Heinkel He 111H-3
First look at ICM 1/48 Heinkel He 111H-3
T
he He-111 has
always been
one of my
favourite aircraft,
there is something
about the distinctive
glazed nose and broad
wings that I have
always found attractive and
we have been spoiled with kits
in all the major scales from a
number of manufacturers but
none to date come close to this
new ICM kit in terms of detail.
As is normal with the larger
ICM kits the sleeve cover contains
a strong cupboard box that will
protect the parts from all but the
roughest handling in transit.On opening the box, I was
immediately impressed with the
fine surface detail on the larger
parts but then as I unpacked the
sprues became more impressed
with the smaller details and
what a lot there was.
Every area that you can think
of is detailed I will start with the
fuselage, this is built up from
the large wing spars to which is
added a fully detailed cockpit.
The fuselage halves contain full
rib detail and though the windows
are inserted from inside as seen
on many kits I have never seen
the rib detail extended on to theinward surface as
ICM have done.
Out of the box,
this kit is designed
to produce an
aircraft from
the late Battle of
Britain period till
the end of bomber
operations. That
means that this
aircraft carries a
full weapon fit and
you can choose
between seven MG15 machine guns
in all positions or 20mm MG FF
cannons in the nose and forward
position in the lower cupola.
Internally all these weapons will
need a lot of ammunition and most
of it is supplied moulded to rails
to fill the central compartment.
Of course, the He111 is a bomber
and this is the first kit that has
really done justice to the individual
bomb cells and includes a full
load of 500-kilogram bombs to
hang from them. Another area
where ICM have excelled in the
Jumo 211 Engines each is made
up of seventeen parts which with
the addition of a little wiring will
be the equal of most aftermarket
resin representations.
With so much detail the
instructions must be clear and
concise and fortunately they are
with colour notes matched to
Revell and Tamiya paint ranges.
Markings are supplied for three
aircraft, the first is a
Battle of Britain period
bomber with three
white stripes on the
tail and wings. The
second is also from
1941 during operations
in Norway. The final
option is probably the
most colourful with
large areas of yellow
trim donating an
aircraft operating in
Russia during 1943.
In conclusion,
this kit in the box
looks like a stunning
representation of a
Battle of Britain periodHe111 and it is obvious from the
unused parts on the sprues and by
the way the upper fuselage has been
moulded separately that this will
be the first in a series of Heinkel’s.
I really hope we will get an H-20
V-1 carrier and though it will take
up quite a bit of room I would also
hope a twin fuselage Z-1 in this
scale will appear at some point
in the future. And maybe even a
backdate to a Spanish Civil War
E with the original conventional
airliner style nose is a possibility!
Our thanks to ICM for supplying
us with the review sample and a full
build will appear later this year.WWW.SAMPUBLICATIONS.COM • FEBRUARY 2018 • 53
FIRST LOOK!
052-57-FirstLooks-0218.indd 53 12/01/2018 12:03