Scale aviation modeller international

The radar operator’s panel is

another finely-moulded piece

with a lot of raised detail. Again,

decals are supplied to detail the

various receivers and transmitters,

and these decals settle down

perfectly over the surface detail.

The Heinkel 219 was fitted with

a fold-down armoured shield in

front of the pilot. On the model,

this can be positioned in either a

raised or lowered position. There

is also an armoured glass panel in

front of the pilot, but I found that

this part required some trimming

to get it to fit the aperture.

The pilot’s gunsight is a one-

piece clear part, which suffers

from thick lenses which have

mould separation lines through

their centre (on my next He 219

I will replace the lenses with

something a bit more to scale).

The overall colour of late-

war Luftwaffe cockpits is a dark

grey, which could create a “black

hole” effect to the cockpit. I have

found that this gloomy effect

can be avoided with careful

highlighting with lighter shades,

and adding some wear and tear,

to provide a very colourful and

interesting looking cockpit.

The nose wheel bay is located

directly below the cockpit and

this was assembled alongside the

cockpit to form one assembly.The

completed cockpit/nose wheel bay

module is attached to the starboard

fuselage half, as are two bulkheads,

which also include two short wing

spars on which to attach the wings.

As this aeroplane has a tricycle

undercarriage, it will require

nose weight to keep it off its tail.

The instructions recommend

90 g of weight, to be placed just

behind the cockpit, so I used a

sizeable lump of white metal that

weighed more than recommended;

but as I would discover later,

it was still not enough!

Once the fuselage halves are

closed up, the separate dorsal

panel is added. The join line of

this part runs through numerous

panel lines, so care has to be taken

during its fitting to preserve

the fine detail. The same is

also true of the belly panel.

The front fairing of the belly

panel features the gun ports for the

four forward-firing cannons. Part

F-41 represents the gun muzzles,

but I found the detail on this part

The lump of white metal I initially added to

avoid tail-sitting, which proved to be insufficient

The spars insure a good fit ton the wing to fuselage join

The Fuselage closed around the cockpit module

Cockpit side walls and instrument panels

The two marked spars are removed to fit the flaps

8 • APRIL 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

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