Heinkel He 219 A

AIMS Decals, 1/32 scale

Reviewed by Brad Fallen

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While a large number of photo-etched and resin accessories are available for Revell’s 1/32 Heinkel He 219 A-7 kit, and Zoukei-mura’s new 1/32 He 219 A-0 will likely attract similar attention, there are currently few aftermarket decals for these kits.  EagleCals’ ‘He 219 Uhu’ sheet (which I reviewed here recently) features three interesting aircraft, and Owl Decals’ sheet OWLD32019 showcases the He 219 V9 G9+FB/W.Nr.190009 flown by Major Werner Streib. 

Now John McIllmurray’s AIMS label has released a set with markings for six Uhus, ranging from one of the Streib’s early mounts to several that were surrendered to the Allies in 1945.  Corrected W.Nr. decals are also supplied for one of the options in the Revell kit.  All subjects were finished in RLM 75 Grey Violet mottle over RLM 76 Light Blue and – in two cases – RLM 22 Black. 

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Thumbnail panels:

The specific aircraft are as follows:

• He 219 V2, GG+LW/W.Nr.219002, flown by Streib and Bordfunker Uffz. H. Fischer of Stab./NG 1, Venlo, Holland, June 1943.

• He 219 A-0, G9+FK/W.Nr. unknown, flown by Hptm. Ernst-Wilhelm Modrow of 2nd Staffel, 1./NJG 1 in 1944.  This is one of the aircraft featured on EagleCals’ 1/32 sheet, which notes the underside of G9+FK’s starboard wing was finished in RLM 22.  This point is not mentioned in the AIMS instructions, so I’d recommend checking your references to confirm the finish to your satisfaction.

• He 219 A-7, G9+EH/W.Nr.310106, of 1st Staffel, 1./NJG 1, surrendered at Sylt, Germany, 1945.

• He 219 A-2, G9+DH/W.Nr.290004, of 1st Staffel, 1./NJG 1, found burnt out at Paderborn, Germany, on 10 April 1945.

• He 219 A-0, G9+BA/W.Nr. unknown, of Stab/NJG.1.

• He 219 A-2, D5+BL/W.Nr. 290126 was at Grove, Denmark in May 1945 and subsequently became UK Air Ministry No.20.  On this aircraft the black covered all undersurfaces up to the mid-point of the fuselage sides; the vertical stabilisers were also black.  (D5+BL also featured on the EagleCals sheet.)

• He 219 A-5, G9+DB/W.Nr.420331. This aircraft is one of the Revell kit options, and as such no insignia or codes are provided by AIMS.  What are provided, however, are new W.Nr. decals, printed with correct stenciling to replace the inaccurate Revell decals.

The AIMS instructions are reasonably comprehensive, providing full colour port or starboard profiles of each aircraft along with descriptions of key features (such as the types of radar receivers used).  No colour upper or lower plan views are present – understandable given the similar finish on all of the subjects, and the fact that anyone using these decals will presumably have the Revell or Zoukei-mura kit instructions readily available.  I would nonetheless try to find photos of the specific aircraft I was modeling before I started applying the upper surface mottling, because this was by no means identical on all He 219s.

A black and white plan view is, however, supplied to assist with decaling.  I recommend studying this illustration carefully, because while it’s an overhead view, it provides information on both upper and lower surface decal placement and is therefore slightly confusing at first glance.  Also helping with decal placement are two scrap drawings of the port forward fuselage.

References are supplied for four of the seven aircraft, a welcome touch for modelers wishing to undertake further research. 

The decals are printed on a single sheet and – reflecting the low visibility nature of late war Luftwaffe markings – are almost entirely black, white or grey.  The only exception are the green and red ‘F’ codes of GG+LW and G9+FK, which while adding welcome splashes of colour, look rather bright on the sheet and might benefit from a little toning down.  Printing is crisp and quality control good, with no visible defects of any kind.  There are large areas of decal film present on some of the crosses and code letters, which you might consider trimming away before use to reduce the risk of silvering.

This sheet provides some welcome additional marking options for the two 1/32 He 219 kits currently on the market.  Granted, at first glance most of the featured aircraft look similar to each other, but dig deeper into the information supplied by AIMS and it becomes clear there is considerable variety on display here.  Highly recommended to anyone who wants to further customise their large-scale He 219 model.

Thanks to AIMS for the samples

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

Text and Images Copyright © 2013 by Brad Fallen
This Page Created on 2 September, 2013
Last updated 3 September, 2013

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