1/48 Monogram Heinkel He 111 H-2 BoB

[Kalakan]

Hello again my fellow modelers.

This is a new project that I´ve been working since last month in order to present it in the Mexico City nationals in October.

I´d like to mention that this particular kite has always fascinated me since little due to the contrast of the paint applied during the Battle of Britain of this particular squadron KG-55.

This is an image of the particular kite I want to emulate:

For this matter, I´ve decided to print 4 crew members in different positions in order to better emulate the plane during flight. Also I got some nice resin parts (basically for the cockpit) as can be appreciated on the following images:
The resin parts are quite fragile but does the trick:

The crew was installed and dry fitted several times before proceeding to glue them.

One of the crew members (the bombardier) as you can appreciate, is an X wing pilot, that will change its colours shortly...

For this purpose, some german stahlhelms were also printed to switch heads with a corresponding one....

Again, there were lots of dry fitting hours in order to better position the crew before the paint works....

This is how the cokpit looks as today before closing the two halves of the fuselage together. I´m aware that lot of details will be lost behind the clear parts. But again, it was worthwhile....

This is how the interior of the kite looked like before the works....

And this is how the same areas look like after applying some scratch built parts in order to make it more credible......

I'm also considering applying some lights in the cockpit as well as in the interior, so these details (hopefully) can be appreciated.

I've never done this kind of work, but guess it's worthwhile.... Love this hobby.

Best regards from Monterrey.

Gerry

 

[fubar57]

Looking forward to this Gerry

 

[Kalakan]

Looking forward to this Gerry

Thank you sir.

I'm enjoying this build.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

You have started this one with a big bang Gerry, good detail and lots of interest.

 

[Kalakan]

You have started this one with a big bang Gerry, good detail and lots of interest.

As always, thank you my friend.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Crimea_River]

Nice to see a new subject from you Gerry and an excellent start already. I assume this is a 1/48 Revell kit?

 

[Kalakan]

Nice to see a new subject from you Gerry and an excellent start already. I assume this is a 1/48 Revell kit?

Indeed it is 1/48th. Sorry I omitted the scale my dear Crimea.

At least the molds are from Monogram, not Revell my friend.

Have a good one.....

 

[Wurger]

The Revell reboxed the Monogram kit with a couple of new moulded parts. Recently the Revell has been reboxed the ICM kit as momo serves.

 

[Gnomey]

Lovely work so far Gerry!

 

[Kalakan]

Lovely work so far Gerry!

Thank you very much Gnomey

 

[Kalakan]

The Revell reboxed the Monogram kit with a couple of new moulded parts. Recently the Revell has been reboxed the ICM kit as momo serves.

Hello my friend Wurger.

Indeed is also a Revell kite. Just found some pieces with tiny inscriptions RLL China.

So, it's a combo of companies....

 

[Wurger]

 

[Kalakan]

Hello again my fellow modelers:

This is the work performed so far during this week. First it was decided that the frontal area of the glazed nose had to get separated from the rest of the cockpit in order to properly work with it. This procedure took quite some time. I didn't wanted to wait for a spare part if this surgical procedure failed..... Thank God that this piece (and my sight didn´t failed)-

Then some MG 15´s were 3d printed in order to have a healthy stash of them, as well as the munitions packs that is probable that will be located nearby the bombardier/gunner little chap that lies comfortably in the nose.... Another them to proceed as mentioned, is the fact that I wanted to locate a second MG-15 also for the bombardier but located heading upward as can be seen in multiple photos of this kite. If the nose cone stayed in the position OOB, it would be kind of impossible for me to locate this new gun without going insane. (I continued to repeat myself while separating the cone from the rest of the nose: "its a plane, not a ship......."

The hair found in the drill is courtesy of my dog..... Once she began to scratch herself, it begins to snow dog hair on my projects.

As I began to work with the glazed nose I noticed that even with the slight touch of my fingers, I always left some fingerprints all around. This was somewhat corrected by using some nitrile gloves. (After a while this procedure gets kind of uncomfortable with this gloves due to the cozy room temperature that in any given day can get easily up to 40°C (104°F) if you are not aware the hour of the day).

