Heinkel He 70

by Mike Grant

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When I bought this 1/72 scale Matchbox Heinkel He 70 second-hand I didn't know that the kit had been started, and the undercarriage doors had been glued securely in the closed position. However, a collector in the U.S. expressed an interest in buying the built-up kit as a desktop display model so I commenced work on it.

This Matchbox kit must be one of their later ones - although moulded in 3-colours I didn't need my anti-radiation goggles to look at the bare plastic. Instead it came in two shades of grey and silver. The surface detail was also of the fine raised type, much easier to deal with than the deep engraved sort. The first job was to sand off all the raised lines and re-scribe them, though I left several off.

Construction was straightforward, I added very little to the interior except for a pilot figure and instrument decals to the panel. The fuselage windows had to be glued in before the halves were joined together. This is always risky as no matter how well I glue them I always seem to end up pushing them out (or in) during construction. This model was no exception...

I wanted to finish the model as a 1935 Lufthansa example. I used SNJ for the finish after polishing the plastic for several hours. The kit-supplied decals were thick, yellowed and curled, and I had no option but to re-create them using the ALPS.

After a final varnish I had to re-insert the cabin windows. These were of course designed to be glued inside, so had a flange of plastic which had to be shaved off. I then added a masking tape 'handle' to each pane and painstakingly glued each one into place, removing the tape later when the glue had dried. The fit isn't as tight as I'd have liked, though.

The last task was the spinning prop disk which I cut from a piece of acetate using a pair of dividers; I airbrushed a simulation of the spinning prop blades and glued it behind the spinner. I'm in two minds as to whether it's effective or not but I think it looks better on a 'flying' model than the stationery prop blades.

I photographed the model balanced on a drinking glass in natural light, against a grey paper backdrop using a Nikon Coolpix 990 digital camera. The images were then cropped in Photoshop and copyright-free sky images composited behind them.

 

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2002 by Mike Grant
Page Created 13 November, 2002
Last Updated 04 June, 2007

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