The British Heinkel

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Here a couple images of the British Heinkel, converted from the ICM kit changing the nose and altering other parts, plus some additions.

A previous post on the same matter was excised since it contained a link, which seems that is not appropriate in certain cases.

Hope this unusual version of the "good" Heinkel entices some modelers to attempt this kind of conversion.

 

Three things differentiated the "British" Heinkel He-70 from the original one:

1) A different nose with a different engine

2) The covers of the retractable landing gear are partially different

3) It didn't belong to the freaking dumbhead nazis

Different accounts exist on the details and development of the acquisition by England in 1936 of a He-70 passenger plane, before all hell broke loose a few years later.

You can find the stories with the browser of your preference. The fact is that England acquired a He-70 but had to send a Rolls-Royce Kestrel to be installed on it in origin as the builders -predictably- refused to send their plane as it was to England (with its BMW engine) to be motorized there (they all felt the dark clouds already looming).

This was no doubt a sort of intrigue gimmick, but the plane finally arrived to Croydon with a Kestrel -in route to Hucknall- with its British registrations.

Long ago I used the old Matchbox/Revell kit to build the civil passenger version, but the sight of an ICM kit enticed me to build this unique machine, G-ADZF.

Nice of ICM to release once in a while a civil plane.

The kit, well-known by now, is a newer -and therefore better- kit than the venerable Matchbox/Revell rendition, but, as always, there is a little room for improvement. The lowest part of the wheels' retractable covers should be appended to the outer side of the wheel bay, instead of folding at 90 degrees of the leg cover as in the other machines.

The new nose was obtained via a carved basswood master used to plunge vac shells on the Mattel Psychedelic machine. I got a resin Engines & Things Kestrel.

The very good news:

The ICM kit comes in very sturdy box with the addition of a lid cover. I do appreciate this kind of box since as we all know it protects the contents much better than the pre-crushed flimsy thin packaging used by some manufacturers.

The molds as said are much better than the Matchbox/Revell old release, and include wonderful surface treatment as well as many detail parts.

The engineering is innovative.

The parts come separately bagged and the transparencies are clear and clean. The injected plastic is free of fuzz and flash and the sprue gates are reasonable small.

Now the not-so-good news:

The decals (that have small lettering rendered blotchy), for some reason I can't fathom, are absolutely dead matt in finish, whilst the real planes had a subtle shine clearly appreciated in photos. Not only that, but instead of printing the "thunderbolts" in their appropriate color, they are rendered as clear spaces amidst the black decals, that you somehow will have to match or mask in order to paint the surrounding nose black too.

In my boxing the instructions unfortunately committed the silliness of using a faint and fuzzy gray scale for the drawings, that fuses the detail in an undifferentiated gray mass, and makes everything confusing, rendering most of the diagrams useless. Really, guys, don't you check your galley proofs?

Summarizing:

A welcome civil release, fairly priced, and exceptional kit, of innovative engineering, well packaged, with superb detail and moldings, BUT where all graphic components (instructions and decals) are barely useful. 

 

The model:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 30, 2018 by Moa
to correct the link to the photos to make them appear in the post as I just learned.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Sorry to hear the last post got zapped. I was able to see all the photos in the original. The model looks real great.  looking forward to more stuff.

[Spitfire31]

Your beautiful model really accentuates the superbly elegant lines of the Heinkel He 70 'Blitz' ('Lightning') mailplane.

 

Sheer inspiration!

 

Btw, did you see this thread about how to post pictures?

Of course, posts including the photos instead of just links will generate much more attention and feedback. Your 'Blitz' is certainly worth it.

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Thanks to all for the kindness and patience, and especially for the simple and short tutorial to the photo upload.

Will edit the post accordingly.

Oi, new site, many things to learn.

Kind regards

 

[Skodadriver]

I saw the original post and knew immediately it would be deleted. The site rules forbid linking to a blog:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235003759-posts-advertising-blogs-websites-forums-channels/&tab=comments#

 

I like your unusual and interesting model. What was the history of the real aircraft?

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Hi Skodadriver

As written in the blog (that's why I thought it was useful to add the link -unaware of the rule- besides the step-by-step construction article):

 

"Different accounts exist on the details and development of the acquisition by England in 1936 of a He-70 passenger plane, before all hell broke loose a few years later.

