#27 Ric's Heinkel He111 P2

[RicRodrigues]

Captain RicRodrigues reporting for duty!!!

Apologies for the late joining, but better late than never!

For this Bomber clash, I'm bringing the humble Heinkel He111 P2, 1:72 scale from Airfix.
20180530_151151 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr

I just stole this kit from the "Battle of Britain 75th Anniversary" set from Airfix, and it's a new tooling from 2015.
20180530_151135 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr


First, some history about the Bomber, by the respectful Aviation History expert, Professor Wikipedia:

"The Heinkel He 111 was a German aircraft designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter at Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1934. Through development it was described as a "wolf in sheep's clothing". Due to restrictions placed on Germany after the First World War prohibiting bombers, it masqueraded as a civil airliner, although from conception the design was intended to provide the nascent Luftwaffe with a fast medium bomber.

Perhaps the best-recognised German bomber due to the distinctive, extensively glazed "greenhouse" nose of later versions, the Heinkel He 111 was the most numerous Luftwaffe bomber during the early stages of World War II. The bomber fared well until the Battle of Britain, when its weak defensive armament was exposed. Nevertheless, it proved capable of sustaining heavy damage and remaining airborne. As the war progressed, the He 111 was used in a variety of roles on every front in the European theatre. It was used as a strategic bomber during the Battle of Britain, a torpedo bomber in the Atlantic and Arctic, and a medium bomber and a transport aircraft on the Western, Eastern, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and North African Front theatres.

The He 111 was constantly upgraded and modified, but became obsolete during the latter part of the war. The German Bomber B project was not realised, which forced the Luftwaffe to continue operating the He 111 in combat roles until the end of the war. Manufacture of the He 111 ceased in September 1944, at which point piston-engine bomber production was largely halted in favour of fighter aircraft. With the German bomber force virtually defunct, the He 111 was used for logistics.

Production of the Heinkel continued after the war as the Spanish-built CASA 2.111. Spain received a batch of He 111H-16s in 1943 along with an agreement to licence-build Spanish versions. Its airframe was produced in Spain under licence by Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA. The design differed significantly in powerplant only, eventually being equipped with Rolls-Royce Merlin engines. The Heinkel's descendant continued in service until 1973.

He 111 P

The He 111P incorporated the updated Daimler-Benz DB 601A-1 liquid-cooled engine and featured a newly designed nose section, including an asymmetric mounting for an MG 15 machine gun that replaced the 'stepped' cockpit with a roomier and more aerodynamic glazed stepless cockpit over the entire front of the aircraft. This smooth glazed nose was first tested on the He 111 V8 in January 1938. These improvements allowed the aircraft to reach 475 km/h (295 mph) at 5,000 m (16,400 ft) and a cruise speed of 370 km/h (230 mph), although a full bomb load reduced this figure to 300 km/h (190 mph).[26] The design was implemented in 1937 because pilot reports indicated problems with visibility.[26] The pilot's seat could actually be elevated, with the pilot's eyes above the level of the upper glazing, complete with a small pivoted windscreen panel, to get the pilot's head above the level of the top of the "glass tunnel" for a better forward view for takeoffs and landings. The rear-facing dorsal gun position, enclosed with a sliding, near-clear view canopy, and for the first time, the ventral Bodenlafette rear-facing gun position, immediately aft of the bomb bay, that replaced the draggy "dustbin" retractable emplacement became standard, having been first flown on the He 111 V23, bearing civil registration D-ACBH.

One of Heinkel's rivals, Junkers, built 40 He 111Ps at Dessau. In October 1938, the Junkers Central Administration commented:

Apparent are the externally poor, less carefully designed components at various locations, especially at the junction between the empennage and the rear fuselage. All parts have an impression of being very weak.... The visible flexing in the wing must also be very high. The left and right powerplants are interchangeable. Each motor has an exhaust-gas heater on one side, but it is not connected to the fuselage since it is probable that ... the warm air in the fuselage is not free of carbon monoxide (CO). The fuselage is not subdivided into individual segments, but is attached over its entire length, after completion, to the wing centre section. Outboard of the powerplants, the wings are attached by universal joints. The latter can in no way be satisfactory and have been the cause of several failures.

