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Heinkel He 111-H3 (48261) 1:48


Mike

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Heinkel He 111-H3 (48261)

1:48 ICM

 

boxtop.jpg

 

The He.111 was originated in secrecy, disguised as a civilian transport in the mid-30s, but once Nazi Germany came out of the closet and disregarded the Versailles agreement, it immediately became clear that they were rearming in a major way.  The early civilian and military variants had a more traditional stepped canopy, and there is a famous piece of film that is used and reused in documentaries showing a D or "Dora" variant dropping bombs during the Spanish Civil War as part of the Condor Legion, which was Hitler's proving ground for his new designs and Blitzkreig tactics.  Various revisions followed until the P, which introduced the now-iconic stepless fully glazed cockpit, which improved both aerodynamics and the pilot's situational awareness.

 

The P series saw limited action in WWII as it was replaced by the more competent H variant, substituting Junkers Jumo 211 engines, detuned to give it the throbbing beat that was to be heard over Britain almost until the end of the war.  The H-3 had an improved version of the engine and increased numbers of machine guns for self-defence.  As is often the case with wartime development, the end of the Battle of Britain saw the introduction of the H-4 with better engines and external bomb racks.  The H series continued until the H-23, although there were also a number of side-projects such as the Z, Zwilling with two airframes joined by a central aerofoil and sporting five engines, designed to tow the Me.321 Gigant glider.

 

 

The Kit

We have only had one choice if we wanted a 1:48 He.111, although it has been in various boxes over the years.  It's not a bad kit, but this is a 100% new tooling by ICM, who have raised their game substantially over the recent years.  The kit arrives in their lidded top-opened with a glossy card lid and painting to top it off, with seven sprues in medium, grey styrene, one in crystal clear styrene, an instruction booklet in line-drawn colour, and a long decal sheet that can be found ensconced within the booklet.  On opening the bags, it is very apparent that this is a modern tooling, with lots of lovely details, crisp moulding, and some very clever engineering on display.  The cockpit and partial interior will require some thought for painting, but if you get the order right, you should minimise the swearing when you have to reload the airbrush for the Nth time.

 

sprue1.jpg

 

sprue2.jpg

 

sprue3.jpg

 

sprue4.jpg

 

sprue5.jpg

 

sprue6.jpg

 

Construction starts with the two wing spar parts, which are separated by the gear bay roof assemblies and a walkway part.  Additional detail is added to the bulkheads along with the fuselage walkways and a smaller bulkhead toward the tail, with the lower portion of the mid-upper "turret" ring attached to the floor.  The cockpit floor is then assembled with rudder pedals, instrument panels, seat and control linkages, slotting into the front spar once finished.  An additional chair and the overhead instrument panel are installed later in the build.  As a prelude to closing up the fuselage, the tail wheel is fitted together, which has the wheel moulded-in, and consists of three parts.  Preparation of the fuselage halves involves adding the inserts into the wing roots and making good the join; inserting the paired side windows; adding ammo can racks; radio panel; the pilot's control column, and more glazing in the ventral gondola.  The spar/cockpit assembly is then fitted to the starboard fuselage half and the port side is added along with some glue.  The rudder is separate and fits to the fin with actuators, then the missing fuselage panels between the spars are added, which of course will need painting and fettling in if you're bothered about the "endoscope brigade".

 

The mid-upper insert is designed to cater for different "turret" installations, and has a lovely serrated ring moulded-in, with controls and bracing strut added before it is installed into the fuselage opening, closing off much of the rear fuselage.  You can pose the bomb bay open or closed by selecting one of the two panels, one of which has opening for the bomb bay, where the bombs are suspended tail-first in a framework that is peppered with lightening holes so that the included bombs are visible within.  The bombs themselves are built up from two halves that have two fins moulded-in, and a single part that fits on the tail forming the other two fins in a cruciform layout.  To these are added stiffening brackets, with four bombs in total to make.  With the bomb bay finished, it is inserted into the fuselage from below, filling yet another gap in the skin.  Even if you are leaving the bays closed, the bomb bay can be seen from the side windows, so it's best to build that assembly and install it anyway to prevent that section from being see-through from the sides.

 

At this point the wings are begun, with the lower sides added to the fuselage/spar assembly first.  The ailerons are separate, and are built up before the uppers are added, as are the elevators, and the two engines, which are provided in their entirety, along with much of the ancillary equipment and engine mounts.  The completed Jumo 211s are fitted to the front of the spars and depending on whether you want to display them or not, and then enclosed by cowling panels, radiators and the intake/outlet ramps.  The bottom cowlings can be split to reveal the engine detail, which is a good way of showing off the detail without ruining the lines of the aircraft.  The upper wings and ailerons are fitted, the remaining cowling panels with the exhausts are added, with the latter having a decent indent at the tip to simulate being hollow, and finally the nose glazing, which has a machinegun and the aforementioned overhead instrument panel, which is moulded in clear styrene and is provided with a decal for the instruments.  The nose "cone" is a separate clear part, and it too is fitted with a machine gun with a choice of single or twin drum mags and dump bag for the spent brass.  Another two MGs are fitted to the front and rear glazing on the gondola, and the mid-upper gun is added to the turret ring, along with the protective clear shroud at the front.

