Japanese Heinkel/Aichi-119 Torpedo Bomber

[Zeke]

Aah, I see that there is some confusion here...I know that the Heinkel is a big beast in real life, but I was thinking of doing a scaleorama on it and calling it a single seat fighter...so it'll be 1/48th when I'm done with it...

[sequoiaranger]

I cut out the top gunner's position on a He-111 and the same on my resin He-119 to insert it. However, I found that the He-119 fuselage tapers all the way back from the cockpit (whereas the He-111 had a parallel section where the gunner was) so some adjustments will be made. With my luck OF COURSE it won't be easy.

That got me to thinking that maybe I might put the Mustang-type underbelly radiator up top and fair it into the rear gunner's position (think Douglas A-20 where the pilot's perspex would be the air scoop) with the heat expelled to the sides. That would make sense aerodynamically to have ONE excrescence instead of two. It would "free up" the underside for ordnance and get the radiator closer to the engines.  But my original idea was to present a He-111-type appearance. Dunno. Still a WIP. (See Illustration below--Hey! Now it looks kinda like another Heinkel product--the He-70!)

I am also trying to figure out how to make the propeller spin. The resin parts and connectors make for a difficult time of it unless I can drill a long and precise hole for a movable shaft (almost like the actual driveshaft). I will probably have to drill out a piece of resin and sink in a short shaft and cap to enable the prop to move.

I don't know if this "modern" resin that Planet Models uses is as toxic as old-style resins. I had heard long ago that breathing the dust was dangerous. As it was, I took a breath away from my workbench, sat down and quickly used my Moto-tool saw, then exhaled and moved away again, just in case. Repeat. Anyone out there know about the hazards?

I have selected the decals, with a few more to add. I'll be making the "Zuni"-type German Pacific markings (see Gallery) for the wings and fuselage. Tail will have the pre-war type of black swastika in a white circle in a horizontal red band. I have two German "squadron badges" I am considering. One is the "Eismeer" badge that has, appropriately, a bold rising sun over the (Arctic) sea (but says "Eismeer" in the rising sun that I will have to eliminate if I use it); the other is a skewer through stacked cocades of various Allied aircraft (French, British, Russian, and American). I would carefully paint an orange triangle (Dutch) where the Russian star was if I were to use that (Japan was not at war with Russia). Seems more appropriate for a fighter aircraft (as indeed it was used as such in the real war) but I like the idea of "against all comers".

The Aichi 119 is shaping up!

[Zeke]

The poor old He119 is coming in for a right bashing lately isn't it?...sounds like yours is going to be far more work than mine was...good luck sir!...

As for the resin...yep, it's still major-league toxic, so the real answer is to use a mask when you work with it.

Looking forward to seeing some progress piccies when you get going please?...

[sequoiaranger]

In order to allow the all-resin propeller assembly to spin, I felt compelled to drill V-E-R-Y C-A-R-E-F-U-L-L-Y through the center of the four solid resin pieces that make up the prop and shaft. In the photo (curse the camera that wants to focus on the FLOOR in stead of the subject), the thing to the far left is the bulkhead and pilot's seat rest (upside down), then to the right is the shaft housing, then to the right is the butt end of the propeller spinner (formerly attached to the shaft housing but carefully sawed into a separate piece to attach properly to the spinner) and then the prop/spinner. The actual shaft I will use is stainless steel tubing that fits within a larger-diameter stainless steel tube. From previous experience this has proven to be a nearly frictionless mount, so I am optimistic. The end of the shaft farthest from the propeller spinner will be behind the bulkhead. Thus this Aichi 119 will have a propeller shaft VERY SIMILAR to the real thing (since the engine was located behind the cockpit bulkhead). Hey! REAL HISTORY in a whif! 

I think I am going to have to leave the flat clear piece at the front of the canopy so that the shaft housing has something to attach to, and just drill a hole in the clear piece for the shaft to go through. Resin-on-resin is almost friction-free, but as it looks now, the resin butt end of the prop spinner will be up against the flat clear piece. A little powdered Teflon should allow it to spin freely. I may also make a washer "flywheel" for this one so this old f*rt won't run out of breath trying to make it spin!

[sequoiaranger]

As if breaking up five+ models for this whif wasn't enough, I have added two more, or at least considered two more: the Lindberg 1/64 He-111 and the Faller 1/100 He-111.

I am still ruminating over how to present the top gunner's position and the radiator--the two excrescences that "mar" the beautiful, sleek lines of the He-119. We gotta be "practical" here, as this is a COMBAT aircraft that has to function well and reliably.

