Heinkel He177 A-02

This aircraft was one of those that inspired me many many years ago when I decided to switch from building modern aircraft to specifically World War II subjects.

I did not want to cut up one of the Revell models and the old Airfix version is so bad, it resembles more the early version than the one it is supposed to so the choice was obvious! I hope to produce something decent out of this ancient kit.

The fuselage is shortened.



Only the front turret was retained, engine cowlings reshaped...





... prop blades widened,





the tailplane is shortened and reshaped...

Further work done was new cockpit interior detail of the early versions,



new flaps,



and much much more work. The model is approaching readiness but there is still a lot of work to do including moulding a new canopy - no easy task!

A lot of work ahead of you, promises to be interesting

Another interesting conversion , from this unique german bomber, welldone Aldo looking foward to see it finished...

Slowly getting there but got stuck for correct sized swastikas!

Have ordered a couple of sheets which should hopefully have more accurate ones than those I have used - they will come off as they are too small.

You bring out a nice build out of that old kit...

Prosit Also, what a magnificent bird, thanks for the build details, why the hell do you build so neat?? Why does everyone build so neat?? My work looks like crap before paint. BTW i love your jigs.

bcauchi wrote:Prosit Also, what a magnificent bird, thanks for the build details, why the hell do you build so neat?? Why does everyone build so neat?? My work looks like crap before paint. BTW i love your jigs.

I think the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence - I have the same opinion of others' models!

The jigs are made of foamboard which is a material I get plenty of offcuts from students' topographical models. It is light, clean and soft to cut.

Thank you for your kind words but I dread what the finished model will look like...

Aldo wrote:

bcauchi wrote:Prosit Also, what a magnificent bird, thanks for the build details, why the hell do you build so neat?? Why does everyone build so neat?? My work looks like crap before paint. BTW i love your jigs.

I think the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence - I have the same opinion of others' models!

The jigs are made of foamboard which is a material I get plenty of offcuts from students' topographical models. It is light, clean and soft to cut.

Thank you for your kind words but I dread what the finished model will look like...

it is like the other lane is always the faster lane

Nice work Aldo, I am sure it will look fine in the end! What not try 1/48th scale for larger size ones.

Why do you dread it Aldo? I cannot see your reasoning, it looks really great!

bcauchi wrote:Why do you dread it Aldo? I cannot see your reasoning, it looks really great!

Everything that could go wrong on this one, did! The nose and tail canopies are vacformed items and will take quite a bit of patience to frame. I hope the final additions will not screw up what should have taken a couple of weeks but has been sitting on the workshop table for the past seven months. There are another 5 unmade old Airfix He177's in boxes plus six Revell ones three of which are under construction but aftermarket decals for this model are all wrong...! So, I still have to solve the decal problems for these as well, as happened for DL+AQ.

To give you an idea, I ordered correct swastikas a couple of weeks ago but the order has been held up by an extra model I ordered which is unavailable. Somehow, it's like an unseen force is preventing me from finishing this one...

Do these things happen to you?

Perfect surgical work as always Aldo

Aldo wrote:

Aldo, on seeing this pic, I immediately spotted the bottle labelled Klear

Never knew you used it. Do you brush it or airbrush it

I simply love brushing it on, but airbrushing it is always a game of roulettes no matter what!

Neither Adrian - that little bottle is all I have left of my Klear stock, and I save it for canopies. I use another floor polish called Glanzer to protect the paint finish when I change from one solvent to another to avoid a chemical reaction, but this I apply by brush and when it dries it becomes invisible. You don't get that glossy finish which we see in magazines when people say they have used Klear, but I have never had any problems even when using strong solvents if the surfaces are protected by Glazer.

I think the issue of spray or paint application of Klear is a matter of how it is done. I did spray it once with a Badger 100LG and got a fairly good result. I also painted it on with similar results. I think the most sensible thing to do is not to deluge the model but to apply consecutive thin coats. But then, this applies to all applications.

Hope this helps.

...and if you know where to find a bottle of Klear, let me know.

I got 2 bottles from ebay since they're not found in malta. If you buy, be carefull, because Johnsons changed the formula to a milky white liquid- not transperant how it use to be. But it seems this new formula when used is almost the same.

Brushing it on is no problem. Airbrushing it on.. somtimes it works somtimes it doesnt. i spray at a low psi.. around 11/12. if too high the paint will run. i tried spraying many lights coats but i get 'beading' and it never seems to build up and rather than getting an even finish it comes out 'dotty'- not orange peel though. I usually spray a few light coats then after i spray on 'heavy'/slow wet coats. somtimes it works somtimes it doesnt i find it very difficult to spray on bright surfaces like silver/nmf or white.

