ICM

1/72 Heinkel He-70G

Kit Number: 72233

Reviewed by  Adam Johnson, IPMS #46619

MSRP: $29.95 Review Kit supplied by Dragon Models USA: : www.dragonmodelsusa.com Introduction This is a long awaited accurate version of a very important aircraft of history. The Heinkel He-70 was ahead of its time in design and style, and reflects the German 1930's Art-Deco period at its peak. It was the fastest airplane in the world at the time as well as having very advanced fully retractable landing gear. Previous to this, the only model kit produced was Matchbox, which was then rereleased by Revell. The kit was rather simple compared to this ICM kit. Upon opening the box, there are two sprue frames, a clear frame and small set of instructions, with some nice looking decals for two versions of the Lufthansa variant. I immediately noticed some molding issues on the lower middle wing section, and occasional micro flaws that will have to be carefully sanded out as one assembles the model. However, the detail is very fine on the whole model. Very fine scribed panel lines, rivets and a convincing fabric pattern on the wings. The instructions are too small and dark to be useful, so I blew them up to twice the size, and this was still no help. Most of the time I guessed as to where parts were installed, and I think I got them right. I ended up finding old black & white pictures on the internet that was more helpful. Some of the kit parts are for other versions of this airplane not present. Cockpit The cockpit and passenger areas were assembled and painted first. RLM-02 was chosen as the interior color with a wash of dark grey to pull out the detail and give dimensionality. A blob of epoxy was put under the passenger floor to get it to the right height, and stay there! I found no references for the interior, so I built and painted it per the (vague) instructions. Body Assembly The body was a typical left and right half that went together without problems. The lower middle wing had to be test fit and slightly corrected to fit in. After test fitting all the wing parts, they were assembled and I noticed gaps on the front leading edge and between the three piece lower wing that required extensive and careful filling/sanding to look right. I didn't want to ruin the great looking ‘fabric over frame' pattern detail. Most strangely, there is a little pointed piece that is the very rear of the aircraft. The piece is supposed to wedge between the rear tail plane, however, it is very difficult to wedge in there. So, take note of that. The parts omitted till the entire model was painted were: the engine cover, propeller, exhausts, the complicated landing gear assembly, and of course, the clear parts. Sanding and putty were done on most joints, and I had to be very careful as not to destroy the very fine surface detail. I re-scribed the panel lines around the fuselage joints with an X-acto ‘rolled' over the respective areas. The areas with the molding flaws were sanded smooth, as there was very little detail their. The instructions called for the right passenger door to be cut-out and removed. The kit is supplied with a clear door from which one paints each side of it, and masks the window portion. The door was bonded to the fuselage with a drop of CA. I have no idea which way it opens, so I took a guess. I hope I am right! Painting I chose a late 1935 version of Lufthansa right before they converted them back to wartime mode. Some research showed they were finished entirely with a glossy paint. The nose area is black, and the rest of the body was a very light grey or natural aluminum. I thought the aluminum finish would make it more striking. The model was sprayed down with Tamiya gloss black synthetic lacquer. What's great about this paint is that it lays very smooth, and allows the fine detail to show through without loss. Next I carefully masked off the nose area, and painted the whole model with Alclad bright aluminum. A walkway area over the wings calls out for a medium grey, so I masked off that area and painted it with Tamiya water-based medium grey. The nose prop is black and the prop blades are bright aluminum. Decals The decals are finely printed and detailed. However, after looking at the zigzag on the side of the engine, I noticed it was printed with clear in the middle with a black border. For some reason, I assumed it was either very light grey, or a metallic color. I then cut the decal out very carefully and aligned it to the position where it would be attached. I marked with a pin the basic position where the zigzag would go and roughly hand-painted a silver zigzag over the black nose paint. The idea was to get the silver to come thru where the clear section of the decal was. This was successful. I then put all the decals on and settled them with solvaset. The decals took over 3 minutes to release from the back-paper, and the solvaset barely worked on them to settle them into grooves etc. Very frustrating, and I have to deal with this issue. The bottom decal is a curved black stripe. There is no graphic of the bottom of the aircraft in the instructions, so luckily, I found a good picture of this on the internet of this exact version to locate it! Landing Gear Again, looking at as many photos as I could find on the internet, I figured out how this assembles. You MUST test fit all of it before bonding. This is the most difficult landing gear I have ever worked on! The final result is interesting and eye pleasing. CA was the only way to attach it all. The wheel-wells were painted with RLM02. Final Finishing Final stage was to attach the prop and engine cover. A small piece of .020" brass rod was added to the tail-wheel skid as evidenced by archival pictures. The whole model was then sealed in a gloss lacquer clear coat. The clear parts ARE impressive. The little windows fit tightly into the holes, and all are quite clear. The model looked to ‘factory fresh' to me, so I did some weathering. First I very lightly airbrushed a light, light gray over the whole model – like putting a dulled film over it. Then the model was artificially shadowed with dark gray wash. After drying, I buffed out raised areas to show a little bit of sheen still left in the metallic areas and did some mottling here and there to simulate a well worn look. The underside of the model has dirty brown and dark gray dry-brushed on the wheels, and washed in the panel line areas. This is to simulate the grass-field runways they landed on regularly. Conclusion I must say that I like the look of the model now that it is done but I was not impressed with the difficulty of the kit. The molding sinks, poorly engineered decals, and most importantly, the difficult instructions (almost no instructions)! The ‘thumbs up' are: accurate profile, great clear parts, and fine engraving of surface detail. This is a giant leap ahead of the old Matchbox/Revell kit. However, I recommend it for very experienced modelers due to the fiddly parts. My thanks to Dragon Models USA for the review sample. References · HEINKEL HE 70/170 (Perfiles Aeronauticos: La Maquina y la Historia) · www.luftarchiv.de · www.eads.net