Originally I proposed to make the top gun position like the He-111--the curved glass at the front-open at the back kind of thing, and the radiator an under-belly style like the P-51 Mustang. I had 1/4-scale Mustang that had a wide radiator (for a 1/72-scale Aichi 119) that I cut up for the purpose, but it is constant-width and would require mega PSR to meld it with the tapering Aich-119 fuselage no matter where I put it. If I put it underneath, there is no room for the torpedo (the essence of the model---unless I skip that entirely and make it  "reece" plane) unless the radiator is WAAAAY back. In that scheme, it is interesting that when I put the 1/4-scale Mustang alongside the Aichi 119, the engines and radiators of both are in the same place relatively. Still, that would be a lot of piping for the Aichi 119, and would have to go past or around the top gun position (ain't much room in that slender fuselage). That would make TWO draggy excrescences on this "clean" airframe.

So I began thinking more of a dorsal position for the radiator, and blend that into the gunner's position for just ONE excrescence. The Mustang radiator housing upside down looked cool, like some of those top-mounted jet engines, but the dorsal part of the Aichi 119 is too rounded. Sigh.

We'll get back to the radiator/gunner thing in a moment. It seemed to me that the vertical stabilizer of the Aichi 119 was a little wimpy (nowhere near as big as the horizontal stabilizers), so I sought my old Faller 1/100 He-111 and found that its horizontal stabilizers would make good 1/72 vertical stabilizers, but noticed that even on the He-111 the vertical stabilizers were puny compared to the horizontal ones. So I dragged out my Italeri 1/72 He-111 (from which I had extracted the top gunner's position) for the vertical stabilizer and it seemed "right". So I cut that off, and cut off the Planet Models resin tail and now will use the Italeri one.

But....I noticed that the Italeri radiator-wheel housing under the wing was shaped JUST how I would have wanted my top radiator-and-gunner position to look. That is, the radiator was right behind the engine, so had the nacelle contours blended into the radiator, then taper back to a point near the center of the wing. The curvature of the nacelle was only slightly smaller than the Aichi 119, but then the dawn broke. WHAT IF that larger 1/64 Heinkel He-111 (from which my He-211 "Phoenix" rebuild would use the fuselage) wing had the right-sized radiator/wheel housing to fit the Aichi 119 fuselage??   **IT DID**!!! 

I have to "massage" the thing a little, but if I turned the top-gunner's glass around, it has the contour and width to blend into the back of the wheel housing. The "square" radiator is now faired into the curvature of the dorsal fuselage of the Aichi 119 and then an aerodynamic pod ends in the gunner's position. Voila! The result (below, if I can upload the picture---otherwise you'll have to use your imagination) is a "Space Shuttle" look (the now upside-down wheel well doors open up like the Space Shuttle--that may be the gunner's new entry hatch!).

I am having a lot of "hard fun" with all this. I hope it amuses you, too!

[Zeke]

Sounds good indeed...but we need some piccies!...

[sequoiaranger]

>Sounds good indeed...but we need some piccies!...<

Sorry to disappoint. I see that the recent return of the forum has not "solved" the photo upload problem. I guess (sigh) I will try "Photobucket" or something, but not in time for this post. I'm very disappointed in the Forum, but wutchagonnado?

Anyway, the weekend brought a top-mounted radiator and gun position to fruition. Cutting down the Lindberg He-111 nacelle sufficiently did the trick, and when combined with a turned-around He-111 top-gunner's Perspex, we have a winner! I made a custom twin MG, and now the Aichi 119 has a little cover toward the rear. This was a LOT of work and repeated cutting and re-shaping, but I think I "got it". The conic section leading up to the radiator from the fuselage will be declared "movable" vertically, enabling more or less air to get into the radiator instead of the radiator itself moving, and more or less aerodynamic. All is "test-fitted" but not in place. I need to make/paint a minimal interior for the rear gunners' position, paint and install the gunner and guns, and THEN will be able to seal up the fuselage. Luckily the entire cockpit is out in front of the model, and is a sub-assembly all its own, so I can close up the fuselage and get other things going to complete the airframe (for inspiration to finish, if nothing else).

I also made my "flying torpedo". The winged "cover" of the torpedo is none other than the top half of a 1/72 V-1. The Frog/Revell Ar-234 with V-1 was the source. The V-1 in question has full wings, but only half the fuselage. Perfect. The torpedo is partially recessed in the V-1. No pulse-jet or vertical stabilizer, so I put some small twin-tails on the ends of the rear horizontal stabilizers of the V-1. They protrude only slightly "up" but mainly down, like an upside-down B-25. The flying torpedo will be decked out in regular German markings (anything that flies has to be marked!). My Aichi 119 will have the old-style tail markings of red band, white circle and black swastika, and so will the V-1. I think it will look "cute" attached below the Aichi 119.

The radiator/gunner setup looks "cleaner" to me than the previously-proposed "regular" top gunner's position (a la He-111) and Mustang-style radiator scoop underneath.

