A Pair of He-100's...Sort of

[sequoiaranger]

>Yup I remember those days with fondness. Still got and use some of sheets I bought back then from BMW's in Wimbledon<

...you really *ARE* an old fa*t, aren't you!!! 

[NARSES2]

>Yup I remember those days with fondness. Still got and use some of sheets I bought back then from BMW's in Wimbledon<

...you really *ARE* an old fa*t, aren't you!!! 

Guilty on both counts 

[sequoiaranger]

Back from my week-long Alaska trip.

Trying to get it "right" (that's what "painting dummies" are for), I changed the black-green squiggles of post reply #22 to dark blue, and made them thinner. The underlying paint seems a little more blue in this pic than the "sea-green" it is (also, my "Aichi 119" is partially painted this color, as is my "Jinpu-Kai"). I extended (crude paint) the white-outline Balkenkruez on the near wing to give the look I want on the final, non-dummy FMA-100.



I now have my pilot(s) painted--the combat pilot (FMA-100T) in Luftwaffe blue-grey; the Heinkel factory pilot (He-100D) in black. Now I can insert them into the cockpits, seal them up, and begin the long-awaited "decoration" phase.

[NARSES2]

Every time I look at this I think Slovak AF

[sequoiaranger]

>Every time I look at this I think Slovak AF<

Close, indeed:



Now all I have to do is ammend the backstory to make a SLOVAKIAN aircraft carrier appear in the Pacific!!  

Let's see....float 'er down the Danube to the Black Sea. When the Eye-ties capture Suez she puts into the Arabian Sea and heads East....SURE! No Problem!!  

[NARSES2]

Well just say that the Czech Legion stayed in Eastern Siberia in 1918/1919 instead of fighting it's way up the Trans Siberian Railway and formed a couple of colonies on the Pacific seaboard. One mainly Czech the other mainly Slovak 

[sequoiaranger]

I have the decals on (tribulations galore) and gun-barrels mounted. Japanese as well as "German". (Oops--will do the yellow ID stripes and underwing crosses later). I will darken the topsides with dark-blue squiggles or blotches. Spinner will be black with white rings (done with slow-mo drill turning whilst applying brush). GETTING THERE!

[sequoiaranger]

My semi-simultaneous builds recently concentrated on the "real world" He-100D. I now have the underside RLM 65 Weissblau, had the topside RLM 71 Dunkelgrun, and LABORIOUSLY masked that off for the RLM 70 Schwartzgrun. The top of the wings and fuselage will be the "official" pattern, as described in the Karl Reis books, but the excruciating intracacies of trying to mask the fuselage sides "properly" had me "faking it". But it *IS* a "splinter" pattern, all right! (Compare to Hartke's profile in original post.) Seems, though, that the low contrast between greens makes it really look like ONE green anyway from any distance. Don't know why Germany bothered with the two colors.

The MPM kit instructions for paint has merely solid RLM 70 Schwartzgrun on top. I cannot find *ANY* corroborating reference for that (woulda been much simpler). Thus the much more complicated splinter pattern.

The Balkenkruez' as given are also incorrect for the top wing and fuselage, NOT having the black outline outside the white, and not having the narrow white parts on the top wing (though, in truth, I have found photos of both styles on wing tops on these phony "operational" aircraft).

I am awaiting a tiny swastika decal for the tail, courtesy of "JayBee".

[sequoiaranger]

I had a VERY STRANGE feeling come over me as the port-side decals of my He-100D were being put on. The white # 21 and the b/w emblem of a "Sword through Churchill's Hat" stirred something. Ever since I was a boy of 13, having visited Britain and read about the "He-113" encountered in the Battle of Britain (false report, but something the Germans hoped to achieve) and doing some research, I have wanted to model *THIS* particular aircraft, in *THESE* particular markings!! Folks, that is *FIFTY YEARS*!

