I am currently building this beast.
So far this is a real nice kit. Loaded with details with more than 400 parts but without a pricetag on a comparable 32nd scale kit from Trumpeter or Tamiya. This is actually the second consecutive foray into the world of 32nd scale (last built Revell/Special Hobby’s P-39D in this scale).
There is actually a story for the reasoning to build this particular kit. My mother travelled to Paris, France on several occasions during her life. She loved all things Paris and France even though our family lineage contains no French heritage (we are actually partly German). After one of her last trips she decorated her guest bathroom with all these Paris themed knick-knacks, wall-hangings, etc. She passed in 2011. I recently acquired a whole lot of her stuff, including all the Paris stuff that she had in the bathroom. My wife and I decided to honor my mom by decorating our guest bathroom as she had hers. But my wife (she is a great woman) had an additional suggestion that would put my stamp on the bathroom - knowing of my disdain for the French (this is another conversation but let’s just say that while I love looking at French architecture I have little respect for France militarily), my wife suggested putting a German bomber in the bathroom. It’s not really historically accurate, as I don’t believe German bombers ever attacked Paris as they did London, for instance.
I still find it hard to believe m wife actually suggested this, but there is no way I’m turning that down. So I went through my stash of German aircraft - lots to choose from. ICM’s 48th scale Dorniers (Do 17 Z-2 and Dornier 215 B4 I think), Revell’s 32nd scale He 111 P-1 and Ju 88, Monogram’s He 111 H-22 with a V-1 slung under its wing, Monogram’s 48th scale Pro-Modeler Arado Ar 234C, and MPM’s 48th scale Heinkel He 177 A-5. To me the quintessential German bomber was the He 111, so then it became a question of which kit. The Monogram was a late-war version while the P-1 would have been available during June 1940. Even though it is a huge kit (almost as big as the old Monogram B-17, 48th) this is the kit I chose to build. My bathroom Heinkel.
So here are pictures of my progress. I am getting more bench time these days due to being out of work, so when that status changes I expect that my bench time will be limited.
I have completed the cockpit, painted internal structures and walls, done some weathering with Flory wash, and am now ready to start masking the many windows. That’s gonna take some time.
Here is the wash applied to the runners along the fuselage. I need to tone this down a bit.
Once I have toned down this wash I will spray it with a flat clear to get rid of the shine.
Cockpit shots. I am happy with how this part of the build has turned out. I added the wiring to the control column and the foot pedals, but otherwise everything will be OOB. I weathered the door panel that the bombardier lays on by laying down a coat of Tamiya flat brown then dry-brushing black streaks.
An instrument rack located amid-ship.
The only negative I have seen thus far on this kit is an inordinate amount of highly visible sink marks, especially spread throughout the fuselage. I filled all those in and smoothed them out, but I have many more on various other parts that I expect to be visible through the bomb bay or the wheel wells. I will be tackling all of those probably while I am working on the window masking.
I hope to get this one completed soon but I will be more than happy to delay that if I am able to land my next job.
