Gigatron
Sr Member
Hey guys,
After months of hunting, chasing, and researching, I was finally able to track down this elusive kit, the Condor 1:48 Heinkel HE-178. As far as I can discern, this is the only 1:48 kit of the V-1. There are a few 1:72 kits of both the V-1 and the V-2. The 1:48 kit is a short-run release, and it is riddled with all the problems of short run productions
For those not in the know, the He-178 was the first practical jet aircraft. Most people will argue it's the Me-262, but the He-178 was flying, while the 262 was still on the drawing board.
Unfortunately, the RLM wasn't interestested in persuing a jet aircraft that under-performed existing prop fighters. So, after 12 flights, it was hangered in the aviation museum, which was destroyed in an allied bombing run, in 1943.
So, the kit has its problems - for instance, there are 27 parts in the kit, and only 2 steps in the directions (3 if you include the painting guide). It has a fret of PE, but the instructions only mention 2 of the 9 pieces, with only arrows pointing to where they might go. The parts also lack guide pins or location guides. So there's no definite alignment. It's a "get it close, glue and clamp it in place, and hope it's right" type of build.
The final problem, is the paint guide - not so much the guide, but the color choice. The instructions say the fuselage is bare metal and RLM 02 (a light tan), But of the 4 or 5 archival pictures that exist, the color is much darker. I have taken several examples of models painted in RLM 02 and tried every trick in photoshop to get the colors to match. It just doesn't work.
So, I settled on Tamiya German grey XF-63. I think it's the most likely candidate, and I'll show you why in the pictures.
Here's my build, in normal color
The archive photo
And my photo, desaturated and little bit of film grain, thrown in
Anyway, sorry if I've bored anyone with the history lesson.
Enjoy
-Fred
After months of hunting, chasing, and researching, I was finally able to track down this elusive kit, the Condor 1:48 Heinkel HE-178. As far as I can discern, this is the only 1:48 kit of the V-1. There are a few 1:72 kits of both the V-1 and the V-2. The 1:48 kit is a short-run release, and it is riddled with all the problems of short run productions
For those not in the know, the He-178 was the first practical jet aircraft. Most people will argue it's the Me-262, but the He-178 was flying, while the 262 was still on the drawing board.
Unfortunately, the RLM wasn't interestested in persuing a jet aircraft that under-performed existing prop fighters. So, after 12 flights, it was hangered in the aviation museum, which was destroyed in an allied bombing run, in 1943.
So, the kit has its problems - for instance, there are 27 parts in the kit, and only 2 steps in the directions (3 if you include the painting guide). It has a fret of PE, but the instructions only mention 2 of the 9 pieces, with only arrows pointing to where they might go. The parts also lack guide pins or location guides. So there's no definite alignment. It's a "get it close, glue and clamp it in place, and hope it's right" type of build.
The final problem, is the paint guide - not so much the guide, but the color choice. The instructions say the fuselage is bare metal and RLM 02 (a light tan), But of the 4 or 5 archival pictures that exist, the color is much darker. I have taken several examples of models painted in RLM 02 and tried every trick in photoshop to get the colors to match. It just doesn't work.
So, I settled on Tamiya German grey XF-63. I think it's the most likely candidate, and I'll show you why in the pictures.
Here's my build, in normal color
The archive photo
And my photo, desaturated and little bit of film grain, thrown in
Anyway, sorry if I've bored anyone with the history lesson.
Enjoy
-Fred
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