I super-glued the solid resin wings on to each fuselage half independently. There is a beautiful, precise fit from the way the solid resin parts are engineered, but afterward when I put the fuselage halves together with their wings, the model-defined angles were a little off. The symmetry is beautiful, but I must widen the top of the fuselage to bring the wingtips down (ain't NO WAY that wing-wingroot bond is going to break with out a saw!). That's ok with me, actually. The top line from the canopy rearward is almost totally covered by the affixed radiator/gunner addition, so it won't be noticeable. I had previously test-fitted everything (including the split clear nose cone), so some adjustments might be needed, but I'm up to the challenge.

[sequoiaranger]

OK, here are the two "rare" models I had considered for use on the Aichi 119:


As it was, I didn't need the Faller one, but instead used something from a spare Italeri He-111. (The Faller kit is the only one I know of in 1/100 scale, but it is rather rough.) I photoshopped the "Falle_" part of a ripped box.

Now here is a pic of the roughly assembled top radiator and gunner addition. Mind you, this is an "old' picture--I reduced the height of the "green monster" considerably since the pic was taken, but the idea is there:


YAY!!! It worked! thanks to cthulhu77.

[cthulhu77]

Congratulations !!!  Glad it worked out for you, and it is neat seeing the pics !   

[sequoiaranger]

Not really picture-worthy, but I found that when the wings were put onto the fuselage halves (and they fit with virtually no seam) the wing angles, when seen from the front, were symmetrical, but the wrong angle (wing tips too far "up") so I had to put spacers in the top fuselage (.120--three sheets of .040--, tapering down to .020 near the rear fuselage) to bring down the wing angle. It worked, and I think adjusting everything else will be OK, too--just more work. Now I can proceed.

[sequoiaranger]

While "resting" my worked-over Aichi 119 (warm from the friction of all the sanding-down!), I completed my under-fuselage ordnance that the Aichi 119 will carry---my "Flying Fish" winged torpedo.

More details appear in the "Weapons, Real and Imagined" section here, but here is a teaser pic for y'all"

[PACOPEPE]

It´s beautiful, Craig; congratulations, but the colour; shouldn´t be sky grey/blue?.

Regards,
Fran

[sequoiaranger]

>It´s beautiful, Craig; congratulations, but the colour; shouldn´t be sky grey/blue?.<

I had thought of that, of course, but the weapon would be deployed for such a short time, and so close to the target, that camo would be irrelevant. The color (RLM Gray) is meant to be an ordnance color only. I mean, the torpedoes carried by real German aircraft were not painted to match the underside of the aircraft. Of course, the Fliegenfische is being CARRIED to the battle site underneath the mother aircraft, and is of significant proportions that so dark a patch of color on a lightly-painted underside might give it away, so you have a point. Hmmm. I *MAY* re-paint the wings of the beast, or "overspray" it with RLM 65 as a "local adjustment".

Here is a pic (slightly out of focus) of progress--I put the Italeri vertical stabilizer and top gunner's position in and PSR'd. You can see the white line down the top of the fuselage as the "spreader" to enable the proper wing dihedral. I have put "Rita" landing gear on, with aftermarket squashed main wheels. I have scraped off the four sets of built-in exhaust stubs, and will have collectors/pipes from a Roden He-111 in the appropriate places (underneath the fuselage, where two rows of exhaust stubs were right in the middle, the exhaust will now be spread out to allow for under-fuselage ordnance).


The photo doesn't have the top radiator setup and gunner glazing (some PSR drying) on it yet, but soon will have. I will have to paint the gunner, put in the seat/ring, machine gun assembly, drill out an opening in the glazing for the MG's, and put in some fine brass screen for the radiator opening, and then work on the cockpit/glazing/propeller module.

[sequoiaranger]

With few exceptions, all my model aircraft have pilots and/or crew in them. I just think it gives a little personality to the model, and a sense of scale. As we all know, model manufacturers these days seem reluctant to provide a pilot figure. Anyone who has a lot of the old Airfix/Frog and other such manufacturers' kits know the WIDE variety of both size and quality of pilot figures. Luckily I have enough decent pilot figures squirreled away to people the whifs I will likely make. Most especially, the crew figures from the Italeri He-111 are the creme-de-la-creme for me (highly detailed standing, sitting, and prone figures with separate arms come with the kit!).

I am now at the point in the Aichi/Heinkel 119 of crafting the pilot's compartment. It's complicated by the propeller assembly and the all-around canopy fit. I now realize just how SMALL that compartment is! The fuselage of the He-119 is wide enough (just barely) to squeeze in two figures side-by-side, even with the large propeller shaft housing. The "head room", however, is astonishingly small. That is, a "standard" pilot (estimated at 5'10") can't sit in the provided seat and still have his head in the cockpit--his entire head would have to be sticking out in the airstream. The fuselage HEIGHT at the pilot's compartment is about the same as, say, a FW-190, but WITHOUT the canopy bubble.

