Rabbit Leader Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 My stash of Heller kits has tripled in the last few days and with thanks to a good mate @Rob S yesterday, I was lucky enough to add a sealed edition of this great Heller kit. When I got home from work I couldn’t rip it open fast enough although I did stop to pause for a slight moment to think what a shame to disturb these untouched parts after something like 35 years? .... So 2 milliseconds later these crisp Dark Green sprues appeared as well as a nice clear canopy to top off a great modelling package. The decals are a bit meh!, but that’s ok I’ll find something suitable. So here we have yet another kit that’s no where near my initial planned 2020 build list of subjects. It’s all classic Heller and another one of their great collection of off-beat German subjects. Cheers.. Dave 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyOD Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 That's a nice looking plane. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 Such a lovely looking aircraft and another golden era kit from Heller. Yet another one I'm pleased to see in the GB. Good luck with this one too! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fightersweep Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 Cool kit of a cool plane and in that nice olive Heller plastic too! I've got the Humbrol boxing myself, but not sure if I'll build it as it's in the "collection". I maybe tempted to open it up now. Following this one! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toryu Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 Great subject! I'm keen to see your progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted September 28, 2020 Share Posted September 28, 2020 Great choice Dave I'd quite forgotten about Humbrol boxed Heller kits, it will be interesting to see how many Humbrol boxings turn up in this GB. Good luck with the build. cheers Pat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted September 28, 2020 Author Share Posted September 28, 2020 19 minutes ago, JOCKNEY said: it will be interesting to see how many Humbrol boxings turn up in this GB True Pat, I didn’t think about that! I’ve also got the Hawker Tempest in similar Humbrol box and was tempted to give that a whirl, however might just concentrate on subjects I would normally not model for this GB. This Heinkel and the Fw 56 (on another WIP thread) both look look like fun. Cheers., Dave 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted October 13, 2020 Author Share Posted October 13, 2020 Update #1 - Time to start! It’s taken me quite a while to decide which version to model as the kit comes with optional nose panel / exhaust parts to build either a B0 or B1. As @Pete F is doing a fantastic job on his Spanish Civil War B0, I’ll go the other way and build a Luftwaffe B1. Now I don’t have much in the way of references, however I did find some lovely artwork on the back cover of the Squadron Signal in Action book. A few more deeper internet searches came up with a grainy image that looks to be what Don Greer based his artwork on, so this confirmed that this scheme existed. I also like the fact that these aircraft were piloted by Heinkel’s own employees to protect the skies over their workplace so that should keep the OH&S bosses happy! As I’m building Heller’s Fw 56 as well, I’ve started to assemble and paint the internals at the same time. Here are some progress and reference pics and I hope to get the main fuselage parts assembled later today. Cheers.. Dave 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 That's fascinating info about the factory protection unit Dave I'm not saying this is the case here, but some Heinkel fighters (especially the He.100s), were deliberately featured in propaganda photos with spurious back stories! Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete F Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 This is looking good. Very neat work on the cockpit. Good choice of aircraft. I have the Squadron publication and that is one of the pictures that grabbed me. It's a fun little kit isn't it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 (edited) Hi Dave, Nice pair of kits you have lined up. I have built the He 112 but not got the Stosser so will be interested to see how that comes out. Interesting that the author of the Squadron Signal book suggests RLM 63 as there has been some debate about the pre war light grey used by the Luftwaffe and when exactly RLM02 may or may not have replaced the earlier colours. There was apparently another grey in use besides 63, but it did not have an RLM number - DKH (Dr Kurt Herberts) L 40/52 and this was in common use in the mid 1930's according to at least one of my books and it includes a pic of a prototype 112 supposedly in that, but I think it is probable that it was replaced by a darker colour such as 63 or 02 by the start of the war. I see several model paint manufacturers sell something called RAF Sky Grey/ L40/52 so the two are presumably similar in colour. Pete Edited October 13, 2020 by PeterB 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted October 15, 2020 Author Share Posted October 15, 2020 Update #2 - Boxing in Wheel Wells and main construction I got quite a bit of stream behind this project over the last two days, most of which was tackling a way to box in those very large and noticeable open wheel wells. In the end I resorted to the trusty old method of gluing a piece of thin plastic card to the inside upper wing, then sandwiched this in place by gluing the top wings to the one piece lower wing. Now when it came to working out the length of plastic card required to fill the inside circular circumference, I used a paper mask and cut this down until it was a good fit. I then cut plastic card to this exact size and gradually glued this around the inside edge using an appropriate sized circular bodied pen to apply pressure whilst things set. Straight pieces of plastic card were applied to the angular edges and the whole lot was set to try for a few hours. Once dry I cut away the overhanging bits so they were just above the wing surface and then used files and sandpaper to blend