, backdating to an early H-2, from the Battle of Britain.

I'm using Lion Roar belts, Mike Grant inst. decals, Griffon photoetch gunsites, and Koster's resin HE-111 "early exhaust's", all else is scratch built.

I've scratch built a radio compartment interior, based on photos and plans in Aero Detail #18, and added details in the cockpit. Opened up the sliding panel for access to the bombsite, scratch built a new pilots inst. panel (the kit on is wrong - it's for an H-20) and opened the sliding roof hatch and pop up windshield.

Since the sliding panel is open, I've had to scratch build a Lofte 7d bombsite (upper right, below)

The engines also require some work, I've extended the supercharger intakes, oil cooler intakes and exhaust, and made screens and coolers out of fine mesh. The rad intakes required reprofiling (for some reason Monogram made them square and sharp edged) and made rads out of fine mesh and stretched sprue, and the lower cowl also needed reprofiling (also square for some reason)

unmodified on right:

Still lots of work to do, but it's starting to look like a 111.

Thanks for looking,

Colin

[rwoolven76]

Nice to see another fellow He-111 builder on here. I'm doing the Hasegawa 1:72 version OOB myself so your detail and scratch building will put mine to shame. Still nice to see another flying greenhouse coming together though.

I'll see if I can pick up any ideas from you.

Richard

[Tail-Dragon]

_Hi

_{The HE-111 is a fascinating airplane, there's so much contradictory info on it, you can never be sure your getting it right.}

_{I'm hoping to complete the 111, a JU-88, DO-17z and a BF-110 by next spring, for the 75th anniversary of the BofB. Right now, it looks like the biggest challenge will be the DO-17.}

_cheers,

_Colin

Edited March 3, 2014 by Tail-Dragon

[K404]

Oh yes!! I like!

[woody37]

We're blessed with 111's recently. Certainly not complaining

Stunning start, love the scratchbuilding.

[Caerbannog]

Very nice! I started to build a 1:48 H-23 Paratrooper conversion with full interior 3 years ago when the kit was rereleased. My grandpa enlisted for the paras to get away from the eastern front - only to find himself in Arnheim... He was lucky though as he became a POW there. The He-111 was one plane he had to jump out - but he could not for his life tell me which exact version it was or any details. I paused the conversion some months after his death - shortly after I started the build. Will restart the build soon I hope.

It is really not an easy task to scratch the interior and yours look great!

Rene

[Neil AS]

Nice work Colin. I'm having a bash at this in 1/32 with the P version but real slow progress.

[Tail-Dragon]

MASKING MADNESS ! - More progress on my HE-111, as you can see. I've managed to avoid using putty in almost all area's, with careful sanding and fitting. I've opened the sliding hatch and the pop up windshield to show off the cockpit. The airframe is complete, and I've started painting.

2 days of masking

Added the air bottle, plumbing, uplocks, and interior structure to the wheel wells, as well as detailed the gear

Replaced the molded on trim actuator rods with brass wire

... and nav lights from "bingo" chips and clear sprue

... it's starting to look like an aircraft, but still a long way to go

cheers,

Colin

Edited March 13, 2014 by Tail-Dragon

[Alan Kelley]

Great work. Your interior looks fantastic. I have a few luftwaffe in mind for the next year- I would love to eventually finish the Ju-88 I have been working on forever.

[Viking]

Wow, fabulous work on the interior. Will be watching this.

Cheers

John

[Arniec]

I have just noticed this build. Great modelling aspecialy the interior.

Cheers,

[dubster72]

Simply amazing work! The details are awesome & way beyond me, but watching this is a pleasure!

Cheers

Patrick

[Tail-Dragon]

Finally got some paint on the Heinkel, and it's starting to look better (IMHO), paints used are Tamiya XF-27 black green, XF-81 dark green, and XF-23:2 light blue - XF-02 white:1. All were matched to paint chips in Monograms official Luftwaffe paint guide, and the camo scheme is from the same publication. Still some minor touch-ups, then the clear coat and decals, followed by weathering, but the end is in sight!

the aircraft I'm modelling (note the non standard upper colours demarcation line on the aft fuselage)

Comments always welcome, thanks for looking.

Colin

[Johnny Red]

This is a build I'm really enjoying, I can't wait to see this He 111 finished, well done Tail Dragon

Edited March 18, 2014 by Johnny Red

[Martian]

Beautiful workmanship! Looking forward to seeing her finished.

Martin

[HL-10]

There's some very nice work going on with this model!

Very impressive!

[steveinns]

Really GOOD so far.

[Tail-Dragon]

Small update today, I've weathered the wheel wells and gear, and installed the landing gear. It will be nice when it's standing on it's own legs. I'm just letting the Tamiya acrylics harden before I gloss coat, decal and weather ( l learned the hard way about being in to much of a hurry - ouch)

Gear doors were cut off the wheel well sides, drilled and pinned for later installation.

Cheers,

Colin

[Neil AS]

Great work Colin, coming along nicely.

[Beaconroot]

Really nice work Colin! Cannot wait to see more!

Jim Root

[Tail-Dragon]

I've tried something new for me, masking and spraying the yellow circles that surround the fuel caps - the kit supplied decals were way oversized and thick (and only 2 of 4 supplied), as well as the wing no-walk lines. I cut the Tamiya tape with some old scribing templates (I think they were DML). The wing walk lines aren't shown on the Xtradecal sheet, but I reason that this is an early H-2, with the early, higher paint demarcation lines, and as such, is more likely to have a full set of maintenance markings.

I'll be using Xtradecals "Battle of Britain" decals, from Hannants

I've already removed the forward most window from the gondola (that was confirmed when I found a photo of this aircraft)

I'm not sure if I want to add the off-white formation marks. As I understand it, they were temporarily applied, altered, and removed all through that summer, and may be correct for some specific days, but not for others. Hopefully someone here will know more about the evolution of these markings, but I'd like to leave them off if that would be appropriate.

Thanks for looking,

Colin

Edited March 22, 2014 by Tail-Dragon

[Tail-Dragon]

Finally got the markings on, after a bit of a problem. Both crosses on the lower wing, and on the r/h side failed to settle properly, so after repeated try's with Micro-sol, I tried Solvaset - WRONG! The decals dissolved, wrinkled and set like that. I had to sand them down, mask and paint them.

Took a while, but they turned out well

I had done some initial pin washing, and pastel weathering before the gloss coat (just to establish a base) and then decalled

Gear doors, props, and exhaust are just placed on for photo's. I'll give it a few days to harden, then the first flat coat, and more weathering.

Thanks for looking,

Colin

Edited March 29, 2014 by Tail-Dragon

[dubster72]

That's looking lovely Colin, your hard work is really paying off!

Cheers

Patrick

[ytareh]

Gorgeous !Canopy masking the stuff of nightmares!

[rwoolven76]

She's looking great. I'm in the process of applying the splinter camp myself and the painting guide I have in the kit is baffling me. The pattern where the starboard fuselage joins the wing doesn't match when you compare the top and bottom view with the starboard side view. I see you have a think strip of dark green running down the side which then joins a larger patch which runs the full length of the wing seam. Is that definitely right? My kit has 3 schemes all with a splinter pattern and none seem to match up properly.

Richard