Revell 1/32 Heinkel He 162

[Grunticus]

For my next one I chose this one. Lovely looking bird. Simplicity combined with elegance, in a technically innovating package. I have been reading a lot about it's development and it amazes me how fast and how many they managed to build, under the given circumstances. Today, there are cave factory remnants where parts of this airplane remain to be found today. I am not blind to the dark side of this story. Still, in itself it is astonishing what was achieved.

 

 

What we get:

 

 

And I purchased so AM stuff. Will see how much I am going to use.

 

 

For me, this is an ambitious project. I am not adept at resin and etched metal parts and I have never been friends. But: I've learned from the past few kits.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 14, 2020 by Grunticus
Added photos of two more included frets

[silver]

Very big project .Will look great.

[Out2gtcha]

Cool! Will follow along

[Grunticus]

I am taking this slow and easy to improve my skills with PE (and resin). Today I started with the Aires seatbelts. They came out pretty well, I took my time. One buckle broke in two but I managed to get it fixed. The instructions are pretty much as clear as they can be. I will also do the Eduard ones and compare end results to reference photos and then choose.

 

Aires:

 

 

On a side note: so far I have been resizing images to 1032 pixels, on the longest side. What is considered the optimal size on this forum? Personally, I don't like having to scroll to see whole images. I'm on a 27" monitor but I realise not everyone is.

Edited June 14, 2020 by Grunticus

[LSP_Kevin]

25 minutes ago, Grunticus said:

On a side note: so far I have been resizing images to 1032 pixels, on the longest side. What is considered the optimal size on this forum? Personally, I don't like having to scroll to see whole images. I'm on a 27" monitor but I realise not everyone is.

 

That's a reasonable size, but dimensions don't actually matter all that much by themselves; the forum software makes it so that large images will display at the optimum size relative to the screen they're being viewed on (or more accurately, the viewport size). Try narrowing your browser window around a large image posted in the forums, and watch as it shrinks along with the browser window.

 

The main drawback with large images is actually their file sizes, which can get out of hand very quickly—especially if you're posting a few of them per post. They can take quite a long time to download, and if you're on slow and expensive 3G, for example, it'll cost you more than just time.

 

But as I said, the size you mentioned is fine.

 

Kev

[Grunticus]

My main goal is to produce an acceptable looking model of an He 162. But, as I said, I want to use this build to work on some skills I feel I am lacking in: working with PE and resin. Today I spent some time on that. I have two complete cockpits at my disposal: one PE and one Resin. I will construct both, and save the one not used in this build for another Spatz, of which I am certainly going to build another one.

 

For bot cockpits the same area in the fuselage has to be stripped of any raised detail. This went well with the Dremel and then hand-sanding to make it smooth. The right-hand gun port got a nick from the Dremel, but the cut is just on the inside. I will fill it.

 

There is not much logic in my building sequence, apologies for that.  I need to get the hang of a few things.

 

 

Next I separated the resin wheels. They are identical copies of the Revell wheels, just weighted, and with already slanted main wheels.

 

 

The Revell wheels look a tad cleaner than Aires' do. The weighted look is appealing, so I wondered if I could do the same to Revell's wheels. In the past, I have done a lot with stretched sprue so have some experience as to how styrene reacts to the flame of a lighter. The kit wheels are redundant, so why not. I heated one third-cord of them in a controlled manner and then quickly set them on a hard flat surface next to an Aires wheel and held them still for a while, to try and replicate the look. Here are the results:

 

 

Not bad and even usable. I will make up my mind when both sets are painted up. The thread on the Revell wheel is now gone (I restored it on the small nose wheel with a micro-saw). Does anyone know if these radial raised threads withstood landings, or would it wear off? I think it might be some kind of rubber-reinforcement.

 

I will try to repair them using the technique that I saw in @allthumbs fantastic EA-6A build. Not because I in any way think that I am in the same league or will be anytime soon, but for practice.

 

I have started on the Eduard cockpit. I cleaned up the Revell seat according to instructions and removed the moulded on seatbelts, and added the PE parts.

 

 

Finally a coat of Surfacer:

 

 

Tomorrow I will study photos to see what I can add (besides the cushion). For now, this site seems a very good reference site, Wonderfull collection of details photos.

 

 

 

Edited June 15, 2020 by Grunticus

[Grunticus]

After almost finishing the seat and getting on with the Eduard cockpit parts I abandoned them. I found that de seat would not slide on the rails even when I had assembled it conforming to the instructions. The reason is that the fit is so tight one has to first slide the rails on the seat, and only then assemble the seat to the rear bulkhead. I tried to take in apart bit things broke.

 

This is what the seat was at, it certainly looks nice:

 

I had added some tidbits to the back, Eduard leaves it blank.

 

All right then, who cries when there are so may parts to choose from. On to the Aires resin cockpit then. Many years ago I built a Planet Models 1/48 CAC Wackett all resin kit. It was my first and turned out okay. But boy, did I forget how fragile resin parts are. They reminded me of the Fly Hurricane kit. BTW I now know why they chose "Fly" as the brand name: it's what the small parts do when you separate them from the sprue (quite brittle plastic which breaks easily).

 

But resin is in a while other league. If I so much as lightly fart in the general direction of a part it immediately breaks in two. But, things were not too bad today. Only a few casualties.

 

One Seat handle broke, easily replaced with stretched sprue. While sanding the block off the cockpit baking plate I damaged one of the rails. Easily replaced with Evergreen strip. Once the seat is in place no one notices anymore.

 

 

 

I finished the Aires seat today. I modified it a little bit because the footrests looked a tad too short compared to photos, and the horizontal bar was missing. I chose the Aires seatbelts over the Eduard ones because I think they look slightly more authentic. I particularly like the texture on the leather cushions.