Also, in order to emulate that the escape hatch above the pilot, that will had to be thickened (due that this hatch was almost at the same level of the rest of the glazed nose), and this trick was achieved with some grey electrical tape located in the same surface as the hatch, as can be appreciated in the following image:

Once the glaze nose was separated, then the interior of the cockpit was also printed such as the Ikaria gun mount for the ball gun as can be appreciated in the upper image (circular pieces), and also the internal parts for the emergency hatch for the bombardier with some structured arcs from the inside, as well as some handles... These pieces are likely that the each detail will hardly be noticed from the outside, but nonetheless here they are installed.

My only suggestion for those fellow modelers that aren't sure to detail further their kite cockpits due that this work will never be seen, is that it can be achieved for those that want a really detailed cockpit with these hatches in the open position, or even in a closed one....

Also I took some time to further detail the bombardier chap.....

Before continue working with the cockpit pieces, each one was bathed in some Future liquid. Man, this liquid leaves the clear parts as brand new.....

Also the masking works were started with some liquid masking prior to the primer works.

Also some details were applied to the lower engine radiators that needed some attention.... such as more air covers (due that this kite was designed to be presented on a landing position with the landing gear down) and some rivets applied to some surfaces....

As commented earlier, this kite will be displayed in flight.

I'm not sure if the lights that are planned to be located in the cockpit and fuselage will emanate sufficient lightning to be appreciated enough (due to the work needed to install and locate the wiring works and light installation works....). I'm hesitant of this procedure...

Taking advantage that there are quite some connoisseurs of this type of kite in this site, does anyone know the colours applied on the 8./KG 55 on the propeller cones?

Well my friends, have a nice and safe one....

Greetings from Monterrey

Gerry

 

[Vic Balshaw]

You have had a busy week Gerry, lots of detail done. As for lighting, I've had a go at this myself on a couple of models and have found that one really needs to think through the lighting, it needs to be placed where the direct light cannot be seen otherwise it will overpower the area and become the focus. I also tended to try and feed the wires as best I could into one core bunch, the bunch being housed in a length of heatshrink tube. The battery connection I always fed out through the tail wheel. These couple of shot may show you what I mean, one shot by day, the other by night.

 

[Kalakan]

You have had a busy week Gerry, lots of detail done. As for lighting, I've had a go at this myself on a couple of models and have found that one really needs to think through the lighting, it needs to be placed where the direct light cannot be seen otherwise it will overpower the area and become the focus. I also tended to try and feed the wires as best I could into one core bunch, the bunch being housed in a length of heatsgring tube. The battery connection I always fed out through the tail wheel. These couple of shot may show you what I mean, one shot by day, the other by night.

View attachment 790434
View attachment 790435

As always, thank you very much for your kind words and insights my dear Vic.

Your project looks quite amazing indeed. Lots of lights.

You've inspired me to continue the light location works.

Thanks again Vic

 

[Wurger]

 

[Crimea_River]

Great work so far Gerry. The squadron colour for 8 Staffel would have been red so that would be the colour if the aircraft ID letter and, most likely, any ID on the spinner. A Google search for photos of other aircraft in that staffel might give some clues as to how the spinners were painted.

 

[Kalakan]

Great work so far Gerry. The squadron colour for 8 Staffel would have been red so that would be the colour if the aircraft ID letter and, most likely, any ID on the spinner. A Google search for photos of other aircraft in that staffel might give some clues as to how the spinners were painted.

Thank you very much for your quick response my friend Crimea.

Don't remember where I read that during that BoB phase, some large LW squadrons even used several colours such as green, yellow and red on the spinners as you mention.

Best regards my friend

 

[Crimea_River]

You're welcome Gerry. The pic of your bird is a crop of the larger one below (AsisBiz):

Assuming the 8/KG55 call-out is correct, Red E in the foreground has very dark spinners. The below pic (also AsisBiz) of another bird from the same unit looks also to have very dark spinners, and I would guess they are black in accordance with the overpainted night camo areas:

It's also important to pin down the dates of photos as schemes changed over time. AsisBiz (I don't trust them alot) says the first pic is in 1940 which I would put as late that year or even early 1941 for night blitz raids on England. There's no date on the second pic and the addition of the (presumably) grey S puts this as likely a later date. There is another 8/K55 bird on FalkeEins' site dated in 1944 (below) which shows coloured spinners (presumably red/white/green) but that is 3 years later.

There is probably much better info out there that Wurger Wojtek could drum up but that's all I could find for now.