HIPM 1:48 HEINKEL HE-100D

Reviewer: Gavin Dore  (rec.models.scale)

The Heinkel He-100 is a sleek fighter design that was developed to compete as a higher performance aircraft against the Messerschmitt Bf-109.  Ernst Heinkel's intention was also to develop such an excellent fighter that its capabilities and performance would overwhelm anything else it's competitors had to offer, and the German hierachy would have no choice but to award him the contract.  Initially the aircraft was exceptionally fast but had rather poor handling characteristics and the company modified the design to overcome these deficiencies.  This resulted in the definitive He-100D model that was elegant and proved to have better performance than the Bf-109.   Unfortunately it was not seen as the successor to the Bf-109 and it was never ordered into production.  Some dozen machines were deployed in different markings in an attempt to confuse and decoy the Allies but the aircraft never went into service.   This is a shame because one is left to ponder what the aircraft might have achieved if it were ever able to be used in combat.

This is really a limited run injection mold kit in 1/48 scale produced by HiPM but I understand that one can possibly get their hands on it if one has a good hunt in the appropriate (european stock) hobby shops.  The box is rather flimsy and consists of just two sprues of light grey injected mold parts with clear parts for the canopy, in both closed and open options.  The Panel lines are very finely engraved and could do with a bit of an over-scribe to prevent any painting from devouring them completely.  The plastic contains minor amounts of flash, some of the parts, particularly the wing trailing edges, are a bit thick and needs to be smoothed and sanded-down.  The plastic also contains a number of imperfection mold marks and ejector pin marks that will require some cleaning.  A photo-etched brass set is also provided for cockpit detailing, aerials and the like.

We start by assembling the cockpit and this certainly an area that needs quite a lot of attention, both in the forms of patience and detailing work.  The photo etched parts certainly enhance the look of the interior and should be used wherever possible.  Sidewall details is molded and the photo etched metal detail parts along with the main instrument panel are all very good.  The cockpit unit is a little difficult to fit and requires a bit of expert trimming to get it into place correctly.   If one does take his time and reproduce the details as much as he can, the finished work is still easily understated by simply saying 'it's worth the effort!'  The whole cockpit is very convincing indeed.

Fuselage halves go together okay but again needs patience and some clamps to keep it together while it dries.  The wings go on butt-join and result in some gaps that require filling.  The whole model could do with some precision sanding afterward to smooth out the crude join lines and filler.  One is best at using the three piece canopy set, whether you display it open or closed, because it fits better than the alternative.  But either way one must exercise caution and dry test fitting and modification before glueing it into place. 

The external detailing bits like exhausts, tail wheel, undercarriage, gear doors, aerials etc were then tackled and most of these parts are quite poorly molded.   The tail wheel in particular was a shocker and I used raided the spares box to replace it with a similar one (which ended up being my only spare!).  Likewise the exhausts and gear doors are not very good and again, if possible, are better replaced.   If you do wheels-up you will have to tackle the very poor fitting gear doors with a lot of skill and attention.  The undercarriage is a bit simplified and not particularly very convincing but nevertheless will do its job.  You can use some remaining photo etched material to enhance it a bit. 

One can reproduce any of the 12 'propaganda' machines and the decals supplied are produced by Propagteam (who also produced the photo etched set, BTW).   These are in quite good register but a bit thin, but will still do the job they are intended for.  I chose an overall RLM 61 Dunkelbraun topside camouflage with RLM 63 Lichtgrau undersides.  The result was quite a nice finish (Ed Note:  From this description I think the sideview art at the bottom of this page is the aircraft that Gavin produced)

The kit measures up quite well and is quite clearly a He-100D and I am very happy with my finished model.  Overall, it hands out all the gripes and glitches that can be expected of a limited run kit but is not any worse than the mainstream kit in this particular range.  To be honest the kit had at best an average fit and at worst a very poor fit, so one needs to think of this before attempting this project.   Having said all this, however, with a little skill, work and patience one can produce an excellent example, and should present no dramas to those who are experienced at doing limited run kits.  For the novice and intermediate modeller, however, I wouldn't recommend.

Related In-the-Box Reviews:  MPM 1/72 Heinkel He 100 

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HEINKEL HE-100D-1