The new design was powered by the DB 601 Ba engine with 1,175 PS. The first production aircraft reached Luftwaffe units in Fall 1938. In May 1939, the P-1 and P-2 went into service with improved radio equipment. The P-1 variant was produced with two DB 601Aa powerplants of 1,150 hp (860 kW). It had self-sealing fuel tanks.[41] The P-1 featured a semi-retractable tail wheel to decrease drag.[41] Armament consisted of a MG 15 in the nose, and a sliding hood for the fuselage's dorsal B-Stand position. Installation of upgraded FuG III radio communication devices were also made and a new ESAC-250/III vertical bomb magazine was added. The overall takeoff weight was now 13,300 kg (29,321 lb).

The P-2, like the later P-4, was given stronger armour and two MG 15 machine guns in "waist" mounts on either side of the fuselage and two external bomb racks. Radio communications consisted of FuG IIIaU radios and the DB601 A-1 replaced the 601Aa powerplants. The Lotfernrohr 7 bombsights, which became the standard bombsight for German bombers, were also fitted to the P-2. The P-2 was also given "field equipment sets" to upgrade the weak defensive armament to four or five MG 15 machine guns. The P-2 had its bomb capacity raised to 4 ESA-250/IX vertical magazines. The P-2 thus had an empty weight of 6,202 kg (13,272 lb), a loaded weight increased to 12,570 kg (27,712 lb) and a maximum range of 2,100 km (1,305 mi)."


And of course, the compulsory sprue shots:

A big bag of stuff
20180530_151110 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr

Wings, stabilizers and wheels
20180530_151449 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr

Interior Bulkheads and Walls, Bomb Racks and Fuselage Halves
20180530_151505 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr

Control Surfaces and part of the underside fuselage
20180530_151526 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr

The rest of all the stuff, landing gears, interior bits and bobs, propellers, everything..
20180530_151540 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr

Engine nacelles
20180530_151552 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr

Clear parts for windows, underside and glazed greenhouse nose
20180530_151627 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr

(No way i'm going to mask all that nose by myself!!! So, I got this little extra!)
20180530_151653 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr

Decals (Bottom Right)
20180530_151706 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr

Instructions, as usual from Airfix
20180530_151312 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr

And Painting Instructions
20180530_151238 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr



Being a new tool, I expect this to be a good build, with no big issues and good fitment.
I'll start straight away with the build and will try to keep regular updates.

As always, opinions and suggestions are welcome, feel free to comment!!!
Cheers!!!

[Stokesy44]

Welcome to the Sig mate.

Nice choice of kit too. Lots of He 111s in the Sig, looking forward to seeing yours join the squadron.

[alextheblue]

Welcome aboard, always better late than never!!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Happy to have you aboard Captain Ric
No problem joining in now, still three months to go so TONS of time
I wish you good luck in the build and hope you have some fun along the way
Scott

[RicRodrigues]

Welcome to the Sig mate.

Nice choice of kit too. Lots of He 111s in the Sig, looking forward to seeing yours join the squadron.

Welcome aboard, always better late than never!!

Happy to have you aboard Captain Ric
No problem joining in now, still three months to go so TONS of time
I wish you good luck in the build and hope you have some fun along the way
Scott

Thank you all!
At least I can say I can feel my mojo coming back and I'll try to finish this one, the last projects are still lying around on the shelf of doom..

[RicRodrigues]

Update #1

Well, after finally deciding to go for this build, I jumped into the workbench and tried to make as much as I could before a few more working days.

Interior painting instructions are quite vague and basically tells me to paint all the interior in Slate Grey (with the exception of small details). So, I started just with some sub assemblies like the interior walls, bomb racks, bulkheads and cockpit, which will be primed and airbrushed with XF22 (RLM Grey). I'll try to detail paint the interior a bit, but as everything will be pretty much hide inside the fuselage, I'm not gonna waste too much time on it. There's some ejector pin marks, but again, will not be visible so I just left them.

