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Heinkel 178 build log

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  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Northern California
Posted by jeaton01 on Tuesday, January 3, 2017 9:47 AM

Toshi, I do tend to buy limited run kits to fill spots like this one did, so yes there are more like this one. They don't frustrate me as much as they used to.  Truthfully the early Italeri kits can be more challenging sometimes.

Thanks for the compliment!

John

To see build logs for my models:  http://goldeneramodel.com/mymodels/mymodels.html

 

  • Member since
    March 2015
  • From: Streetsboro, Ohio
Posted by Toshi on Monday, January 2, 2017 5:52 PM

Sir, that is a very neat little kit.  You did a great job on that and I'm glad that it could fill a spot in your collection.  Do you have a lot of kits like this n your stash?  Thank you in advance.

Toshi

On The Bench: Revell 1/48 B-25 Mitchell

 

Married to the most caring, loving, understanding, and beautiful wife in the world.  Mrs. Toshi

 

 

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Northern California
Posted by jeaton01 on Monday, January 2, 2017 4:34 PM

Thanks, John.  It's not a model that excites the imagination, but it does fill an important spot in my collection.  The Me-262 did not spring from nowhere.

John

To see build logs for my models:  http://goldeneramodel.com/mymodels/mymodels.html

 

  • Member since
    November 2003
  • From: Naples, FL
Posted by tempestjohnny on Sunday, January 1, 2017 8:13 PM
John your add ons certainly enhanced the look of the kit. Well done

 

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Northern California
Heinkel 178 build log
Posted by jeaton01 on Sunday, January 1, 2017 4:01 PM

WIP doesn't seem right since it's done, but here is the play by play for those that are interested.
 
This is a limited run kit by Condor, one of the MPM bunch.  It fit together pretty well, but it took some imagination and some scrap parts to get it done.
What you get:

 

The cockpit during assembly.  PE parts made up the throttle console.  I think it was originally made for another kit, I trimmed off about half of the width and made a tapered edge before the seat would fit next to it properly.  I tossed the stick in favor of one from an Me-109 as the one supplied looked like a telephone pole and was way too large.  The front bulkhead has been sawed off and installed at an angle, a more fastidious builder would have trimmed back the floorboard and put a curved part there, but painted RLM 66 it isn't very visible.  At this point I have just figured out that the very nice instrument panel is going to leave no room for the pilot's legs and under no circumstances will anyone ever glimpse the fine job I did soldering up the rudder pedals and adapting them to the initially oversize fixture they attach to.

 

 

More leftover 109 parts to the rescue:
 
 
 
The basic airframe assembly was trouble free, the main task being thinning down the wings from the inside with this tool, it's a curved blade that has additional roundness applied on the grinder.  There were a lot of shavings when I was done but the appearance of the trailing edges were much improved and as the lower wings just butted up against the fuselage no problems were created with that fit.
 
 
Attaching the landing gear first required cutting into the fuselage so the legs would fit as they should, there were some panel lines that helped, I just ground in between the lines, mostly.  There was no suggestion in the instructions as to how it should be done but I found enough pictures to make attaching the gear properly possible.  But it was fiddley.  Again a 109 part was used for the tail wheel.  The kit part wasn't all that bad, though.  109 main wheels were used, much more interesting detail.
 
 
 
The paint scheme is just aluminum and some other color, I guessed RLM 02, it shows up differently in the few photos available.  The original flew for a short time, and a second was built that never flew, it had some differences and was furnished with operating retractable gear unlike the first.  There is a video on the internet of the first one flying, which is not of very good quality.  It looks to me like on that flight the aft canopy was not fitted.   After a short life the prototype was sent to a museum in Berlin but was destroyed in a bombing raid.
The scheme required a lot of masking tape and paper.  I tried to enhance the panel lines with a sludge wash, but the lines were too faint.  As it was a wood wing, and the lines do show up in the silver areas it works for me.
It struck me as I was finishing it that without modification it could have had a part in the Disney "Planes" movie.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

John

To see build logs for my models:  http://goldeneramodel.com/mymodels/mymodels.html

 

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