DBMiller's He-119

[DBMiller]

I promised myself I wouldn't start anything new this year until I got at least one old build done. Well, I've just about finished two! One just requires the base and the other the gear doors I broke off but couldn't find any super glue that hadn't hardened up.
So - a new build!!

Wiki:
The Heinkel He 119 was an experimental single-propeller monoplane with two coupled engines, developed in Germany. A private venture by Heinkel to test radical ideas by the Günter brothers, the He 119 was originally intended to act as an unarmed reconnaissance bomber capable of eluding all fighters due to its high performance.


Crew: 3
Length: 14.80 m (48 ft 6½ in)
Wingspan: 15.90 m (52 ft 2 in)
Height: 5.40 m (17 ft 8½ in)
Wing area: 50.02 m² (538.2 ft²)
Empty weight: 5,201 kg (11,464 lb)
Loaded weight: 7,581 kg (16,678 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Daimler-Benz DB 606A-2 24-cylinder liquid cooled coupled engine, 1,753 kW (2,350 hp)
Performance
Maximum speed: 591 km/h (319 knots, 367 mph) at 4,500 m (14,765 ft)
Cruise speed: 510 km/h (276 knots, 317 mph) at 4,500 m (14,765 ft) (60% power)
Range: 3,123 km (1,687 nmi, 1,940 mi)at 6,000 m (19,685 ft)
Service ceiling: 8,500 m (27,890 ft)
Climb to 2,000 m (6,560 ft): 3.1 min
Climb to 4,500 m (19,685 ft): 10.7 min
Armament
Guns: 1 × 7.9 mm (.312 in) MG 15 machine gun in dorsal position

More pictures and information on the He-119
https://oldmachinepress.com/2012/12/05/heinkel-he-119/
https://military-history.fandom.com/wik ... kel_He_119

The kit:

Valom's 1/72 Scale Heinkel He 119 Reconnaissance Bomber.





These two pages are glossy and nice. What a sweet looking plane!
The rest of the instructions are, well, barely adequate. Some sections took quite a bit of figuring out before I could tell what was supposed to happen.




















Not a smooth texture at all!



Photo etch. Sad me.



The mylar sheet depicting the dials is not even mentioned in the instructions!





Parts being cut out and glued!!! What a crazy cockpit arrangement!





What the hell use are these instructions? And the parts! I could have build a wheel well out of strip better than these parts!





The wings. Sigh. Lots of grinding of the wheel well. Also, grinding of the inside of the wings themselves - but only one! The other almost fit from the start. How odd.







More to come!

[KalebB]

That's an interesting looking plane, so sleek and torpedoish shaped

[Tomcat64]

Nice to see you under way with this one but sadly that's all pretty normal fare for a Valom kit... I tackled one in the last bomber GB we had & it was a nightmare.

If it helps at all, I ended up putting brass rods through the fuselage to act as a wing spar as I didn't trust the plain butt joint to hold the weight.

Stick with it though as the end results will be worth it

[DBMiller]

Nice to see you under way with this one but sadly that's all pretty normal fare for a Valom kit... I tackled one in the last bomber GB we had & it was a nightmare.

If it helps at all, I ended up putting brass rods through the fuselage to act as a wing spar as I didn't trust the plain butt joint to hold the weight.

Stick with it though as the end results will be worth it

Thank you for the tip! I may have to reinforce the wings that way.

[digger303]

It's a interesting aircraft, but for me life's too short to tackle this one. However I commend your wish to see it completed and can't wait to see how you solve the various problems that will crop up.
Following with a high level of interest.

[RangerNeil]

This looks an interesting plane to build and certainly very unique. I look forwards to watching the progress with great interest.
Not least because, like others, I've heard of Valoms reputation.

[DBMiller]

This looks an interesting plane to build and certainly very unique. I look forwards to watching the progress with great interest.
Not least because, like others, I've heard of Valoms reputation.

This kit is living up to that reputation. Not only fit issues but I KNOW some of these parts are labeled wrong and I've found one already.

