Heinkel He 111

[Roy vd M.]

Just a photographic update of what I'm currently doing. Also serves as proof that I've completely lost it. 

 

On the right: already amended Eduard. On the left: scratch template. 

 

[Roy vd M.]

The above actually wasn't a lot of work at all. Just use the original as a template. There are multiple reasons why I'm replacing Eduard's bomb racks. I'll tell them when I'll describe the build, later on. None of them imply that Eduard's set is bad, it's actually a huge improvement to the kit's. 

 

Small trophy for me is also the fact that just now, after many attempts and not really succesful results, I have achieved a satisfactory "keyhole". I'll also describe what the eventual solution was later. Compare the arrowed keyholes in both the Eduard 'original' which is true to the real life original, and my copy.

 

The red arrows indicate the failed attempts to nicely add keyholes to the Eduard piece (not sure why Eduard didn't include the 2 lower keyholes).

 

 

Time spent building, planning, drawing: 47H. Studying: 40H.

 

Edited February 28, 2014 by Roy vd M.

[Jamme]

Wow!

Beautiful and interesting build.

Congrats,

Jamme

[Roy vd M.]

Thanks Jamme! Every compliment you guys give me improves my motivation

Edited February 19, 2014 by Roy vd M.

[Roy vd M.]

I've been doing a lot of reading in (mainly) German magazines about modeling. At the end of each German article the authors give an indication of the time it cost them to build a respectively reviewed kit. I thought 'well that's a good idea' so I added the information throughout this thread, mainly for my own informative purposes. Hopefully it'll give those who are interested an idea of how much time is actually spent. 

 

Right now I'm in the finishing stadium of making a 2:1 drawing of a bomb rack shell (oh yes and we just returned from London where we photographed the real deal). Many drawings re. the bomb racks have already been finished. It seems that I'm almost at the end of my preparation and I'll eventually be able to build the racks. Isn't that something. I'll write an extensive report of my research when I'm ready. 

 

It's strange to see that I've almost spent 100 hours in total with regard to this build and its preparation, consisting of 52 hours of building, planning and drawing, and 42 hours of studying of the Heinkel He 111.... and the only thing that's finished is one bulkhead basis (I'll post a picture later) and one scratchbuilt piece of machinery (see http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=526974). 

 

Hope the rest of the build will go a bit faster

 

After certain posts I'll add the 'time-spent-info' like this:

 

Time spent building, planning, drawing: 52H. Studying: 43H.

[Roy vd M.]

Time for a small picture update. 

 

See hereunder the three different versions of the bomb rack I have now (scratch part under construction). Compare with the picture below. The Eduard version is too low and the side gaps are too wide and slightly too low. Furthermore the rivets were not positioned correctly.

 

The Revell version looks silly in comparison with the Eduard and the original, but that's just the front. Nobody knows why they made the top hole larger than the eight lower holes. But I have a faint idea why the holes are divided along the full height: the designer had forgotten that appr. 1/3 of the rack is not visible because of the flooring. To give Revell a break: the bomb rack side is actually more realistic than Eduard's (!). 

 

As you can see I have made a brass part for one bomb rack unit rather than a row of 4. Several reasons which I'll describe later. 

 

 

Time spent building, planning, drawing: 58H. Studying: 43H.

[Roy vd M.]

Scratchbuilding a Heinkel 111 bomb bay - part 1

 

So I have to write this now otherwise I'll forget things. From the 18th of January till now I've been in the preparation and base-making of the scratchbuild of the bomb racks. The research has been great fun and now I can finally have a go with the brass it gets even better. I'll do a step by step narrative of the things I did. A lot of text, a lot of pictures, a lot of my own drawings. I hope you can bear with me. If you're running out of patience at any point, think of the blooper that's sure to be described in the next couple of paragraphs. Here we go!

 

At first I just wanted to detail the Eduard bomb bay. I didn't have the correct measures of the real deal and there was no direct need to make them super nice, because both bomb racks would be in the plane (where they wouldn't be very well visible. Still I wanted them to be as good as reasonably possible. 

 

First thing I did was to write a step-by-step plan. Main problem was going to be: how to paint the inside of the bomb racks? I can't just construct it and then paint it afterwards, because the airbrush wouldn't by any means be able to reach all the spots in the desired density. Especially when trying to use the colour modulation I imagined I'd attempt. 

