1/48 Heinkel He 219 A-7 (FINISHED)......

Wow, that came out great! Thanks for sharing. It's always inspirational.

-BD-

What a beautiful aircraft model! Such clean work! I second the comment about the camo - just outstanding!

Mike

Another stunner Joe, and i do like the snow on the base as well.

Congratulations on a absolutely stunning build!

Toshi

Outstanding as always!  Those are some steady hands you've got there.

That's a masterpiece! I don't think you need anymore snow in the scene. You have just enough to show that it's freezing. It looks cold, but a dry cold. I think you've captured it perfectly.

Superior workmanship on display here. :)

Been away for a while again.  So, I'm trying to catch up with everything.  Always nice to see you do what you do Joe.  =]

Happy New Years to you.

Joe - Just an excellent build, so nice to enjoy seeing this one finished. Ya know, as a long time modeler I had little interest in WWll aircraft, unless it was a P-51, P-47, P-38, etc. Prior to my joining FSM a couple of years ago, I'm pretty sure I had never built anything but American aircraft. 

Now, having seen the huge variety of German, Japanese, Italian and other models here, the spark has indeed ignited my interest in building some.

Your camo work is beautiful, I especially admire the mottling on the sides and the random pattern upper finish. I find that to be such a challenge and reward for me, I enjoy trying to emulate your results. (Ain't happened yet, but getting a bit closer with practice.)  (:>)

Thanks for all of your posts and photos. 'Tis a good lad you are.

Patrick 

What an excellent build. SUPER !!

BK

Joe, that's an amazing build and very humbling to me. I don't know weather to keep trying harder or quit modeling  altogether. 

Thanks gentleman.  Here are the pics I promised.  To recap, its the Tamiya kit built pretty much out of the box.  I added Eduard seat belts and Eagle Cal decals, mostly because I didn't trust the kit's as Tamiya decals are notoriously crappy.  I did run brake lines nd drill out the Musik cannons.  It's in the two-tone markings of 3/NJG3 sometime in early 1945. 

If I had any gripes about the kit it would be....uhm....ahh....well, I can't think of anything worth noting. One of the easiest builds in quite a while.  Even the "antlers" are surprisingly sturdy againt the occasional bump. 

I decided to build a base large enough to protect said antlers (didn't want to press my luck).  I also wanted to experiment further with winter, in this case melting snow.  I did my usual dirt then added some woodland scenics grass and snow patches.  I then shaded the eges of the snow with a diluted mixture of XF-64 Red Brown and XF-1 Flat Black to make it look dirty.  Once all was dry, I added Future Floor wax with a brush to give the appearance of melted snow.  I'm happy with it but perhaps I should have added more snow.  Maybe next time. 

Unfortunately I don't get to keep this one either.  My next one will be an A-0 in Ernst Modrow's markings, but I will need the Vector conversion set for that.   

Thanks for following...

Joe     

Can hardly see how it came out!

That upper camo just blows me away. DANG !!!!

BK

She is shaping up really good. Love that scheme.

Thanks for the nice words all.  Your very kind.  I'm slowly getting there with this guy.  I have started to turn my attention to the small stuff, like the wheels and landing gears.  I found a picture of the landing gear and tried to copy the brake lines with fine wire.

I

I used Eagle Cal decals for D5+BL over a few coats of Alclad Gloss.  I had no issues whatsoever. 

I would imagine my next update will be the finished plane.  I hope to wrap this one up soon. 

Joe   

OH MY WORD!    You are just excellent with the air brush .Soooo impressive .

Wow, I love the pre-shading, it's excellence is only viewed by how fantastic your camoflauge came out.  Amazing!

Toshi

Fantastic camo.  She's a beautiful bird for sure.

You did an awesome job on the camo. Freehanding all those spots is a killer on my back, but you really did an excellent job. You have given me some insight into how I'll paint my P-61 by not using black.

BK

Wow, this is amazing. I always drool over your cockpits, and this one is no exception. Isn't freehand mottling just a blast? You really nailed it, though!

-BD-

Thanks guys.  I've been trying to actively get some work done on this turkey.  I left off with the painting of the black and line shading.  My research showed the upper surface was RLM 75 with RLM 76 shaded in over the top.  This either left "leopard" spots of 75 showing through everywhere or it was done with squiggle lines in 76.  I opted for the spots as the Eagle Cal sheet I ordered (and still waiting on) has the spots.  The thing is......its easier to paint this the other way around....76 then and 75 spots. Gunze 76 went down first....

Then came the fun part (serious sarcasm).  Armed with Gunze 75 cut with 91% Isopropyl (so it would dry a bit quicker), I used the sheet that came with the kit (see pic) as a loose reference and got cracking on the spots.......and almost 2 hours later (that I'll never get back).....

Overall I'm happy with it. I tried some postshading but its hard to see with this particular scheme.  I may go back with a stronger shade solution.  If not, a panel wash should go a long way.  Truthfully, I dont think these were in service long enough to get that dirty.   

I did go back and weather the underside more.  I added some XF-2 Flat White to the leftover underside black I mixed earlier and threw down some condensation streaks.  I think this is about right.