241 Heller 1/72 Arado 196A. The Arado Duo Part 1. +++FINISHED+++ (Finally!)

[fightersweep]

Time to throw another duo into the GB, and this time, I'm going the Arado route. Now I know these have already been spoken for here, but I really want to build the Ar-196A and the Ar-96B. The reason is that the Arado Ar-196 is the first Heller kit I ever bought back in 1983, and I just have to build my first ever Heller kit in this GB.

 

My favourite model shop back then was called "Flying Colours" in Chalkwell (Southend on Sea) and was owned and run by an ex Para called Dave (with the help of his Mum and Dad). Strangely though, we never called it "Flying Colours" but "The Ridgeway" after the road it was located on. Dave's thing was military figures, so the shop leaned heavily towards Historex, Verlinden, Chota Sahib, Chas Stadden, Tamiya etc, but he did stock a fair few plastic wingy things. Me and my best mate used to live in that shop, and he was always patient with us...but then again, he easily got at least three or fours years pocket and paper round money out of me. One day, whilst dithering over the usual Airfix, Revell and Matchbox fare, Dave says "Have you boys tried Heller before?". No! We had not, so we duly got talked into giving Heller a try after Dave sung their praises. I bought the Arado 196A, and my mate Mike bought the PZL P.23. We didn't look back, and for a long time afterwards, all we bought was Heller. I was hooked the moment I opened the box. Dave's shop has long gone the way of many model shops, which is a real shame as it was a wonderful little shop that I very fond memories of.

 

So here we have Heller catalogue number 241 from (I believe) 1979 in the black boxing, just the same as the one I picked up back in 83. This is not a rubbish photo. The box top is actually that faded with a nice split in the top. It's not looked particularly loved by the previous owner, so time to change all that.

 

 

Inside the box is a collection of beautifully moulded, crisp parts with a very good level of detail. Nice clear canopies, some very thin trailing edges and just such a nice kit. I can see once again why I got bitten by the Heller bug as a 13 year old.

 

 

Predictably, the decals are a bit on the yellow side, so I'll replace these with this set from Kora....my only aftermarket concession apart from some seatbelts. This will be another OOB build as once again, I want to go all 1983 on this lovely Heller model. Methinks I shall have to break out my cassette copy of Now 1 to listen to whilst I build it.

 

 

Steve

[JeroenS]

Nice one Steve, looks like you'll be able to make a very decent looking aircraft out of this one!

[TonyW]

I can almost feel the waves of nostalgia as you describe the kit. Enjoy the build.

 

 

[JOCKNEY]

Good luck Steve

 

Theres something very satisfying about building a kit from when you were a nipper.

My recent " Bit of Lace" B17 certainly brought back lots of memories. 

 

Cheers Pat 

[Jinxman]

2 hours ago, fightersweep said:

Methinks I shall have to break out my cassette copy of Now 1 to listen to whilst I build it.

 

...or Agadoo looking at those decals? Only joking, honest! 😀

 

Drat, it's now in my head..

[fightersweep]

22 minutes ago, Jinxman said:

 

...or Agadoo looking at those decals? Only joking, honest! 😀

 

Drat, it's now in my head..

 

That's not a nice thing to have stuck in your head! (Say's he checking to see if it is indeed on Now 1). That was the trouble with those compilations (and I've still got them all) I'd be quite happy with the Depeche Mode, Blancmange, Simple Minds etc, but then have to endure a bit of Shaky or Russ Abbot until the next cool track came on. Sheesh!

 

@JOCKNEY

 

I'm with you on "Bit o' Lace". It was the first kit I saved up for (took me five weeks) and the first kit I built and painted myself. Must have been 1978. I could only afford two paints and instead of being sensible and buying silver and black for instance, It got painted brunswick green with sky blue undersides (Airfix G5 and G6). To this day, I have no idea why I did that.

 

@TonyW

 

Have to say, I'm feeling really nostalgic about this build. I feel like I'm in that old shop now and remember clearly where everything was. Can almost smell it. 

 

Steve

[fightersweep]

Made a start on the Arado 196 in pretty much the same fashion as the Chaika and Arado 96. Got the cockpit painted in RLM 66 (and everything appears to be painted RLM 66!) and most of the detail is fitted and ready to go. The seats will need some seat belts and I think I may add a cushion/pad to the gunners seat. Building my first Heller kit all over again reminds me of why I was impressed with it the first time around. A very good level of detail and everything fits a treat. This is a very nice kit and I think the designer at Heller must have had a soft spot for Arado designs. Not much to report, but at least it will soon be ready for sealing up the fuselage halves.

 

 

Also got the wings together and they just need cleaning up now. It's a bit of a novelty for me to have some wings that don't have U/C bays to paint. There is the floats and struts to get together though, and a rough dry fit shows a bit of warpage so that could get interesting. Overall, the components show that this is quite a large aircraft and it dwarfs the Chaika. 

 

 

Love those moulded Heller logos!

