Special Hobby 1/32 He 100 D-1 (Masquerading as the He 113 night fighter)

[stona]

Just a quick snap of this completed kit, I may take some 'proper' photographs later to add here.

As in the title this is an He 100, the aircraft that lost out to the Bf 109. The Germans only produced a few, but moved them around, painted with entirely spurious unit markings, to make it appear there were a lot more of them than there were. It was never an operational aircraft during WW2.

As in the title, this one is pretending to be an He 113 night fighter.



It's a badly fitting kit and terribly engineered. For example, if you build the undercarriage as per instructions it won't work and won't support the finished model! It can still be beaten into reasonable shape by those who like a challenge.

Here you go:








It's been a while since I did anything like that!


Cheers

Steve

[yak face]

Great job with not very cooperative materials Steve! Its a fine looking aircraft though , reminds me a bit of the kawasaki ki61 . Very interesting background too , the evaporative cooling system on the earlier machines seemed like a mega complicated way to do things all for a slight reduction in drag from not having a radiator ( although they had to have a retractable one for ground cooling anyway) . Top work and full marks for perseverance , cheers tony

[HAWKERHUNTER]

Looks great Steve. Nice back drop for the photo.

[papa 695]

Very nice work Steve.

[stona]

... reminds me a bit of the kawasaki ki61 . Very interesting background too , the evaporative cooling system on the earlier machines seemed like a mega complicated way to do things...

The Germans flogged three (I think) He 100 D-0s to the IJN and they certainly influenced the design of the Ki-61. In a way it got the engine, or a version of it, that Heinkel always wanted.

Evaporative cooling was all the rage for a while in the 1930s, don't forget that the Spitfire was originally supposed to use it. I think that you are right, it was more trouble than it was worth. It worked alright on thoroughbred racing aircraft, not so much on service aircraft. Another German design that tried it and failed was the Fw 187 and I'm sure there were others.

Cheers

Steve