Heinkel He 112B-1/U2

Kit:	Heller, 1/72; bought on eBay for $6.87 in 2008. Model finished on 2018-12-16.
Aircraft:	"V.303" of 2/4. Vadászszázad (fighter squadron) of the Royal Hungarian Air Force during the April 1941 Yugoslavian campaign.

Construction Notes

The Heller kit is old but accurate when it comes to measurements and shapes. IT is rather crude, however, in its details (or rather lack thereof), so I needed build up both the cockpit and the wheel wells. I removed the flaps and built new ones from plastic sheet; I also cut out the ailerons.

Wheel well walls installed and gaps filled

Finalized whell wells and a new flap

There are many opinions of what the actual color scheme was on this aircraft. Most reference sources seemed to disagree with one another. I painted the model in what was my best guess about the colors; I used Tamiya acrylics.

I had planned to use decals from the AeroMaster sheet #72-135 "He 112 Collection"; it seemed like a nice sheet with many options, but ultimately I was only able to use the Hungarian chevrons for the wings. The sheet's tail number, while the right size, uses completely wrong typeface. I made my own art, based on photographs of the actual aircraft, and printed them on clear decal sheet.

I finished the model with Testors' "Dullcote" and made an antenna wire from EZ-Line.

Paint work finished, waiting for decals

Hungarian chevrons applied

References Used

Avions Janvier 96, Février 96, Mars 96, Avril 96, Mai 96, Juillet 96
German Aircraft Interiors 1935-1945, Vol.1 (Merrick); Monogram Aviation Publications 1996
German Aircraft Landing Gear (Sengfelder); Schiffer 1995
Heinkel 100, 112 (Hirsch & Feist); Aero Series 12; Aero Publishers 1967
Heinkel He 112 (Dabrowski); Schiffer Publishing 1998
Heinkel He 112 in action (Bernád); Aircraft in action 159; Squadron/Signal Publications 1996
Hungarian Air Force (Punka); Squadron/Signal Publications 1994
Hungarian Eagles - A Magyar Királyi Honvéd Légierö 1920-1945 (Sárhidai et al); Hikoki Publications 1996