this all nice and flush with the lower wing. Mr Surfacer 1000 was liberally applied to all the seam lines and sanded away with fine grade wet ‘n dry paper until I was happy. Like PeterF’s build, I’ve boxed in the back upper section of the under fuse radiator to hide the gaping hole. Now I’ve still got to fill in the wing to body and hori stab joins, however am quite pleased how it’s turning out so far. Back to work for another hectic four long days, so probably won’t be doing too much more until that’s over. Cheers.. Dave 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob S Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 On 9/25/2020 at 9:30 PM, Rabbit Leader said: ... When I got home from work I couldn’t rip it open fast enough although I did stop to pause for a slight moment to think what a shame to disturb these untouched parts after something like 35 years? .... So 2 milliseconds later these crisp Dark Green sprues appeared ... TABLE OF BEHAVIOUR Less than 1 Millisecond : ISIS ANTIQUITY APPRECIATOR 1 Millisecond : VANDAL Greater than 1mS but less than 2 mS : RELIVING YOUR CHILDHOOD 2 Milliseconds : MODELLER Greater than 2 mS but less than 10 Years : ASSET MANAGER Greater than 10 Years but less than 35 Years : COLLECTOR Greater than 35 Years : “COMMITTED” COLLECTOR (NICE WHITE “REVERSE” COAT PROVIDED) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Law Posted October 16, 2020 Share Posted October 16, 2020 Well done Dave you have made good progress with this one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted October 28, 2020 Share Posted October 28, 2020 Looks great Dave I really like the shape of this aircraft, and you are doing a cracking job of it. Although as I also have one of these in the stash please don't make it too attractive otherwise I will end up trying to find it in the loft. However the good news is none of our tartan arachnids bite ! Cheers Pat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted October 29, 2020 Author Share Posted October 29, 2020 6 hours ago, JOCKNEY said: please don't make it too attractive OK Pat, I’ll do my best to make it look ugly! I’ll be posting another update soon, however it’s quite a graceful looking thing so your attic stash visit might be hard to resist! Cheers.. Dave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fightersweep Posted October 29, 2020 Share Posted October 29, 2020 Nice progress so far and looking very sleek. Great work on a very smart cockpit and on boxing in the wheel wells. It's an area that didn't seem to concern Heller too much, but having said that, second on their list of "S'en Moque" details. One thing I've observed since digging back into the Heller kits, is that they were great on detail (I'm referring more to the 70s output), until they got to the wheels. Heller didn't do wheels as it seems that in nearly every kit I have they are extremely naff, with most being modelled on buttons. My guess is that by the time they got to that part of the R&D stage, it was "wine o'clock" time. I've now ended up with four He-112s in the stash. One may end up in the GB, but too many others are tempting me with the Gallic siren like seduction. Steve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted October 29, 2020 Share Posted October 29, 2020 Not limited to Heller (wheel wells). I have 3 Hasegawa 80's Zero kits here with various bits missing, and it's not much better! (on the bright side, all 3 combined have all the parts for the three variants, so some green blue stuff resin casting to duplicate bits and they're complete-ish) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted October 30, 2020 Author Share Posted October 30, 2020 Update #3 - final construction, paint & gloss coat. Still slowly pushing on with this one and getting quite close to weathering (maybe?) and decals. The canopy wasn’t the best fit, so some time was spent blending this into the fuselage. I hope it’ll look all fine once the masking is removed, always a heart in mouth modelling moment. Pretty simple paint scheme on this one, RLM 02 for internal parts and RLM 63 everywhere else. I’ve used my trusty and now hard to replace Model Master enamels and they went on as well as expected... shame this Enamel line is being discontinued. It took me a while to get the black exhaust strip right, but I’m happy with the final look. A few coats of thinned and straight Future sealed it all in and now the search to find some good quality decals to get it closer to the finishing line. I’ll put a wash through the recessed panel lines around the flying controls, however am not quite sure how to highlight any of the raised detail. Photo references show the typical heavy black exhaust staining, but I might try to keep this one as a clean bird as I don’t trust my weathering techniques. Cheers and thanks for looking.. Dave 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyOD Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 Looking fantastic, what an elegant looking plane. Bit Spitfirey. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fightersweep Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 Wow! That looks very sleek. Really neat work too. This is going to be a stunner when finished. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toryu Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 It will come out great. The one-colour camouflage looks very attractive. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 Looking good Dave... Im hoping to get one of these very soon. Maybe in time to do for the build. Though Im considering alternative schemes ? I like the Romanian, Hungarian, and Japanese options so far. Though I have plenty of SCW and Luftwaffe markings Im sure I could just go that route as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 You could also go pale grey with red stars as the enemy in a wartime film. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fightersweep Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 1 hour ago, Graham Boak said: You could also go pale grey with red stars as the enemy in a wartime film. Now that sounds intriguing Graham! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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