 

At one point I received a LOT of documentation, the Luftfahrt-Archiv compendium DVD consisting of 3.300 manual and other pages with loads of info re. the bomb system and many pictures. For the first time I had clear views of the bays from several angles and with all the accessories belonging to the racks (fuse wires, distribution boxes, receivers etc. etc.). So I started to read the manuals that specifically regard the bomb systems (and the MG15s). It took me quite a bit of time (although the use of German language in the manuals was quite basic and forgiving). I wanted to know how the system (from battery and bomb switch via regulator through the cables to the unlocking mechanism and the bomb fusing) would have functioned. Only then would I be able to recreate this as close to reality as reasonably possible. Specifically was I interested in how the electrical lines ran and what they were for. As there are no real life examples of those fragile objects left, the pictures in the manuals proved invaluable to me. 

 

After studying the manuals I took a couple of days to printscreen-select (Mac: Cmd+shift+4) every picture of the bomb bay I could find. Not only in the two bomb system manuals but throughout the whole compendium. I had collected quite a few pics during the last year but now I had loads and loads more. Also, before, I had made camera pictures of the walkaround books mentioned in my first post and I had sorted them as well. Each picture was copied in one or more of the following maps:

 

1. Bomb bay general / drawings / plans;

2. Zielschacht (where the bomber would lie, looking down);

3. Kursvisir (the apparatus for the pilot to see where he should be flying, operated by the bomber);

4. Bomb switches + cables;

5. Emergency bomb dropping system;

6. Bomb loading system;

7. Bomb racks overall view + top;

8. Bomb racks / floors bordering;

9. Bomb racks lower view + upward inside view + bomb doors opening system;

10. Other bomb types + Schlossplatten (e.g. 50KG adapters) + camera system.

 

For the bomb racks I've been working on I've used and will use maps 1, 4, 5, (6,) 7, 8 and 9. 

 

Several pictures belonged in more than one map. The total number of pictures in all maps (including Guttorm's pictures and those I found on the web and including the doubles) counts a little over 500. It was a lot of work but now when I want to take a look at one specific part of the bomb system I just go to that specific map. I also have maps for the other parts of the plane (such as wings, cockpit, landing gear etc. etc., but more of that *much* later). 

 

Time for some pictures. Here the cleaning of the Eduard parts. 

 

1.

 

Next picture: one part is in position (actually the lower internal piece should not be installed if a 250KG bomb is to be placed; the piece is an adaptor for the 4x50 bombs. Eduard's instructions do not make that clear.):

 

2.

 

A bit of raised rivet testing: 

 

3.

 

It was my original intention to simply place the raised rivets over the recessed ones on the Eduard part. A raised rivet is slightly bigger than an Eduard recessed one so it should have worked okay. I had discovered however that on the inside of a real bomb rack there are almost no rivets. On the Eduard part unfortunately, there were. I feared a lot of CA-glueing -> sanding to fill all those holes. Soon I found that there the four inner corners of each rack were covered by angled strips of metal (probably to cover the rivets, to make the inside of the bomb bays smoother and less prone to damaging the bomb wings, plus perhaps to hold the rack together. Reproducing those strips would not only be realistic but would also solve the unwanted-rivet-problem (At that point I had noticed that Eduard's exterior riveting didn't fully represent the real riveting but I thought that such was a necessity because of limited space. Now I know Eduard's side wall 'strips' are too narrow so accurate riveting is indeed possible, either recessed or raised). The same covering up-principle of the inside of the bomb rack applies to the middle parts of each rack wall. There the Eduard part had recessed rivets as well, and there should be strips also. Problem solved, mainly. 95% of the wrong rivets covered, 5% left to fill.

 

More things to fill: the outside slits meant to position the unused 50KG bomb adaptor part and other thingies. First I used Vallejo putty but eventually I used CA glue. Any other filler would, I think, not be able to permanently fill the holes at the sides at about 2/3 of each side of the octagonal holes in the side walls. On the next picture you can see the white CA glue fillings in those parts, after some careful 3d sanding. You can also see the holes for the 50KG-dividers (a cross of plates that was inserted from below if 50KG bombs were to be carried). On its imaginary previous flight my Heinkel had carried 8 250 KG-bombs so no dividers would have been installed. So those openings (the 8 vertical slits below the octangular holes) were to be filled as well.  

 

4.

 

Here's a view of the bomb rack in situ:

 

5.

 

I tried to imitate the keyholes with a Proxxon machine bearing an 0.80mm drill and thereafter a 0.85mm drill. The long thin side of the hole was very hard to try to recreate. The results were slightly disappointing. 

 

6.

 

Here's a first set of corner L-strips (later on I would make narrower ones). I cut them from a beer can and then bent them with a photoetch bending tool. 

 

7.

 

Plenty of room left for the bomb with 2 strips in place:

 

8.

