Revell Heinkel He.115 (the nearly a Frog version) last build, honest!

[Ventora3300]

Here is where the whole thing about Heinkel He115's started for me - the post about two years ago by @adey m

 

I then purchased three Matchbox kits (long story) and built two of them...

 

....and eventually did an RAF version using the last of the Matchbox kits..

 

Now, I feel the whole business will be finished if I build the Revell (nearly Frog F418) kit and experience the comparison for myself. Here is the Revell kit..

 

 

 

 

...and the 'F418' imprint on the clear sprue which confirms the Frog lineage.

 

I got started and put the crew area together - three seated crew plus a prone bomb/torpedo aimer in this version - He.115 C-1 as opposed to the two plus one crew in the Matchbox He.115 A-2 version. The plastic feels soft and pliable.

 

The crew area went into the fuselage - needed centering between the halves on the sparse support points - and I closed this up. I didn't want to spend too long painting the inside of the fuselage and will just do what is visible from the outside. Straight away, I noticed that the bulkhead and IP pieces which are integral to the fuselage halves are differently shaped  between the two halves. A bit of trimming was required and I may retro-fit some card over these areas to make the obvious seams and mismatch disappear. Also, the front of the aircraft is made up of the clear canopy sections, finely detailed and assembled now, which will require the 'solid' bits to be painted over and there is no access through from the upper crew area to the nose position.

 

A piece of decking is provided for the nose section for the bomb/torpedo aimer to lie on - all different to Matchbox.

 

Floats are split upper and lower (Matchbox splits vertically along the centreline) and the main struts glued on - needed a bit of trimming. Wing halves are together and fit was OK. (I'm using Tamiya Extra-Thin Cement as a trial, generously provided by my  LMS, Scott's Models in Glasgow - worked very well on the transparencies and the long flat joints.

 

 

Painting of the interior of the crew areas has commenced. Engines are finely detailed and have been painted and assembled. The props come with the spinner cast in (Matchbox is better with a separate spinner) and needs some flash removed before painting in Matt Black. The prop bosses are fairly loose in the engine centres and they spin, just.

 

Stabilisers are on and the supporting struts needed a seam trimmed off on the contact faces -pins locate the ends in the stabiliser underside and the rear fuselage - I got a better fit on the fuselage end where I mistakenly trimmed off the pin.

 

[bbudde]

Will look at this one. Nice memory on that. Cheers

[Harry_the_Spider]

Wow. Just had a flashback! Did Matchbox do that about 40 years ago?

[Ventora3300]

2 hours ago, Harry_the_Spider said:

Wow. Just had a flashback! Did Matchbox do that about 40 years ago?

Yes, according to Scalemates, the Matchbox He115 came out in 1976. I like that kit after three builds!

[matti64]

16 hours ago, Ventora3300 said:

Yes, according to Scalemates, the Matchbox He115 came out in 1976. I like that kit after three builds!

Frightening isn't it... Like hearing people complain about the "old" Tamiya Beaufighter.

[Ventora3300]

Engine cowlings are on and floats and struts assembled to the underside of the wings/fuselage. Unfortunately, even though reading the numbers on the Instructions and the kit sprues, I wasn't convinced I got the right struts in the right places. The fit is terrible and I ended up having to put filler at the fuselage end fillets to cover up the spaces left. Also, all the struts have got seams to remove and sink marks, which I didn't fill. Balance horns are on the elevator and pitot tube is in.

 

There is a small piece of decking which fits inside the assembled nose canopies - that's good but I'm going to open up the solid bulkhead to which this attaches at the front of the fuselage - will let some light through. 

 

The canopies have very subtle frame lines so I thought it best this time to buy an Eduard masking set - unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be a good fit for the ex-Frog version of the Revell kit. Looks to be a better fit for the ex-Matchbox version of the kit.

 

 

Crew painting is in progress.

 

Edited April 25, 2019 by Ventora3300

[Ventora3300]

I've added in some bulkheads and panels inside the crew area to try to close up the empty spaces.