[DBMiller]

This is one of the parts that were labeled backwards in the instructions. I made the mistake of following said instructions and glued the seat onto the platform where the little bump was. As you can see, it is wrong. I had to remove it and glue it again.



The part that goes here (no idea what it is) is supposed to rest on little tabs. They don't fit right so I cut them off and added these supports. It's better than it was.





The wing light. The "instructions" don't give any indication how it goes in - tapered sides vertical or horizontal. I just guessed.





The "cockpit." I wish there were better details and it will be mostly visible through the glass nose.





The gunner's (?) seat with belts added. My first use of photo etch belts. At least they won't be too visible!



Side windows in. My fat finger prints show up well in the photo. At least they aren't in super glue and should wipe away.



The control panels for the pilot and co-pilot. I didn't bother with the mylar sheet of dials. Because.
Still need to add the control stick and rudder pedals.





Sanding and filling the wing edges. One went together almost perfectly and the other was a bit of a mess.

[digger303]

[Garion77]

that seems to give you already lots of trouble as a kit.

[DBMiller]

What the heck is this useless thing? This is the best they could come up with for the tail wheel? This is one half of the piece that holds the hub.There is another triangular piece that sandwiches the wheel with the part shown.



I didn't think I'd be able to set in the upper (gunner?) window without help so I added some thin strip on both halves of fuselage.



Starting to glue the fuselage!!
Just the front section in these photos. I wanted to get the best alignment I could as I moved along toward the rear.





What are the odds I get this mess glued up square and that it stays together?



The rest of the seams glued! The tail doesn't line up but I should be able to fix it without too much trouble.






I also broke off the tail wheel.

[digger303]

This is supposed to be a relaxing hobby. Badly made kits turn that idea on it's head. However you seem to be making good progress and getting it all lined up well.

[Quax]

you continue to make a silk purse from a sows ear, well done for sticking with it!

Paul

[Tomcat64]

It's like there's a check-list in Valom "QA" ...

• Interesting subject & box art to lure in the unsuspecting - Check
• Vague instructions - Check
• Mis-numbered parts - Check
• Two (or more) parts with the same number - Check
• Thick trailing edges - Check
• Butt joints for everything - Check
• Badly moulded parts - Check

It's great to see you're still making progress - could you grab a tail-wheel with a bit more detail from somewhere?

[digger303]

It's like there's a check-list in Valom "QA" ...

• Interesting subject & box art to lure in the unsuspecting - Check
• Vague instructions - Check
• Mis-numbered parts - Check
• Two (or more) parts with the same number - Check
• Thick trailing edges - Check
• Butt joints for everything - Check
• Badly moulded parts - Check

It's great to see you're still making progress - could you grab a tail-wheel with a bit more detail from somewhere?

[DBMiller]

This kit is not well designed. Why does one wing fit so badly while the other only a little badly? Here is the left side wing. I got the upper seam OK but the lower is off by a mile!





Look at this difference!





So, instead of bashing it to bits I thought a minute. I decided to scrape away at the wheel well - which wasn't touching the upper wing anyway - to give it more room. Then I shimmed the seam with thin plastic and clamped it to set the thickness.



Super glue and sanding later and it almost worked! At least it's better than it was and I'll have to accept that.







Here is the right side wing on. Again, I glued the upper edge first. When that set I clamped the lower surface. At least it wasn't as bad as the left side.





While it was all setting up I started to think about how to build the propeller. I drew a cross on the piece of wood for alignment and added the plastic strip to keep the blades level.
Also, I found that by gluing the spinner on first the blades would slide right in. So, after I prime it all I can glue it together fairly easily.

[Stokesy44]

The words sow's ear and silk purse spring to mind. You're doing a great job on a truly awful kit.

[RangerNeil]

The words sow's ear and silk purse spring to mind. You're doing a great job on a truly awful kit.

Was thinking that myself!!
Its worrying because I found I have a Valom Vickers Wellesley in the stash - but also encouraging to see the problems resolved so well..