 

However the bomb was a bit too long, as can be seen on the next picture. This is the first time I see this picture in over a month and I remember that at that time I was wondering how and why this was to be. And why the bomb fuse connectors couldn't be placed at the right height (compared to original footage). Now I know that the Eduard bomb bay just wasn't tall enough (bomb length issue) and hat the octangular hole wasn't positioned correctly in the Eduard bomb rack (fuse connector issue). As there will be no bombs in any of the bombs bay on the finished model, I didn't consider it to be a dealbreaking issue but still it bothered me somehow. Now that I know the reason why it didn't fit I feel better.

 

9.

 

Getting back to the keyhole drilling. First I thought there were no keyholes in the internal parts, as they couldn't be seen on any picture. So I actually took the effort to filling them up. That's an error. There are keyholes in every front and back wall of every bomb rack unit (they seem to be there for the purpose of holding some internal -removable- construction as well as the 50GK adapter). So having cured my ignorance I reopened the glue-filled keyholes (the ones above) and drilled another couple below, just as I did with the front and back of the big Eduard part. This time I tried to use a purposely-built guide for the drilling, to be seen in the hereunder picture. To no avail, unfortunately. The hole of the guide eroded quickly and the power of the Proxxon drill is just too great to handle well. 

 

10.

 

More to follow. 

Edited March 3, 2014 by Roy vd M.

[Guest]

AWESOME.... Harv

[Roy vd M.]

Thanks Harv!

[Roy vd M.]

Scratchbuilding a Heinkel 111 bomb bay - part 2

 

Upon later inspection I noticed that the corner strips were too wide. So I made new ones, 32 in total (4 for each unit).

 

First, take a beer can. Cut off the top and the bottom. Try to loose the curvature. Then cut a strip that has a width equal to the height of the strips-to-be. Then cut one slice of exactly the desired width. Use that as the model for all the others. Secure the large strip into a photo etch tool (Hold & Fold, The Small Shop, large version), leaving a visible part equal to the example. Between Hold & Fold and the large strip, another piece of beer can is positioned. That piece serves as protection for the Hold & Fold against cuts. When the two items are safely in place, use a hobby knife to scribe three times along the border.

 

1. 

 

Then, unscrew the H&F and reposition the almost-cut-off newly made part in the H&F at its side, as seen in the next picture. Then, simply bend the source up, down, up and it will snap loose. 

 

2.

 

After cutting off a series of these strips, again secure one in the H&F, slightly off the middle of the strip. Take the large H&F bending knife, slide it below the strip, bend it 45%, then turn the bending knife with the dull side down, finally push forcefully and sharply against the strip to further bend it to 90%. This proved, for me (after a bit of testing), the best way to do this. If done very carefully, the cornering will be crisp and the width of both strip bodies will be about the same. If there is a deficiency, scrap it and start anew. It's not much work. 

 

See on this picture a couple of readily bent strips (left) and unbent strips (right).

 

3.

 

Ready! See the cornering in the profile I hold between my fingers.

 

4.

 

After this work I decided it was probably better to scratch build my own bomb racks than to fill all Eduards's external rivet holes. At this point I had already figured out that the external riveting wasn't really what I wanted to keep. I also had seen the differences between the octagonal holes in the real deal and the Eduard part.

 

Some preliminary brass testing:

 

5.

 

I also eventually found a solution to the 'keyhole drilling' problem. First, exactly mark with a scratching pen where the 'big hole'should be. Mount a 0.8mm drill in a regular knife holder. Spend the next couple of months drilling the hole at the designated spot (be aware not to bend your drill!). After that, make a 0.3mm hole just above the larger one. After that, use the 0.3mm drill to 'saw' through the metal between both holes. Finally, use a 0.85 mm drill to widen the first hole. Done!

 

Here you have the (realistic) Eduard keyhole next to the scratched keyhole. Finally I'm happy with it!

 

6. 

 

After sorting all the photographs and reading the bomb system manuals I made a drawing indicating the several items to be found in a bomb rack's interior. This really was a search and it was a lot of fun. The following drawing is the result. The most work was to establish where all the cables ran. The green cables are fuse ignition, the blue regard the bomb release mechanism. Looking backward, it's simple. But it took me about 5 hours to figure it all out and to get to this drawing. 

 

7.

 

Preliminary overview of things to build:

 

8.

 

Then came the solution about the "we can't see the interior detailing"-issue. I decided to show the plane in a diorama of a hangar where it is in the process of being reconverted from P2 to P3 (trainer). One bomb bay series would have already been dismantled, the other one would still be in place. At first I wanted to depict a 4-in-a-row-rack detached version but then I decided against it. I'd carve each individual unit. 