While I wait for the Primer (Ultimate Black Primer) to dry, I'll leave with the sub assemblies before the spray booth.
20180602_105037 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr
20180602_105057 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr

20180602_105104 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr
20180602_105116 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr
20180602_105209 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr
20180602_105217 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr
20180602_105237 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr
20180602_105322 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr
20180602_171650 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr

As always, opinions and suggestions are welcome, feel free to comment!!!
Cheers!

[pourquoi61]

Hello and welcome, nice choice and it's Airfix.
I will be watching this.

[RicRodrigues]

Update #2

Busy days here in the bench and the Heinkel is going well!

The interior was all primed with Ultimate Black primer and painted with XF22 RLM Grey.
20180605_192317 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr
20180605_192337 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr
20180605_192405 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr
20180606_165747 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr

While the paint was drying, I've started to tackle other sub-assemblies, in this case, the engines nacelles.
20180605_192739 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr

As I said before, the interior won't be that visible, so I didn't waste too much time detailing it, just some details painted in XF1 Flat Black to break all that Grey. In order to help for a worn out look, I ended up dry-brushing all the interior with some XF16 Flat Alluminium.
20180606_175713 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr
20180606_175732 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr
20180606_175635 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr
20180606_175621 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr
20180606_175655 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr
20180606_175555 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr

And finally, and because I was feeling extremely patient today, I tackled as well on of the tasks that I was dreading the most, masking the clear parts, especially the "greenhouse" cockpit.
20180606_165504 by Ricardo Rodrigues, on Flickr

Next Bench session, I'll clear-coat the interior and if time permits, I'll close the fuselage halves.
So far, this kit is a treat, the fitting is very good and it seems everything slots together. The only exception seems to be the engine nacelles. But that will be for a next opportunity.

As always, opinions and suggestions are welcome, feel free to comment.

Cheers!!

[Les0012]

Looking great there mate, I recently built the airfix 1/72 HE111 and to be honest the kit is really good except as you say the engine nacelles, they were a pain just found it difficult to get anything to fit.

DSC00566 by Les Goodison, on Flickr

Keep cracking on and you'll have a magnificent model in the end.

Les

[RicRodrigues]

Looking great there mate, I recently built the airfix 1/72 HE111 and to be honest the kit is really good except as you say the engine nacelles, they were a pain just found it difficult to get anything to fit.

DSC00566 by Les Goodison, on Flickr

Keep cracking on and you'll have a magnificent model in the end.

Les

Thanks, Les!

That's a lovely kit you have there, excellent!!! I hope mine will be almost as good as yours!!!

[Twokidsnosleep]

God I thought you were already finished for a second with that last photo
Thanks for the heart attack

Interior detail looks great, pretty impressed with Revell for that
Paintwork is fabulous
Keep at it

[Les0012]

Interior detail looks great, pretty impressed with Revell for that
Paintwork is fabulous
Keep at it
[/quote]

I'm sure Revel would be delighted as the kit is Airfix lol

Les

[RicRodrigues]

Update #3

After a well deserved holidays, back on the bench!!

Not much done for now. The fuselage halves were closed and wings (both upper and underside, parts were glued in place.


No really fitting issues with the wings and the wing roots are pretty much flushed with the fuselage!
But the same can't be said regarding the engine nacelles.
As expected and discussed before, these have huge gaps and will need loads of filler in order to mate the nacelles with the wings...


So I guess there's no other way... I'll leave the glue to cure and pull my Perfect Plastic Putty and see if I can make this nacelles at least looking decent...

As always, opinions and suggestions are welcome, feel free to comment!

Cheers!!!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Last month for the bomber sig
Finish this beauty off!!!
viewtopic.php?f=660&t=25285
viewforum.php?f=662

[RicRodrigues]

Update #4

Back on the bench to tackle the 2 tasks that I was dreading... The engine nacelles fitting and the greenhouse canopy!

For the nacelles, there was no way around. They needed some filler, period. I used Perfect Plastic Putty, first dissolved with water to get to the deep of those gaps, and a second coat of filler undissolved. All cleaned up with a moist cotton bud to avoid the mess of sanding all that putty and losing some details. Quite pleased with the final result!