 

 

Finished, bar some touching up and weathering:

 

 

I also cleaned up the pit parts and gave them a coat of Surfacer. Simply amazing how this coat brings out the life in the parts. Amazing detail just pops-up! They are now in RLM66 awaiting my return. More to come.

 

Edit: (Important) The buckles of the side-seatbelts interfere wit the rail action when you insert the seat into the cockpit rail, so take care that the outer buckle lip does not protrude into the area of the rails.

 

 

Edited June 18, 2020 by Grunticus
Added images

[RLWP]

On images, I try to keep mine in Landscape format rather than Portrait. It's generally not a problem, aeroplanes naturally fit that. And PC monitors are landscape format

 

If it helps, I go for 1024x768 because it's a standard size

 

Richard

Edited June 17, 2020 by RLWP

[Kahunaminor]

It is a pity about the Eduard seat as it looked very good. The Aires set and the extra work you have done is equally good (if not better). I shall be watching on as I have a couple of these to build someday.

 

Regards,

[Dutch Man]

I remember a build log for this particular kit, with lots of detailing. However can not remember who did that.

There were lots of improvements from the builder.

Maybe someone has the link.

Might as well a member of LSP.

 

Kind regards,

 

Robert Jan

[Grunticus]

On 6/18/2020 at 2:13 PM, Dutch Man said:

I remember a build log for this particular kit, with lots of detailing. However can not remember who did that.

There were lots of improvements from the builder.

Maybe someone has the link.

Might as well a member of LSP.

 

Kind regards,

 

Robert Jan

 

Hello Robert Jan,

 

Thanks, that would be helpful but I can't seem to find it.

 

Dry-fit looks good. Look at the detail on the wheel-bay. Simply amazing how they manage to do that in resin, and how it comes out under paint...

 

I found this viergin-pack of glue in my DIY stash. I even forgot I had it. It says "Epoxy", so it should do the trick?

 

 

A little 8-hour test revealed that indeed it works as advertised and provides a strong flexible bond between resin and styrene. Approved by me!

 

Gun-bay - cockpit fit looks good.

 

Topside fit is perfect

 

The cockpit tub doesn't quite fit in a closed fuselage without sanding off some resin or thinning the walls further. But. I read that in frontal view the cross-section of the fuselage is too round / not triangular enough. I figured glueing it in as seen in the photos (all landscape today mind you ) and then closing the resulting gap with some card or stretched sprue will be no hard task and improve the kit shape-wise. A gentle squeeze reduces it's width by 1/3.

 

I also dry-fitted the gear-bay in the closed fuselage, and it poses no problems. My "opt-in" gap will not cause any alignment issues (wings, engine) at all I think

 

 

 

[crobinsonh]

Great progress

[Shiba]

Hi,　Great going so far!    I started work with this revell kit years back, but still waiting for me to finish on the shelf.

 

Revell did a good job on this kit, but the nosecone shape is way off from the real one, so you might want to consider beefy it a bit and please add some weight to the front side of the fuselage before the fuselage halfs glue together, which I forgot for mine and  had a hard time to add one  Have you decided what kind dress she is going to wear?

 

Regards,

Matsu.

 

 

[Troy Molitor]

Great progress so far.  My Aires set was woefully undersized.  Your set seems to be spot on.  I'm enjoying your progress build.  I have two well underway.  

If you need a close of of the Instrument panel I have a 1:1 scale.  

[Grunticus]

On 6/22/2020 at 7:23 AM, Shiba said:

Hi,　Great going so far!    I started work with this revell kit years back, but still waiting for me to finish on the shelf.

 

Revell did a good job on this kit, but the nosecone shape is way off from the real one, so you might want to consider beefy it a bit and please add some weight to the front side of the fuselage before the fuselage halfs glue together, which I forgot for mine and  had a hard time to add one  Have you decided what kind dress she is going to wear?

 

Regards,

Matsu.

 

 

 

Thanks you! I'm not sure I dare say the nose is way off, but I'll look at that later when the fuselage has thourouglhy dried up closed.

 

Thanks for the heads-up on the weights! Revell's instructions do mention it but to make sure I added them right away, though not just in the nose. The resin pit is also quite a bit heavrier than the styrene one, which helps.

 

 

15 hours ago, Troy Molitor said:

Great progress so far.  My Aires set was woefully undersized.  Your set seems to be spot on.  I'm enjoying your progress build.  I have two well underway.  

If you need a close of of the Instrument panel I have a 1:1 scale.  

 

Thanks! I would even go so far it is slightly too big with my example. It took quite a tour-de-force to get the fuselage closed. I glued it one section at a time, using Tamiya extra thin cement. I would really love to see some close-up images of your 1:1 panel. Is it a replica or an original one? Something like that would look awesome hanging in my modelling room!

 

Did some details.

 

I forgot the right-hand actuator. Not a problem I will just add it like the other one. Fit was excellent btw.. I used brass rod instead of the resin part because it was warped. I did have a little trouble determining where exactly I should attach it.

 

 

I started on the IP (Aires). The painted dials look horrible in this photo (Iphone 11 2x macro), but great with normal eyesight (Yes, thank you, I didi put my glasses / spectacles on ). The partially painted one is per photos.

 

 

Closed up and drying.. Fingers crossed. The fuselage is under more tension than I would ideally want, but nothing extreme. Tamiya extra thin almost 'welds' the plastic together really wuickly.

 

 

Paint does really bring out the stuff in the Aires parts. A joy to work with and look at. I did not add any wiring, this is all casted. Amazing.

 

Edited June 23, 2020 by Grunticus
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