Heinkel He 111-P2; a cursed build!

[Victory-is-in-the-Kitchen]

Good afternoon all!

It's taken me since Christmas and has been a bit of a cursed build (see below) but here is my first ever He 111:

 

This an aircraft of Kampfgeschwader 55 'Greif' and fought in the Battle of Britain and is actually part of the Airfix BoB 75th Anniversary pack.

 

Built out of the box but with the eduard interior pack and masks for the canopy. 

 

I refrained from adding rivets on this one but tried out some new techniques which some I'll use again, some I won't. Pastel weathering for exhaust fumes was a new one for me as I usually airbrush these on. This worked well on the top of the wings, particularly where I laid down white, then grey then finally black pastels to create a heat damaged paint surface and then the usual soot from the engine. This didn't work so well underneath as the lichtblau showed every mistake and worse still, the matt coat started coming away where I tried repeatedly to get the effect I wanted. I ended up correcting with oils as the pastels simply wouldn't stick and I wasn't going to matt coat it again but this now looks overdone for me. Another new technique was stretched sprue for the antenna wire which i'm not completely sold on as it's a little thick for 1/72 and saggy; I may replace at some point but that's it for now.

 

So why has this been a cursed build? The canopy out of the box was warped but good 'ol Airfix sent me a replacement very quickly. The eagle eyed of you will notice I've sprayed more of the canopy on the top two panels than I should have... this is to cover up fogging caused by Tamiya green top. Not that I'm blaming this but lesson learned, PVA glue from now on. Throughout building I had multiple incidents from needing milliput to fill gaps, a split fuselage which needed re-gluing and refilling, poor fitting fuselage windows which aren't the clearest meaning a lot of the interior extras can't be seen very well. I've also lost part of the rudder mechanism and the rudder itself is sitting a little low which I only noticed once I'd started painting. I didn't follow the instructions properly on the tail flaps which meant I had to perform quite a bit of surgery on them to get them looking ok.

 

Here's some of the WIP and more pictures. Hope you enjoy!

JB

 

 

 

Finally, here she is with the rest of the BoB set:

 

 

[matteo44]

Very nice job! I like 111!

 

But the only doubt is the antenna wire... if I don't wrong, it should be tense...

 

[Victory-is-in-the-Kitchen]

11 minutes ago, matteo44 said:

Very nice job! I like 111!

 

But the only doubt is the antenna wire... if I don't wrong, it should be tense...

 

Thanks Matteo! Yes, it doesn't look right.

[Victory-is-in-the-Kitchen]

Also just noticed from the pictures that I've forgotten to add the landing light. Better get that on pronto.

[Avgas]

Modelling gods like to remind us who's boss sometimes. My current build has been the subject of their attention too

 

Well done on winning the battle - looks good!

[Steve27752]

Well I think it looks great.

[BIG X]

Well I think this is amazing - I'm going to have a go at the ICM 1/48 version that comes out in Q3 - I'll bet you my house it won't be this good.

 

Thanks for sharing this brilliant build    

[Martin Ford]

Now that's just fantastic. 

Love the close up if the seat belts. Wonderful.

Such an iconic plane and I love seeing them built like this.

 

Martin

[pheonix]

Very good build indeed: some of the problems that you have mentioned are minor in the extreme - at least they do not detract from the finished model.

 

P

[warhawk]

IMHO,

The only thing that detract this build from being 100% successful is the antenna wire, which is too thick for the scale.

If You cannot replace it, maybe it would look better to leave it off.

 

Regards,

Aleksanfar

[Michael51]

I think it is brilliant. The weathering and the exhaust stains are very impressive to me.

 

Michael

[phildagreek]

Very smart!

[Victory-is-in-the-Kitchen]

4 hours ago, Avgas said:

Modelling gods like to remind us who's boss sometimes. My current build has been the subject of their attention too

 

Well done on winning the battle - looks good!

Do they! There were times... trust me! Thanks though, it turned out better than I was expecting which I'll notch up as a win  

4 hours ago, Steve27752 said:

Well I think it looks great.

Thanks Steve  

4 hours ago, BIG X said:

Well I think this is amazing - I'm going to have a go at the ICM 1/48 version that comes out in Q3 - I'll bet you my house it won't be this good.

 

Thanks for sharing this brilliant build    

Thanks ever so much. Wow 1/48?! Good luck Sir - WIP in order?

The ultimate 'we're not worthy' of course would be the Revell 1/32 

3 hours ago, Martin Ford said:

Now that's just fantastic. 

Love the close up if the seat belts. Wonderful.

Such an iconic plane and I love seeing them built like this.

