Heinkel He 177 "Greif": Now and then
The revolutionary German heavy bomber that had two engines driving one propeller shaft received the attention of model makers over the years. In 1967, Airfix came out with an impressive 1/72nd scale that was highly detailed by comparison to other models produced at the time. As a kid, I was awed by the striking box cover artwork that I saw in a model shop. It was a great joy to receive the kit. Upon examining the parts of the large model, it was obvious that such a model could not stay without a paint coat. This was my first attempt to accomplish a realistic look to a model meaning that all the parts were painted.
Nearly five decades later, I built Revell's Greif counter version. It is a very nice kit with recessed panel lines and seemly accurate dimensions. In fact, the Airfix kit is also very nice. It has raised panel lines and rivets. Yet, like the Revell kit it also captures well the lines of the Greif.
Having completed the Revell kit, I repainted the old Airfix kit to match the camouflage colors with by then, the well research established hues. With the absence of airbrush technology in my childhood, I also corrected the brush painted fuselage sides. I took care though not to hide completely the imprints of the childhood build.
This post is dedicated in a loving memory to my Grandmother who kept me busy on my models.
Great tribute to your Grandmother, Rafi, and to your 1967 building skills.
Thank you George.
Nice work on both Rafi. Great paintwork on that Revell kit. Did you freehand the camo? Like you, I saved a childhood build and keep it on my modeling desk. It’s a Hasegawa RF-101C that I built in 1976 and completely brush painted with Humbrol Authentics. The paint was so much better than the Testors and Pactra I was used to. This model hooked me for life.
1 attached image. Click to enlarge.
Thank you John.
Freehand it is. Your Voodoo looks great even today. I also used then the Humbrol Authentics although they dry quickly. My all time favorites were the enamel Model Master paints sadly, long out of business.
Yes, Rafi, I miss those MM enamels too! 🥲
Nostalgia is the element much overlooked in this hobby.
Both of those are great models, from two "ages". Airfix sure had some great boxarts back then.
Thank you Bill.
Heinkel tried to think outside the box on this aircraft - was it the RLM that specified bombers had to be 'tactical' and must have 2 engines and must be able to perform dive bombing runs? So ol' Ernst Heinkel slapped a couple of engines together - what a beast.
Amazing post Rafi, new and old. Awesome work on both.
I don't have any of my first builds; but, a few of them did end up with a small Estes rocket engine glued onto them to see if they could fly. They did not fly for long.
Cheers to the memory of your Grandmother.
Thank you George!
Rafi @blackmopane, That's a great idea, and a great tribute to your grandmother! 👍
Thank you Gary.
Both are wonderful, Rafi, each one in its own way! What an awesome tribute to your Grandmother!
Congratulations!
Thank you Spiros.
My Granny was an amazing person. In this particular purchase, we came back to the shop to buy the Greif after she bought for me a couple of Airfix plastic bag kits...
Excellent models & memories !
Thank you Jay!
Very nice job on the Greif.
The "original" Greif still nicer than anything I put together as a kid. It's also still intact. (I just didn't have the patience as a kid to do any model justice.)
Thank you Dan.
Emphasis on intact.
Beautiful He177 ! And thank you for sharing your childhood Greif build!
Thank you DJ!
Both do look amazing and are a great tribute to your grandmother, Rafi @blackmopane
I can imagine this build brought back a lot of memories.
Thank you John.
She bought for me many models that are still with me so, she remains by my side.
Nobody ever knows what will be the result of encouraging a kid on what interests them, but as you demonstrate with both of these, your grandmother had a pretty good idea of who you are. You grew up to be him.
The Revell kit inspires me to think of pulling out the one I have here.
Thank you Tom.
Revell is a winner thanks to the ease of build the attractive color schemes of the Greif.
My Granny saw my awe in the toy shops. The rest was the power of love that showed me the way to my freedom.
I hope that I was able to pass this on to my daughter.
Beautiful job on both models, Rafi. I look forward to each new post from your workshop. We seem to have have very similar taste in subject matter and your builds are always high quality. I am deeply impressed with what modelers like yourself achieve with freehand camo. It sounds like you use enamel paints, which tend to go on smoother than acrylics, but some also get that smoothness and perfect line with Tamiya or Gunze. I have four airbrushes, including an Iwata Custom Micron, but I always get splatter and flicks of paint from the nozzle that interfere with the nice feathery transition. I also need lots more practice and a steadier hand with camo based on continuous but undulating lines (like you have here on the first model). Do you retouch with both colours to fill in overspray and adjust the edges, or does it come out just right with slow application and just the right spray angle?
Thank you Colin for your kind words.
I use Tamiya enamels because of the fine grain and smoothness of application. I also use Iwata airbrush. It is very sensitive to the viscosity of the paint and may get clogged. Yet, good results can be achieved. In most paint spray problems, the solution is to clean the tip of the nozzle area that gets covered with paint.
For free hand application, I rarely correct the overspray. Pre set camouflage patterns are masked and a fine spray is applied on the edges.
In the end, it all comes with practice.
Love the juxtaposition of the "old and new" builds! I don't have any of my childhood build (BB gun and firecrackers took care of them when I hit late Jr. High!), but some of my first builds back into the hobby in my late 20's look about like that Airfix Greif! We actually have a December 2024 club meeting theme called "take a mulligan," where the objective is to bring a new build that is a "re-do" on one of your earliest builds, to see how far your modeling skills have come.
Love that Revell build - great scheme, and it looks like a terrific kit. One of my early builds was the MPC version of the Airfix Greif, and though old molds, it still has a nice shape and enough detail to make a presentable model.
Thank you Greg.
I hope that there are no more blow ups in your coming meeting...
Nice models, but a cautionary word for anyone about to start the Revell kit. The wings of the Fritz X missiles are shown the wrong way round on the instruction sheet, and sadly that error has been replicated on this model. I pointed this out to a modeller on another wedbsite recently, and he posted an image of the kit instructions showing the error, so... straight leading edge and forward-swept trailing edge is what you want to be doing with the underwing missiles.