**** DONE: 1/48 Tamiya Heinkel He-219 WNr 290123 of 1/NJG 1 Nightfighter GB

[Crimea_River]

Found some bits and pieces of detail shots, drawings and profiles for you Andy. I'll scan them just as soon as my scanner decides to stop p*ss*ng about !
BTW, just found out my mate Mick was at Duxford for the BoB show, and saw Gary and Tony near the 'tank bank', but couldn't get close, as he had his grandson with him! I guess you were probably in the group too!

Crossed post there Terry. Any info you have would be appreciated. Paul's added a good tidbit there that I'll need to chew on.

I didn't make it to the tank bank with Gary and Tony. I think Tony scoped it out for a bit and the three of us got close but we didn't spend much time there. We were together on the Saturday but hung about on the east side and at the friends of Duxford tent. They left Saturday and I went back Sunday and parked myself on the tank bank all day there.

 

[Airframes]

Darned shame, as I only found out today Mick was going! He was taking his grandson as a surprise Birthday treat, and had called to my place a few days earlier to see if I wanted to go. Not seeing my Jeep for a few days, he thought I was away. He didn't know I'd sold it and was still looking for a replacement ! B*gg*r !!

 

[Maximowitz]

Well, that clears that up! Thanks Paul. Do you know if the more powerful engines in the A-7 produced any visisble differences from the A-2 that I'd need to consider in the build?

There's not a lot of pictures around of the A-7 due to its rarity production wise. To my (non technical) eye there's very little difference in basic form from the A-0 preproduction model to the A-7.

No doubt the "rivet counters" will tell you different!

 

[Erich]

the Smithsonians crate is an A-2. yes the wrk. # is 290202. Armament was one 2cm in each wing. SM installation of 2 Mk 108's. belly tray of two 2cm cannon only. standard fit for NJG 1 birds as they removed the two extra cannon in the belly tray more often than not.

I./NJG 1 used the A-0 even into late October 1944. inventory for November of 44 was 17 A-0's and 7 A-2's the A-5 and A-7 did not appear till 45

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Guys. Erich, any thoughts on the squiggles vs patches for I/NJG 1? Most pics I've seen show patches which I assume would be RLM 75 over solid 76?

 

[Erich]

you are correct a scheme worn on the crates till wars end. the black underneath and "squiggles" was know as the night ground attack scheme, which in this case is really bizarre as the He 219's never flew these hazardous missions.

 

[Crimea_River]

But the black underside is legit, right?

 

[Erich]

of course photo evidence supports this even on I./NJG 3 machines but the Uhu in this Gruppe was never used as the pilots of NJG 3 did not like the He 219, preferring the Ju 88G-6.

some Ju 88G-6's even had the same paint job, very few though I might add. was thought that even Bf 110G-4's also had the same idea in camo.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Erich.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Cool, I've already learned a ton from this build

 

[Maximowitz]

See if you can get a copy of this book, probably the best I've read on the He 219. It comes complete with rare photographs and highly detailed 1/48 scale plan drawings.

Essential.

 

[Erich]

just be careful if this book goes into operational history there is so much confused information abut I./NJG 1's activities with the bird

 

[Airframes]

Looks like my scanner is behaving now Andy, so I'll scan and post some stuff tomorrow. Too noisy here at the moment due to the 'Guy Fawkes Night' fireworks etc, so I'm off to the pub to take shelter! (Well, that's my excuse anyway!)

 

[herman1rg]

Really looking forward to this build, very interesting aircraft. I don't think it's possible for a pilot to sit any further forward in a fuselage.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. Paul, I vistied my LHS today and Rick, the owner has tons of books. He thought he had one on the 219 but couldn't find it. His store is a bit of a mess, but well stocked. He was going to order one in but I'm not sure it's the one you've suggested. I'll need to check.

Anyway, while waiting for the CA glue to set on my Spit I antennas, I broke open the box on this one and began painting various parts RLM 66. For this, I used Model Master Gunship Gray which I had in enamel and is a good likeness for RLM 66. I have a Pollyscale acrylic RLM 66 but I don't trust it on the cockpit parts and was too lazy to prime everything first.

The first pic is just an overall shot of the trees on which I painted some of the parts directly. This is a large model! The second pic shows the painted seats, cockpit tub, and the metal combined cockpit tub/wheel well which acts as the nose weight for this model.

 

[Wayne Little]

Like the way they incorporated the nose weight..!

 

[Crimea_River]

Yes Wayne, ingenious. Similar concept to their Me 262's but this one needs a lot more.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Totally agree, off to a good start.

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff Andy. I seem to recall that one of the seat headrests is moulded the wrong way round. I sent Jan some info on it ages ago, so I'll try to find it and post it here.

 

[A4K]

Nice start Andy!