 

Steve

 

 

[TonyOD]

On 11/24/2020 at 3:56 PM, fightersweep said:

Methinks I shall have to break out my cassette copy of Now 1 to listen to whilst I build it.

I bought that for my sister for Christmas in 1983.

 

Looking forward to seeing this come together. I have the Revell boxing and the decals are decent but there are some really interesting aftermarket decal sheets available for it.

[fightersweep]

56 minutes ago, TonyOD said:

I bought that for my sister for Christmas in 1983.

 

Looking forward to seeing this come together. I have the Revell boxing and the decals are decent but there are some really interesting aftermarket decal sheets available for it.

 

Certainly takes me back. Bought my first copy of Now 1 on vinyl from Woolies in Christmas 83. Still got it and it gets a spin every so often. I picked the cassette up a couple of years later for my first car.

 

Kora do a nice selection of decals for this kit, one I've already picked up (shown above). Thing is, I'm starting to sway towards the Russian operated machine that they do in overall silver with a red spinner. I'm quite tempted by that as it will match the colours of the Chaika nicely and save me masking all that nasty splinter camo!

[John]

I had a double album "Now That's What I Call Music". The only track I can remember it having was Buffalo Girls by Malcolm McLaren. 

My 14 year year old Granddaughter has a turntable and is buying vinyl. I can't get over having every track I've ever owned in a wee box in my pocket. 

I had the Binatone version of the original cassette Walkman, that had a battery life of about 90 seconds. She thought it was the funniest thing she had ever seen. 

I built the Revell boxing of Ar196 a couple of years ago. It's still a nice kit and with much better decals. 

J

[fightersweep]

@John

 

Those Now albums weren't too bad, and at least it was the original artists unlike those lovely Top of the Pops albums (and I had my fair share of them) I've got loads of old compilation albums on vinyl now from the 70s and 80s. They're all good fun, although some of the titles are cheesy beyond belief. I made the mistake of buying a Binatone "walkman" in 1984. I was swayed because it was reasonably cheap (£19.99...although that was four weeks wages for 14 year old me) and it had lots of gizmos and features. However, the sound was awful having more tin than Cornwall. I've generally always resisted going digital with my music. I use it a bit, but I never moved on from my vinyl (and cassettes) having been collecting it since the 80s. It does take up a bit of space to be honest.

 

I bought that Revell boxing of the Arado ages ago, bought mainly for the new decals. I still can't find it anywhere!

 

Steve

[AaCee26]

IMHO this was one of the best Heller kits of the late 1970's with Gladiator. But I'm not familiar about all the others.

 

If you select to built it with the German markings the correct code for both sides of the plane was "GA+DO". It was on loan from Germans to Finland who used it to long-range patrol flights.

 

Cheers,

 

AaCee

[JOCKNEY]

On 02/12/2020 at 21:00, fightersweep said:

 

I bought that Revell boxing of the Arado ages ago, bought mainly for the new decals. I still can't find it anywhere!

 

Steve

 

Thanks Steve, I'm feeling much better now that I know I am in good company constantly losing the very kit I'm looking for, at just the moment I want to build it  !

 

Cheers Pat

[fightersweep]

@AaCee26 The Heller Arado 196 is certainly a great kit for the time, but to be honest, a fair selection of their mid to late 70s output is very good too. The Arado 96B that I'm jointly building is a joy to build, as is the I-153. It's certainly worth checking out more of their kits from this era.

 

@JOCKNEY Not just me then. I've lost track of the times I've bought a kit because I had forgotten I already had it, or just couldn't find it. It get's worse though when it comes to aftermarket of any sort. I really need to be more organised. Conversely though, it does work the other way when I stumble across a kit I totally forgot I had. Then I get that little glow of a kid on Christmas morning who just got the present he wanted. If I can somehow tweak that into finding kits in my stash that don't actually exist yet, such as an injection moulded Vickers Varsity, then I'll be onto a winner!

 

Steve

[fightersweep]

Managed to get the Arado together. No dramas to report as it's a really good kit and the overall fit is excellent. As with my other builds, this is largely out of the box with the exception of some seat belts and a little section of floor I knocked up to go under the gunner. He sits above the three way joint of the wings and fuselage and it was all a bit too obvious left as is. I also made the poor gunner a little cushion as his seat looked way too uncomfortable!

 

Only a little bit of filler needed along the wing roots and around the tail, but that was about it. Time to start thinking about paint now, and the splinter camo looks a bit more complex than average for a single engine job, so I'm sure this will mean more masking mayhem. At least the canopy on the Arado is a fairly simple affair to mask. Enjoying this one again. Being my first Heller kit way back, I can see why I was so impressed with it.

 

 

 

 

Steve

 

 

[Toryu]

Looks sharp - nearly ready to lift off. This gunner bench is harder than the ones in catholic churches! I can't imagine him sitting there for hours without a backrest, not even a strap or something?

