Heinkel He 111

[Roy vd M.]

Matt, thank you very much for this! I've been searching quite a bit for workshop manuals but couldn't find any. Your post let me to the correct Google terms and turned me, among other things, to the invaluable following site: http://www.bredow-web.de/Sinsheim-Speyer/Heinkel_He_111/Heinkel_He_111_H-16/heinkel_he_111_h-16.html

[Roy vd M.]

Now the only thing I could really use is one of those workshop manuals. I see copies are available online but a PDF would work just as well. Don't think there are any copyrights on it so perhaps it's available somewhere; although extremely niche of course.

[Roy vd M.]

Wow....: http://www.deutscheluftwaffe.de/archiv/Dokumente/web/new%20site/frames2/Dokumente.htm

 

Time spent: 15H build 8H study

Edited February 28, 2014 by Roy vd M.

[Jimmyjet]

Awesome work!  Curious about the cockpit colour, unpainted? was it the standard grey?  I'm always amused by the complexity of the setup He III aircraft had, for raising the pilot seat and controls, so he could fly with his head basically out the canopy, going back to 1918 style!  Fascinating.  Great kit from Revell.  

[Roy vd M.]

The cockpit colour (plastic parts) was standard (light) grey indeed.

 

By the way I've looked through the above-linked site and it really is a gem for all those modellers who work on Luftwaffe aircraft. All kinds of manuals, add-ons etc. for the ME-262, BF109 and all the other less known planes. Really a treasure chest. Everything is downloadable.

[Roy vd M.]

A year ago I was very happy with the photoetch add-ons. Now however I intend to be more precise and I started to study the pics and the model thus far more carefully. There are a couple of things that need taken care of, listed hereunder. For those interested I'll add references to walk around-books of Squadron (page number + picture position) and Aero Detail (picture number). Beside these sources I also use internet material. Because of copyrights I won't paste them here. Best thing to do is Google "Heinkel He 111 cockpit" for pics.

 

1) Move and detail communication apparatus

Job: it should be moved forward (see picture @1) and can be detailed a bit more. On pictures it is seen that the box is actually positioned on the metal plate next to the steering column. 

Pics: AE 73, 80; SQ 10 left, 12 bottom left.

 

2) Move and detail apparatus to the right of pilot seat

Job: it should be moved forward (see picture @2) and detailed more. E.g. the switches on top can be made less flat. The three yellow levers have their own slots; etc. Pressure can should be painted probably another colour.

Pics: AE64, 65, 73. SQ 11 right, 16 left, 17 right, 22 bottom left.

 

 

3) Move and detail pilot seat + pedals + gauge

Job: everyone who takes a look at the cockpit notices that the pilot seat and the steering system are not aligned. See picture @3. Pictures of the real thing make clear that the seat and construction was mispositioned. The main reason for that is Revell made the seat flying up mechanism symmetrical which in reality isn't so. As seen on the picture, the green part will be removed. Some other parts of the base will be sanded to make it more realistic and fit better. The pedals will have to move along and the little gauge to the right of the pedals will be moved in between them. Furthermore some detailing can be done (which I really look forward to!).

Pics: AE 59, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 87, (90), 91, 97, 113! SQ bottom right, 10 left, 10 right, 11 bottom left, 18 right!, 19.

 

4) Widen, correct and detail left hand control panel, add oxygen system, remove left panel and install against fuselage

Job: see picture @4. The control panel is way too thin. Some levers should be lengthened (mainly engine throttles), others need ball knobs. The right panel needs to be removed and will be replaced by ribbed fuselage (see Nigel's thread). A lot of detailing can be done here. The oxygen system (Profi Modeller) can be built and installed.

Pics: AE 60, 65, 66, 69, 70, 72, (88). SQ 10 right, 11 top left, 13 bottom left, 13 bottom right, 17 left, 19 left.

 

 

5) Raise co-pilot seat

Job: for an unknown reason Revell made the seat much too low. It should be made more than twice as high! See photo @5.

Pics: AE 95, 96. SQ 20 left, 22 top left. 

 

6) Reform back wall

Job: make it more in line with (rare) pictures. Changes will be made to the spots highlighted with green on photo @6.

Pics: only one which I downloaded.

 

 

7) Deepen compass, paint white. Add handle. Rust bolts. Attach to fuselage, remove right panel. Add oxygen system and further detailing.

Job: as described above. See photo.

