Airfix’s new He 111 features fine recessed surface engraving, nice interior detail, and includes lots of additional parts for the cockpit, wheel wells, bomb bay, and the gunner’s cradle for the dorsal gun position.
The kit depicts the Daimler-Benz DB 601-powered P-2 model. Parts not for use in the kit indicate other variants to be released in the future, likely H models with Jumo engines.
Options include separate control surfaces, retracted or extended flaps, and open or closed bomb-bay doors.
The cockpit and dorsal gun-position hatches may be posed open or closed. Closed landing gear doors and a retracted tail wheel are supplied for posing the aircraft in flight. There’s no stand in the kit, but Airfix offers one separately.
With all that detail, plus decal instrument panels, the cockpit looked terrific. The three softly molded crew figures had sinkholes in their torsos. So, I passed them up and instead added masking tape belts to the seats.
Each main landing-gear strut comprises four scale-thin parts and builds into sturdy foundations for the model.
The three-color instructions follow Airfix’s practice of using CAD-type illustrations. Between those and the keyed parts, assembly progressed smoothly.
Fit was great throughout and no filler was needed on the fuselage seams or upper nacelle-to-wing joints.
For a more interesting display, I extended the flaps and offset the control surfaces. The instructions show the correct travel limits for the flaps and ailerons, and the elevators are movable if desired.
Clear pieces were a big part of the model, but, unfortunately, they weren’t the best part of the kit. Besides being a tad thick and not perfectly clear, three of the parts had stress marks.
The forward part of an He 111 is an egg of clear components comprising four parts on this kit. Assembly means gluing clear piece to clear piece, which takes a delicate touch. Prior to painting, a lot of masking is required as well.
The eight cabin windows are installed from the outside, after the model is painted. I had some fit issues with these parts, possibly my fault, so I ended up using clear acrylic glue for the windows instead.
Decals provide markings for an He 111 from 5./KG 4 and one from 6./KG 55.
Color callouts reference only Humbrol paints, but RLM numbers also are given. The only exception was Humbrol No. 240 (RLM 02), which was omitted from the color samples.
The decals featured full stencil data, adhered well, and were opaque, but were a little thick and resisted efforts to convince them to snuggle into panel lines and detail; I had some silvering. Swastikas are not included on the sheet.
This big model is not a difficult build, but it could be challenging due to the extensive glazing. I spent about 30 hours building mine.
Note: A version of this review appeared in the May 2016 issue.