Hasegawa 1/72 Heinkel He 111H-2/H-3
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Overview
The origins of the Heinkel He 111 came from Lufthansa's desire to have
a plane with the performance of the He 70, but capable of carrying up
to ten passengers. Looking very much like a scaled up He 70, the first
He 111 prototype took to the air in 1935. The production version, the
He 111C, entered Lufthansa service shortly after, and served as one of
their main airliners up until the beginning of the Second World War.
As the aircraft had excellent performance, it did not take long for
a military version to show up. The He 111B saw extensive service in the
Spanish Civil War, where it repeatedly proved itself. These early variants
had a stepped cockpit that was changed to the definitive fully glazed
cockpit with the He 111P variant. The purpose of this change was to greatly
improve forward visibility. Improved engines in the form of the DB 601A
replaced the earlier DB600 and Jumo 211A engines, allowing for an increase
in speed, range, and bombload.
Developed in parallel to the He 111P, the He 111H became the definitive
variant. With this aircraft we see a return to the Jumo 211 engine, but
through extensive redesign with a focus on weight savings, the initial
He 111H had similar performance to the He 111P. As the Jumo engines improved,
so did the performance of the later He 111H variants, with the He 111H-6
having a 30+ mph speed advantage over the He 111P-2, while carrying over
1100lbs more payload. The He 111H served with the Luftwaffe on all fronts
throughout the entire war in roles from traditional level bomber, to torpedo
bomber, to even launching V-1s from the air. Post-war, the He 111 continued
in service in Spain, re-engined with Merlins, and had a starring role
in many a film, including the dramatic "Battle of Britain."
The Kit
 Hasegawa
has released quite a few He 111s since their first He 111H-6 release,
and for the most part, the plastic is the same in all the kits. The main
difference between kits is with the clear parts, mainly dealing with the
ventral gondola and dorsal gunner's position. It appears that the He 111P
release contains all the clear parts, while the others have those specific
to their variants. At first glance in the box, there are several trees
of medium gray parts, with recessed panel lines and generally good overall
detailing. The large selection of clear parts represent a masking nightmare,
but Eduard has a nice mask set that will make quick work of that. This
particular release has a decal sheet with three options, all Luftwaffe.
 Starting
with the interior, this is quite complete and will be fun to build. The
cockpit area is well detailed, with a separate floor, rear bulkhead (incorporating
one of the wing spars), seat, control stick, and rudder pedals. The fuselage
sides get additional seats, instrument clusters, and boxes, with the result
that this will look quite nice under that big greenhouse canopy. Moving
slightly aft, there is a floor and another bulkhead (again, with a wing
spar), and on the floor goes the vertical bomb racks, fully loaded. While
this will be difficult to see in the completed model, it does provide
something to be seen through the windows. It also presents a potential
problem, but more on this later. A final rear bulkhead completes the main
fuselage interior.
 As
expected, the entire nose is molded in clear, and is a multi-piece affair.
There is a separate nose piece (as there were two styles used), a top
half, a bottom section, and a small side insert. Also separate is the
pilot's sliding hatch on the top, which will help show off some of that
interior. Into these glazings go a pair of machine guns and the instrument
panel. The completed assembly then slides onto the fuselage assembly,
and although I haven't done a test fit, from other reports this fit is
quite good and with a bit of care there will be no need for any filler.
 Moving
on to the wings and engines, these are pretty simple. The engines are
made up of eight pieces each, including the poly caps for the propellers.
The exhaust stubs are the main visible difference between all the engine
variants, and this kit includes all of the types you would come across.
Check your references to make sure you are using the right ones. The wings
have separate wheel well inserts and a cutout for the landing light. Once
together, they will slide onto the wing spars on the fuselage. Tailplanes
are split into upper and lower halves and have very nicely done elevators.
 Flipping
the model upside down, there is a separate insert for the fuselage bomb
bay. This has the fins and lower body of those bombs molded in place,
and you can cut apart the bay doors to display these open. The ventral
gondola is all clear and inserts into the bottom of the fuselage, along
with its two guns. Finally, we have the external weapons. This kit includes
both a pair of the big SC1000 bombs and a pair of torpedoes, along with
the external bomb racks. It is here that the problem with those internal
bombs show up. If your Heinkel is carrying external weapons, the internal
bombs were not carried. So if you want to have your He 111 armed up with
those SC1000s, you will either have to ignore the internal bombs or scratch
up an empty rack assembly. The latter actually would not be too difficult
to do, using the kit parts as a template.
 The
remaining details are well done and include the landing gear, engine radiators,
propellers, and dorsal turret. The landing gear consists of three pieces
for each strut, with the main wheels split into right and left halves.
The propellers have a separate two-piece hub that traps the blades in
between. Add the remaining fuselage windows and the various antennae and
control horns, and it's time to slap some paint on this model.
 All
three options in this kit are camouflaged in the standard Luftwaffe bomber
colors of RLM 70/71 over RLM 65, in the classic splinter scheme. The first
aircraft is a He 111H-3 from Stab/KG 53 in the summer of 1940. Based in
France, this aircraft has white bars on the tail and wing, for identification
purposes. It is coded A1+DA and has the squadron emblem on the nose. Next
up is He 111H-2 from 9./KG 53, also in France in 1940. It is the plainest
of the three options, with only the fuselage code A1+BT as markings. The
final option is a He 111H-3 from 1./KG 26. Coded 1H+FH, it has the squadron
badge on the nose and the entire code repeated on the wing undersides
(the other two schemes just have the individual aircraft letter on the
wing undersides). The decals include some stenciling in addition to the
basic markings, and look to be quite well printed.
 Conclusion
Hasegawa's He 111 kits are quite a bit better than the older Italeri
kit and should build up into a very impressive model. With the large number
of interesting schemes out there, both Luftwaffe and other nations, there
is no shortage of He 111s to build up. |
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