 

clear.jpg

 

The main wheels are each built up from two halves, and placed between the twin legs that have the main retraction jacks moulded in, and secured with a number of cross-braces between the two legs.  An additional ram is fitted within the bay, attached to the rear cross-brace.  The gear bay doors fit to the bay sides with large tabs, as do the bomb bay doors if you are using them, and these last parts have the correctly separated four "petals" that are seen on the real thing, rather than a single panel.  The props are made up from a single part with two part spinner and back plate, which fit onto the engine's output shaft through the vented front of the cowlings.

 

 

Markings

There are four decal options included in the box, all of which share the same RLM70/71 splinter pattern over RLM65 with the unit markings and codes to differentiate between them.  From the box you can build one of the following:

 

  • He.111H-3, 1./KG53 France, Spring 1940 – coded A1+BH
  • He.111H-3, Geschwaderstab/KG53 France, August 1940 – coded A1+DA with the famous triple rectangular white stripes on upper wings and rudder plus blue spinners
  • He.111H-3, KG26, Norway, Spring 1941 – coded 1H+LH with white spinners
  • He.111H-3, 5./KG27, Russia, April 1943 – coded 1G+KN with yellow fuselage band and wingtips, plus red/green spinners

 

decals.jpg

 

Decals are printed by ICM, with good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas with a few exceptions around some of the fuselage codes.  These can easily be cut off before they are applied however, so it's not an issue.  The triple white bars on decal option 2 can be seen in some photos (Google image search "he 111 1a+da"), and those on the starboard wing appear to have a substantial amount of overspray around the trailing rectangle, which could be fun to replicate yourself.

 

 

Conclusion

The He.111 is a truly iconic shape, and we're long overdue a new tooling of the type in this scale.  ICM have done a great job of it by the looks of things, and even if you're a detail hound, the list would be a lot shorter than for the ageing kit mentioned earlier.  Can we have a Zwilling now please?!!!

 

Very highly recommended.

 

Review sample courtesy of

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2 minutes ago, Mike said:

As I've been saying at every opportunity, ICM have really come on in terms of quality of product these last few years. :clap2:

This one looks too good for me to resist.

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9 minutes ago, Mike said:

Then don't! :wicked:

I'm too tight to just give in that easily – there has to be some internal struggle before I can bring myself to use the Paypal password padlock. :fraidnot:

There has to be at least some hesitation for me to feel that I've resisted long enough to 'earn' my reward. 

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16 minutes ago, corsaircorp said:

I'll ask for it to easter bunny !!

I thought the Easter Bunnies speciality was chocolate rather than plastic, or is it different in Belgium? 

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2 hours ago, Mike said:

As I've been saying at every opportunity, ICM have really come on in terms of quality of product these last few years. :clap2:

They really have. Just reviewed two kits from ICM and they are up there now.

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8 hours ago, Gorby said:

I thought the Easter Bunnies speciality was chocolate rather than plastic, or is it different in Belgium? 

Hello dear Gorby,

Every rule has some exceptions !

With some Blue Chimay, Easter bunny can bring An ICM kit !;)

In Belgium, chocolate is everywhere every time !!

Soooo Plastic can be seen as a little change !!

Sincerely.

CC:lol:

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I've had this in my stash for a few weeks now.  A friend has the old Revell / Monogram kit so we were able to do a quick comparison.  The ICM kit is streets ahead in nearly all areas.  The one exception being the wheels which lack some sharpness on the ICM kit.  A resin replacement set would be welcome for these I think.

 

The engineering, as Mike says, is very clever and the spars should result in a strong model with good fit.  It is a really impressive kit and I am looking forward to building mine.

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I had a look at this last time i was over at BM central, when Mike was preparing the review. It is absolutely gorgeous, the moldings are really beautiful and the whole thing shouts 'top quality'. I think I'll break away from my WW1 theme and get hold of one, - after all several WW1 pilots went on to fly bombers & transports in WW2.

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Ditto all of the above! Mine arrived via Santamail and it was on the bench by the 27th Dec.

 

For the future, I have decided that single-engined will only be in 1/32 leaving 1/48 for the larger, multi-engined types. She's quite a substantial lump in 1/48 and the detail provided should be more than enough for most modellers. Resin wheels will, no doubt, be on the market within weeks and I've already ordered the New Ware masking set, number NWA-M0338 as that will save hours of masking the glazing.

 

http://www.modelimex.com/1-48-mask-he-111-h-3-expert-icm-48261

 

I'm also giving the Akan paints an outing as they are, apparently, spot on representations for the RLM colours.