Yes, have had similar problems with airbrushing - but if brushing it on is effective why dirty your airbrush when you can get away with a simple brush. Glanzer is also milky white but you get a transparent finish with it so you should have a problem with Klear unless the new additive which makes it white will yellow with time and light, or may interact with certain colours notably light grey.

I have been brushing most of my models between paint and gloss varnish for the past five to six years now and have not had any adverse reactions but have seen such reactions on other people's models.

Guys klear is a self levelling liquid so brushing it or spraying it does should not make any difference in the finish, no brush marks either way.

It depends on the surface brian. if you brush it on a metallic surface like polished metal/silver.. it comes out great! i brushed 3 layers on the F84 it gave a fantastic finish, and no one noticed it was brushed on. IF you brush it on a dark surface.. ok it will come out smooth, BUT, its impossible to get a perfect finish. you will get brush strokes no matter how many layers. Airbrushing it on always gives best results. Also i find when brushing, i get a few 'bumps' which is where some klear runs and pooles up, or particles get stuck.

bcauchi wrote:Guys klear is a self levelling liquid so brushing it or spraying it does should not make any difference in the finish, no brush marks either way.

...but it is true that since aircraft models are not flat surfaces, the liquid does tend to gravitate along the curves and collects as thicker puddles on trailing edges. As brushing is more controlled than an airbrush, I do get better results with a brush than with the airbrush even at the very lowest setting.

Good work so far!

Future is some great stuff and has some pretty good uses other than the usual coating before decals. Rodney Williams told me that he would use Future to glue his metal landing gear together that he scratch built, it can also be used for attaching photo etch & canopies. Sometimes I will also add it to some acrylic paint, it may make the pain a little more translucent, but it doesn't seem to make it more thin, and was some acrylics, I've found the paint would flow better.

You can and up to 30% clear flat to Future before you apply it over the model giving a flat finish, reducing the percentage of clear flat can give you varying levels of a satin finish.

You can get Future through Amazon.com. The bottle I found on their is pretty large, but maybe it could be split between a couple guys to also reduce shipping. You can always order other things like Bondo and Silly Putty, both of which I have found to be indispensable and I wonder how I got along without them. Brian can tell you about both of them. Here's the link for the Future:

http://www.amazon.com/SC-Johnson-11182-Pledge-FutureShine/dp/B000ARPH4C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304282519&sr=8-1

Yepp, true about mixing it with acrylic. I always do. its better than water.
I dont know about using it as a glue. It can also be used to stick decals.
Crap, while writing this msg more mirages came

slingshot392 wrote:Good work so far!

Future is some great stuff and has some pretty good uses other than the usual coating before decals. Rodney Williams told me that he would use Future to glue his metal landing gear together that he scratch built, it can also be used for attaching photo etch & canopies. Sometimes I will also add it to some acrylic paint, it may make the pain a little more translucent, but it doesn't seem to make it more thin, and was some acrylics, I've found the paint would flow better.

You can and up to 30% clear flat to Future before you apply it over the model giving a flat finish, reducing the percentage of clear flat can give you varying levels of a satin finish.

You can get Future through Amazon.com. The bottle I found on their is pretty large, but maybe it could be split between a couple guys to also reduce shipping. You can always order other things like Bondo and Silly Putty, both of which I have found to be indispensable and I wonder how I got along without them. Brian can tell you about both of them. Here's the link for the Future:

http://www.amazon.com/SC-Johnson-11182-Pledge-FutureShine/dp/B000ARPH4C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304282519&sr=8-1

Thanks for the link - honestly didn't know the stuff was still around. Will order immediately.

Have just discovered that Amazon will not ship Future to Malta!

Well, we tried...

Aldo wrote:Have just discovered that Amazon will not ship Future to Malta!

Well, we tried...

You could try some links for some of the big box stores here in the U. S., places like Wal-Mart and Target, possibly Kmart, maybe they will ship to Malta? It may not be that Amazon isn't the one that won't ship to Malta, a number of items like this end up coming from other stores, I've found that out when I get hit with shipping from a couple different places one time, I didn't pay close enough attention to the shipping notes.

AdriaN wrote:Yepp, true about mixing it with acrylic. I always do. its better than water.
I dont know about using it as a glue. It can also be used to stick decals.
Crap, while writing this msg more mirages came

Yep, I forgot about using it for decals, I use it for that quite often as well. I would put some down before hand, but I found if I use it full-strength before I put the decals down, they don't want to slide very well, so I would mix it with water or alcohol, but I would use it full-strength afterwards and it would do a very good job of pulling the decals around most things.

The only things I have glued together with Futures so far has been by accident! Hopefully when they do it on purpose, it works as well!