Jeddahbill Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 (edited) Greetings! In January 1942, Sonderkommando Blaich under the command of Hauptmann Theo Blaich, conducted a daring long range raid against the Free French forces at Lake Chad. The raid was a success, but on the return flight the HE-111 ran out of fuel and was forced to make an emergency landing deep in the desert. Several days later, an Italian search plane located the stranded HE-111 and a JU-52 flew in with supplies and fuel. The stranded aircraft was subsequently refueled and returned to base. Although the actual aircraft used in the raid was a HE111, I wanted to twist history a bit and depict the aircraft in the Lake Chad raid as a HE-177. Starting with the ancient Airfix kit I added Falcon vacuum formed canopies, a Hasegawa Kubelwagen, various decals from the spares bin (including the Sonderkommando Blaich unit badge), figures from Preiser and a desert landscape made from a textured ceiling light panel. The figures were posed to depict the crew gathered for a group photo in front of their aircraft. I had great fun with this build and while it is not historically accurate, I am pleased with the result. No attempt was made to remedy the faults with the Airfix kit except for the vacuum formed canopies and some details added to the cockpit. Almost all of the raised surface details was left in place. Many thanks for having a look, questions and comments always welcome! Cheers, Bill Edited January 11, 2020 by Jeddahbill 65 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 I like that. I've read a bit about the SKB raid on Chad, a daring effort regardless of whose side did it, & have thought of modelling the He 111. I do like your take on it, it works well to my eye, nicely done too. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wulfman Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Great diorama , great whif ! Wulfman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 I like it. Nice use of textured ceiling tile. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeaton01 Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 A great idea well carried out. Never heard of that raid, will have to enlighten my self. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Law Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 I like it too. Great use of a He 177 kit. That old Airfix kit can't have been an easy build. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 No wonder it ran out of fuel, the drag from all those rivet heads would have been horrendous! A nice diorama, the aircraft looks good in those colours, and I like the desert floor effect. Very realistic. 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim R-T-C Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Lovely build and superb use of the textured panel. I particularly like how in a few shots, everyone seems to be hiding in the shade, as I suspect they would! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_W Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Lovely build. Amazing how the surface of Mars looks so much like North Africa. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mig88 Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Great idea and execution!! Very nicely done regardless the age of the kit and, as with almost all aircraft, the He 177 looks great in desert camo! Miguel 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Brilliant, the figures posing for a photo in your build replicating the actual photo is inspired, congratulations. cheers Pat 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 I'm not a "what if" liker but I do like your build and I love the He177. Great work! Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toryu Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Jeez, this is full of great ideas! I loved this kit when I built it as a youngster around 1970. It looks amazing in the desert camo. The ceiling panel is a highlight of inventiveness which I will store in my memory for realistic surfaces. Very well done overall! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeddahbill Posted January 11, 2020 Author Share Posted January 11, 2020 Many thanks everyone for the kind words! This old Airfix He-177 kit is a struggle - endless gigantic rivets, raised panel lines, odd contours, poorly fitting parts, hideous seams,. . . . The Revell kit is much better. I have not had much luck with making landscapes for displaying models. I first tried the ceiling light panels about 10 years ago for a seascape and was surprised how well it worked. These are inexpensive, easy to cut, easily shaped and sanded. After priming, they seem to take all paints well and can be weathered with just about anything. Bill 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desert falcon Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Very nice - like it was taken right out of a movie! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Spencer Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Lovely diorama. Using the ceiling tile was some good thinking. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMCS Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Superb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booty003 Posted January 12, 2020 Share Posted January 12, 2020 That is a great looking diorama Bill. Very clever use of the ceiling tile - looks perfect for that desert setting. The group photo is a treat! Phil 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeddahbill Posted May 14, 2020 Author Share Posted May 14, 2020 Thanks for having a look and commenting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAT69 Posted May 15, 2020 Share Posted May 15, 2020 Just the first look at the first photo and I had to say, "Wow!". Great build on both models and the diorama is wonderful. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mick Posted May 15, 2020 Share Posted May 15, 2020 great service 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey-1980 Posted May 15, 2020 Share Posted May 15, 2020 superb build, and to echo what has been said already, the use of the textured ceiling tile is genus! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted May 15, 2020 Share Posted May 15, 2020 Great idea well executed. There are more than a few touches of genius there, the light fixture being one of them! Funny how you look at various household items as a modeller, thinking, 'you know, that would make an excellent...' 😂 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SafetyDad Posted May 15, 2020 Share Posted May 15, 2020 Just like to add my voice to the praise here - you've done an excellent job with this. Your figure poses are very convincing (as is them being in the shade as mentioned above). A really well executed scene in miniature. SD 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMSCHLOM Posted May 17, 2020 Share Posted May 17, 2020 (edited) This is really cool!! I had a similar idea, but I was going to use an FW 200 Condor for the bomber. But would Herr Blaich's BF-108 be able to keep pace? Eduard just released Blaich's Bf-108 in 1/32 scale, what about using Revell's JU-88 in 1/32? Edited May 17, 2020 by CMSCHLOM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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