 

Martin

Cheers Martin, the eduard stuff is pretty amazing; first time I used it and will grab some more again. Thanks for your kind comments.

2 hours ago, pheonix said:

Very good build indeed: some of the problems that you have mentioned are minor in the extreme - at least they do not detract from the finished model.

 

P

Thanks P. Re-reading, I may sound as if I'm being modest or whining but believe me it was mojo sapping... especially when you've slaved away and then find fogging! Argh!!

1 hour ago, warhawk said:

IMHO,

The only thing that detract this build from being 100% successful is the antenna wire, which is too thick for the scale.

If You cannot replace it, maybe it would look better to leave it off.

 

Regards,

Aleksanfar

Hi Alexsanfar, I completely agree. Part of me wants to leave it on there though as I have a rule when I experiment, in that if I don't like something I leave it to remind me so I don't do it again. It'll probably be removed though as I really don't like this! I may do it tomorrow and post some new pics.

1 hour ago, Michael Enright said:

I think it is brilliant. The weathering and the exhaust stains are very impressive to me.

 

Michael

Thanks Michael, the painting and weathering were by far my most favourite part of this build. The splinter camo is great fun to do.

52 minutes ago, phildagreek said:

Very smart!

Cheers Phil!

[Pinback]

1/72 !   What a great finish

 

[stevej60]

 Look's superb,in fact they all do! 

[bombernut]

16 hours ago, Victory-is-in-the-Kitchen said:

Good afternoon all!

It's taken me since Christmas and has been a bit of a cursed build (see below) but here is my first ever He 111:

 

This an aircraft of Kampfgeschwader 55 'Greif' and fought in the Battle of Britain and is actually part of the Airfix BoB 75th Anniversary pack.

 

Built out of the box but with the eduard interior pack and masks for the canopy. 

 

I refrained from adding rivets on this one but tried out some new techniques which some I'll use again, some I won't. Pastel weathering for exhaust fumes was a new one for me as I usually airbrush these on. This worked well on the top of the wings, particularly where I laid down white, then grey then finally black pastels to create a heat damaged paint surface and then the usual soot from the engine. This didn't work so well underneath as the lichtblau showed every mistake and worse still, the matt coat started coming away where I tried repeatedly to get the effect I wanted. I ended up correcting with oils as the pastels simply wouldn't stick and I wasn't going to matt coat it again but this now looks overdone for me. Another new technique was stretched sprue for the antenna wire which i'm not completely sold on as it's a little thick for 1/72 and saggy; I may replace at some point but that's it for now.

 

So why has this been a cursed build? The canopy out of the box was warped but good 'ol Airfix sent me a replacement very quickly. The eagle eyed of you will notice I've sprayed more of the canopy on the top two panels than I should have... this is to cover up fogging caused by Tamiya green top. Not that I'm blaming this but lesson learned, PVA glue from now on. Throughout building I had multiple incidents from needing milliput to fill gaps, a split fuselage which needed re-gluing and refilling, poor fitting fuselage windows which aren't the clearest meaning a lot of the interior extras can't be seen very well. I've also lost part of the rudder mechanism and the rudder itself is sitting a little low which I only noticed once I'd started painting. I didn't follow the instructions properly on the tail flaps which meant I had to perform quite a bit of surgery on them to get them looking ok.

 

Here's some of the WIP and more pictures. Hope you enjoy!

JB

 

Hi JB,

A cracking build, and really nicely weathered. I've started one of these, but it's making slow progress with all the other things I start!

You're right about your aerial - it looks like a fairly slack forestay! It will need replacing, but stretch sprue does work well. When I stretch it in the first place I use one quick movement to stretch the sprue and I keep my arms spread until it is cool, taut and relatively straight. If I'm quick I can get a full arm-span length. I then measure the length required and cut it as close as possible with a mm or two spare. When glued in place (do one end at a time) and set you then have to heat it so it resumes as much as it can its original shape - like heat treating a small dent in a car. I heat the handle end of a small rat tail file over a candle and when it's hot enough (hot to the touch about 6cm from the tip) hold it 1-2cm under the middle of the sprue. It'll sag slightly and then spring back taut. Have a look at my Halifax here - http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234982736-halifax-iii-revellairfix-amalgam/ 

This is stretch sprue and quite a bit longer than on your He111.

 

Give it a go and let us know how it went.

 

Cheers,

 

Matt

 

[goggsy]

Excellent work, really looks the part with those other BoB veterans. At first glance I thought there was something odd about the engines until it occurred to me that most of my exposure to the He 111 has been from the movie Battle of Britain, which of course used ex Spanish aircraft with Merlin engines. Doh.

