TAMIYA 1:48 HEINKEL HE-219A-7 UHU

Reviewer: Graham Woolnough  (rec.models.scale)

To my knowledge this was the very first injected mold 1/48 He-219 to be produced, and how lucky we are that it was Tamiya which chose it as a subject material!  The kit covers the He-219A-7 version and replicates it quite well.

The kit is molded with the typical Tamiya engineering qualities that we have come to enjoy - nice detail, engraved panel lines, the works.  A metal nose wheel well is also provided (which doubles as the cockpit floor), I guess that will help weight it down a bit more - nice.

You start with building the cockpit which basically includes everything bar the smell.  Sidewall detail is included but has some mold imperfection marks which will be visible.  The cockpit is actually well catered for and detailed and the construction is generally straightforward - I gave the interior a dark grey wash with headrests and other small components given a brown touch up.  Instrument panels and other consoles were painted in matt black, although you are given decals for the instrument panel.  An armoured glass panel is attached just inside the windscreen but it might be best to leave this until just before you affix the windscreen, as it needs to fit snuggly, and a little forward - something that might not be achievable if you affix it beforehand. You can enhance the cockpit somewhat with some Fine Molds detail pieces, such as seat belts etc.

Fit of most of the components is generally quite good, but a bit of a gap resulted at the join lines of the wings which required filling.  Everything else was straightforward and contained no worth-mentioning surprises.  However, the engine nacelles are see through so you might wish to blanket the back with a wall made from plastic card.  The kit has option for positionable flaps but these appear to result in too much of a gap for my liking so the pins were snipped and the flaps glued into place for a better finish.

The twin engines go together quite well but the panel line for the lower nacelle detail does not match my reference material.  For the modeller who wants complete accuracy they will need to be rescribed, and best to do this against quality reference material.  The cowl was hinged just above the exhaust stacks on the real-life aircraft but this isn't matched by Tamiya's reproduction - nitpicking I know, but inaccurate all the same.  In fact the squaring off section between the nacelle and the wing will need to be reshaped so that it is not squared, it should blend into fairing that leads into the cowl.  This is also the case at the rear of the wing where the nacelle needs minor reshaping.  Again, the best thing to have on hand is some reliable reference material because it is too hard to define it easily here.

The tail unit does not cause much dramas and the propellor was painted before assembly.  I note that Tamiya haven't given you information on the blade colour, according to my references the blades were RLM70 with RLM76 spinners.  Some spinners were also black with white spiral design.

The nose undercarriage was assembled and was given a coat as close to RLM2 as I could get.  Likewise the main undercarriage was assembled but I snapped the guide fork and needed another made from stretched sprue.  The reason this happened is because it doesn't exactly go where the arrow in the instructions point to, I would suggest moving it up a little until it fits snuggly into place just underneath the section containing parts D12/14.  In fact the instructions at this point are somewhat vague and one needs to check reference material for proper placement and assembly.  As a tip, both undercarriage units should look exactly the same when finished - ie: they weren't "left or right handed".  The gear doors have some ejector pin marks and thus require sanding.

In my last assembly stages I fitted all the various antennae and external small detailing bits which were a bit fiddly.  I also placed the canopies on and masked them for painting.  The main canopy would be fixed later, and hinged open from the bottom to starboard.  There is a small gunsight like bit whose name escapes me - which was also affixed at this point but be sure to check the instructions carefully to note that it is placed slightly off centre.  I also left the boarding ladder off because it did not appear to be completely correct.

A couple of aircraft examples are provided for in the kit and the decal sheet is reasonably good aside from the fuselage crosses.  A fair bit of minor stencilling is provided and the aircraft examples are late war contributors - ie: 1944-46 era.  One of the aircraft is depicted with number 310188, but this should be 310189 because the aircraft was captured by the British after the war and is one of the most photographed pieces of this aircraft type for various reference material.

Painting the aircraft in my opinion was a bit of a chore - more about double checking with reference materials and mixing the right shade to match the appropriate RLM colour.  I first gave it a grey primer wash before applying the RLM 75.  I then sprayed small areas with RLM76 with a bit extra white added into the mix to give it a marble like finish.  Undercarriage, wheel wells and interior parts exposed were given a coat of RLM2.

The finished model looks very good indeed and overall was a relatively pain free but time consuming exercise.  Not much to quibble about other than the small inaccuracies noted above.  Worth the effort for any buff of this subject.

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