1/48 MPM Heinkel He 177 A5 "Captured Bird", FINISHED :-) !!!

[Ohm-men]

As promessed, I will start a new build thread on MPM's 1/48 Heinkel He 177.
I'm hoping to build their "Captured Bird" edition, which is a non "high tech" edition of this kit.
Though, I'm gonna use Eduard's "Big Ed" He 177 set as it offers quiet some detail for a good price.

My goal is to have this kit finished by december 2017 as I want to enter it at a local IMPS contest that is themed "Captured Equipment' so therefore this kit is the ticket to go as it has all the necesary stuff included to build a "Captured Bird" out of the box.

I will try to build it as test flown by the R.A.F. in the authum of 1944 after this aircraft was captured by the French ressistance and delivered to R.A.F.
I'm particulary keen on the markings of this aircraft as every "owner" adored it with his markings, so overpainted "Luftwaffe markings" with "French markings" which before being added to the R.A.F. inventory were overpainted again with Britisch markings... Also this aircraft with be without any defensive guns as these were removed during the testing.

Now the kit. A lot of it has been written about MPM's He 177, so I will keep it brief.
It's a short run kit that packs quite a few details, not Tamiya alike, but better then the early MPM offerings. almost no resin, so most details are plain plastic and hopefully easier to build.
I do know that this kit is no "shake and bake" model, so I'm guessing some more and less serious problems will arise during this build...

Anyway, this is what I'm going to have to work with. I hope to get this done in 4 months...

 

[Ohm-men]

Ofcourse as Always, comments, thoughts, tips and ideas are welcome!

One question already arises...MPM's instructions mark this kit as a Heinkel He 177 A5/R6 with Werke Nr. 412951
however, I have found other info regarding the werke nr.
The French captured at least 2 He's 177, both ex. Kg 40 machines. Both were delivered to the R.A.F. (or at least that was the plan)
I'm not sure the other aircraft made it to England.

The particular He 177 I'm hoping to build caried full invasion markings (as aplied by the French) over the former luftwaffe markings and a big tail fin "French flag" (later overpainted by the R.A.F. in red) It also caried a the "Prise de Guerre" inscription on it's fuselage.

So if any of you know the correct info and werke Nr. for this bird, I'd be grateful!
Ghriel's book on the He 177 is rather sparse when it comes to the captured planes chapter in his monograph on the type.

 

[SANCER]

Hello Ohm-men; I still do not know an MPM kit, but the details on the branches look good.

It is an interesting model and the version of a "captured bird", will be very illustrative to follow.

I wish that you are in time for the local IMPS contest. (I was not on time for IMPS Mexico with my Lib last year, but it's ready for October this year).
I'm sorry I can not help you with the doubt you have, but surely someone else can help us and we will continue to learn.

One question, what is your first name?

Cheers y saludos desde México.

Luis Carlos

 

[Crimea_River]

No new info on your project from me but I'm looking forward to the build anyway.

 

[Wurger]

The only info I have found , she belonged to the 6./KG40 and was coded F8+AP .

 

[Ohm-men]

Thanks for the info. So I've been diggin' arround and found a few pics of the He 177 while being tested by the R.A.F. It seams this He 177 found it's way to the U.S. in a later stage. Though I'm sure they actually flown this aircraft in U.S. Markings.

So here she is "under new management"
The markings are very intersting. KG 40 "Anti Shipping" paint which consited of RLM 70/71 uppersurfaces over RLM 65 undersurfaces. Though RLM 76 large disruptive camo was aplied over the RLM 65 sides and undersurfaces. Since the aircraft was captured by the French Ressistance in the late summer of 1944, they aplied full "D-Day markings" together with French national insignia. Later the Brit's overpainted the French markings with their roundels, but kept the D-Day markings.

First pic is in French livery, shortly after being captured. Notice the big fin flash.
The other pics show the same aircraft in British livery. Al defensive aranament has been removed from the aircraft. This He 177 was also flown by the late Capt. Erich "Winkle" Brown.
The last small pic is also very interesting. It shows that the disruptive RLM 76 camo was also aplied under the wings of the aircraft. And it also shows the outboard wing racks for the "smart bombs" these are unfortunatly not included with the kit.

 

[Wurger]

Yep that's the kite...

And the earlier French markings can be noticed on the rudder at the starboard.

 

[Airframes]

Should be a good one, and an impressive model when done.

 

[SANCER]

What good images amigos, ... as Terry says, will be a very interesting model to see it finished.
(And to enjoy the process, ... I am sure of many pleasant surprises)

 

[Wayne Little]

This should be good...!

 

[F-104nut]

This is going to be awesome to follow. The He-177 is a fantastic looking bomber. Look forward to the progress pics

 

[fubar57]

This is what I have that's different from the above, note how far outboard the port roundel is...

 

[Wayne Little]

Bring it on...!

 

[Ohm-men]

So after a rather relaxing family vacation, I started the BIG He-177. Instead of starting with the cockpit, I tried the wings first.
Detail is a bit crude and takes some elbow grease to get everything to fit. Keeping the sanding sticks at hand I managed to complete the landing gear bays. I also added a bit of scratch building replacing parts that I could'nt get to fit or making parts that weren't included (engine bearers) these last parts also acted a spreader to get two equal landing gear bays as I read that aligning the landing gear at a later stage gave some builders a fair share of trouble. I hope I can avoid this.
Painting was kept pretty dark to keep the missing engines parts out of sight. I know there is a CMK engine detail and landing gear set, but these are to expensive for my taste, have notorious fit problems and being allergic to resin dust does not help either. So I'm being somewhat pragmatic about this build and decided to keep things simple. At a normal (not in service) he-177 there isn't a lot visible in the landing gear bay after all and I think that the landing gear legs and wheels will keep most missing detail out of sight.

But enough chatter and time for some pics!

 

[Wurger]

 

[F-104nut]

Looking fantastic

 

[Gnomey]

Nice work so far!

 

[Crimea_River]

Good start.

 

[turbo]

 

[SANCER]

Looking great so far mi amigo.
Attentive to what follows...

Saludos