It was the decals that first drew me to wanting to do this build, another case of 'making a rod for my own back'. A young Lt. Hamann was assigned to 3/Fliegergruppe 50 in 1938 but had little or no flying experience and as such the crews taught him in their spare time. As the Hs 123 is a single seat aircraft Hamann spent the time flying solo so the crews bedecked the aircraft with various warnings and other graffitti. Hamann eventually went on to earn his wings but was killed over France in 1940 whilst flying a Ju 87B.
This project was started in the down time of the B 25H build. I needed an early version Hs 123A without the headrest and Fly produce one so this was ordered. The kit has five grey plastic sprues which include parts for As with and without the headrest, wings and tailplanes for both versions and the option for spatted or un-spatted u/c. A bag of resin parts, an etched brass fret for various items and a clear film dial. The decals are for Chinese and Legion Condor aircraft so will go in the spares box. Xtradecal produce the markings for Hamann's aircraft and as it had the early Luftwaffe camoflague I bought the LS masking set.
Translations for the German are given as follows:
Der letzte Schlachter? - The last Butcher?
Gott erhalter uns den Adjutant - God save us the Adjutant
Alle Anfang is schwer - All beginnings are difficult
Vorsicht - Caution
Kleine Fische - Small fish

This looks like it is going to be something very nice and personal marked machine. I built two or three Airfix Hs123's over the years but this offering seems much more modern and comprehensive.
Watching with interest.

I have 2 Airfix Hs 123s that I built years ago Kev so one may get a 'do-over' with other decals from the set.

Surprise surprise surprise I have never made one of these hohohohoh 
Good luck Chris will follow with interest

This will be an interesting build.

As usual the build started with the cockpit fitting the etch fret console, side wall detail, floor, seat etc. Then it was time to close up the fuselage halves, after adjusting one of the resin parts. The top seam went together well but the bottom one had a gap, so it was either sand the bulkheads down or fit some micro-strip and over fill with putty. I went with the latter. The rudder was then attached as were the wheels, after being made up. To help with camouflaging and decaling I'm doing this as a unit build. Once primed all undersurfaces and struts were brush painted Humbrol RLM 65 Lichtblau as, despite thinning etc., it still clogged up the airbrush. When dry this was duely masked and it was on to the main camouflage, or so I thought. I'd initially bought Xtracrylic RLM 61 Dunklebraun, Vallejo Model Air RLM 62 Grun and RLM 63 Hellgrau, unfortunately the Hellgrau is a different version to the one required being more of a greeny-grey, ala RLM 02, which later replaced it. So I've had to mix my own version using Vallejo Model Color 70.990 Light Aircraft Grey, AV Game Color 72.046 Ghost Grey with a hint of Vallejo Model Color 70.816 Luftwaffe Uniform WWII. I think I've got near to it.

Joys of camouflage, as long as it looks okay to you, that's all that matters.

Quote from: Bigkev on January 10, 2025, 08:19:11 PMJoys of camouflage, as long as it looks okay to you, that's all that matters.

I agree.

The joys of Luftwaffe camouflage, apparently the splinters can be in different orders as can the colours so I'm having to amend the masking set I bought. Drat!!!

As only some of the pre-cut masks are usuable I've started with the darkest colour first and am working towards the grey. So far it's Dunklebraun, painted and masked followed by the Dunklegrun which should give me a better base for the grey which will need to be re-applied.

Good luck and have patience between coats - unlike me!

Progressing Chris.

No doubt the paintwork will look good once you have beaten it up a bit.....

After using what pre-cuts I could and various bits of Tamiya tape I got there in the end. There then followed a few rounds of touching the paintwork up and removing ridges. Then it was on to the engine and cowling which are resin, the push rods and front brace, poor photo, are etch. With a little help from Pat and Percy I got there in the end with cowling being a push fit as I put it on to check and then daren't remove it in case I pulled the push rods of. The bulges on the cowling have had a first coat of white prior to the start of decalling.

Camouflage looks pretty good.