Along with the Ju-88, the He-111 provided the brunt of the Luftwaffe's bombing capability. Designed as a relatively short range medium bomber, the early He-111 versions proved their worth in Span during the late '30s. They were also very effective in the beginning of the War against the rest of Continental Europe and when the Russian war began. However, they were found to be rather vulnerable when escort was not properly provided and many fell to RAF bullets during the second half of 1940.

Despite this, many different variants were developed and the He-111 was in production for most of the war, until all bomber production stopped during late 1944 so that more fighters could be built to try to combat the Allied air onslaught. These planes were used as mine-sweepers, cargo aircraft, transports for high-ranking personnel, unit hacks and a number of other various and sundry duties. A few were exported and Spain developed a production line for them, though they had to switch to Merlin engines after their supply of Daimler-Benz engines ran out in the late 1940s.

As usual, all the sprues save the clear bits are in one bag. This resulted in some damage to parts as they rubbed together during shipment. There are a LOT of sprues in this one and if you have built any of the Hasegawa twins, then you have a good idea of what you are in for. First thing that grabbed me is that this one actually has the interior bomb rack and you can pose the bomb bay doors open. A first as far as I know with regard to the bay doors in 111 kits. Thanks to the way the sprues are set up, you actually get two internal bomb racks so you can use the second on your Roden kit! You are also given two styles of  external racks which were able to hold bigger bombs and pretty well negated the bomb bay. However, if the plane only had one external rack, the other side of the bay would be operable, making for some interesting possibilities. The cockpit is quite complete and provides an instrument decal only for the main instrument panel. On the inside of the rest of the interior is framing as you can see some of this through the various windows. A new sprue is provided to give you the different forward window glazing, upper gun glazing and some other clear bits that are appropriate to this variant

The instructions are the usual excellent ones we have come to expect from Hasegawa. Colors are given in generic and Gunze shades with RLM numbers provided where needed. Markings are for three planesa.  All are in RLM 70/71 splinter over RLM 65, though two of them will have various densities of white applied. The first is the box art plane from Schlepp Gruppe 4 in Russia during 1943/44. This one has a dense white overspray with RLM 65 undersides. Yellow wing tips and fuselage band on this one. Next is a 1./KG 100 plane from the summer of 1942. Standard paint with a white fuselage band. The final aircraft is from KG 26 in the winter of 1942. This plane has yellow lower wing tips and has a somewhat thin application of white over it to such a degree that the splinter camo can be discerned beneath it. Decals are well printed and should provide no problems.

Another nice He-111 subvariant to add to your collection. The kit is nicely designed and goes together well so you should find it quite a pleasant build experience

February 2008

You can get this and many other fine kits at www.greatmodels.com.

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