Roden 1/72 Heinkel He 111E |  | Background When Ernst Heinkel first conceived of the design that would become the He 111, it is doubtful that he could have imagined the aircraft becoming such a huge success and the mainstay for the Luftwaffe bomber fleet. Given the troubles with the early versions of the aircraft, the He 111 might have been passed by for another design in another company. Heinkel continued to refine the aircraft with better engines and simpler design for manufacturing. The He 111E was one step in that process, incorporating the new Jumo 211 engine (versus the DB600s that powered the earlier production versions) and achieving greater speed and payload capabilities. When the first production He 111Es rolled off the line, the Condor Legion was in serious need of replacements for the He 111Bs that had been lost in combat. Thirty five He 111Es were put into combat duty for the remainder of the Spanish Civil War while 220 He 111Es would become the production total for this version that would enter service with the Luftwaffe. The Kit The Roden 1/72 He 111E is a further development of their earlier He 111B/C releases. Molded in light Grey styrene, the kit is considered to be a limited run model, though you'd never know given the amount of detail included on the five grey and one clear parts trees. Behind the nicely detailed cockpit is an even more impressive bomb rack system that was unique to this Heinkel. I'd love to see this detail in a 1/48 He 111 kit! Unfortunately, the bomb racks are only meant to be seen from the cockpit and rear fuselage openings as the lower fuselage plate does not provide the option for open bomb bay doors. As nice as the bomb bay racks are, the main gear wells are equally well detailed. While the ailerons are molded in-place, the elevators and rudder are positionable. Provisions are also included for external bomb racks that are located over where the bomb bay doors would be. Optional external weapons include a pair of bombs or a pair of external containers that were used to drop supplies.. Markings are included for two aircraft: -
He 111E, GC+GE, assigned to a training unit and used in rescue operations at the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, 1942/43 -
He111E, V4+AB, I./KG 1, Polish Campaign, 1939 Conclusions The Roden early He 111 series provide for an interesting change to the normal array of He 111H and other mainstream Luftwaffe kits. While these kits require some modeling experience and patience to assemble, they will not cause any unpleasant surprises and provide your scale flightline with a pleasant change of color and shape. My sincere thanks to Squadron Mail Order for this review sample! | 
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