Lancfan's Roden Heinkel He III ***DNF***

[lancfan]

I'm building the 1/72 scale Spanish Civil War Roden Heinkel III.

David.

[TobyC]

I wonder how civil you'll remain during the build?

[lancfan]

Completely, as always Toby.

David.

[Chuck Finley]

Having built the He-111e and HE-111b, you should be prepared to do a lot of sanding interior bulkheads. The kit makes a nice addition, but Roden gives more interior than will fit in the fuselage.



Also, if you are doing the bomber version and do not have any plans towards opening the bomb bay, you can also skip the interior bomb racks as they won't be seen.

[K5083]

I was hoping to see someone build this one. Not that I would ever dare try to build it to a deadline. The reviews of it are so tantalizingly bad, it makes you want to be the first to discover the secret to make it fit together perfectly.

August

[Chuck Finley]

I was hoping to see someone build this one. Not that I would ever dare try to build it to a deadline. The reviews of it are so tantalizingly bad, it makes you want to be the first to discover the secret to make it fit together perfectly.

August

It can be done. Just be prepared to do a lot of sanding and test fitting to the interior bulk heads.



But look at the final result.

[TobyC]

That does look very good.

[TomW]

Good luck with this one David I don't think I've ever heard nice things said about this kit. On the other hand the 111 looks so much prettier with the stepped nose so I might have to add one to my own collection. I'll be taking notes every step of the way.

Regards

Tom

[AndrewR]

Good luck!

[lancfan]

My model will use the Roden 1/72 Heinkel HeIIIB kit to represent the well known Condor Legion HeIIIB-1 25+15 "Pedro" of 4.K/88, spain 1937.



Despite being so well detailed this does seem to have a reputation for poor fit, so the first thing I did was to glue the cockpit sections to the fuselage halves, tape the fuselage together and then tape the wings together for dry fitting of the wing/fuselage joints. Looking at these joints I have decided to alter the assembly sequence and join the lower wings to the wing centre section to form a one piece lower wing half.


As the lower wing dries I will work on the fuselage almost as per kit intructions.

David.

[DavidWomby]

Good luck with it. The cockpit glazing on this early version looks more attractive, I think.

David

[Chuck Finley]

My model will use the Roden 1/72 Heinkel HeIIIB kit to represent the well known Condor Legion HeIIIB-1 25+15 "Pedro" of 4.K/88, spain 1937.



Despite being so well detailed this does seem to have a reputation for poor fit, so the first thing I did was to glue the cockpit sections to the fuselage halves, tape the fuselage together and then tape the wings together for dry fitting of the wing/fuselage joints. Looking at these joints I have decided to alter the assembly sequence and join the lower wings to the wing centre section to form a one piece lower wing half.


As the lower wing dries I will work on the fuselage almost as per kit intructions.

David.

Speaking from experience with that very kit, sand any and all bulkheads and floorboards before putting the fuselage sides together. I neglected to do that on my He-111b and ended up with at least a 1mm gap.

[iggie]

Watching with interest!

And, from a safe distance too just in case......

[lancfan]

The separate sections of the lower wing half have been joined together and the joins have been reinforced with disolved sprue.


As chuck has said the bulkheads are too wide and given the amount of detail included with this kit for Roden to have made such a stupid blunder this gaffe is incomprehensible and when combined with the poor fit of the wing/fuselage joints is also unforgivable. The bomb racks would not fit the fuselage if fitted as per instructions and I have glued them both together to be glued to the interior centrally.



With the interior assembled the fuselage has been glued together and left to dry.


David.

[DavidWomby]

From others' comments, it seems just getting the fuselage closed is a major milestone. Well done.

David