[fightersweep]

Crikey! Must have been a while since I updated the Arado as it's dropped down to page 5 of the GB. Time to rectify that one then. The 196 is back on the bench as finishing off the Chaika took precedence, and a bit more progress has been made. First off, the canopy has been masked and painted in the interior RLM 66 colour. Fortunately, the Ar-196 is about as straight forward as a masking job can be, so swearing and throwing rattles out of cots was thankfully kept at a minimum.

 

 

Also, the undersides have received lashings of RLM 65 courtesy of a 40 year old tin of Humbrol Authentics. A lovely paint that gave a super smooth finish with a hairy stick. Next job will be a coat of Future and some masking ready for the upper surface colours.

 

 

I've also painted the engine, inner cowlings and the spinny thing on the front. This is decaled and ready to go. Much like the PZL P.23, I'm not too keen on Heller's method for fitting the engine and cowling halves. It relies on two small pins on the engine that line up with two equally small holes inside the cowling. It's very fiddly and once together, the cowling halves refuse to meet. Some swearing ahead methinks.

 

 

Finally, the floats needed attention. The main struts were warped in my kit, and despite the whole rig lining up ok (I was fearing wonky floats), it has meant some gaps here and there that needed filler. A bit more cleaning up and I think we're ready to paint this assembly.

 

 

So that's where I am at the moment. Next step is lot's of RLM 72 and 73. Two colours that's it occurred to me that I don't think I have ever used. I'm guessing I just painted my original build something resembling RLM 70 and 71 as I didn't know any different back then, but I haven't built anything that required RLM 72 and 73 since. I can't say I can even figure out what colours they are using my old Monogram Lufty colours book. Are they shades of grey or green or both? Very difficult to tell. So I figured that I can't possibly have these colours in my stash, but lo and behold, a quick rummage revealed two virgin tins of Gloy RLM 72 and 73. Result! The contents are good and I'm set to go!

 

Steve

 

 

 

 

[fightersweep]

A bit more progress on the Ar-196 and the upper surface camouflage colours have been painted on the main airframe, floats and engine cowling. I think it's safe to say that if going by the sheer amount of used kabuki tape in my bin is anything to go by, then the good folks at Tamiya will be enjoying a hefty bonus this month. There was way more masking than I expected, but I think the results have turned out ok. Once again, I have to give a shout out to my trusty tins of Gloy RLM 72 and 73. Two thinned coats applied with a hairy stick gave a beautifully smooth, slightly satin finish that I'm not sure I could have improved on with an airbrush. Great paint! It's nice to get to this stage, and my next job will be a little tidying where the masking gave way in a few places. After that, I'll paint the float struts RLM 65 and then add some inter-strut rigging. Beyond that, I think we'll be ready for a coat of future and the decals. I just hope that canopy masking has done it's job!

 

 

Cowling and prop has also been done, but I won't fit these until the final stages (I know, I know, guess who got some VDM prop decals for Christmas). So far, I'm as happy as I can be with it. Has to be said that this is probably one of Heller's best kits. Thoroughly recommended if you haven't built one yet.

 

 

Steve

[JeroenS]

Nice work Steve!

[Toryu]

Very clean work Steve - I like it!

[JOCKNEY]

Great stuff Steve

[fightersweep]

Almost there! This build seems to have taken far too long, but the end is in sight now at least. The Kora decals have been applied, which were very thin, very matt and caused a few panics, but they're on now and the airframe is ready for some matt varnish. The floats are almost there too and the rigging done. Just a few extra details to fit and paint and this thing can go into final assembly. Still keeping my fingers crossed for the canopy masking. I've got to the point where I dare not remove the tape!

 

 

Steve

[Johnson]

I've caught up with your build just in time Steve, great stuff!

[fightersweep]

The Arado 196 is finally finished! Not sure why, but this one seemed to take a long time. No major issues except when fitting the floats. The struts were warped in my kit, and although I thought I'd got them together ok, one of the outboard V struts broke at the weakest point. This is where a pin fits the strut to the wing. I think the warping meant that the pin wasn't going to reach the hole, and this broke trying to get it to fit together due to the excess stress on the plastic. I'll try and fix it when I get a chance but there is a 1mm gap that won't meet up so it will require a repair to bridge the gap.

 

Still, nice to have built this kit a second time. My first ever Heller kit back in the day. Hopefully I've done a better job on it this time around, but to be honest, I can't remember how the first one turned out. Off to the gallery with this one. I'll have to do the photos tomorrow as the light here is rubbish today. Thanks for following what was a very nostalgic build for me.

 

Edit: The canopy masking worked a treat! Woohoo! That was a relief!

 

 

Steve

 

 

[Johnson]

Looks great Steve, looking forward to seeing the pics in the gallery.

 

30 minutes ago, fightersweep said:

The canopy masking worked a treat! Woohoo! That was a relief!

Not only worked, the canopy is incredibly clear! It looks very thin, the details inside the cockpit are all really clear.