Revell 1:72 Heinkel He70 "Blitz" - learning by doing, part 2

[Guest]

Hi all,

Following my build of an Irish Hurricane which some of you were kind enough to comment on with suggestions, my next project will be a Heinkel He70 "Blitz".

I found a half-built one in the loft earlier. That kit's a bit far gone, and the decals and instructions are missing, but it did make me want to have another go, as it's an interesting and unusual subject.

I've literally just sat down at my desk coming back from the shop, so I haven't given any more thought to which version I'd do. The options are a silver and black Lufthansa He70F, a Condor Legion He70G with rear gunner and a licence-built Hungarian He170A with a radial engine. By all accounts the kit's not a great fit so it should give me practice with filling and sanding, and there will be modifications to do for some versions. Should be interesting.

[yak face]

The condor legion option sounds interesting matt, they had some quite nice camo schemes,, cheers tony

[Guest]

Hmm. I think I might actually go for the Lufthansa option. For one thing, it's a nice change from militaria, for another I want to get some practice at producing all-metal finishes, and since I work in travel it's a nice "golden age of aviation" thing.

[yak face]

Dont forget though matt, a silver finish tends to highlight any surface flaws so make sure its as good as you can get before committing to paint.I also like the silver lufthansa scheme , as you say it makes a change! cheers tony

[stona]

Great subject and a beautiful aircraft. It influenced the Spitfire but NOT the elliptical wing as many think.The Heinkel wing was much thicker and had an entirely different section. Beverly Shenstone who was Mitchell's aerodynamicist saw an He70 at the Paris Aero Show and was much impressed with its smooth finish,he thought it might be made from wood. he wrote (without Mitchell's knowledge) to Ernst Heinkel asking how such a smooth finish was achieved. He received a very nice letter explaining that the skinning was metal. The rivets were countersunk and filled before the application of several layers of paint.

He later said,

'When we got to the detailed design of the F.37/34 (eventually Spitfire) I referred to the He70 quite a lot during our discussions. I used it as a criterion for aerodynamic smoothness and said that if the Germans could do it,so,with a little effort,could we.Of course the Heinkel's several layers of paint added greatly to the weight. We had to do the best we could without resorting to that."

So there you go,quite an important aircraft in an unexpected way!

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Dont forget though matt, a silver finish tends to highlight any surface flaws so make sure its as good as you can get before committing to paint.I also like the silver lufthansa scheme , as you say it makes a change! cheers tony

I've seen one person online who's gone and scraped all the exterior panel lines off (they're raised on the model), reasoning that on the real thing they went to great lengths to get it as smooth and divot-free as possible. So I might try that.

[Guest]

Anyway, the kit's had a dunk in the washing up bowl as there seemed to be some oily film on it and my first task will be the instrument panel and cockpit.

[Guest]

One question though - the included decals have a red-white-black fin flash which is described in a couple of places as referring to Weimar Germany. However a) Weimar Germany used the current schwarz-rot-gold flag and b) according to Wikipedia the aircraft came into service in 1933/34, so was used solely in the Nazi period.

My google-fu is failing me here, so does anyone know if Lufthansa at that period carried the national flag on the tail, or is the red-white-black fin flash actually correct?

[stona]

The black/white/red tail band was seen on Luftwaffe aircraft when they were still wearing civil registrations between 6/7/33 and 15/9/35. The Reich was still pretending to adhere to the conditions of Versaille Treaty. After 15/9/35 the band was replaced by the swastika in the style of the pre-war civil aircraft. The red 'banner' containing a white disc and swastika which was part of the pre war Lufthansa livery.

There is a note in Lufthansa documents regarding the colour of civil aircraft that might be relevant to you depending on the date of your model.

'While our aircraft remain in natural metal finish in peacetime,or are painted externally in silver shade 01,for camouflage purposes their exteriors are to be painted in RLM grey shade 02 during the duration of the war'

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

A couple of pictures online (of Tante Jus and Condors) have a plain silver fin with a DLH logo on the rudder as well.

Surely during the hostilities DLH just got absorbed into the Luftwaffe? Was there still civil aviation?

[stona]

There was civil aviation. Lufthansa operated routes to neutral countries like Portugal and Switzerland throughout the war. They operated many of the same aircraft types as the Luftwaffe. They were compromised by their direct role in military operations,for example a large fleet of civil registered Ju52s were operated by Lufthansa on behalf of the RLM in support of the Legion Condor's operations in Spain. Some Lufthansa aircraft were transferred to the Luftwaffe. All the Do26 flying boats ended up in reconnaissance and transport roles with the Luftwaffe for example.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Ah, fair enough - I knew that before the Luftwaffe was officially announced a lot of "civil" aircraft were designed with at least half an eye on quick conversion to military use. The Messerschmitt Bf 110 "air taxi", or the Dornier Do 17 "mail carrier", for example. I'd sort of figured that most of DLH's fleet ended up as bombers in fairly short order.

Also, I can't imagine the skies were a terribly safe place, even for a commercial airliner en route to a neutral country.

[stona]

Also, I can't imagine the skies were a terribly safe place, even for a commercial airliner en route to a neutral country.

They were not as civil aircraft were attacked as a matter of course by all sides,just as merchant shipping was. B.O.A.C. flew to Sweden and initially used a couple of Lockheed Lodestars. They had to fly in bad weather to protect them from German fighters. Later and famously the company used Mosquitos which were quick enough to make a successful interception almost impossible.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

... and came back loaded with useful ball-bearings, if I recall correctly, so the Germans would have been quite justified in shooting them down...

[stona]

... and came back loaded with useful ball-bearings, if I recall correctly, so the Germans would have been quite justified in shooting them down...

Absolutely,in a total war you attack a nations trade and civil aircraft are part of that. It's no different to intentionally bombing civilians (dehousing the workforce as we euphemistically called it) or unrestricted submarine warfare.

My late mother-in-law's mother used to go off to work at Samlesbury,she was a Blackburn lady,to build the bombers that bombed her German contemporaries. This must have made her a legitimate target by the standards of the day.

Cheers

Steve