I had intended to have have a German pilot and a Japanese co-pilot in the cockpit (I already have a German top gunner), and had planned on a diminutive Japanese figure (roughly 4' 10" or so) just for grins. The Japanese figure fits comfortably in the seat provided. The German pilot does NOT. The model comes with a set of pedals for the pilot that would be usable by his KNEES given the distance provided. I dropped the model's seat down nearly to the floor of the cockpit, had to break off and re-attach the legs of the "sitting" pilot figure to make his legs stretch out instead of down, and will have to re-configure and scratch-build a new pedal setup commensurate with the pilot's height.

The above, and some PSR setbacks have delayed progress. I am also conflicted with resin kits--their simplicity and sturdiness are appreciated, but the necessity of using super-glues with their short working time is a bummer. Maybe others will not notice, but **I** notice some slight alignment problems that would not have occurred with styrene. With cyano-acrylates there is no time for scrutiny and adjustment. Maybe I will just chalk it up to sloppy "manufacturing tolerances" within the Japanese aircraft industry.

Anyway, here's a picture to show you the relative sizes. Note the fuselage bulkhead bottom is flush with the stick upon which the crew are sitting. I also have a double-sticky "pad" that the crew are sitting on so I can paint them easily without handling them. The height of the bulkhead is all there is! The "tall guy" is really the gunner, and had actually been downsized a bit to properly fit in the gunner's perspex (the Italeri figure has a separate torso). He wouldn't fit in the cockpit without further modification. The torso-less legs on the right are the revised pilot's legs I will have to use, and still I will have to downsize him to fit. I have discovered (and will use) the He-111's pilot setup with pedals and control column for the 119.

[sequoiaranger]

..a "Lacq Attack"!

I use lacquer thinner to clean my airbrush. It's more aggressive in cleaning out the crud, but it's also DEATH on plastic, melting it fairly quickly. I have even used it sometimes as a styrene bonding agent. Wouldn't you know it, I had all my styrene and resin parts out on my desktop, when the lacquer thinner bottle tipped and spilled. A tide of lacquer thinner washed over my parts!!! Luckily I had the presence of mind to forget about the resin parts (immune to lacquer thinner) and quickly grabbed my styrene parts. Too late for some, but BARELY in time for some others. I had a spare He-111 tailwheel to replace the "crazed" version:


The rear gunner's perspex ate it, too, but luckily I also had a spare of that one. Here is my cockpit module done, FINALLY. The German pilot has his Japanese co-pilot. WHAT A HASSLE trying to pre-fit everything in that cramped environment! I had to grind down and thin the cockpit opening and add thin tabs for attaching the thin canopy halves. I had to shave off the pilot's right arm and make it seem like it's just up against the shaft housing (and I painted a "glove" on the pilot's right thigh as if his hand were resting there). Notice the red firing button on the control horseshoe. You can see the dorsal radiator setup, and the "movable" conic section in front. The long "wire" is the propeller shaft that is attached behind the cockpit bulkhead so I can "pull" the module up against the front of the clear canopy when I get to that point. The engineering and "foresight" needed here is almost overwhelming.


The gunner (minus his arms, which will be up holding the machine gun, also missing here) is in place, and his perspex slides toward the rear on the rails. Note the humongous exhausts--sticking out a bit more than I had thought, but necessary for night attacks, and the larger Jumo engines that replaced the DB engines of the original Heinkel product.


So the project is moving along. LUCKILY the actual clear front canopy was oversized to begin with, or my adding space would have left a big gap. As it is, the clear canopy fits PERFECTLY. I know attaching the canopy will be tricky, as the cockpit module and the canopy need to be attached simultaneously, and things are very squirrely.  The round thing in the front of the cockpit module should glue itself to the canopy, leaving the "wire" (actually stainless-steel tubing) free to rotate. The base of the prop spinner will then attach to the "wire", and eventually, after painting, the prop and spinner will attach to that and....voila, a spinning prop! Eventually, it will look like this:


I worked on a Geschwader/squadron badge for this German-Pacific "Commando Marschall" and altered the "Eismeer" (Polar Sea) emblem to incorporate German and Japanese symbols in an island-and-sea context:


Hmm--the above image got yanked by Photobucket. A Swastika thing? Don't know why that one would get yanked and the huge swastika on the tail of my Aichi 119 would not. Go Figure! anyway, there is a rising sun, with rays, coming up over a sea full of islands. The rising sun has 9/10's of a black swastika (also rising) embedded in it, all on a "shield" shape.


A few more fiddly bits to attach, and I'm ready for....PAINTING!!!