[IanC]

Nice Heinkel. Definitely ditch that 'washing line' aerial - personally I don't think you need them in 1/72, anyway.

 

The weathering is good - He 111s got really black underneath and you've captured it well.

 

I've got the H-6 variant on my to-do list and you've inspired me to crack on.

 

[Nigel Heath]

Looks very nice, neat masking on the glazing and I like the chipping effects. I would get some EZ line for the antenna wire, much finer and more forgiving than stretched sprue which when thin enough is very fragile.

[Victory-is-in-the-Kitchen]

1 hour ago, IanC said:

Nice Heinkel. Definitely ditch that 'washing line' aerial - personally I don't think you need them in 1/72, anyway.

 

The weathering is good - He 111s got really black underneath and you've captured it well.

 

I've got the H-6 variant on my to-do list and you've inspired me to crack on.

 

Oh christ Ian - that's done it! It does look like a bloody washing line:

I thought the underneath was overdone but it's nice to hear others like it.

Good luck with the H6. Airfix?

JB

[gazza l]

That looks pretty good to me, nice finish and weathering, the cockpit interior looks stunning. Although I have to agree about the wire being a bit thick and droopy... an easy fix.

I had a similar disaster regarding the canopy on my Airfix Stuka, I managed to splash white spirit on it and fogged it badly. You were lucky that Airfix had a replacement for your Heinkel, apparently they've run out of Stuka canopies, so it sits abandoned waiting for an alternative. 

 

gazza l

[Victory-is-in-the-Kitchen]

18 hours ago, Pinback said:

1/72 !   What a great finish

 

Why thank you!

17 hours ago, stevej60 said:

 Look's superb,in fact they all do! 

Cheers Steve. Hours upon hours of fun for an incredibly reasonable £25 on Amazon 

10 hours ago, bombernut said:

 

Hi JB,

A cracking build, and really nicely weathered. I've started one of these, but it's making slow progress with all the other things I start!

You're right about your aerial - it looks like a fairly slack forestay! It will need replacing, but stretch sprue does work well. When I stretch it in the first place I use one quick movement to stretch the sprue and I keep my arms spread until it is cool, taut and relatively straight. If I'm quick I can get a full arm-span length. I then measure the length required and cut it as close as possible with a mm or two spare. When glued in place (do one end at a time) and set you then have to heat it so it resumes as much as it can its original shape - like heat treating a small dent in a car. I heat the handle end of a small rat tail file over a candle and when it's hot enough (hot to the touch about 6cm from the tip) hold it 1-2cm under the middle of the sprue. It'll sag slightly and then spring back taut. Have a look at my Halifax here - http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234982736-halifax-iii-revellairfix-amalgam/ 

This is stretch sprue and quite a bit longer than on your He111.

 

Give it a go and let us know how it went.

 

Cheers,

 

Matt

 

Hi Matt, good luck and I hope your kit fits better than mine!

I'll persevere with the stretched sprue on my next WW2 build. For the 111 I'm going to resort to my usual elastic cotton. Re technique; I found that if I was quick when stretching it broke. Must be a fine line between the right amount of temperature on the sprue. I didn't re-heat it afterwards so that's probably where I went wrong. Thanks for your tips though, I'll have another go. Your Halifax looks incredible and like you say, you can get the effects after practice as your sprue looks perfect.

5 hours ago, goggsy said:

Excellent work, really looks the part with those other BoB veterans. At first glance I thought there was something odd about the engines until it occurred to me that most of my exposure to the He 111 has been from the movie Battle of Britain, which of course used ex Spanish aircraft with Merlin engines. Doh.

Cheers Goggsy, yep I saw the film again recently and they, along with the Me 109's look very different. There's a He from the film hidden away at Duxford awaiting restoration. I do hope they get onto it soon as I'd love to see it!

1 hour ago, Nigel Heath said:

Looks very nice, neat masking on the glazing and I like the chipping effects. I would get some EZ line for the antenna wire, much finer and more forgiving than stretched sprue which when thin enough is very fragile.

Thanks Nigel, I did look for EZ Line but can't seem to find it in the UK. If anyone knows where to get some, please shout.

[Nigel Heath]

Little Cars do the full range of EZ Line.

[Victory-is-in-the-Kitchen]

Despite my comments of leaving my learnings in place, I've decided I can't look at the 'washing line' (summed up perfectly @IanC) anymore. So washing line removed and fixed with elastic thread until I either improve with stretched sprue technique or get some tights/EZ line:

What do we think all? Leave white/translucent colour or paint black or silver?

JB 

Edited June 4, 2017 by Victory-is-in-the-Kitchen

[Nigel Heath]

Much better, looks fine like it is to me.