Dragon Models Ltd.

1/72  Heinkel He219A-5/R4 Uhu

Kit Number: 5041

Reviewed by  Jim Pearsall, IPMS# 2209

MSRP: $27.00 Web site: www.dragonmodelsusa.com The Aircraft The Heinkel 219 Uhu was one of the most successful night fighters of the Luftwaffe in the 1943-45 period -- which is not to say it didn’t have teething troubles and political problems. When I got around to looking up the information I have on the 219, I found the political machinations both for and against the project to be interesting. Heinkel began the project in 1940 as Projekt 1060, an improved Kampfzerstorer, or heavy fighter with ability to be used as a bomber. The idea was to be able to replace the Bf 110 with a modernized, faster aircraft with a nose wheel along with remote machine guns in barbettes for rear armament. The Technical Office found it to be too advanced, so they shelved the project. However, it happened that General Kammhuber, the inventor of the Luftwaffe’s radar/night fighter system, visited Heinkel’s Marianehe headquarters and Heinkel showed him the plans. He liked the idea and ordered the prototypes to be equipped with the new Lichstenstein SN2 radar. One of the first He 219 prototypes destroyed 5 RAF bombers on its first night mission. Unfortunately, Feldmarschall Milch didn’t particularly like the end run General Kammhuber performed around his office and didn’t like the nose-gear equipped He 219 so he ordered Uhu production stopped. In spite of this, the Heinkel assembly line continued to produce 219s along with newer, improved versions. The main models of the He 219 were numbered A0 through A7 and B1. Part of the improvements made were Rustsatz, or field modifications, added to aircraft as needed. The standard He 219 was a 2-seat aircraft with a pilot and radar operator sitting back to back. Earlier 219s had tried a rear gun for the radar operator, but it was found that the crew member could do one job or the other but not both. With the addition of Mosquito night fighters to the RAF bomber stream, losses went up for the Luftwaffe night fighters, and the addition of defensive armament became desirable. Rustsatz 4 added a third seat for a rear gunner and a modified canopy while adding 2 feet 7 inches to the fuselage. The R4 modifications were actually done during final assembly. In 1944 Albert Speer was named Minister of Production with the mission of straightening out the mess made by the various bureaucracies in German industrial production. One of his early acts was to fire Feldmarschall Milch. The He 219 was back in production. Building the Kit About 35 years ago I built the Revell He 219. I looked at one of these kits recently and was amazed at how crude it seemed compared to the Dragon Uhu.

The Dragon molding is crisp and flash-free. The clear parts are clear and thin. When something didn’t fit, it was cause for pause and thinking because the basic engineering on this kit is very good. In the picture of the tapered back of one of the nacelles (which I admit is poor quality), there is a small chunk of plastic inside the square opening in the part. I cut and dug, and never did get a good fit with the rest of the nacelle until I figured out the REAL engineering fix. If the hole isn’t right for the pin, cut down the pin to fit the hole. It’s easier.

When I got the pin in the hole, the back part was slightly larger than the taper of the rest of the nacelle, but this was fixed with a "few minutes with a sanding stick" fix.

I was pretty impressed with the cockpit interior for this kit. You get a PE instrument panel, two choices for radar scopes, and a very nicely done little MG 131 for the third crew member. I was somewhat taken aback that there was no cross-reference between the two choices of radar scopes for the intercept operator. More on that later!

When I put the cockpit into the fuselage half and mated the left and right fuselage halves, I found that mine had one of those challenges we run into every once in a while. At some point, probably just after the it came out of the mold, the fuselage halves didn’t stay straight. Either that or the extra 2 ½ scale feet caused a cooling problem inside the mold. The resulting gap looks terrifying at first, but the cockpit walls are fairly thin and flexible and, with a little clamping and gluing, results in a good fit. The interior fits quite nicely with no filing, cutting, trimming or bad words needed to get the fuselage halves to meet cleanly. Compared to some kits I’ve built recently, this is really great engineering.

Keith Pruitt has recently reviewed the Dragon He 219B-1 for IPMS/USA. His fix for the "floating" landing gear is a classic of simple engineering with a clean fix. I wish I had found his review before I used CA glue to fix the gear attachment. I had to fix mine twice. This does not detract from the fact that the landing gear is a sweet little model in itself. These tiny little parts fit together SO nicely and look good when you’re finished with it. With the longer front fuselage, I thought I might be able to get enough weight into the nose, gun bay, and nacelles to make the kit sit on its nose wheel. Things were fine right up to the point where I attached the solid horizontal and vertical stabilizers. Plunk! A tail-sitter. Well, that’s fixable too, if you’re crafty. Not crafty like a fox, crafty like a Michael’s Craft Store customer. Look closely at the pictures of the finished model to see what I mean.

