Month: October 2020

ICM He 111-H3 – Day 1

Pierre LagacéLeave a comment

Posting on My Forgotten Hobby III how I am progressing from day to day is the only way I have found to get going with building my collection of model kits before I get to be 100…

These are once again the complete instructions downloaded from Scalemates.

1012792-25-instructions

There are 116 steps and more than 300 parts in this kit.

Yesterday morning Steps 1 to 7 have been completed without any problems. I have learned by now to follow the instructions to the letter… A18, C13, A10, A19…

ICM steps 1-5

I have started using Tamiya extra-thin cement I bought a few months ago.

IMG_20201030_104817081

ICM step 6

However I will have to figure out how to use it more carefully…

 IMG_20201030_105045033

IMG_20201030_105104228

ICM step 7

IMG_20201030_105916068

When I reach step 17, I will take Plane Dave’s advice installing the pilot’s seat after the rudder bars and the pedals.

Although maybe a few beefs with the instructions (seriously, they would have you attach the pilot’s seat then build and place the rudder bars and pedals that go under the seat. (?) Or you could improvise and build/attach the rudder controls, then glue the seat down over them… (!))

We’ll see what happens when I reach step 17, but before there are the these steps I will have to tackle with…

ICM steps 8-12

ICM steps 13-19

ICM steps 20-21-22

Heinkel He 111H-3

Pierre LagacéLeave a comment

This is what Plane Dave had to say about ICM He 111H-3 with useful advice. The bold is mine.

I’ll say “wow”, but in a somewhat different sense than the pure joy I got from Tamiya’s latest.

ICM is a Ukrainian company that has staked their claim on German bombers. As is common with Eastern European model companies (ICM and Eduard especially) the complexity is dazzling.

There are many steps and parts involved in building interior detail, bomb bay and engines.

The quality of the engineering is excellent and I have no major complaints about detail or fit.

Although maybe a few beefs with the instructions (seriously, they would have you attach the pilot’s seat then build and place the rudder bars and pedals that go under the seat. (?) Or you could improvise and build/attach the rudder controls, then glue the seat down over them… (!))

COMPLAINT

My biggest complaint is a number of fragile assemblies that really do need to be put in place early (like guns and pilot’s station) then handled very delicately for the next several weeks of work!

Also, speaking as someone who is most interested in air frames, markings and colors I’m not really very interested in the engine and bomb bay details. Fortunately, it’s not a big thing to skip or work around those assemblies. Maybe on a later build I’ll choose to expose some of that, but for now I sure end up with a lot of unused plastic!

I do want to emphasize these are not BIG complaints! This is truly a beautiful kit and I am impressed with ICM as a modern provider of some bigger subjects. It is to their credit that my complaints are really only in comparison to the very best of the best.

DECALS

They are very thin! (modelers will know this is a mixed blessing, they meld into the finish better but are fragile and harder to work with).

They also seem to need a lot of time soaking in water before they are ready to work.

But over all, seriously no big problems. I was greatly pleased and relieved.

CONCLUSION
So in total a very satisfying kit that builds into an excellent model. A few somewhat unpleasant quirks but no big deal. I will happily work with this company again.

https://planedave.net/2020/04/17/heinkel-he-111h-3/

The Bloody Blenheim (PDF version) — Preserving the Past II

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I am sure John Knifton can relate to this research just like I did awhile back… and also here.

Research by Clarence Simonsen This research is dedicated to all members of No. 115 [Fighter] and [B.R.] Squadron which numbered almost 300 Canadians in total. Photos would be appreciated to help preserve their historical past, there out there someplace. Thanks to denial by the U.S. Navy and the Russians, true Canadian RCAF WWII history was […]

The Bloody Blenheim (PDF version) — Preserving the Past II

P-51B

Pierre LagacéLeave a comment

This is a follow up on Little Friends I wrote two months ago.

Autumn leaves in my backyard and colder weather leave me no other choice but to postpone using my Badger airbrush outdoors to finish up painting my Airfix 1/48 scale Me 109 and my Monogram North 1/48 scale American Harvard.

