Heinkel He 111 H-6

[cph64]

This is one of two kits kindly given to me by Zak and as Bill and Kev have already built He 111s I won't repeat what's already been said. Sometime back I came across the Xtradecal sheet for He 111s and bought it just in case I ever got one. Forward planning or what!!? So this kit will be built as a H-6 of 2/KG 26 operating from Bardufoss Norway in 1941. There is conflicting online evidence about the success, or lack of, of KG 26 against shipping but as can be seen from the tail markings this was not so, in fact one report mentions them damaging HMS Warspite (sorry Haddock).
Zak had started the kit as far as the fuselage so I just followed on detailing a few items then adding the under fuselage bomb racks which weren't an ideal fit and required some filler. I also created the tail housing for the rearward firing MG 15 in the tail.

[zak]

Nice to see it being of some use.

[cph64]

We'll start with a correction to the above it should be MG 17 not 15, doh!!!
Wings, engines, tailplanes and rudder all fitted, I'm not fitting the rudder actuators yet to simplify masking. Instrument panels and bomb sight have been added to the clear parts and some painting has been started internally on these. The rest will wait until the clear part masks arrive, so this build will be on hold till then.

[chriswil42]

A good beginning Chris.

[cph64]

After the Christmas break and seeing what I did and didn't get from my 'Wish List' an order was sent to Hannants, part of which was for the canopy masks. These are by ASK and are small in places to say the least. I usually use Montex which are more defined on the backing sheet but there were none in stock so...... Three sessions were needed to get them all on and sitting correctly, any mistakes can be tidied up later. The rear windows were left without glazing and will be filled with foam, as will other openings, as these have guns sticking out to ease painting. Some areas such as the dorsal canopy and nose require Maskol anyway.

[chriswil42]

Looks fiddly Chris. I'm sure you'll do a good job.

[cph64]

Fiddly is an understatement Chris!!!!!

[MSea]

Fiddly can be fixed with a hammer

[cph64]

With the masked glazing in place and any thing that might break or get in the way when painting left off the remaing openings were filled with foam before a the model was primed with Halfords grey followed by pre-shading with black. Once dry the underside was painted with Humbrol RLM 65. This dries lumpy so was rubbed over with a fine sanding pad and then masked off in preparation for the upper colours of RLM 70 and 71. The rear undercarriage was put in place followed by the main legs. These are somewhat fiddly and delicate with you being informed to put the long struts in place with the mould tabs still in place, see 2nd photo. This makes a stronger assembly but means you have to be extra careful when removing them. I used snipe nose cutters followed by a new, sharp Stanley knife blade. Prior to this I'd strengthened everything with superglue to hopefully ensure everything stayed in place.

[Bigkev]

Hi Chris,
Looking very good so far. That undercarriage looks frightening to assemble.
Delicate handling and cutting in order no doubt.
Now on the final leg to completion.
Bigkev

[Bob C]

looking good as usual.

Bob c

[chriswil42]

Looking good Chris.

[cph64]

Klear was applied in readiness for the decals which were a mix of the kit and aftermarket ones previously mentioned. I don't know if it's just me but I couldn't get the wing walkway lines with warnings to fit as per the instructions, I also found out later that they would have you put some of the engine stencils in the wrong place. I'd left the rudder actuators off, fitting these later, to make positioning the tail hakenkreuz easier. The propellers were fitted with there being two types in the box, the narrow bladed earlier type and the later broad bladed. As the kit only has the spinners for the broad bladed I went with those. These and other things got me wondering if most of the sprues were for the earlier P-2 release. Once all the decals were in place then a coat of satin varnish was applied to seal them in followed by washes and stains before removing the paint masks. The dorsal canopies were attached after some fiddling and unfortuately the larger one had a varnish bleed and I had to cease trying to rectify this as stress lines developed. The missing tail gun fitted to some H-6s was sourced and adapted  from the spares box and the pitot and aerials were fitted.
My build won't win any competitions but overall I'm happy with the end result.

[chriswil42]

Looking very nice Chris. Good work.

[MSea]

Looking good Chris