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

Thanks for all the kind words guys.

I made a little more progress last night. nothing to spectacular. As usual lets start off with a little more history of the Hs 129 while in the MTO.

History

The 30mm MK 101 cannon proved to be an effective weapon against the British armor; however, the desert sand proved to be harmful to the Gnome Rhone engines. The sand filters installed on the Hs 129Bs while in Germany proved to be effective in North Africa. The Sand and the heat soon took its toll on the Hs 129Bs air cooled engines, resulting in 4 of the Sch G, 2 being withdrawn after only one week of operation. The squadron was down to 7 aircraft as of the end of December 1942. and this total was cut to 1 within one month due to Allied air attacks and the lack of spare parts.

The Model

I started this session by applying the kit decals. The kit didn't have the swastika for the tail but luckily I had some from a spair decal sheet.










Next I assembled, painted and weathered the short exhaust stacks which were used to reduce the over heating of the engines. The Exhaust stacks were in two parts each.



Here you can see where the Revi C/12C Gunsight was attached to the exterior of the aircraft again because of the small size of the cockpit. In the foreground you can also get another view of the exhaust stacks



In the upcoming final stretch I have some small details to assemble on the underside of the aircraft such and the bomb racks, the linkage for the flaps, the access panel doors on the fuselage, and the props and spinners.

Of all things to hold me up its the prop spinners. They are suppose to be painted with white tips and black rear. I can't seem to mask the spinners to apply the second color. Any suggestions welcome.

dirkpitt289 said:

Of all things to hold me up its the prop spinners. They are suppose to be painted with white tips and black rear. I can't seem to mask the spinners to apply the second color. Any suggestions welcome.

Click to expand...

I have that kit in my stash so I checked out the spinners.

Here's what I would suggest (apologies if any of this is stuff you've already tried):

1 ) airbrush the entire spinner white first
2 ) put the spinner on a toothpick - use any two of the three slots for the props and wedge a toothpick in sideways - it will give you something to hold on to
3 ) cut a THIN strip of tamiya masking tape for each spinner - you are shooting for about 1mm in width and around an inch (mayble an inch and a half) in length - using a thin piece of tape like this will make getting the first edge a LOT easier. It doesn't matter if one edge is wobbly - just make sure that you have a ONE good straight edge on the piece that you cut and make sure THAT edge is pointed to the area where the second color goes.
4 ) use a pair of tweezers to hold down one end of the tape and slowly wind it around the spinner - do NOT flatten the tape as you wind it around the spinner - if you do, it will tend to spiral around the spinner - This is kind of hard to explain but you are trying to get ONE edge of the tape - the edge that points to the BLACK back half to seal against the spinner - if the other edge of the tape is off the spinner you don;t care in the beginning
5 ) continue to wind the tape around until the edge of the tape that points to the back half of the spinner meets up and matches with the starting point of the tape - if it doesn't match, unwind and rewind.
6 ) when the tape overlaps itself cut off the excess - now you can CAREFULLY flatten the hanging edge of the tape - make sure you do NOT distort the other edge - and don't worry if there are ridges or bumps on the trailing edge. As long as the edge painting to the black area is flat, you're good.
7 ) take another slightly wider piece of tape (about 2mm wide) and repeat the process - overlap the second piece with the first
8 ) take a THIRD piece (about 2mm wide) and repeat the process
9 ) When you have all three pieces on - you can airbrush the untaped back half - hold the spinner so the point is up, that way if your mix a little thin you won't have black paint seeping under the tape - also aim the airbrush so the flow is almost perpendicular to the axis of the spinner - that will also minimize leakage and underspray

Masking curved surfaces is kind of tough.

Thanks Kgambit

Great progress Dirk, that bird is looking real good. That's the way I would have tried masking the spinners and fingers crossed, should work. 8)

cheers

Peter

looking good mate!

Dirk, there's another technique that I saw in FSM magazine that might work but I can't vouch for it. Get yourself a flat container to hold paint at a very shallow depth. Paint the whole spinner black first and let it dry. You'll then need to get something that you can firmly hold the spinner with. You could actually put the props on at this point. Then, fill the container with white paint and while holding the props or toothpick, whatever you use, carefully dip the spinner tips in the white paint holding the assembly perfectly horizontal. Remove and place it tips down with the tip suspended to dry. This may have to be repeated to hide the black fully.

The tip in FSM applied this technique to the front of engine nacelles on commercial aircraft models but I see it could be used for your spinner. The only problem I see is that, depending on the thickness of the paint, you might get a dried drip form at the end which might have to be sanded down and touched up.

I have the same issue with my Bf-110 which actually has three tones on the spinner. Haven't come to that point yet.

Good luck with which ever way you go. Looking forward to the results.

Looking the goods now man!

This will be my last entry for this thread. She is completed and the next post will contain the final photos. Once again my minds eye had higher hopes than my skills could attain and I'm disappointed about a few things with it. That said I'm still happy with this build and already have another Hs129 waiting in the wings

History

The 5th Staffel of Sch.G. 1- Which formerly served in Russia arrived in Tunisia on the 29th of November 1942. The new squadrons of Hs 129's soon saw action against Allied Forces advancing from Algeria and Libya. Some Allied vehicles were destroyed or damaged by the Hs 129's, however the growing Allied air superiority resulted in several Henschels being lost to fighters and anti-aircraft fire. Spare parts, ammunition, and fuel supplies dwindled further reducing the number of available aircraft to the Axis Commanders.

In April 1943, the two Schlachtstaffeln were withdrawn from Tunisia. The personnel were evacuated to Sicily without most of the remaining aircraft. The Allies captured approximately 12 Hs 129 B/2 in non-flyable condition by the end of the North African campaign on 13 May 1943.

The Model

The next step was to mount the Ratier propellers which were turned toward the aircraft's center line which counteracted engine torque and prevented the Hs 129 from drifting to one side or another during single engine flight.





Well that concludes my Hs 129 MTO build. Thanks to all that followed and commented on the build. Till next time.

Looking cool.