Usually when a long-drawn-out project like this (these, actually, along with the FMA-100T) gets near the end, I am "weary" of the process and a little cranky. I found myself in this case beaming involuntarily and uncontrollably. My very first "conversion", way back in the mid-60's before Lindberg came out with their He-100, was a crude He-100 "facsimile" from an old Revell Hien (shortened) fuselage and who knows what wings. (Shortening a tapered fuselage produced a noticeable "step" in the fuselage, but I didn't care so much back then!). The result did actually RESEMBLE a He-100, but I see now that it was way too large (the He-100 being a diminuitive aircraft!). When the Lindberg He-100 came out I already "had" one, so I made this "new" one a fictional carrier aircraft, my very first "whif". The more I studied the He-100 the more ideas I had. I obtained the at-the-time "new" Hasegawa Ki.61 Hien and put its "proper Heinkel nose" on a Lindberg He-100, shortened the wings, made a new, sleek canopy, and made the 1939 world record-holder (V8) version. Others came along (I think I have made 8 He-100's), and then MPM came out with an "accurate" version (or so I thought at the time). *NONE* of those have given me the endorphin rush that this current project has!!



But...I have now found that the MPM suggested paint scheme and decals are "inaccurate" (and unfortunately, the tiny swastika is off-register and un-usable). I chided Lindberg in my mind for making the "Sword through Churchill's Hat" emblem the same for both sides, instead of "handed" as I "knew" them to be from illustrations in reference books. Took a lot of research and careful eye-balling of photos, but turns out Lindberg was right (the reference book was WRONG!)--the hat tilts upward to the right wherever it appears. Luckily I had two MPM kits, and have taken the "proper" emblems to put on my present subject.

[NARSES2]

So a 50 year project comes to fruition ? Well done mate, looks good 

[sequoiaranger]

The long-standing single reference (for decades) for the He-100/He-112 was Aero Publisher's #12 booklet. (I suspect that was the reference that MPM used for their suggested decoration page of their instruction sheet.) In there is a "nice", two-page, 1/48 three-view drawing of a He-100D, "my" #21 propaganda fighter. In this illustration, the top color is overall Black-green (no splinter or two-tone green), the side Balkenkruez is merely a black cross with a wide white outline (no further thin black outline), and the "Sword Through Churchill's Hat" emblem tilts up to the *LEFT* (on the exposed port side---the overhead view has the "handed" emblem with the starboard emblem tilted up to the right).

NOW....a careful study OF THE PHOTOGRAPHS IN THAT SAME BOOK shows distinctly that *THIS* particular aircraft did indeed have splinter camo, that the side Balkenkruez indeed had the thin black outline, AND that the emblem ALWAYS had the hat tilted up to the right!!!

*WHERE* did the illustrator get his "model" for his illustration?? Why did he try to trick *ME*

If my selection of colors/markings had been questioned at a contest, I could have proudly held up the Aero illustration as "proof", but would have been humbled by any other astute observer who looked closely at the actual photographs therein.

HARRUMPH!!

[Logan Hartke]

"Didn't I warn you not to trust anybody," Dr. Ranger?



Seriously, though, I'm the "rivet-counting whiffer".



With the exception of the spurious shield in place of the Churchill hat marking and some humorous text elements, I can say that my profile is the probably the most accurate one that I've ever seen.  I know you showed it on the first post of the thread, but you could have used it as a reference for everything but the dagger & hat.  I honestly agonize over those photos for hours before deciding to tweak it slightly for my own purposes.

That reminds me.  It may be time to get back to profiling...

Cheers,

Logan

[sequoiaranger]

Logan Hartke...>I can say that my profile is the probably the most accurate one that I've ever seen.  I know you showed it on the first post of the thread, but you could have used it as a reference for everything but the dagger & hat.<

Yes. I agree.     When I saw YOUR profile, I began to doubt and question the "reference" I had, and I looked closer at photographs, etc.  It seemed odd to me that there WOULDN'T be the 70/71 splinter camo, as I had only heard of training units, or some Polish front units having all black-green tops. And the switch to no-outer-black-outline to the fuselage Balkenkruez came much later than 1940 (1942, I believe).

May I "pick your brain" for a few other details? Mainly the various "maintenance" markings that appear as "light-colored" circles, near-circles, or "badges" in various places.

You show the "circles" on either side of the big white number as YELLOW. Have you any reference for the yellow color?  All the b/w photos I have seen, except one, show those marks the same "tint" as the white outline of the Balkenkruez or the number. The only known color photograph of a line-up of He-100's shows those markings as WHITE. (To be fair, the yellow 87 octane triangles on the wings also appear "white".) The caption I have for that photo indicates speculation that the "color" photo *MIGHT* originally have been b/w and tinted. There is much "yellow" tint in the photo elsewhere, but the markings are white. Even the latches to the top cowling appear "tan" or yellowish. Why would a "tinter" bother to yellow those and leave the maintenance markings white if they were yellow? Could they be "natural metal"?

