The Shelf of Doom...And what to do with it...(slow work in progress)

[Ohm-men]

Hi All,

This tread will be an ongoing one for a while. I hope to ressurect from time to time. My goal is to finish some of the kits of the so called "Shelf of Doom". Kits that were started, but some reason abandoned and never finished. So a few WWII aircraft types from my shelf of Doom will make their apearance here

First, let me start with summing up what I have on my Shelf Of Doom;
All Kits are 1/48 and are build for about 2/3rds. Otherwise they wouldn't be on the shelf, but in their box

1- Revell He 111 H-22. This kit was build as a H-22 by someone else. It was destined for the bin, so I "resqued" it about a decade ago. I stripped it of all paint, reworked the top turret to the ealier style and it sat there since.

2- Wings 48 (vacu kit) of the Nakajima Jill. Put together, scratch build interiour, already primed. But I could not get a solution for the finer parts of this kit... I now have some ideas.

3- Otaki P-47 D Razorback. Used unstarted kit which I started after I got it. Realizing that the cockpit transparancy was missing from this kit...Got a Squadron replacement and scr*wed it up. Collecting dust ever since...

4- Aardvark Ju 388 conversion for the Dragon Ju-88G kit. Got this conversion from a friend after he bought the Planet full resin kit. So I started on this "Gift" with great enthousiasm, which quicly faded...It came with a load of problems...At some point I gave up on it. Though it seams most hard work is done on it, but I managed to loose the instructions of this kit during a move about a decade ago...Kind of got interested in it after I bought a Planet full Resin Kit of Ju 388 "Störtebecker" Nightfighter for a song at the Dutch nationals last year...

5- Esci Hs 129. Another kit that got the best of me. Originally obtained for the hefty sum of € 2,5- Bought for rescribing purposes. Kit has a notorious bad fit, is a "putty queen" and is long superseeded by the exellent hasegawa kit. Planned to bin it. Ended on the Shelf. Got some nice Hungarian markings for it and a friend kindly donated some leftover hasegawa HS 129 parts for it and even an unused Verlinden cockpit...which I got installed! After spraying RLM 70 over the airframe instead of 71, I got fed up with it...

So, that's what it's all about. Hope I didn't bore you with this...But I will post some pics of these kits for illustration purposes. Mind I will only work on these in between. Some might end up in the trashcan after all, but I'll try first...

 

[vikingBerserker]

Brilliant! I believe we all have these just!

 

[chris brown]

Nice, I just finished my last build and I'm going to try and knock out two of my shelf of doom kits before I start another model.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Njaco]

"Shelf of Doom" - Love it! Do the He 111!!

 

[fubar57]

There's another similar thread to this one somewhere. I have many, many, many partial builds on it. I actually got to cross one off last year.

Geo

 

[Ohm-men]

"Shelf of Doom" - Love it! Do the He 111!!

Yup, you read my mind! I digged around in the decal dungeon and found a partial AeroMaster "Foreign He 111's" sheet. Spannish version is missing (to bad as it is a pretty colourfull bird), but there is a nice "Slovak" version left, which got my attention. Even though, the sheet mislabeled this particular He 111 as an H-3 variant, it is in fact a later H-16 version used for Parachutists. I found a pic of this machine that reveals some details that are not mentioned on the Aeromaster sheet...I also found a Squadron replacement canopy set (forgot I had it...) with the correct canopy for the "B-Stand" (with armour)

Since this "specimen" is more or less a paint job away from being finished, I will start with this one and hopefully be able to move it of from the "Shelf Of Doom"...

 

[Wayne Little]

I hear ya...got plenty in various states of construction....

 

[Ohm-men]

I started on the Monogram He 111 H-20. Even though I decided to do only a repaint, I'm gonna take it a step further.
As I wanted to do a Slovak He 111 from a Aero Master Decal sheet I have, I kind of opened a can of worms.
Some further research into the subject revealed that this He 111 was in fact a H-10, most likely field converted into a Paratrooper.
The AMD sheet describes it as an H-3 (what it is certainly not) The Manfred Ghriel book has a picture of it describing it as an H-23.
Again, this is not the case, as the H-23 should have the powered H-20 turret covered up with a plate. The picture clearly shows a armoured type sliding hood "B-stand".
A 1/72nd Czech decal sheet describes it as a H-10, delivered to the Slovak Air Force in 1944, part of the Slovak Mobile Force. There are a few pics of this aircraft, parked at the Slovak Headquaters at Minsk.
But...this describes a crew of 4, strange for a paratrooper carrier. My guess is that is was later converted to this when the Slovak Air Force returned to "the three Oak" airfield in Czech in 1944, where this Aircraft was assigned to Paratrooper duty/training.
Again, this is just an "educated" guess on my behalf...

What I now for sure is that it had quiet worn standard Luftwaffe bomber paint, consisting of RLM 70/71 over 65 with Ost-Front yellow markings.
(wing tips and fuselage band)
Most likely, all weapons were removed at this stage. If it was used in the training role. Also if used operational, it flew most likely without these to save weight, as 16 fully loaded paratroopers were it's cargo.

Luckily I have the Aero Detail on the He 111, which contains a lot of pics of a H-20/R1 paratrooper ship, which sits in the Battle Of Britain Hall at Collindale RAF museum. Since this aircraft, apart from some external detail, won't differ that much from our subject, It will lend itself as a prime source for this build.

So, I decided to take the model apart. Open the side windows aft of the cockpit, install seats in the empty bomb compartement and have it look like a paratrooper.

 

[Ohm-men]

Further research concluded the following;
The Slovak Air Force had 5 He-111 (2 He 111 H-10 in 1943 and 3 He-111 H-16 in 1944?) delivered from the Germans.
It's not clear if these were new machines or Ex Luftwaffe machines.
S-81 and S-82 were of the H-10 variant. Though the Slovak's never used them as bombers.
S-81 and S-82 were converted to personal transporters. All aranament was removed and they carried no bomb sights. (again it's not clear if this was a Slovak Air Force conversion, or if these aircraft were converted by the Luftwaffe prior their delivery to the Slovak's) Though even if the Slovak Air Force possesed 5 He-111's at the same time, it would hardly be a bomber force, so the transports are more likely.
The Czech Air Force used at least two H-16's post war, one as an Jumo 04 test bed and one as a transport. (could perhaps have been Ex Slovak machines or Ex Lufwaffe)
So the Slovak Air Force did not posses any H-3's or H-23's as found in various books.

I think this build deserves it's own tread, so once I commence, I'll post it there.
I will post the end result here, hopefully together with the other models from the "Doom" shelf.

 

[SANCER]

Hola mi estimado Ohm-men

If at all possible, it will be very interesting to see some pictures of the version chosen.
I do not miss this unusual version (at least not well known by me) of the legendary He-111.

Será muy interesante, me gusta!

Saludos

Luis Carlos
SANCER