Dragon gives you two paint schemes, one overall light gray with splotches, and another with the same gray/splotches, but with a black underside. I thought the overall gray scheme looked better, so that’s the scheme I chose. The overall gray used was RLM 76, which Testors now carries in their Model Master® series. The instructions called for flat black splotches. This just didn’t seem right, so I pulled out my trusty copy of Dave Klaus’ IPMS Color Cross Reference Guide. Once again Dave saved my life, as I know that the "color police" would be howling at my front door if I got a Luftwaffe color wrong! The correct color for the splotches was RLM 75, which Testors also produces. After painting, I added a coat of Future, to both level the paint and keep fingerprints off the paint job. I left off all the antennas, propellers, wheels, and whatever else I thought I might break till after after I added the decals. Decals The decals are exactly what you would expect from Dragon. Printed by Cartograf, everything was in register and came off the backing sheet without folding, tearing or dissolving. I decided that I would use the "kit" markings, finish the kit, and then add swastikas, which aren’t provided on the decal sheet. This wasn’t a problem for me, as my decal stash still has some ABT and HisAirDec decals from the sixties, plus all those kit decals with extra markings that weren't thrown away after a build. The only thing I really needed to know was what style of cross went on the tail of the aircraft. Before that, I wanted to get it finished for its "photo opportunity." I put on a layer of Testors acrylic flat finish to protect the markings and, after a half hour, I was ready to proceed. Final Assembly

I was impressed by the quality of the brass parts for this kit. The Hirschgeweih (stag antler) dipole antennas are sturdy without being thick or heavy looking. The mounting system provided me with a definite challenge here. I glued the L-shaped brackets for the dipoles to the nose and got them aligned. This is moderately tricky, as you have to keep track of left/right, front/rear, angles, and twist. For the tail-warning radar receiver, again you are given two choices but no information as to which antenna goes with which aircraft. The possibilities are for a large dipole, approximately 1 inch long, which scales to approximately 6 feet; or a simple wire, about 3 scale feet, which could be a half wave, a coil, or a simple wire. Not knowing which went where, I chose the later option.

When it came time to put the dipole antennas on the nose, I had a challenge. I used Gator Glue®, an acrylic white glue which will hold the parts solidly once cured. The challenge was to keep the antennas in alignment until the glue set, as gravity kept pulling them down and out of alignment. The fix was to use that heavy, solid tail part to suspend the model nose down. That way, gravity was working for me. Oh, and my workbench doesn’t always look that messy. Usually it’s worse. Finish, Part 1

Here’s the finished model with the kit decals but no swastikas. OOB, it’s a nice model, and I was pretty satisfied with it. Just one small addition to the markings, and it goes on the shelf. Finish, Part 2 I went hunting for some information on what that the swastika should look like. Was it solid black, black with white outline, white outline, or black outline? I got that answer and more from Profile 219. On page 203 is a photo of the Heinkel 219 with the QT + NY code and a solid black swastika. OK, good, but the caption says that this photo is a retouched version of the photo on page 201 and this aircraft never existed with those markings. To further confuse the issue there’s a photograph that shows a two-seat 219A-5, not a 3-seat A-5/R4. To further compound the irony, the author then states that the retouched photo was later re-retouched by the Russians and supposedly identified as a Czech LB79. My good friend George Reny (who taught me so much about modeling back in the 70s) repeatedly said, "there’s nothing you can foul up on a model that you can’t fix." That’s certainly good advice. I went ahead and fixed it.

I painted over the markings, put on some Future, and got the kit decal sheet out. The other set of markings on the decal sheet is for G9 + CL, with a yellow C. OK, Profile 219 shows a 219 in RAF markings, but you can still make out the CL on the aft fuselage where it wasn’t completely overpainted. The G9 code is probably correct, as the Profile states that only HQ Staffel and 1st Staffel of NJG 1 had Uhus at the end of the war. I also added a pair of swastikas to the tails. I also applied my "crafty" fix for the tail heaviness. Grey Foamcore craft board, available at most craft stores in a number of colors, nicely simulates concrete. I cut a piece 11 inches square, added "expansion joints" and glued the aircraft to the board. It now sits on all three wheels like Ernst Heinkel meant it to. I also added the antenna to the top of the canopy. Dragon did add a spot to indicate where it attaches on THIS version, which was apparently not there on the B1. Overall Assessment Whew, it took almost as long to write this review as it did to build the kit! It may seem like there’s a lot wrong with this kit, but that’s not true. This plastic kit is a state-of-the-art product. Except for a couple of easily-fixed problems, there aren’t any show-stoppers encountered in building this aircraft. As far as the markings conundrum, I can understand where it originated. There is not a lot of information about this aircraft out there and the RLM burned a lot of documents in 1945. This is partly due to RAF raids on Heinkel's plants which destroyed a lot of the records --while missing the assembly lines. Add to all this the fact that Ernst Heinkel was NOT on good terms with Erhard Milch (their relationship deteriorated to the point that 6 He 219s had to be built from spare parts to get around the prohibition on manufacturing them) and you see the nightmare faced by researchers. The lack of photos combined with somewhat lackadaisical research during the 50s resulted in misinformation abounding. I applaud Dragon for coming out with a far better Heinkel 219A kit than has ever been available before. The A-5/R4 may not have been the best choice as far as slam-dunk, fully-vetted markings choices, but it’s certainly interesting and was a hoot to build and mark... and re-mark. This kit is recommended for all Luftwaffe fans. Those with a more casual interest in WWII might still find this kit of interest. It’s a good build.

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