I can't find my Airfix version of this kit so can't do any comparison shots. Here are the parts for this kit alone.
Like many Eastern European short run kits (this one says 1000 pieces on the front of the box) there are no locating pins, which is not a problem as I often remove them anyway. I have had to drill out and deepen some holes which were little more than indentations in the plastic.
The panel lines are very fine - I hope they won't get lost under the paint.
Interior detail is not to bad. The cockpit opening is quite small and even without a pilot I don't think you will be able to see much. There are paint call outs for some of the interior detail. Call outs are only given as Humbrol numbers, e.g. 25 (Matt Blue) for the bottles on the cockpit wall.
Research suggests this is a pre-WWII splinter camo scheme of RLM61/62/63 over 65 which my charts reveal as matched by Tamiya XF25 Light Sea Grey, XF65 Field Grey, and XF09 Hull Red which I don't have so will use lightened up XF79 Linoleum Deck Brown instead. I will probably add white to the others also for scale effect. Interior is RLM02 = XF22 RLM Grey. The underside will be XF23 Light Blue as a match for RLM65. Well done Mr.Tamiya - no colour mixing required (just a bit of lightening up with some white added).
Spraying started with the interior RLM02 which I also applied to the Heinkel He111-B Condor Legion machine I am also building. I have since found out (last night) that this actually wants to be RLM 63 overall on the outsides so I'll consider this a primer coat (at least the interior will be right).
Just before bed last night I decided to quickly sandwich the wheels inside their spats. Lesson - nothing is done quickly with a limited run kit. The wheels simply did not fit the hole, so I had to scrape out the inner wall of the spats and then still had to narrow down the wheels to make them fit. The wheels will obviously have to be glued into place now. The wheels did not have holes in them for the locating nub provided on one side of the spats, which got removed anyway. It sure makes you appreciate the rotating wheels on an Airfix kit - even one whose Hs.123 moulds must be well over 40 years old by now.
RLM 63 going on next as both camo and primer for the rest of the aircraft.
Cheers
Al.