Next step, fitting that complex greenhouse canopy.
I decided to try for the first time to use Tamiya Extra Thin for the clear parts as this would give a stronger bond in order to keep that canopy in place. After a first test to see how the clear parts would react to the TET, I hold my breath and went for it.
My thoughts? If you use too much TET, the clear parts may fog up a bit. But if you're careful, you end up with a strong bond (at least stronger than with white glue). Of course I've messed up in some places, but these will not be visible after painting.



Right now the Heinkel is as pictured. A few spongy bits to cover the windows and other holes and I'm sending this bird to the spray booth for primer.


As always, opinions and suggestions are welcome, feel free to comment!

Cheers!!

[alextheblue]

Nice job with those nacelles, they'll look like a perfect fit once you get some primer down!

[Stokesy44]

Nice job with those nacelles, they'll look like a perfect fit once you get some primer down!

My thoughts exactly, great save, those joins look superb now.

[digger303]

Nice job with those nacelles, they'll look like a perfect fit once you get some primer down!

My thoughts exactly, great save, those joins look superb now.

A pigs ear into a silk purse !

[RicRodrigues]

Nice job with those nacelles, they'll look like a perfect fit once you get some primer down!

My thoughts exactly, great save, those joins look superb now.

A pigs ear into a silk purse !

Thank you all for the kind words!!!

[RicRodrigues]

Update #5

Typical from me, to leave everything for the last minute... And now I'm rushing to have this bird done before the deadline! Hopefully I'll manage it without screwing up anything.

Since the last update, the Heinkel is going busy, flying back and forth from the bench to the paint both.

I've primed it with the always trustworthy Ultimate black primer and as soon as the primer was dried, I've started with the painting job. (sorry, in the rush, I didn't took any pics of the primed model...)

First was the underside, painted with Tamiya XF23 Light Blue. As soon as the underside was cured, it started the constant flights between the bench and spray both for the camouflage masking. After masking the underside, there was a full coat of Tamiya XF26 Deep Green for the first tone of the camouflage (once again, apologies, there's no pics of this stage... )

Another session of masking before the last coat of paint to finish the camouflage.

For the second tone of the camouflage, I've used Tamiya XF27 Dark Green.
I think I had the same problem with a Stuka I did an year ago, I'm not sure if this colours are the correct ones, but as in the Stuka, it seems fine for me.

After the last coat of paint, time to unmasking. There was a couple of tiny spots where the masking tape lift some paint, but I saw on those an opportunity for weathering: those spots were painted with Tamiya XF16 Flat Aluminium to simulate some scratches. Not perfect, but that will do.


On the meanwhile, other bits and bobs were taken care of, like the Landing gear.


Right now, the Heinkel is ready for take-off for another mission on the spraying both, this time for a clear coat before decalling. Deaclling should be a quick process, there's only an couple of insignias and Balkan crosses, hopefully will not take long.




I'll keep rushing with this one and hopefully Cpt RicRodrigues will be able to join the Bomber Group that will take the skies on 1st Sept 2018 with his Heinkel He111!!!

As always, opinions and suggestions are welcome, feel free to comment!

Cheers!!!

[RicRodrigues]

Update #6

Well, I've promised I would rush this building and rushing it is!!!

Taking some extra time from work, the Heinkel is literally flying and almost ready!!!

So yesterday I managed to clear coated with Alclad Aqua Gloss. Left it overnight to cure and today I managed to complete all the decals!!! As an extra, all the rest of bits and bobs were glued in place, like the landing gear and propellers.

Here's the Heinkel as it stands right now!











Tomorrow I'm planing to weather it slightly, maybe some exhaust stains and propellers blades scratches... Maybe, if time permits, I'll give it a wash, otherwise, I'll give it a coat of Alclad Semi-Mate and call it done...

I think I might actually finish this one on time!!!

As always, opinions and suggestions are welcome, feel free to comment!

Cheers!!!

[digger303]

So close to the finish