Heinkel He 111 in 1/48 scale

[Proud Kraut]

Close up

 

[ArtyScout]

Lars, excellent work on the main wingtips.

 

Semper Fi.

 

Manny

[Proud Kraut]

Thanks Manny,

 

while the Heinkel has received it´s first layer of dark green color (RLM 71)...

 

 

...the assembly of the H-22 variant has begun. As you can see I´m spending not much time on interior details or painting. It won´t be visible through the blurry clear parts anyway.

 

 

 

[Old Marine]

This is fascinating. Thanks for posting the photos and info on the airbrush. That's a well organized work space you have.

[Proud Kraut]

Thanks Dennis,

Masking the dark green color areas. I stuck stripes of masking tape on a plain surface (in this case the box of my spary gun). This is usefull to decrease the adhesive power of the masking tape (see below). It also makes it easier to cut the masking tape into pieces.

[earlymb]

Looks great so far; I found out that the paint needs to be fully hardened or you'll run the risk of the making tape pulling of some of the paint when you peel it of. I have now gotten some Tamiya tape, I hope that will lessen the risk.

The ammonia treatment didn't solve the problem with my airbrush so I decided to get a new one, but instead of another Chinese one I found a new Iwata Neo pretty cheap on eBay and went for that one (seller has more if you're interested). While my compressor works fine it has no watertrap, pressure regulator or airtank so I also got a cheap one that has all of these features on Ali Express. Now I just wait for these to be delivered....

[Proud Kraut]

Thanks earlymb! Sad to hear that your airbrush doesn´t work anymore. Because I already had it at home I have tried acetone and it worked with my gun (a Harder & Steenbeck Evolution)! Please post your experiences with the new Iwata one!

Here´s the Heinkel masked.

[Proud Kraut]

Black green color applied.

 

[Proud Kraut]

After the color has dried I removed the masking tape. Like earlymb mentioned before some spots of color (and primer) were removed with the tape. This can happen for several reasons: Wrong primer, wrong primer/color combination, oily or bad model surface or a masking tape with too much adhesive power etc. In this case probably my mistake, I forgot to wash the kit before applying the primer.

[Proud Kraut]

To repair the damaged color areas I sprayed on the dark green color again very carefully after sanding the spots. To avoid spraying on the black green areas I used a kind of selfmade template. Damage repaired finally.

[Proud Kraut]

After 24 hours I applied acrylic gloss varnish to prepare the next step: decals.

 

[earlymb]

I will try acetone, I never used it for anything else than Vallejo acrylics so it shouldn't be impossible to clean it.

[Proud Kraut]

I have mentioned MICROSCALE Micro Set and Micro Sol before but will repeat it here in this topic as well. These products are very usefull to soften the decals and let them look like painted on.

So cut out the decals separately and dip them into water. Meanwhile brush Micro Set onto the proposed place of the decal.

 

[Proud Kraut]

Attach the decal to the model and brush it with Micro Set again. let the decal dry and brush on Micro Sol if necessary. It will intensify the softening effect. You can see on the second pic that the panel lines are visible under the decal (and unfortunately dust as well).

[Proud Kraut]

Side markings. To avoid the shiny silver borders of the decals I cut them all out separately. A lot of work but well worth the effort.

 

[earlymb]

Nice! Are you going to add (aftermarket) swastika tailmarkings? I know they're not being sold in Germany but should be easy to find elsewhere.

[Proud Kraut]

Good question. In Germany models were sold w/o any Nazi insignia since the early 1980´s I think. On the one hand I do not need or like any Nazi insignia at all (therefor please see my Do 17 topic in this section). On the other hand I want to build the model as realistic as possible. So I have decided to use aftermarket insignia, which are available everywhere over here, legally of course.

 

[Proud Kraut]

The Heinkel now with decals.

 

[Proud Kraut]

While the decals are drying the building of the H-22 is going on. Clearly visible that this is a 25 years old kit. Look at the gaps between the fuselage and the wings. It needed tons of putty to fill them.

 

[Proud Kraut]

Details & weathering. Darkening the panel lines is one of the most time-consuming actions but well worth the time. You can use washes or paint the lines with a brush like I did in this case. For the bottom of the Heinkel I used TENSOCROM active surface agents. It´s a kind of water based color very similar to washes.

 

[Proud Kraut]

Left and right wingtip before and after shading the panel lines.

 

[Proud Kraut]

One more pic. Thanks for looking!

 

[ArtyScout]

Wow Lars, you got in a lot of great work in. I had to wait to post anything I've done, which I will once I leave here. The panel lines, decals and paint job have come out fantastic. I saw you had a little problem with the masking tape. I'm glad you were able to repair it. I have a question, can you find "low-tack" tape. It's tape with less adhesive so this problem won't happen again. Just my suggestion for helping out. But so far I'm very impressed with this Heinkel.

Semper Fi.

Manny

[Proud Kraut]

Manny thank you so much for your kind words, I appreciate it! Weathering the bottom of the Heinkel seems to be much easier than the top. Why? Because I failed when modulating the dark and black green colors. With a black or brown washing/shading the color would appear too dark finally. So yesterday I started some trials with a light washing. I used very light green pigments and MIG thinner for washes.

 

 

[Proud Kraut]

I brushed the mix onto the aircraft.