**** DONE: GB-37 1/48th He-111H-4 - Helicopters/Military Aircraft of the BoB 1940

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Yep.
Law of Sod Manual, page 372, Section 2, para 3 "Verily it shall taketh 3 hours to make small part previously lost. Once small part has been attached, after four attempts, the missing part will be discovered, sitting on the bench, in full view, where it hath been for many days " !!

The thing about small plastic parts, their 'bounciness' relative to size and weight, is incredible. Drop a small part, and it can end up ten feet away from the original impact point !
No doubt it will show up in a year or two - or 7 minutes after fitting the scratch-built part !
 
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Success and failure !
Failure in the attempt to scratch-build the 'windgitter' bomb bay spoilers, as I half expected. The parts, made from stretched sprue, were so fine that they virtually dissolved with the application of extra-thin liquid cement. Even if they had remained intact, handling and fitting would have broken them, or, at best, they would have been severely distorted, rendering them useless.
I had a couple of attempts, and then gave it up as a lost cause - PE parts would be required here and, if they are available, I'm not prepared to purchase a relatively expensive PE fret just for two small parts.
I'd considered making them from thin clear sheet, etching the 'vanes' into the sheet, and filling-in with paint, but again, due to the very small size, this would probably not work very well, and wouldn't look that good anyway.
But, success with the rudder actuating horn, made from square-section rod and stretched sprue.

PIC 1. What the 'windgitter' spoilers look like on a real He-111.
PIC 2. The second attempt at making them - the scalpel blade gives an idea of the size, and how fine each vane is.
PICS 3 and 4. The scratch-built rudder actuating horn. Not perfect, but passable - IF I can fit it without it going 'Ping' !

 
I broke off the antenna tail post on my last 109 and replaced it with a bit of plastic. I wish I would have thought of brass rod like you did. The plastic didn't work out nearly as well
 
Done that myself in the past Glenn. I used a piece of brass rod, and then built-up the triangular shape for the '109 fin post, using a sliver of thin plastic sheet, and PVA.

I've managed to attach the 'new' rudder horn without too much drama, and it looks fairly good.
Getting close to the final bits now, especially as I've 'binned' the idea of the 'windgitter' fittings. I should have some pics tonight, all being well.
 
Thanks Wayne.

A bit late with the promised pics - got side-tracked working on the last GB scores.
Anyway, here's the state of things so far, with the bomb doors painted, dirtied and fitted, along with the main and tail wheel doors, and the 'new' rudder actuating horn in place.

PIC 1. The scratch-built rudder horn which, more by accident than design, ended up exactly the same size and shape as the kit part. It has yet to be re-touched in this pic.
PICS 2 to 4. Bomb bay doors painted, dirtied and fitted.
PICS 5 to 7. Main gear doors painted, decals on, dirtied and fitted.
PIC 8. Tail wheel door in place.

I've discovered that there is a new 'Eduard' PE set for this kit, which has the bomb bay 'windgitter' spoilers included, but at just over half the cost of the ICM kit itself, and with only these two items of immediate use to me, I'll refrain from purchasing it just yet. I may, however, get it at a future date, for another He-111 build, and retro-fit the spoilers to this model.

Next step is to sort out the final fiddly bits, including fitting guns to the nose and gondola transparencies and fitting these in place, fitting the dorsal gun mount and gun, dorsal canopy and cockpit roof hatch, D/F antenna, main antenna mast and wires, and make and fit a trailing aerial fairlead tube, plus a couple of other small bits and some detail painting.
With luck, I hope to get this finished over the weekend, and then move on to the Tamiya Spitfire, involved in the initial interception of the kG 26 raid in which this Heinkel took part.


 
Thanks, Wojtek and Andy.

I did actually have another attempt using CA, but lack of dexterity in my hands messed it up, as I couldn't precisely control the application, or move the parts quickly enough before they set !
I have two more variants of the He-111 to do, both with closed bomb doors, so I might invest in the Eduard PE set at some point in the future, and retro-fit the windgitter to the ICM model.

Working on the final bits at the moment, but might not have proper pics until tomorrow at the earliest. I 'broke' my PC's keyboard, by spilling a glass of wine over it !
Consequently, I'm using my laptop at the moment, until I can get out to buy a new keyboard.
 
A friend dropped off a new keyboard for me this evening, so I'm back in business !
Not much to show at the moment, as I'm waiting for the paint to fully dry on the remaining MG15s, before fitting them into the transparencies for nose and ventral positions.
However, the props have had the 'VDM' manufacturers decals added, and the start of some surface abrasion, and the roof hatch has had the sun blind added and has been attached to the fuselage.

PICS 1 and 2. The props with the decals added, and some abrasion. The decals looked a bit too bold, so they were 'toned down' a little with a dark wash. The abrasion on the blades has yet to receive a dark wash also, to dull things down a little.
PIC 3. Roof hatch in place, with the sun blind made from painted decal tissue, wrinkled and glued in place, although the folds aren't really visible here.
The small window in front of the open hatch could be opened upwards, to form a 'windbreak', but I'm not sure if this opened automatically when the hatch was opened, or by a manual lever inside the canopy frame - I think it was the latter, so didn't attempt to cut out the window (because I bl**dy well forgot !!).

I hope to get the nose and gondola transparencies fitted later tonight, then probably make a pitot tube from alloy tube and brass rod, as the kit part is sure to get broken at some stage. Once that's done, the dorsal gun and canopy can be added, along with the D/F antenna and the radio mast and scratch-built trailing aerial fairlead tube, which then only leaves the props, antenna wire and some detail painting.
Back probably tomorrow with another up-date.


 
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