Roden 1/72 scale He 111B-1/2 "Pedro"

Manufacturer:Roden (Ukraine), available from Squadron Mail Order, 1115 Crowley Drive, Carrollton, TX 75011-5010, 972-242-8663 www.squadron.com

Scale: 1/72
Price: $25.96
Comments: Injection-molded, 203 parts, decals
Pros: Interesting subject
Cons: Poor overall fit, soft detail, difficult assembly due to so many parts, excess flash

The Heinkel He 111 is well known as the bomber that blitzed Britain, but the design had been in service with the fledgling Luftwaffe many years before the start of World War II. First seeing combat in the Spanish Civil War, the He 111 remained in German service until the fall of the Third Reich.


Roden (formerly Toko) is the first to produce an injection-molded kit of the pre-war, step-nosed He 111. The kit is molded in light gray plastic, but many parts are marred by molding blemishes and surrounded by flash.


Roden includes a fair amount of interior detail, much of it molded
into the fuselage halves. The unique vertical bomb rack is featured and parts are provided for two B model sub-types.


The fuselage consists of four main parts. Both the nose section and rear fuselage are split into halves to accommodate Roden's plan to release other He 111 versions. The parts for the left side of the fuselage were difficult to align and the seams were difficult to clean up. The interior module consists of the nose compartment, cockpit, bomb bay, and rear gunner's stations. It assembled without any problems and provides good detail.


When I test-fit the fuselage halves together with the interior in place, the interior prevented the fuselage from closing. After sanding the bulkheads and using a lot of pressure and gap-filling super glue, I got them together. The interior bulkhead also kept the fuselage bottom panel from fitting correctly, so I had to sand the bottom a little more.


The top and bottom halves of the wings also fit poorly with the right top wing being too long for the bottom. The fit problems were aggravated by the wheel-well modules, which prevented the wing parts from joining properly.


When I test-fitted the wings to the fuselage I was not surprised to find a poor fit - the worst being the left wing, which was too thick in profile to match the wing root. A fair amount of sanding and filler was needed to make this area presentable.


The clear nose section is molded in top and bottom components. A prominent seam is created along the sides, and you'll have to be careful when cleaning up to prevent marring the clear panels.


The twelve exhaust pipes needed for each engine are given as separate parts! I had to drill out their attachment holes, because otherwise the exhaust covers would fit poorly. The kit features the unique "dust bin" lower gun station that can be presented in the lowered position.


I painted my He 111 with Polly Scale paints. Decals are included for two Spanish Civil War machines and one pre-war Luftwaffe aircraft. They did not adhere well, conforming poorly to the glossed surface and silvering in some cases.


I used the AJ Press Aircraft Monograph 2 Heinkel He 111 (English language version by Robert Michulec) as my prime reference. My model took 20 hours to wrestle together, more than I expected for a 1/72 scale aircraft of this size.


Roden's He 111 can be managed by experienced modelers who can handle the challenge of a kit that's not up to today's standards.