I will just have to wait for warmer temperature in May 2020…

In the meantime I will be adding more stories on my blogs as readers will continue to comment on posts I have written. This is how I had learned in September about a distant relative. Lieutenant Thomas Oscar Meteyer, my third cousin twice removed, is seen here sitting in the cockpit of his P-51B probably just after D-Day.

That information came from Peter Randall when I sent him this photo shared by Thomas Oscar Meteyer’s daughter. Peter wanted to know if I knew who were Lt. Thomas Meteyer’s crew. Looking at the photo, his crew chief’s name was written on the plane: S/Sgt J.A. Phillips.

Lt. Thomas Meteyer did not talk that much about the war to his four children. But there is one story his son Michael shared. It was on a newspaper clipping.

Learning about Lieutenant Meteyer I decided to buy two more model kits to add to my collection. First, the model kit of the first plane he flew in combat on February 28th, 1944.

Then the P-51B he flew all his other missions while he was with the 358th Fighter Squadron at Steeple Morden.

Lieutenant Thomas Oscar Meteyer’s service with the U.S. Army Air Corps will eventually be documented on this blog I created for his children and his grandchildren:

https://358thfightersquadron.wordpress.com/ 

I have also created this memorial:

http://www.americanairmuseum.com/person/212339

As a token of appreciation this is what his children sent me.

Which brings me to this…

With all I have as a backlog of model kits I had decided to build Eduard Hawker Tempest Mk V.

Opening the box and inspecting the parts this is what I had found.

The canopy was split in half!

I decided then to contact Eduard’s customer service. We’ll see what happens. While I am waiting for a reply I will start building this long overdue model kit I bought in January 2020.

Next time I will look at reviews of those who have tackled ICM He 111H-3 and then start enjoying my forgotten hobby again.

 

ICM He 111-H3

Pierre LagacéLeave a comment

There is no turning back now…

There are some nice reviews of this model kit. Here’s a link to one of them.

1/48 ICM 48261 Heinkel He-111 H-3 Kit Review… and it’s a beauty!

These are the complete instructions downloaded from Scalemates.

1012792-25-instructions

These are the first steps… There are 116 steps!


I will of course take a good look at what Plane Dave has to say about ICM He 111H-3 here… and I am sure to find good advice.

https://planedave.net/2020/04/17/heinkel-he-111h-3/

A nasty German in Woodville, Part Two, the True Facts

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May be inspirational for my next build… Part 2.

John Knifton

The Luftwaffe’s Gruppe III./KG.4, full name 111 Gruppe/Kampfgeschwader 4 arrived at Leeuwarden in the Netherlands in the middle of January 1941. They would be there until July 31st when they left for the Soviet Union and the Eastern Front:

During the first part of their stay, in one of the hardest winters for years, they spent a lot of time training and then taking part in planned air raids on the cities and ports of Great Britain. They were flying twin engined Heinkel He-111H version bombers, “hard to start greenhouses”, which scared the bejesus out of the locals who lived near the airfield. They were all loaded to the maximum limits with explosives and fuel, and on quite a few occasions, seemed to struggle to climb over the locals’ houses in this birthplace of Mata Hari:

On Tuesday, June 24th 1941 the pilot of one of the Heinkel He-111Hs…

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A nasty German in Woodville, Part One, the Legend

Pierre LagacéLeave a comment

May be inspirational for my next build… Part 1.

John Knifton

I grew up in a small village called Woodville, just to the south of Derby, in more or less the centre of England.

Derby was the home of an important Rolls Royce factory which made Merlin engines, the powerplant used by important World War Two aircraft such as the Spitfire, the Hurricane, the Mosquito and the Lancaster :

Shortly after the outbreak of war in 1939, steps were taken to protect this important Derby factory from enemy air attack. Immediate measures included the installation of a large calibre ex-naval gun on the western side of Hartshorne Lane, on some grassland near the public footpath, just beyond the site where the Dominoes public house was to be built shortly after the end of the war. Look for the Orange Arrow, my hearties!! :

This naval gun, probably taken from a scrapped old battleship, was extremely powerful and extremely noisy. Every time…

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