 

To decide which bomb bay to dismantle (left or right) I took a look at the details I really wanted to show. Would I want the viewers to peek inside from the right or from the left of the plane? As the radio room with all those details is on the left side, I eventually chose to view from the right side. So the plane nose would be at the right side of the viewer. Therefore the right bomb racks will be removed. Looking through the bomb room window one will be able to see the left bomb racks and the sliding doors. As the bomb racks are mirrored (!) this was very relevant for me to be aware of and take into account.

 

So another drawing, option 3 is the final choice.

 

9.

 

More to follow.

Edited March 4, 2014 by Roy vd M.

[Iain]

Superb!

 

Need to make some bomb cells for my Ju52 at some point - this is great inspiration 

 

Iain

[Roy vd M.]

Thanks Iain, very nice of you to say! 

 

If you want to reread the bomb bay build step by step without having to go through all of this thread, please take a look at the index that I added to the first post.

 

Up till now it looks like this:

 

1. General

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=532968 (RLM colours on the 111)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=533293 (RLM colours on the 111)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=533460 (overview of remaining 111)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=532219 (doors in or out?)

 

2. Cockpit up to and including 1st bulkhead

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=526418 (cockpit in general)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=526571 (cockpit in general)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=526968 (communicator scratch build)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=526972 (communicator scratch build)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=526974 (communicator scratch build)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=528979 (bulkhead mod)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=529211 (Master Details cockpit set sorting job)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=530153 (pilot seat lifting mechanism mod)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=530188 (pilot seat lifting mechanism mod)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=530579 (pilot seat lifting mechanism mod)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=530595 (bulkhead mod)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=530595 (bulkhead mod)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=530885 (bulkhead mod)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=530888 (bulkhead mod)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=531505 (bulkhead mod)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=532109 (doors sliding system)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=532580 (doors sliding system)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=532861 (doors sliding system)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=533760 (doors sliding system)

 

3. Bomb room up to and including 2nd bulkhead

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=531505 (bomb racks)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=531509 (bomb racks)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=545792 (bomb racks scratch build part 1)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=546031 (bomb racks scratch build part 2)

 

4. Radio and gunners room up to and including 3rd bulkhead

 

5. Landing gear

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=528013 (brake lines)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=528035 (brake lines)

http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=528286 (brake lines)

 

6. Exterior

 

See here: http://forum.largesc...=48155&p=524818

Edited March 4, 2014 by Roy vd M.

[Roy vd M.]

Scratchbuilding a Heinkel 111 bomb bay - part 3

 

Then I started to measure, measure, measure. An electronic measurer is necessary for this work. I measured dimensions from a couple of photos on which the bomb cells (thanks for the right word Iain) are depicted the best. Then I calculated averages etc. etc. The result was this drawing:

 

1.

 

Some studies:

 

2.

 

3.

 

4.

 

I started my work on a brass plate of 0.005 inch thick (K&S Precision Metals). That turned out to be a bit too thick. So I turned to 0.002 inch. That's perfect. 0.002 inch plates can be found in K&S set #258 for example, or you can order a roll. 

 

This is how NOT to do it:

 

5.

 

It's better to cut out a full rectangle and then to make larger cuts for the 4 cell tops. 

 

Where to fold exactly was a bit of a puzzle. In the end it's much simpler than I thought: keep the folding line JUST into view when you put the thing in the Hold & Fold. So that if you push it forward a fraction more, the line would disappear. When the folding line can just be seen that's the perfect position to fold it. And then I finally got a nice even squarish figure:

 

6.

 

To be able to paint it, I made a jig out of squared plastic.I reckon it's important to have the corners in place. After painting, it would be virtually impossible to bend the pieces neatly after painting. So this is my solution (hopefully it won't crack the paint... that yet has to be tested):

 

7.

 

8.

 

To prove that I'm a loser and can't even read my own plan, see the following picture. I cut off the wrong strips from the top (cut them off of the side walls rather than the front walls). So I had to start anew. And I thought I was paying enough attention... aarrrghh!

 

9.

 

The following picture shows better result. I used a 'mold' piece to make the three bend lines. That works more precisely than measuring every step and is also quicker. 

 

10.

 

To be continued. 

[Loic]

:popcorn:

 

[Roy vd M.]

Ok Loic the 'lots of popcorn needed'-hint is hilarious and fair 

 

Here's the last section of this series of scratch build reviews, getting to the point where I'm at now. By the way, I'm obliged to divide this into sections, as I can only put 10 pictures in one post. 

