BoB Heinkel He 112-E

[JayBee]

This is my late entry into this GB.
I had initially not intended to enter this build but circumstances changed.
I found this model, the old Heller He-112B, on a second hand traders stand at SMW, and I bought it as I had built this kit a good number of years ago when it first came out. I did a RW Spanish Civil War example, and I liked the model. So this one was bought purely for memories sake. I do have to say it is still a pretty nice little model.
Having bought it I had no plans for it what so ever.

Then about a week after SMW I had a thought that I could maybe do it for this GB, and I even had an idea as to what I wanted to do.
So, start searching for the markings that I needed.
Problems with the big H's minimum order price meant that I could not order the one transfer sheet that I needed, but then "Army of One" came to the rescue and helped me out.

Right, so here we go.

The model is built almost OOB, the only obvious change is the propeller which has been changed from the two blader in the kit to a three blader.

I needed the three blade unit and the spinner, so I had to obtain a kit that had that, also I wanted to not have the cannon firing through the spinner (wait for the back story, all will be revealed).
The only kit that I could remember that had the pointed spinner was (I think) the Hasegawa one,  and there was not much chance of getting that in a hurry, and at a reasonable price.
Then I found the Airfix new mould kit starter set. This had the distinct advantage of having the correct paints as well. Very necessary, as I did not have all the colours in my stash.

My first thoughts were that the propeller in the Airfix kit looks a little bit "light weight" then I found one in my spares that just had that little bit more "something".
The one on the left is the Airfix one, I have no idea what kit the other came from.





Then it was a matter of modifying the spinner from the Airfix kit so that it did not have the opening for the cannon.

First glue a piece of plastic rod into the spinner.





Then build up the tip of the spinner with a suitable filler. In this case I used Isopon P38, a vehicle body filler that sets quickly, hard, and is easy to sand.





Once the filler is set I mounted it into the chuck of my Dremel mini-drill. I added a backplate of plasticard so that it would remain sitting true when being worked on.





Then a quick bit of sanding using progressively finer gardes of sanding sticks.








Then glue the bits of the whole unit together.





The only other change that was made to the model was that I used the wheels from the Airfix kit. There is nothing wrong with the kit wheels but the Airfix ones have a really nice tread pattern and they are "weighted".
The other change was the markings, and these came from a Techmod sheet of BoB Messerschmitt Bf 109-Es.
One little bit of advise about Techmod transfers, the time it takes for the transfer to release from the backing paper can be measured in seconds and micro-seconds.
The smaller ones were put in the warm water for about two seconds, I kept a hold of them with the tweezers, lifted them out and the transfer had already released from the backing sheet.

Backstory and photos in the next couple of days.

[PR19_Kit]

For a moment I was thinking that you were just entering the PROP in the GB Jim............. 

Looking forward to the rest of it now.

[NARSES2]

Nice work on the prop/spinner Jim

[JayBee]

The backstory;


Adolf Galland's Heinkel He 112-E. Caffiers, France, 1940.


In the mid 1930's the Luftwaffe held a competition for a new single seat fighter.
Four companies submitted entries, Arado with the Ar-80, Focke Wulf with the Fw-159, Heinkel with the He 112, and Messerscmitt with the Bf 109.

It was obvious from the start that the Heinkel and Messerscmitt designs were far superior to the other two.
In the end it was the superior performance of the Heinkel design, as well as the outstanding appraisal by the service testing pilots that gave the prize to Heinkel.
Messerscmitt were allowed to offer their design for export.

The first model that was built was the He 112-A. Only a small number of these were built as they were to be used as development prototypes.
The He 112-B was an improved version, being lighter, more aerodynamic, and with better armament comprising of two fuselage mounted 7.92mm MG 17 machine guns and two 20mm MG FF canon in the wings. It was this version that was used in the Luftwaffe's competition.
The He 112-C was the first full production version for the Luftwaffe, and was, apart from a few minor detail changes, the same as the B.
The He 112-D was a proposed export version.
The He 112-E was the next main production variant and the main change was an uprated engine which necessitated the use of a three bladed propeller. By the time of the Battle of Britain all front line Luftwaffe fighter squadrons were equipped with this variant.

[PR19_Kit]

That's very 'different' Jim, and I'm pleased you found all the bits to follow behind the prop. 

Nice work there. 

[Weaver]

Nice to see a 112 make it to the finish line! 

[The Wooksta!]

Just needs some RLM 04 Gelb on the cowling to look the part.

[zenrat]

Good job Jim.

[dumaniac]

nice build

[Army of One]

I gotta agree with Wooksta......i think a yelliw nose would look awesome......great decals and a smashing build n finish.....i have a later Galland a/c featured in my Lightning build

[JayBee]

Ah but it was the red Griffon marking that I wanted and AFAIK that aircraft never had the yellow nose and rudder.

[Dizzyfugu]

Pretty! I like the clean look of this one - without a yellow cowling and rudder, and also without mottles on the flanks.

[The Wooksta!]

Ah but it was the red Griffon marking that I wanted and AFAIK that aircraft never had the yellow nose and rudder.

Erm, it's a whif!

[JayBee]

Yes indeed Lee, but in this case it is the airframe that is the WhatIf. The colour scheme and markings are RW perfect.
It is a bit of subterfuge that I learned from a master whose Spitfire was absolutely RW apart from the one extra kill marking that the real one never carried. 

[NARSES2]

Come out really well Jim.

Yes indeed Lee, but in this case it is the airframe that is the WhatIf. The colour scheme and markings are RW perfect.

That's what I like doing as well