Monogram He-111 in 1/48th
I build a lot of Luftwaffe aircraft and the He -111 was a mainstay of the German bomber arsenal prior to and through out the war. I really like its lines, and while not as grand as the Condor, or as versatile the Ju-88 it proved to be a work horse from the Spanish Civil war until the wars end.
This is the Monogram kit from the 1995 Boxing. I built the kit out of the box, and have to say it was a better than average Monogram. The fit in general was better than average although there were a few finicky issues. The cockpit is very well detailed and with a good cleaning and a dip in future most of that detail is visible through the canopy.
I built it fairly clean with only mild weathering and generally like the overall finish. The kit has good lines and I think displays well.
I have a good friend of over 45 years who is a model fanatic even more so than me. When I told him I had discovered about an all NEW He-111 kit that I was going to break my self imposed moratorium on new kits, he prevented me from breaking my pledge to myself. THANKS Ed! You are the BEST! I plan on having it done for the Nationals in Las Vegas in 2021.
This is a superb looking 111, Walt.
One of my favorite bombers too.
The many masking to do for transparant parts still holds me back a bit.
Those 111's were indeed the workhorses. One aspect not that well known was their use as weather planes, flying far out over the atlantic, and even to Greenland at least once!
Very nice build Walt - looking forward to the Zwilling (perhaps even in "in-progress"?)
Nice work, Walt. What brand of paints did you use on this?
I am old school @j-healy and am fighting the whole world pushing me towards acrylics. I painted it using Model Master Enamels. I have been using them for as long as I can remember. Now that they are basically going out, if not out of business, I will work my way over to acrylics as required.
Once you learn the tricks of acrylics Walt, you'll wonder why it took you so long, Nevermind the fact you won't be stinking up the place again and having to wait a week for the paint to cure. Cleaning up with water and 409 is nice, too.
I have heard that from a lot of my friends and modelers...who build far better than I do. I will work my way over to acrylics, I just don't want to throw out the over $600 worth of Enamels I have at today's bottle prices. I am down to my last bottle of RLM 02...so that may be my first cross over.
Walt, Gunze Sanyo "solvent based" paints are excellent, they flow nice and smooth. Have to use their thinner but if you invest in a set you will be happy. Also never had to wait a week for MM, sometimes I could mask over them in a couple of hours.
I get headaches thinking of doing the glazing on the nose of a He-111. All that masking has put a brake on my efforts. Walt, strong build with some great cockpit detail and work on the nose section. You've proven that a older kit can be made into a jewel.
Seeing that last photo with the He-111 Z ...no wonder the Nazi's lost the war too busy making windows and masking. Looking forward to seeing this kit built up. It reminds me of a chewing gum add that said "double your pleasure and double your fun."
Two thumbs up, keep up the good work.
Nicely done Walt, she really looks good.
Wonderful, Walt. Fit and finish are superb. Well-done.
That looks terrific Walt. I agree with you that this kit is indeed one of Revell/Monogram better efforts. I wonder how it compares with the newer ICM offerings? What do you think?
An Eduard mask set really makes the masking of all that glazing a piece of cake.
I believe Rustoleum bought Testor’s and is issuing model paints under their own label as I recently saw some newly branded rattle cans at a Hobby Lobby. Shame to see them drop the excellent ModelMaster paint line. I’ve also used them for years - especially their acrylics!
Having built both the Monogram and the ICM, the ICM is better detailed, but in the end if you sat a Mono and an ICM together, built to the same quality level, from a distance of two feet you'd have to take some time to decide which was which.
Nice work, Walt. I'll look forward to the Zwilling monster.
The reason this kit is "better than the average Monogram" is it isn't a Monogram kit design. It came from Hobbycraft. One of their better ones. Same with the Do-217E-5 kit.
Hey Tom- have you ever looked into the staggered Torpedo loading on the Monogram He-111? I have looked at quite a few photos of wartime torpedo loaded He-111's and on some they look parallel, and maybe in one or two it might be staggered. I think the ICM kit has them parallel. I know that the tail fins on the Monogram torpedoes will touch unless you load them staggered, but I think I found that the fins on the Monogram kit torpedoes were too wide compared with plans and drawings of the actual torpedoes.
That's one of the many technical details I can say didn't make my list. I went and googled "photos of He-111 with torpedoes," and they all look parallel to me. Which would mean the stagger for the Monogram torpedoes has to do with the incorrect fins. My ICM kit the torpedoes are right next to each other and no fin problems.
Nice work, looks great!
You did an awesome job! finish is great! i hear you on enamels vs acrylics. I can't get Tamiya acrylics to spray evenly no matter what I do- enamels are so easy to thin and forgiving to use, but I am also bracing for enamels to become extinct. I have done research online looking for an answer, and experimented for a few years now, and no real explanation for why Tamiya white gloss does not spray gloss for me no matter what combination of Tamiya thinner and Tamiya paint I use!
Thin acrylics 60 (paint_ 40 (thinner) and use the appropriate thinner from the mfr. I never have trouble.
Truly excellent job, Walt, and I strongly echo the above praising comments!
Into your Zwilling!
🙂 ... Greetings ... 🙂 :
Impressive build Walt, it is very nice to be able too see the details through the canopy and windows.
Looks great! Love the lines of the 111 - one of my favorite twin bombers of WW2
Very sharp-looking He 111, Walt. You have made the Monogram kit look as good as the latest more expensive offerings from ICM. Excellent airbrushed camo and just the kind of subtle weathering I personally prefer. Great work.
Thanks, @coling I am looking forward to trying my hand on the ICM kit soon, plus I have two more of the Monogram kits in the stash!
awesome walt