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

[Night Fighter Nut]

great work on the canopy.

 

[Erich]

Andy I am wondering if the tail section with the rear radio antennae was not painted ? don't remember viewing any photo that the item in question is clear.

patience is a virtue the crate will be built and no sweat on a difference in the over the fuselage welle scheme although factory applied it varied from craft to craft.

E ~

 

[Crimea_River]

Hi Erich. Hard to tell from photos of the actual 290123 but take a look at NASM's 290202 exhibit here:

Moving along, guys, I've never seen anything like this. I have tried at least a half a dozen times to glue the left aerial onto the mast and each time it broke when I dabbed the CA glue on it. I was beginning to think the CA glue was dissolving the wire, which is stretched clear sprue, but if that was the case, why did the right one work fine? Finally, I set up the jig shown below and shimmed and shimmied everything so that the wire was just touching the post. I then put a small dab of CA glue on and, satisfied that I finally tackled this beast, I left it and went upstairs for supper.

When I came back downstairs, lo and behold, the wire had parted again at the post without anything having disturbed it! After a few choice words, I changed to a different glue (ZAP) and managed to get the thing to stick but it's now quite slack.

Anyway, I'm now done with this and will post some walkaround pics in the next post below since there are quite a few.

 

[Crimea_River]

OK, this one is DONE, despite one slack aerial wire. I'm simply posting a series of walkaround shots below to summarize everything with no further explanations. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

I'd like to thank everyone who looked in and dropped a compliment or helpful tip or two. Your comments are always welcome and I appreciate the support. Cheers!

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Andy, I just know I'm going to wake up tomorrow morning and see this big beautiful babe staring at me with that striking and all important "FINISHED" staring me in the face and to see it will make my day. I got to say it my man, you are up there with the best of them.

 

[T Bolt]

Magnificent Andy!!!!! You did a fantastic job!!!
If you want to try it before you take the judging pics, there's a trick to tighten up stretched sprue that I use all the time. Light a match and let it burn for a second then blow it out and wave the hot end of the stub under the wire with out touching it. The stretched sprue will contract and tighten up real nice.

 

[Crimea_River]

Glenn, after what I've been through on this FREEKIN' wire I ain't touching it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, I do appreciate the tip and will likely try this at a later time. I plan to take this one to the regional contest in June and will do a bit of turd-polishing before I take it there.

Vic, kind words my friend. Thanks very much.

 

[T Bolt]

You should have a good shot at the regional with this one Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Perhaps. Sometimes there are just two entires per category so maybe I'll get a silver!

 

[Catch22]

Wow Andy, looks great!

 

[Wayne Little]

great stuff Andy looks good man.....

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys.

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Absolutely fantastic! You did a marvelous job on this one Andy. I have this build saved for reference with I do mine.

 

[Erich]

Andy yes NASM form fitted a plexiglass tail piece the item should be painted as far as I know.

last thought are you going to put a small two unit letter code in front of the national insignia on the fuselage ? ....... G9 or D5

 

[Airframes]

What a beauty! You've done a fantastic job on a difficult subject Andy!

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Don't know about 'Silver' at your regional's Andy but I recon you got 'Gold' on the forum with this one.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the comments. Erich, I'll look into that tail cone. Shoujld be easy to paint. The code, if it was there, would be G9, however, I looked closely at the photo of this rig and saw no evidence of it so I figure if it was black on black it may have not shown up so I just left it off.

 

[Zaggy]

I picked one of these up today actually (for a BARGAIN price) and have sat here for the last hour wondering what I'll actually do with it! I'm of the opinion that the Kit actually represent an A-2, but seriously the supposed changes between A-2 and A-5/A-7 are minimal (from memory, the A-7 should have LONGER engine nacelles for the longer engine - and in the case of the A-7/R5, with Jumo 213E engines, the radiator should be more like that of the Ta 152), with the main issues being a 100mm or so extra length in the nacelles and faired over gun ports... Im edging towards doing one of the Black-Wing'd a/c; I know of at least three:
i) He 219A-0/R6 (V12) 190012 G9+FK II./NJG 1 - being the best covered of the three, this is currently the leading contender (plus it has the 'fastback' canopy). My gut says that in some of the pictures of it, it appears to have almost a solid, yet patchy/thin RLM75 upper surface camoflage (thoughts anyone?), with Black lower right wing and lower surfaces of nacelle from main gear doors back, in black. WIDE leading egde still in grey. Four Guns in the Tray - Both FuG220 SN-2 and Short Range FuG212C-1 radars
ii) He 219A-2 (?) 290004 G9+DH I./NJG 1 - Black Lower Right Wing, but this black goes further up the leading edge and covers all of the nacelle lower surfaces, RLM76 spinners - has a pretty tight RLM76 over 75 mottle, but since the few pictures of it I have seen are of it burnt out, half the camo will be speculative. Also has the rear fuselage window and harnesses for 3rd crew member/observer
iii) He 219A-2 or A-5 WNr? - pictured in a roofless hangar in the Winter of 44/45, supposedly at Munster-Handorf (with a Stuka in the background) - Black Right Wing that comes very close to the leading edge, whole underside of nacelle is black, spinner is black with with spirals. Two guns in the Tray with Late FuG220 SN-2 set up...

Additionally, one of the NJGr 10 a/c, 1L+M? appears to be in 81/82 or 82/83 or 81/82/83 over the standard 75/76 scheme, BUT the inner wings on both sides and both nacelles are in black; outter lower wings in RLM76 - again, burnt out so the scheme woud be speculative...

Still, plenty of time to research... So many Fw 190D's and Ta 152's to do... I bought another Ta 152 with the He 219 also. I think I am addicted!