 

When I find out how best to post photos, I'll try and do a WIP thread.

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13 hours ago, Mark said:

Ditto all of the above! Mine arrived via Santamail and it was on the bench by the 27th Dec.

 

For the future, I have decided that single-engined will only be in 1/32 leaving 1/48 for the larger, multi-engined types. She's quite a substantial lump in 1/48 and the detail provided should be more than enough for most modellers. Resin wheels will, no doubt, be on the market within weeks and I've already ordered the New Ware masking set, number NWA-M0338 as that will save hours of masking the glazing.

 

http://www.modelimex.com/1-48-mask-he-111-h-3-expert-icm-48261

 

I'm also giving the Akan paints an outing as they are, apparently, spot on representations for the RLM colours.

 

When I find out how best to post photos, I'll try and do a WIP thread.

The wheels are ok in shape and size (!) for the early Heinkels.

 

Regards

be

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 12/31/2017 at 4:42 PM, ABeck said:

39379383972_ed148bc555_h.jpg

 

Look for the side walls of the ldg gear bay, numbers are confused in the instructions!

 

Hi ABeck,

I'm about to start building this kit, but I'm a bit confused regarding the sidewalls that you pointed out. could you perhaps explain a bit more about this issue, as I don't want to mess up my model ?  

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A10 goes with A1 (not A19) and A6 goes with A19 (not A1)

 

D1-25 is about 0.5mm short to D1-17. For glueing: Dry fix the structure assembly between the fuselage halves. When everything flushes give glue to the Joint locators of D1-25 and D1-17, let dry over night and later reinforce the Joint with plastic material.

 

HTH

 

Regards

 

Andreas Beck

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  • 2 months later...

Hi,

Some further observations that might be of use for some.

From the CAD artwork and what I can see of the glazing on the sprue, I am wondering if ICM have captured the engine intakes and nose metal fairing of the earlier He111s ?

I have not yet seen a manufacturer recreate the distinctive look of the cupola area with its broad metal fairing of the early H series and P , that differentiates it from later He111's, in 1/48 or 1/32 scale and ICM were so observant on their Do17Z I had hopes for this at last.

 

Airfix have with the 1/72 but Revell failed to do so with theirs.

I am going by what I see in the CAD visuals though, so before I commit to buy, and one cannot always tell until parts are assembled, I ask does the kit recreate this wide fairing as per pics below ?

 

It goes from a circular shape fwd of the joint to a faceted edge aft of joint below centreline,

 

I also can see some filler is required to create the fillets at the engine top intakes.

 

He111-H1-6.jpg

 

https://stukablr.tumblr.com/image/114167422380

 

Notice in the photo below as well as above the metalwork follows the curve of the glazing aft of it.

He111-H1-16.jpg

 

I found these pics in 30 mins of trawling the net. I do wish manufacturers would just study things for 5 mins. It goes without saying when recreating aircraft as kits.

Notice the landing lamp port wing, encroaches above centre line a little its mostly below wing, they are lighting the gorund ! I see the kit will need filler here as it takes an equal bite out of the upper wing.

I hope they have captured the sweep inwards of the glazing at the cupola m/gun exit ring , I cant quite tell from photos on the sprue and hope they havent fallen to assumptions of spherical as no other kit has captured this as yet. Again distinctive difference else it becomes a late He111.  Some deft work with file and polishing compound otherwise.

 

Wishing to know how it compares to general shape, I have attempted to offer the pics up against plans by Granger M.I.S.T.C and see some variances on window placement, spacing and angles, tail fin is spot on as is rudder. Wing plan view has a shallower S curve at trailing edge inboard, aileron hinges are their own width out, aileron is good, and leading edge has a slight more sweep back different angle, but the true test is with the actual kit laid on, as opposed to picture for the angle. Again for those who get their plans out. Folk do buy He111 books featuring plans and I presume they check kits against such for the more obvious differences then battle with their conscience on if its worth the surgery to fix it.

 

Pics sprues  show doors of equal size though outboard u/c doors are notably larger in plans showing view fwd. uside plan view shows centre seam offset to one side further supporting this fact though wing dihedral in that view could play a part, checking with view fwd/aft though proves the door difference, quite pronounced.

 

Other things spotted though not so distinctive to represent type is upper wing rear cowlings are straight sided V shape in plan view when in fact they have a slight curve in reality. The under side coamings are also asymetrical but I think the kit isnt, may be something to do with the doors as well. Sort of detail that again might matter to some modellers, I have seen folk fine tuning such things, each unto their own. I hope the doors in the sprue are an optical illusion as the He111 doors do differ. Have not looked further yet as other aspects require better views and the actual sprues in hand.

 

Merlin

Edited by Merlin
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I think you are being hypercritical of a good kit there. 

 

Also a thread on an ICM kit is not the place to discus the merits or otherwise of Revell kits.

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