You can find the stories with the browser of your preference. The fact is that England acquired a He-70 but had to send a Rolls-Royce Kestrel to be installed on it in origin as the builders -predictably- refused to send their plane as it was to England (with its BMW engine) to be motorized there (they all felt the dark clouds already looming).

This was no doubt a sort of intrigue gimmick, but the plane finally arrived to Croydon with a Kestrel -in route to Hucknall- with its British registrations."

 

Of course there is more to it, the plane was used as a trial platform for other engines, and some diplomacy/MI5 undertones. As far as I recall it was short-lived, and was scraped either in 44 or 45.

Sorry for the somewhat fragmented and not extensive info, I read snippets here and there on the Net as I was doing the research.

You may find more in the German magazine Flugzeug Classic issue 6/2000, and in the Flight archives, April 2 1936 pages 355 and 363

 

Kind regards

 

[dogsbody]

About all I have is this, from: Heinkel  An Aircraft Album. Published by Arco Publishing Company Inc. 1970.

 

 

 

 

Chris

[celt]

So thats where the Spitfire wing came from.Well tidy model.

[303sqn]

Hucknall lies on the outskirts of Nottingham and continental drift has not moved it there from Yorkshire in my lifetime.

 

The aircraft was acquired by Rolls Royce, not England, and was not an engine test bed and was never, repeat never, fitted with a Merlin engine.

 

By the early 1930s Rolls Royce's ambitions lay not just in supplying engines but also all the systems that they required, i.e., a complete poweplant. Radiators, pipework, engine mountings, exhaust systems, cowlings etc. To develop these systems RR needed a modern aircraft for development and testing of such systems. The problem was that their engines were too advanced for the airframes available from British aircraft manufactures. As explained by Colin Gibson of the Rolls Royce Heritage Trust.

 

“By the end of the first year, [after moving from Tollerton to Hucknall] 1935, it was evident that with the introduction of new and more powerful engines the slow biplanes with fixed undercarriages and open cockpits were becoming an embarrassment so Rolls Royce started to look around for more suitable aircraft. To do this they had to go to Germany. There they found the ideal aircraft a Heinkel He70 – a very robust passenger carrying all-metal aircraft which the company bought for £13,000 [some sources say it was exchanged for four engines] and a Kestral V engine was sent to Rostock where the German firm carried out the conversion, the plane being flown back to Hucknall by Captain Shepherd [Rolls Royce's chief test pilot at Hucknall] on the 27th March 1936.”

 

The aircraft became something of a mascot in the years leading up to the outbreak of war.

 

Morgan and Shacklady page 37.

 

“Although the Heinkel He 70 monoplane did not contribute to the final shape of the Spitfire, the numerous experiments carried out with it by Rolls Royce on cooling and exhaust systems helped in the development of radiator designs and coolants and exhaust manifolds. G_ADZF as delivered to Rolls-Royce, Hucknall, on 27th March 1936 with a Kestrel V engine, water cooled, and this was changed at once for a Kestrel XVI. The German oil cooler was also replaced, the new type being a honeycomb type manufactured by John Marston Ltd. The propeller installation was considered to be dangerous and the Airscrew Company of Weybridge were asked to supply a replacement.”

 

“Initial trials were on the radiator which had been designed for dealing with a water cooled engine, whereas the Kestrel XVI was glycol cooled. The new Watts propeller was slightly better than the originally, but take off performance was showed no improvement, indeed, under full load it, too, was considered dangerous. A Hamilton three blade VP propeller was then tested. It had an 11ft diameter and two pitch settings, 35½° coarse and 26° fine. All round performance was greatly improved. A summary of results showed that with a Kestrel V engine 30% of power developed was wasted in overcoming radiator drag when the latter was fully exposed to the slipstream. Improvements made to the radiator cowl (Kestrel XVI) showed a great improvement, with the redesigned cowl providing a much higher speed to the outgoing air. A new, cantilever engine mounting enabling the whole to removed as one unit was installed.”

 

“The next series of trials on the exhaust manifolds with five types under test. (1) Stub pipes based on early production Spitfire installations. (2) Streamlined blisters based on Spitfire production units. (3) Ejector which fed exhaust gases directly into the line of flight. Five sizes of ejector nozzels were considered with 3” the best all round.”

 

[Meatbox8]

Lovely job.  A superbly smooth paint finish.  Whether it was a 'goodie'  or a 'baddie' it was certainly a beauty. 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Thanks Meatbox8, it is a nice kit and that makes things easier.

Cheers