1/72 Hasegawa HE51 Build and paint

       The HE-51 was one of the early German fighters of the newly-established Luftwaffe. Slow and under-gunned by later standards it was a sturdy and maneuverable aircraft that laid the foundations for the fighter pilot corps of WW2 fame. It first flew in 1933 and was rather long in the tooth when it was sent to Spain in 1936. It enjoyed a brief period of superiority until Soviet aircraft showed up on the Republican side. After 1938 it was used by the Luftwaffe as a trainer. This one qualifies under my "Spats/Fixed Undercarriage" and "What Were They Thinking" rules, it comes close to the "Too Cool" but it is a pretty transparent copy of the P6E Hawk so loses that distinction.

 

box and contents

 

another mutant pilot

 

assembly was straightforward 

and the parts-fit was very good aside from this nose piece

 

fortunately the plastic is thick enough to allow sanding away the flaws 

 

 

the lower wings fit perfectly and the cabane struts are molded 

as a unit that fits into holes in the fuselage

 

these help ensure that the upper wing is aligned properly 

 

 

which makes adding the one-piece interplane struts a breeze 

 

 

at first I was baffled by the huge hole in the bottom of the fuslage

 

then I realized that the landing gear assembly filled that gap

this one-piece unit ensures that the model is precisely aligned and strong

 

 

the spats are two-part units that have molded on wheels the only real issue is that the hole

 in the top of the spat is so large that the end of the landing gear leg can wobble,

 constant checking for proper alignment while the cement dries is imperative

 

once the landing gear is set there is just the prop to add and we are ready for paint

 

oops, there was a little sanding needed on the back edge of the landing gear/fuselage joint,

 do this BEFORE adding the radiator, not after like me

 

 

as the model was supposed to be gray I used gray primer, 

a mistake as the primer was MUCH darker than I remembered

 

some illustrations show the Luftwaffe gray almost this dark

 but I felt it was too strong a color on a model this small

 

so I started custom-mixing my own colors

 

still too dark......

 

 

there we go!

for those who care equal amounts of Americana "Boulder" and "Titanium White" 

"Santa Red" for the nose

 

 

after a second coat to even out the color I added gloss, 

I also painted the pilot because he was (once again) the only detail in the cockpit

 

then I checked the instructions for guidance as to decal placement

 

they weren't much help

 

the decals were yellowed but looked OK otherwise

 

 

the backed absorbed water quickly (usually a good sign)

 

 

and then the decal fell apart

 

 

so I raided one of my extra HE-51 kits for decals, amusingly this had the illustration

 for the decal placement on the back of the box, but an entirely different set of decals inside!

 

 

these held up a little better

 

 

after a lot of work I managed to get the markings onto the model and gave them a good coat of gloss, the white areas had yellowed badly and the surrounding film was almost orange

I was most unhappy

 

but it looked passable, now all I have to do is paint my SCW

 minis and the other two HE-51s and I will be all set!

 

 

a good matte coat helps some too

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

        An excellent model marred by the very old decals. I am seriously re-thinking my policy on using only original items after the last couple of builds. There seems little point in letting old decals ruin an otherwise nice looking model.