shaped mount, and now you can
add the four sets of exhausts. The
ends are not hollowed out, but this
doesn’t really matter as the flame
dampers will hide the actual ends.
The tricycle undercarriage
is next. The nose strut comes
in two halves, with the wheel
sandwiched in between, and the
main undercarriage legs are also
moulded as two hollow parts.
The tyres and the wheel hubs
are supplied as separate pieces,
which does make painting a bit
easier. I found that the attachment
of the nose leg to the fuselage
bay was a bit fiddly, as was the
fitting of all the various retractionstruts. Both the nose and main
undercarriage doors are provided
as a one-piece part that requires
cutting to have the gear down.With the undercarriage on, I
discovered that the nose weight I
had added (as instructed) was not
enough to stop the model from
tail sitting. After a lot of naughty
words had issued forth, I had to
set about rectifying this. The
only real option I had was to add
weight in the engine nacelles, so I
carefully removed the cowling and
its mounting cone and opened up a
hole in the front face of the nacelle.
Into this I poured lead shot until
the model was sitting on the nose
wheel. I then stuffed strips of plastic
bag into the hole to secure the shotand stop it from rattling around.
The cowling was reattached, and
the model now weighed a lot more
than I expected. Fortunately, the
undercarriage could take the load,
but purchasing a set of SAC white
metal legs would be a very good
option for anyone building this kit.
With the 219 now sitting
firmly on its legs I fitted the crew
ladder in the extended position.
The next stage of the build
involved attaching the canopy,
where the main hood needs to
have the locking mechanism
added. Some care is needed when
attaching these parts, so as not to
damage the transparent parts, as
the contact points are quite small
and the canopy frame is thin.10 • APRIL 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
006-11-FEAT-He219-0418.indd 10 09/03/2018 15: