1/48 Roden Heinkel He51 B.1

[Epeeman]

All,

 

I like Roden kits, but I found this one was a very challenging and demanding build.   The kit suffers several areas of poor fit, small, fine parts that are difficult to remove from sprue without breaking and dreadful decals.

 

Added to this was the numerous bungles I made along the way such as losing small parts and breakages ...........   Having said this, this kit is buildable but seems to demand a lot from the modeller to get right.   Three main fit areas are the exhausts, landing gear leg halves and worse of all, the lower wing.  

 

The decal problems, consisted of mostly the Spanish Nationalist cross marking breaking apart on the backing paper as soon as they touch water.   I was forced to apply these to model assembling them like a jig saw puzzle.  Because so much of the decals broke away, I then had to manually paint in with fine brush in an effort to tidy them up.   Other decals also broke but silvering send to be the main problem.   I don't understand how Roden can get away with such poor quality decals in their kits, especially as they are not a cheap kit ...............

 

Once I was over the main fit problem areas, the rest of the model went together okay - the top wing fit was exceptionally good and virtually snapped into place.

 

I am the first to admit that this is not my better work, but have tried to do the best given the limitations of this kit.   I'm sure others will have no problems and produce a stunning result.

 

Kit completed in the Spanish Civil War markings of Legion Condor, 3.J/88 flown by Lt. Kurt Strumpell, February 1938.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regards

 

Dave

 

 

[swralph]

Lovely build Dave.😀

[Homer]

Excellent work she looks fantastic. 

[Toryu]

That's a superb build, despite all the issues with the kit. Great rigging, too!

[Duncan B]

It certainly doesn't look like it fought you, a great result despite your problems with it.

 

Duncan B

[Gary Brantley]

That does look great Dave!   Fine work for sure!    

 

Does anyone know how this Roden kit compares to the Classic Air model of the '51?  

[Spitfire31]

In my view, the He 51 is one of the most attractive biplanes ever built and your model reflects it perfectly.

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

[pheonix]

The kit may have caused you a few headaches but you have certainly beaten it into submission to produce a first class model. The markings are striking too - shame that the transfers were so bad. First class rigging - especially the double wires on the undercarriage.

 

P

[RMCS]

Lovley