[DBMiller]

Tiny steps but progress none the less!

Wings on and almost not as bad as they looked like they would be.







Cockpit in and a bit of primer.







First part of the canopy glass masked and installed.The rudder pedals are so wide they extend past the inner edge of the glass. I had to trim off the left pedal to make room for the front glass!

[digger303]

It's encouraging to see so many of the old kits built.

[DBMiller]

I may actually finish this the same year I started it!.

Some work on the little bits.





What a canopy!

It may not have been the best idea to outline the panels first but that's the way I went. After taping the edges with the thinnest
Tamiya tape I could find I used liquid mask on the inner parts.
I don't hold out too much hope it will come out clean and sharp but it will be done.











Here it goes - primer on!

[digger303]

I'll just have to be patient to wait for the unveiling. Big tick for the very fiddly canopy masking, I'm sure to have broken it.

[DBMiller]

Back to work.
The broken tail wheel together and soon to be back in place.



Paint on!



Main gear photo etch added and painted. Prop glued up.





Main gear going in. Tail wheel and gear doors on.





Main Gear and gear doors. The gear doors don't attach anything like in the instructions and come out cock-eyed. Oh, well.





Standing on its own feet! So far they haven't broken off.

[DBMiller]

Decals going on! They are a bit thick and take forever to loosen off the backing paper - like several minutes!
But, they do settle down nicely with a bit of MicroSol to help with the panel lines on the tail.
Also, I had forgotten to paint the bare metal behind the cockpit.

[digger303]

Decals looking very smooth and flat, I do dislike the 2 piece tail ones though. A silly necessity in the world we live and I do see why.

[RangerNeil]

Looking good - can't wait to see it when the canopy masking comes off.
(Does it come with the rest of the tail insignia??)

[DBMiller]

Looking good - can't wait to see it when the canopy masking comes off.
(Does it come with the rest of the tail insignia??)

I really hope the canopy mask DOES come off!!! With any luck there will be only a bit of touch up.

Yes, it does come with the rest of the tail insignia. In any case, I have a set of them for those kits that don't.

[DBMiller]

Decals looking very smooth and flat, I do dislike the 2 piece tail ones though. A silly necessity in the world we live and I do see why.

I can understand not allowing the swastika to be shown on the box but once you've gotten to the decals what does it matter? You are going to show it complete anyway.

[DBMiller]

Decals are done!!!!





I think the artist who made the instruction sheet and the artist who made the decals should have talked a bit more about what they were thinking. They aren't close to being the same.

[digger303]

[DBMiller]

Well, I am so disappointed. I wasn't expecting perfection but I was so careful masking that I was hoping for better than this!

At first - looking not too bad...



but as I progressed...



The other side is worse but I'm not even going to bother touching it up. I've got the three lenses, the antenna, pitot tube, and prop to attach and I'm done.
It can sit on my shelf for a while then, someday, be sacrificed to the gods of modeling.

[digger303]

Thats a bit sad that the paint got under your masking after working so hard on it.

[RangerNeil]

Doesn't look so bad in the photos!
FWIW I find a really sharp blade held at 90 deg to the surface and scraped lightly will remove paint bleeds...

[digger303]

Doesn't look so bad in the photos!
FWIW I find a really sharp blade held at 90 deg to the surface and scraped lightly will remove paint bleeds...

Yes your right and I don't know why I didn't mention cocktail sticks pushed along the edge will flick it off the clear plastic, but you might have to run a sharp blade along the frame work first gently though.

[DBMiller]

Thats a bit sad that the paint got under your masking after working so hard on it.

I'm tempted to just pull off the canopy and re-do it - what could go wrong?

Doesn't look so bad in the photos!
FWIW I find a really sharp blade held at 90 deg to the surface and scraped lightly will remove paint bleeds...

I got most of it off with a tooth pick. But, somehow, paint got through a seam and onto the inside of the canopy!

Maybe I'll just post it as finished and think about what to do when I'm less discouraged.