 

Scratchbuilding a Heinkel 111 bomb bay - part 4

 

In the next picture you can see how I marked the height of the 4 center points of the 8 holes. I measured on the SIDE walls and pressed with my scratch pen into the SIDE walls. I used those side walls because eventually the octangular holes would be cut out anyway so any damage (scratch pen markings) would be no problem. 

 

Then I used a ruler to align. Along that ruler I put the electronic measurer. That way I knew where to put the markings for the hole centres. Then, to be as accurate as I could, I made a grid by pen, drawing pencil lines from points horizontally as well as vertically. The most important thing I learned was: check and recheck before making any amendments!

 

Here you can see the top row of dots:

 

1.

 

And here where the 8 markings are ready:

 

2.

 

The grid:

 

3.

 

4.

 

And then there was the moment of truth... using the punch & die for the holes. Left side: no problem. But then when I tried the right side (3rd wall part from the left) I found that the punch & die positioning pins (attached to the base, the plexiglass can slide over them to keep the perfectly aligned position) were in the way. It was technically impossible to punch the holes without removing the positioning pins. Fortunately, they could be removed by using pliers. A bit of force is needed (mind the plexiglass!) but slowly but surely the pieces will rise and get out. Here, one piece had just been removed:

 

5.

 

Also, the other (nearest) pin needed to be removed. Only then could all 8 holes be punched. Very unfortunately, one of the punches was fatal for the punch & die base. The plexiglass and the base were not perfectly aligned (the guiding pieces aren't there for nothing) so when I hit the puncher it took a small slice off the side of the base hole. Not good for a new, 68 USD set. Now it's still possible to make holes but after punching each (4.0) hole I have to sand the bottom of the brass plate to put everything in correct position. I already asked Mr John Vojtech of Umm-usa if it's possible to order a new base. He'll look into it and contact the manufacturer he promised... that's really nice of him! I'll let you know how that works out. Lesson for me: even the highest quality tools such as this excellent machinery can be broken if abused. And I abused it. This is 100% my own fault. But still.. I had to do the pin removal, otherwise I wouldn't be able to make the holes in the 3rd wall section. So if it's possible to get a new base, I will use the current base for difficult-to-reach spots. Needing to remove the pins really should be considered an exception. 

 

And then I removed the octagonal holes in the side walls. 

 

6.

 

7.

 

Finished product (beside the key holes):

 

8.

 

So that's how the build is standing right now.

 

Things to do from now

Next step will be to drill the keyholes in this base part. After that I'll copy the part twice. Then I'll make the bow-tie reliefs as seen on the main drawing (see the above picture). I won't glue them on yet. Next I'll scratch the bomb rack interior parts. They will need to be marked on the rack (I'll use a bit of Maskol). I'll install them after painting. One exception: the folded corner strips (to be glued on one side) + the other strips + the (few) internal rivets + some parts that will also get RLM66. They will be installed before painting. I will also draw the external rivet positions on a copy of the build schedule (see above picture) and, based on that drawing, will  attach all external rivets (except those on the bow-tie parts) before painting the inside. The strips will be glued in place (on one flank only) after bending the three corner in the bomb cell body.  

 

Painting will be different (looking forward to the challenge!!) for each of the 8 cells, because 4 of the cells will stand outside the plane in the hangar. and their interior will fetch more light than the cells that will remain inside the plane. Of those latter, the outer cells will be darker than the center cells, as those center cells are next to the window. 

 

After inside (color modulation) painting I'll remove the Maskol dots where the interior parts will be attached. I'll then glue the interior parts in place. 

 

After a few coats of matte laquer I'll mask 8 holes of each cell, I'll close and glue the bomb rack (by glueing the unused side of each of the 4 corner strips). then I'll attach the 8 (riveted) bow-tie pieces to each cell, mask the 2 remaining holes of each cell (top and bottom) and do the external painting. After that it'll be time for the top (bomb release system) for which I might use some Eduard parts as they seem very well done. 

 

So far for these long posts for awhile. I hope you have somewhat enjoyed the very detailed description. I always find it interesting how other modelers work and learn something with every new read. I know that most of you are very experienced builders and what I've written down probably doesn't bring you many new things. I strongly admire the modesty of those who have indicated they learn from my build - after which I take a look at their own finished models and the one thing I see is awe-inspiring and much better builds than mine... it shows character to be so modest, something few of us Dutch people have). At least I hope that my above story may serve as a reminder of needing to be very careful and protective of your materials... for example, my breaking of the punch & die set. 

 

Anyway... any comments, remarks, thoughts, a smiley... all of this would be very much appreciated and gives me a push to write again next time. Thanks to all of those who have already posted something to encourage me to write some more. 

 

Now I've got some modeling to do attend to

Edited March 4, 2014 by Roy vd M.