Heinkel He 177 A-3 / A-5

AIMS Decals, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brad Fallen

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Another welcome new release from AIMS Decals is this sheet aimed at MPM’s 1/48 Heinkel He 177 A-3 and A-5 Greif kits.

While these kits are supported by a wide range of resin and photo-etch detailing sets, they have so far attracted few aftermarket decal releases – which is a shame because the He 177, while never a gaudy aircraft in Luftwaffe service, nonetheless operated in a variety of interesting schemes. AIMS’ new sheet features seven nicely representative aircraft:

• Heinkel He 177 A-3, 6N+EK, “Edith” of KG 100, found abandoned by Allied forces at Chateudun, France, mid-1944. This and the following two aircraft all had RLM 22 Black under surfaces and vertical stabilisers, and RLM 76 Light Blue upper surfaces overlaid with a tight pattern of either RLM 74 Dark Grey or – more likely – RLM 75 Grey-Violet.

• He 177 A-3, 6N+HK, “Helga” of KG 100, Spring 1944.

• He 177 A-3, 6N+SK, “Susi” of KG 100, Spring 1944.

• He 177 A-3, V4+HP of 6./KG 1, location and date not identified. This aircraft was finished similarly to the three previous aircraft, except that upper surface camouflage pattern was not as tight, and carried over on to the vertical stabiliser.

• He 177 A-3, 5J+KK/W.Nr.332206 of 2./KG 4 and then KG 100, October 1943. This aircraft is presented as possibly being finished in overall RLM 76, with an RLM 75 mottle on the top surfaces which may have extended lightly down the fuselage sides.

• He 177 A-5, F8+FH/W.Nr.550215 of 1./KG 40, which was based at Bordeaux-Merignac, France and went missing in action on 13 June 1944. From the profile provided by AIMS, F8+FH appears to have been finished in an RLM 70 Black Green and RLM 71 Dark Green splinter pattern on the upper surfaces, with RLM 65 Light Blue under surfaces and fuselage sides (with the latter overlaid with a heavy mottle of possibly RLM 70/71 and RLM 02 Grey). However, these colours are not specifically mentioned in the otherwise comprehensive information which is provided about this aircraft.

• He 177 A-5, W.Nr.550316, finished in factory fresh RLM 70/71 over 65, with no mottling on the fuselage sides. Location and date not identified.

The decals are crisply printed by Fantasy Printshop and feature some very subtly rendered colours, particularly the greys and yellows on some of the fuselage codes. They should look fantastic once applied, but because some of the markings are so large, they will require extra care in terms of surface preparation, handling and particularly bedding down into the well-defined panel lines of the MPM kit.

The double-sided A4 instruction sheet is packed with useful information on each aircraft, including possible colour and/or marking alternatives in cases where references are not definitive. Speaking of references, AIMS provides modelers who want more information on the featured aircraft with detailed instructions on where to look, down to the specific page numbers of relevant books.

This is really useful, because I was only able to find photos of one or two of the subject aircraft on the internet.

Conclusion

This looks like another winning release from AIMS, which gives modelers a much wider range of He 177 schemes from which to choose than have been previously available. The only downside is that MPM’s He 177 is such a daunting beast – in the box at least – that I’m not sure how many of these decals we are going to see on finished models. Hopefully, quite a few, because if carefully executed the result will be a show stopper.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to AIMS for the samples

AIMS' decals, kits and accessories are available online from AIMS website

Text and Images Copyright © 2011 by Brad Fallen
This Page Created on 24 April, 2012
Last updated 24 April, 2012

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