Pics: AE 78, SQ 9 top right, 9 bottom right, 20 left, 20 right.

 

 

8) Add MG15 cartridges

 

9) Add rivets

Pics: AE 42, 60, 64, 65, 70, 73. SQ 10 left, 17 right.

 

10) paint photo etch parts RLM02. Probably using hairspray method. Also paint the rest RLM02. Glue everything. 

Pics: AE 79, 80. SQ 18 top left, 18 bottom left.

 

11) weather seat belts and everything else. Washes / pigments etc.

 

Time spent build,plan,draw: 15H. Study: 8H

Edited February 28, 2014 by Roy vd M.

[Loic]

This cockpit looks great !!

Beautifull work

Edited January 3, 2014 by Loic

[Guest Peterpools]

AMAZING work .. just incredible

Peter

[Roy vd M.]

Work still has to be done eh

 

But thanks for the nice comments which I understand to regard the work already done.

[Loic]

Just "the idea" of reworking those parts to get closer to the real thing is great I think.

Going this road is a mind set I think and a starting point to further progress... (even if I appreciate OOBB too)

This said, the pit looks great as it is and that shows your skills

[Roy vd M.]

And so it goes... 

 

 

On the next pic you can see where all the elements used to be located. Most things were sawed off which worked perfectly with a razor saw. That way, no filling is necessary for the remaining holes. Certain parts were detached by loosening the connector pins. 

 

 

The next pic shows the steering column + raising construction. It clearly shows the alignment deficiency. 

 

 

This is going to be a looooooong thread LOL

 

Time spent build, plan, draw: 16H. Study: 8H

Edited February 28, 2014 by Roy vd M.

[Roy vd M.]

Going this road is a mind set I think and a starting point to further progress... (even if I appreciate OOBB too)

 

Very much so! And I am thrilled by the idea that I will make my own amendments. It's just a great feeling of being able to create something new and better. 

 

I've always wanted to do something with my hands and I've never been able to do that (working as a service provider, let's keep it at that) so you can imagine how I'm really enjoying this new thing for me.

[Loic]

I have been through that an I know the feeling... but be warned, once you started on this road, you can not go back 

 

If I may give a few advise: go one step at a time, take your time, run as many test as necessary before cutting/gluing and most important, have fun 

[ollieholmes]

This looks realy nice and is tempting me to build one now.

[Roy vd M.]

@Loic: "take your time" -> I did yesterday and today as you'll see hereunder. 

@Ollie: I'd recommend it, it's a fun kit to build. 

 

So yesterday and today I worked on the first job: move and detail of communication apparatus.

 

Job: it should be moved forward (see picture @1) and can be detailed a bit more. On pictures it is seen that the box is actually positioned on the metal plate next to the steering column. 

Pics: AE 73, 80; SQ 10 left, 12 bottom left.

Meanwhile I found a contemporary picture of this apparatus featuring a metal box cover for protection. This picture is in the communications manual "hell-FUBL2-He111" to be found on this site: http://www.deutscheluftwaffe.de/archiv/Dokumente/web/new%20site/frames2/Dokumente.htm (click "H"). As the remaining specimens don't have that covering and the manual is from 1942 (H-version, this plane is a P2-version) I'm not sure if it was ever in a P2-plane. Because it looks better without, the choice was easy. 

 

On to work! First task was to make a curve in the board on which the communicator rests. I only found out that it was curved while studying images of the communicator itself. In fact, it bridges the curvature. The model board consists of two layers: a Revell part that looks like a barbecued and grilled guinnea pig and an Eduard thin sheet cover. I did away with the photo etch part because it has no added value and the riveting is wrong and recessed. Rivets will be added later. 

 

 

Second task was to make a drawing based on the 5 available pictures. 

 

 

First piece of Evergreen (#117 stripes, cut) was cut and positioned against the front. 

 

 

 

The '3' part was really narrow:

 

 

Cutting:

 

 

 

From here I abandoned the use of liquid poly for main glueing purposes. I kept using it for side tasks. The problem is that it eats away part of the precisely cut parts. In this very case it turned out to be beneficial, but that was mere luck. Better to use Slo-Zap CA.

 

The 'roof' was made of one pre-scribed and folded plastic part. Once more I could use the liquid poly to make the bend sharper. 

 

 

Here the final form plus its two wall pieces:

 

 

[to be continued]

Edited January 4, 2014 by Roy vd M.