Just trying to use logic here.

On the starboard side of the fuselage, on the cowling, just to the right of the emblem, is a truncated circle, then there is a "badge" near the nose. Any idea what colors THOSE are? Again, they appear to be "white" in the b/w photos I have.

I have the "new" He-100 Record Breaker In Detail book by Erwin Hood, and the Schiffer vol 52 by Dabrowski. The color cover illustration of the Dabrowski book shows the portside maintenance markings as white. The Hood book color illustration on P. 80 has the near-circle seeming natural metal, and the circle a pale yellow(??). I know all the markings have small lettering inside them, too, making color determination difficult.

The pins indicating landing gear in the "down" position are usually typically red, yet in all the b/w photos I've seen of the He-100 they are VERY BRIGHT--natural metal or maybe even white(?)

Any "advice" or knowleges shared would be appreciated.  

[Logan Hartke]

Sure, I'll give you my ideas from when I did the profile.  First of all, I'm an amateur as much as anyone.  I have no great reasons for any of these, they're just hunches.

Next, the aircraft was probably painted by Heinkel factory workers at the request of Goebbels or like-minded cronies.  In other words, the normally anal-retentive Luftwaffe was likely not involved in the painting of these aircraft.  Want proof?  The swastika's in totally the wrong place.  It hadn't been painted on the rudder for years and even then it was centered on the vertical tail.  In short, painting the swastika in the middle of the rudder was non-standard, especially at that time.  Want more proof?  Look at the Balkenkreuze on the wings.  They're all sorts of goofy.

What does that mean?  Don't worry too much about the RLM regulations for painting aircraft in this case, because the original painters weren't looking at them.  It's like doing a model or a profile of a movie plane.  The markings are probably wrong, so just try to get as close as you can to the photo because the regulations weren't consulted when they were painted.





If that's the case, then why bother with the 70/71 splinter like I did?  Well, what kind of paint do you think they had on hand?  They probably walked over to the He 111 production line, borrowed a few cans of paint, then just never brought them back.

So, now that that's out of the way, what color are the little things?  I don't know.  I'm guessing.  I honestly agree with the "tinting" theory and think that we don't have a legitimate color photo of the He 100 anywhere.  This was a propaganda shoot.  They took dozens of photos at that event, many of which still survive.  All of them are black and white...except for the full page photo in Der Adler.  I don't think that's a coincidence.  I think that was colorized at the printer's.  In short, I don't trust them too much.  I think the tinting was done on a different day in a different place by someone who had never seen those He 100s in person.  So we can't even trust the one color shot we have?  No, I don't think we can.

Alright, fair enough.  Why yellow?  Why not...?  Seriously, though, again it's a guess based on the photos.  If you look at page 62 in Hood's book, he thinks that was a filler cap for a fuel tank (though he admits he's not sure, either).  Since fuel markings were yellow, I made it yellow. To my eyes, in the photos with the best fidelity, the circles appear darker than the closest white thing to them, the number.  Take a look at the photos on 63, 78, and 80, especially.  It may not be yellow, but I SURE don't think it's white, either.  Where it appears white, I think it's just a higher contrast in the particular photo.

As for the stuff on the starboard side, I don't remember, but I know that I didn't give them too much thought since profilers care about the right side of planes about as much as NASCAR drivers think about turning right.  If you look at page 64, though, I don't think they look white, at least not to my eye.  I remember thinking that at least one of them would be light blue, but I don't remember why.  I think I got that idea from some 109 walkaround like the Swiss one below.  At least one was for the coolant up front.  You can read that on page 64.  My general rule was to look at what color the Luftwaffe actually painted markings to indicate what function they served.  While the shapes and sometimes the wording was slightly different, I was running with the assumption that the colors were similar, but that's pure conjecture.



You also mentioned the latches.  I honestly think they were gray or natural metal.  You can tell they weren't painted dark green, at least on some planes.  Look at pages 78 & 79 for proof.  So, why did I make them bronze?  That's the way it was in the colorized photo and I thought it looked cooler than dull gray.

Cheers,

Logan

[The Wooksta!]

There was no air force that had so many rules about their camo and painting and no air force ignored them so thoroughly as the Luftwaffe.