 

 

I've also opened up the blank surface at the front to add in a small piece of deck (to line up with the piece in the front section) and some 'fish-plates' to help locate the front fuselage section and canopies. I've ditched most of the Eduard canopy masks (they just didn't fit this kit) and gone back to masking with tape - vertical frames first on the main canopy. This canopy is actually missing a rear corner, a short molding shot , I think.

 

These new internals will all need more painting now.

[Robert Stuart]

Having watched your Coastal Command build, it is interesting to compare that Matchbox model this ex-Frog kit.

[Work In Progress]

Which of the kits do you now prefer, Ventora? Ex Frog or ex Matchbox?

[Ventora3300]

For me, it is Matchbox. I wanted to believe that Frog had done a good job on the aircraft shape but looking at archive pictures, I would say that Matchbox has got the engine cowling shape and the secondary float strut thickness and end points more correct. On the Frog kit, the engines look too far forward inside the cowling and the exhausts outlets on top (if that's what they are) are questionable. I'm looking in to that at the moment. OK, the Matchbox canopies look more clunky and I think Frog has done a bit better there but the understated frame lines are very difficult to see when masking/painting. The big blank wall at the front of the Frog kit fuselage with the front canopy section (not all glass) just butt-jointing on is not good construction-wise. Also, on the Frog kit the whole cockpit molding halves do not match and the floor fixing arrangements are not good.

The He.115 was the very first Matchbox kit I had built and I was an instant fan of the kit engineering, painting guides and 3-colour plastic, of course!

I wonder why Airfix didn't do an He.115? Possible because there was a bit of a 'gentleman's agreement' with Frog over some kit subjects.

Does anyone else have any opinions, I wonder?

[Work In Progress]

Interesting! Thanks for the benefit of your experience - you know the aeroplane much better than i do, as well as the kits. 

I'd rather expected a late Frog kit to be better than that, much as their Lancaster was probably the best kit in its era if you overlooked the last-minute cost-cutting.

Presumably an Airfix one of that vintage might have been rather spoiled by too many wiggly bits. 

[Ventora3300]

I have still to paint this ex-frog kit so it may get higher marks for the surface / panel detail. The Matchbox kit was pretty plain in that respect.

[Silenoz]

Looking good so far. I think one of the struts is upside down, but otherwise a very nice build.

[Ventora3300]

 

On 08/05/2019 at 16:24, Silenoz said:

Looking good so far. I think one of the struts is upside down, but otherwise a very nice build.

Yes, I see what you mean Silenoz, and the photos do show up that front strut as looking upside down although it looks much better with the MK1 eyeball (how could it?) - I did have a lot of trouble with these and just couldn't get to the point where I thought all the struts were in the right positions - for example, if I flip that front strut around, I'll also have to spin it on its axis to get the angles of the ends correct and then the aerodynamically-shaped 'fillets' or fairings will face backwards. So, I would have to swap that strut with another and that is exactly where I was when I was assembling them - not good! The right thing to do would have been to take each strut and file/sand the ends to fit at each location - I may end up doing that yet, you never know.

 

Picking up on the next alteration required, those (I think) exhaust representations on the top of the cowlings have to go. The closest thing I can see to what is being depicted is some sort of rectangular opening flap I saw on one reference picture - not sure what it was for but no exhaust pipe or pipes in sight. I'll make up some exhaust outlets for the underside of the cowlings as I've seen on the pics. I've picked out the rearward facing m/g's as I'm keeping them - I have seen a reference pic which shows them angled rather than straight so I'm not sure if they are 'trainable' or whether fixed (you would have to be an excellent pilot to get fixed backward facing m/g's line up to hit someone on your tail without them hitting you first!).

 

 

I cut and filed the lumps off the top of the cowlings and the port side appeared to be hollow so the exposed hole has been filled. Starboard side will need a little more filing down. I've also painted the area which will be under the 'glasshouse' in RLM73 as suggested elsewhere since the RLM02 would really have shown up under the perspex, so no doubt the ground crew would have been requested to sort it out.

 

Crew painting is finished and ladders and guns painted on the sprues. Main canopy painting in progress.

 

Edited May 10, 2019 by Ventora3300

[Ventora3300]

The crew are in and the nose is on, complete with bomb aimer / front gunner and m/g. I was tempted to leave the centre seat unoccupied to give the view that the Observer had crawled through to the nose to do a bit of bomb aiming. However, I didn't want to leave anyone out so have gone for the four man crew. 

