***DONE: Henschel HS-129 B-1, MTO Group Build

[Wayne Little]

Sweet work there Dirk, goin' a good job mate.

 

[Micdrow]

Looken good Dirk!!!

 

[Heinz]

Wow fantastic work Dirk!

 

[dirkpitt289]

Ok guy's, Now that I've cleared my workbench of a few projects I've found myself drawn back to the He 129 and just in time to maybe even finish it on time.

Last we left off we had started the cockpit and finished it with a rather shinny thrown for a seat. Since then I painted the seat and the side walls RLM66, weathered them a bit and painted the seat belts. installed the instrument panel and control stick. Just for laughs i placed the new and improved cockpit next to Italeri's idea of a cockpit.

After dry fitting the cockpit I found that some trimming was in order to make the fuselage fit together properly.

After the cockpit is sealed away it resembles the real deal in the way that not much is visible even to the pilot.

Thanks for taking time to look.

 

[Heinz]

Great stuff man!

 

[rochie]

very nice

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Your doing good work there Dirk

 

[B-17engineer]

Just to finish it on time? Your doin good and still have a month!

 

[Wayne Little]

Doesn't it just suck when you do all that fine work, stick it in the fuselage and you can't see diddly squat!

keep up the good work!

 

[dirkpitt289]

Doesn't it just suck when you do all that fine work, stick it in the fuselage and you can't see diddly squat!

keep up the good work!

It sure does. Last night I was doing some work on the engines and had to place some PE in the vents on the wings. After I dry fit it there is no way anyone will ever see it. Like I commented in one of my posts for my twin Storm birds (Me 262) build, I need to reassess my use of PE. It might be great in 1/48 and up but in 1/72 it can be a waste of time and money.

 

[dirkpitt289]

Thanks for all the kind words guys

 

[DBII]

nice work Dirk

DBII

 

[ozhawk40]

Great cockpit there Dirk - you still have the satisfaction of doing a better job than Italeri anyway.

Cheers

Peter

 

[Airframes]

Nice work Dirk. I agree, unless a PE part can be clearly seen, then there's not much point using it, especially if the original kit part (if provided) will do the job in an obscure area.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Welll if nothing else, it allows you to practice.

Excellent work though!

 

[Wayne Little]

Nice work Dirk. I agree, unless a PE part can be clearly seen, then there's not much point using it, especially if the original kit part (if provided) will do the job in an obscure area.

Absolutely right!

 

[dirkpitt289]

Well I've finally found time to work on the Hs 129. The more I work on this little plane the more I like it but for some reason the build just isn't flowing for me. I find myself all over the place. I'm not sure if its me or the kid. My money is on me as the problem. Regardless I am making some headway.

History

The Hs 129 was by far a perfect aircraft for close-support duty. It was relatively underpowered - even with the twin Gnome-Rhone radial engines - and the cockpit small enough to cram just one person. Visibility was reported to be far from superior though something about the overall design likened the Reichsluftahrtministerium to it. Armament consisted of two nose-mounted MG FF 20mm cannons and two MG 17 7.92mm machine guns. The Hs 129V-1 prototypes gave birth to ten Hs 129B-0 developmental models which, in turn, produced the initial Hs 129B-1 production series. The Hs 129 was immediately fielded to the Eastern Front to take on the divisions of Russian armor in force.

The Hs 129 was fielded in the East against the might of the Soviet Union by design, though later they were consequently fielded throughout North Africa and Europe (post D-Day) by necessity. By all accounts, performance results of the system proved sublime, with the Hs 129 accounting for the destruction of hundreds of Soviet tanks, particularly at the Battle of Kursk in 1943. The Hs 129 proved to be a viable asset in the close-support role, capable of engaging even the most stubborn of Allied armor with an array of cannons, machine guns and bombs.

On to the model

Like I said my flow is all off on this build so bear with me, it could get rough.

I started by building the PE radio equipment

With a little bend here and a little bend there

Here a bend there a bend

Everywhere a bend, and Herr McDonald had a radio and support brace

These were painted and installed prior to closing up the fuselage.

Next I connected the wings to the fuselage

I will continue later I have a meeting I'm late for

Thanks for looking

 

[lesofprimus]

Great work so far Dirk, I have faith in u that u can get back in the saddle with her and meet the finish date....

 

[Airframes]

Nice work Dirk. I agree with Dan, once you're back on the job, it should start to flow easily.

 

[dirkpitt289]

Ok I'm back. Sorry for the interruption in my post. The next thing I moved on to was the Landing gear wells and the engine and cowling.

The gear bays were two pieces plus a PE bulkhead.

Here we are with the PE bulkhead in place

The engines for this are not much but I will paint and detail them more later on in the build.

If you look here you will notice that this kit comes with two different bottom cowlings. I believe the one on the left was from aircraft on the Eastern Front (I will look it up and get back later) the one on the right is more squared off was for the aircraft in the MTO. When I was assembling I wasn't paying close attention and used the wrong cowl (as pictured on the box art). I didn't catch the mistake until after I filled and sanded the pieces together.

Next I taped up the cockpit, and the rear access doors and applied paint to the bottom of the fuselage, cowls and gear bays. Plumber puddy works great for holding the small pieces in place durring spray sessions

Next up will be the landing gear.

Stay tuned, and most of all thanks for taking the time to look at my work