Airfix 1/72nd Heinkel He111P-2

[Heather Kay]

Heinkel He111P-2, G1+AN, 5./KG 55 "Greif", Villacoublay, France, 1940.

 

 

By the start of World War Two, the Luftwaffe's core bomber strength consisted of the Junkers Ju87 Stuka and Ju88, Dornier Do17Z and the Heinkel He111H and P series. The Heinkel was the most numerous bomber in the fleet, with the H series the most numerous variant, powered by a pair of Junkers Jumo 211 engines. The P series was identical, save for using Daimler-Benz DB601A engines. 

 

The history of the Heinkel bomber is fairly well known, so to save me typing it all out again, here's a link to the Wikipedia entry on the type.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many years ago, as my 1940 obsession began to take hold, I struck upon the idea of buying the Airfix Battle of Britain 75th Anniversary gift set. It contained the newest toolings for the Hawker Hurricane, Supermarine Spitfire, Messerschmitt Bf109 and Heinkel He111. The overall cost was probably a bit cheaper than acquiring all the kits separately. Being a bit limited for display space, the three fighters got put together fairly quickly. The Heinkel, however, had to linger on the shelf, shivering in its polythene bag once the large box was gone. 

 

Time passed, and I made up my mind it was time to build the kit - and here it is. Built it straight from the poly bag, the box long consigned to recycling, aside from masking tape seat belts, using the original gift set transfers - hence no swathes of stencils and data panels! I also flattened the wheels slightly. Trouble was encountered fitting the gondola transparency, and also aligning the three-part nose transparency. You can see a bit of a step in the latter, but I didn't feel confident enough to file and sand it all down flush. I used a set of Pmask vinyl masks for the clear parts. I'm not a fan of vinyl masks, but these performed adequately. The model was painted with ColourCoats enamels, Humbrol acrylics for detailing, and Winsor & Newton Galleria Acrylic Matt varnish to finish up. My original plan had been to cover the undersurfaces with black distemper, a practice adopted during the Blitz to try and make the aircraft less visible to searchlights while on night operations. Since I had to paint the model in the normal camouflage colours anyway, I elected not to go the distemper route, so the finished aircraft is exactly as Airfix expected when they produced the gift set - plus the swastika marking, of course.

 

The build was pretty enjoyable, aside from the transparency fit issues. It's a well-detailed kit that rewards a little patience, but isn't so complex that the modeller loses the will to live.

 

The Heinkel essentially completes my 1940 Luftwaffe bomber collection, save for Revell's new tool Ju88A-1 and a nice big Trumpeter Fw200 that keeps catching my eye. When I'm feeling brave, I'll get a group photo of the bomber collection.  

 

The WIP thread can be found here:

 

 

 

 

[Johnson]

Excellent. And super photos with the slightly hazy background. Just right!

[jackroadkill]

She's turned out great, Heather.  Thanks for sharing it with us.

[dogsbody]

Nicely done!

 

 

 

 

Chris

[Stew Dapple]

Turned out a beauty Hev  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[JWM]

Great result! 

Regards

J-W

 

[steh2o]

Clean and nice! Great!

[Heather Kay]

Thanks, everyone! 
 

I should probably do a bit more weathering around the model beyond exhaust stains. Perhaps I will revisit in time, but I will need to get some better research in on which bits got chipped and how dirt built up. These planes had a hard life, but must have been maintained reasonably well.

[TonyOD]

11 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

I'll get a group photo of the bomber collection.  

 

Looking forward to that. That's a very handsome Heinkel.

[Team Aer Lingus]

Very nice work Heather fantastic looking model

 

thanks for sharing

 

Eamonn

[Heather Kay]

2 hours ago, TonyOD said:

Looking forward to that

Packing them into my photo base was fun.

 

 

I’ve sneaked in the Dornier Do17P at the back. The type was used in the bomber role at the start of the war, but later relegated to training duties. For much of 1940, the Do17P was used for meteorological and high altitude reconnaissance flights.

 

So, we have the Do17P, Do17Z-1, He111P-2, Ju88A-5 (A-1 in the stash waiting its turn) and Ju87B-1. 

[Marklo]

Really nice build. That background really works well; the top photo looks like the real thing. ( note to self must do a bit of work on my own grass matting) 

 

The collection looks really good. 

Edited March 4, 2021 by Marklo

[Homer]

very nice work well done 👏 

[TonyOD]

Beautiful collection. I feel we've had  this conversation before, but are those Colourcoats RLMs?

[stevehnz]

Lovely job on the 'Einkel Heather, to add to all your other lovely jobs, joys to watch, all of them.

Steve

[Heather Kay]

46 minutes ago, Marklo said:

That background really works well; the top photo looks like the real thing.

I need to work on the transition between the flat grass area and the backdrop image. Still mulling that over.

 

44 minutes ago, Homer said:

very nice work well done 👏 

Thanks! 
 

40 minutes ago, TonyOD said:

Beautiful collection. I feel we've had  this conversation before, but are those Colourcoats RLMs?

 

Not all of them. The Do17Z used Humbrol 241 and 242, which are their RLM equivalents. The Junkerses used Xtracrylix. The Do17P and the 'Einkel are ColourCoats.

 

As you can see, they all pretty much agree on the tonal variance between RLM 70 and 71. 
 

19 minutes ago, stevehnz said:

Lovely job on the 'Einkel Heather, to add to all your other lovely jobs, joys to watch, all of them.

Steve

 

Aww, bless you. Like all of my builds, they have errors, c*ck-ups and bits I would do better if I started over. I like to think each build gets better as I learn new things.

[TonyOD]

3 minutes ago, Heather Kay said:

As you can see, they all pretty much agree on the tonal variance between RLM 70 and 71. 

 

That's the conversation I think we've had, given my recent experience of the Humbrols. 

[swralph]

Lovely build Heather.😀

[Allan31]

Loverly job on the 111 and everyone else.

I know the 111 is Airfix, how about the rest?

[Wulfman]

Excellent build on the Heinkel, great stuff !

 

Wulfman

 

[Heather Kay]

25 minutes ago, Allan31 said:

I know the 111 is Airfix, how about the rest?

The Stuka and Do17Z are Airfix. The 17P is a hybrid Airfix Do17E and Revell 17Z. The 88 is Italeri.

 

[bbudde]

Great looking Heinkel Heather. Like it a lot. Fine work!.

Cheers

[LorenSharp]

Excellent job on the 'einkle Heather. I like the idea of the grass matting and background  it really sets it off. Although I'd have to say the grouping of all the Bombers together it almost looks like "Heathers New and slightly Used German Bombers" sale lot. Definitely a job Well Done!

[TheBaron]

Superb paint job Heather. A great piece of work altogether. 👏

[Andreas.R]

Very nice build. of my favorite Bomber - the other one is the B29, but needs too much space.

I have build the Revell / Hasegawa H6 version. 

Have followed your building.