 

Looking forward to gettting the H65 Light Blue on the undersides (and fixing that rudder balance which has been knocked out of position).

 

A couple of coats of H65 are on. However, it has become apparent that the nose is not an exact fit on the front of the fuselage - may be me again not paying attention but I thought the 'fishplates' I put in would solve any alignment problems. Filler required on both sides of the nose section to eliminate the 'steps' where it joins the fuselage, high on one side, low on the other.

 

[Ventora3300]

That's actually three coats of H65 on the undersides - I found the plastic hard to cover. Masking has been applied and three coats of H244 (RLM72) are on the upper surfaces (except for the floats), again hard to get a good solid colour all over. 

 

 

Floats done now.

 

 

The main canopy painting is actually still in progress with the horizontal frames about to be masked. Masking for the RLM73 splinter camouflage is next. It's funny, this ex-Frog kit needs to get finished quickly now so I have a clear run at the ......Frog Squad Model Kits GB. @JOCKNEY and @Rabbit Leader please take Note!

Edited May 23, 2019 by Ventora3300
Better pics

[Rabbit Leader]

This He115 is looking really good. Nice little 'practice build' before the real Frog GB show starts in just over a weeks time. No pressure getting this finished before then, hey Mike? She'll be right! I'm a betting man you'll get there! 

 

Cheers.. Dave. 

 

 

[Ventora3300]

Masking the upper surfaces for the splinter camouflage on the He.115 - unfortunately, the colour scheme in the Revell Instructions does not show the usual straight lines in the 'standard pattern' - looks more wavy.

 

So, the Matchbox version had to come out of storage to assist. It will help with the final comparison if the colour schemes are identical.

 

Good old Matchbox! It's still a bit confusing though when trying to lay out with thin masking tape

 

Masking lines sealed using the RLM72 / H244. Now I'm really confused - need to keep my wits about me to get the RLM73 / H243 in the right places

 

First coat of H243 on - it looked far too shiny and I wonder if I have mixed enough. That's what happened on the Matchbox He115.

 

More mixing for the second coat and masking removed, except for the nose transparencies, which will need a coat of Matt over the shiny H243. Quite a few touch ups and tidy ups required so I will wait until fully dry. Getting there, though. Also, the penny has dropped about what I thought was a corner missing from the rear of the main canopy - I can see now that the rear m/g gets stored to the starboard side when the rear hinged canopy is closed. Must have a search among the reference pictures again because the Matchbox version has the rear m/g poking through a hole in the rear of the main canopy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ventora3300]

Matt Cote applied over the nose now and canopy masking is off - looks pretty good but thicker frames than they should be, I think. (Pictures could be better).

 

I've also made up new exhaust pipes from pieces of handy excess sprue, sculpted to shape and with a hole drilled in the end - many thanks to @JWMfor this tip from your build of this kit in 2017.

 

 

Final paint touch ups to all colours to be done - steady hands and nerve required. After that, I'm going to finish off construction by adding on the undernose cannon, ladders, fuselage aerial, rear m/g and main canopy with mast and get some gloss cote on in preparation for the decals - these are Revell ones so not sure about how they will behave.

[Ventora3300]

Well, the decals are on and the last construction items fitted, including aerial wire so this build is complete. No problems with the Revell decals other than the white bits seems to be really white and the tail swastika is a bit out of register. I had to buy some new Matt Cote as I wasn't really getting a matt finish on the paintwork

 

 

 

 

Now it's time to get the equivalent Matchbox build out of its box and do a last comparison.

[stevehnz]

Liking the look of that, it has come up well in spite of your issues with it. I've long been thinking to get one of these, I think you might have persuaded me toward the MB derived one. 

Steve.

[Ventora3300]

Thanks Steve. Yes, the Matchbox one goes together a bit better and the engines look more correct in the cowlings. Maybe a bit of sanding down of canopy frames and some panel line scribing on wings and fuselage would really improve the look. At the end of the day, I got a real bit of pleasure out of building both versions. Maybe do it in 1/48 next...All the best. Mike.