Just when you thought there was no aftermarket coming out for your new Revell Germany He 111P-1 kit they all come at once – foremost of these is the add on Photoetch set from Revell themselves to add more detail to the cockpit area – let’s have a look…
Revell of Germany Photo
Etch Sheet 00715 He 111P-1 Interior Details
Kit No: 00715
Kit type: Photo Etch Sheet
Scale: 1/32
Available from: Revell
model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further
information visit www.revell.eu
The detail in the cockpit of the Revell kit of the new tool 1/32 He 111P-1 show that large companies can still make a good compromise between detail and price. The detail being just fine enough for most modellers on the market - what about those though with A.M.S? (Aftermarket syndrome) those people who just cannot detail their new creation up enough? Well we have the first piece of the puzzle here with the Photoetch sheet from Revell to detail up the parts of the instrument panel, the seat harnesses and the radios. Coloured and ready to apply straight to the aircraft, these parts are viewed suspiciously by some traditional modellers including myself until just recently – I had used some and now feel converted. It no longer feels like a “cheat” to me.
The sheet is a long sheet of brass with coloured dials and
seatbelt buckles – “made in the Czech Republic” means that they probably came
from the Mecca of additional photo etch sheets Eduard in its origin. This
however is a good thing – as they make sheets for most of the great model
companies and their product is top notch – things are already looking up!
The P/E sheet comes with a coloured A4 sheet of instructions
which tells you just where to put everything in your kit and what to replace
and what to sand off to make the P/E sit flush. I was alarmed when I saw that
the detail on the plastic parts was sometimes adequate it would have to be
sanded off, and maybe some of the depth and detail of the kit would be lost.
This wasn’t a problem though as the supplied coloured brass has holes where the
larger protrusions can poke through – so you get the perfect detail and the
neatness of the pre-coloured sheet at the same time – it seems the dry bush isn’t
going to get much action in THIS cockpit! I must stress though that the detail
there already isn’t that bad at all – you are only going above and beyond using
this sheet – it is really like icing on the cake when it comes to this kit.
Clear easy to follow instructions in anyone's language
The seatbelts of the cockpits are included on the sheet to
replace the rather rudimentary kit supplied versions which in the pilot’s case
was simply moulded into the seat. A few minutes of scalpel work and these are
removed and you can simply glue your replacements on – the instructions show in
good order very simply how to replicate the folds of these seatbelts and with
some attention to the instructions and some simple concentration pretty much
anyone could make a good set. The results will far outdo the sets supplied in
the kit.
the seatbelts on this kit are a place that could do with a replacement
The replacements look very good
The instrument panel on the kit part is simply filed on the
front of any detail and the two parts of the P/E sheet are put one on top of
each other in a “sandwich” like configuration – plastic/dials/front panel. The good
thing about the pre coloured sheet here is that the colours do not seem “grainy”
as I have experienced in the past and it should be easy to find a colour match
to it pretty easily. Revell recommend their paint range which sounds sensible
as well they recommend their brand of glue “Contacta” for applying these sheets
– I think ill use superglue when I come to apply mine as Contacta is not meant
to glue plastic to metal.
These are other applications for this sheet of course, apart
from the instrument panels, seatbelts and radio equipment there are improved
sights for the guns,, new scale thin rudder pedal replacements as well as
control stick enhancements and side console improvements. Let’s see how the
instrument panel and the radio equipment go together as an example
Part 184 -
"neeeexxxt!”
Here is how the radio looks after you simply slice off the
flat detail “don’t touch that knob” and how it just fits neatly over the large
dial with the hole in the middle. The detail of the kit is good – but really it
would be very hard to replicate what the P/E sheet has done here. I was glad it
fit over the plastic as well which I was wondering about
Easy - and it looks
very nice
The next part I tried was the instrument panel – there are
many others here to choose from but this gets so much attention I thought I would
try this make-it-or-break-it part of the aircraft. I finished sanding off the
actual plastic dials and made it flush first -
The kit part - still ok but i think we can do better!
I winced as I removed
the detail but I had faith!
Then I applied the back part with the dials on it with some
superglue – as Contacta did not work – it went on very easily and fit no
problems.
Then I sandwich the second masking part of the front of the
instrument panel. Just some superglue on the rear of the panel and some “tight”
moments when I placed the part square over the rear panel to make the thing
whole – one thing needed now…
I have an excellent dropper with a needle point – you could
use a pin or some wire just as easily – and I dropped some future floor polish (white
glue or watchmakers glue or canopy clear glue will do) into every dial and made
the glass like covers for each come to life. You cannot see it as well as I would
have hoped here but the panel is a satin/matte while the glass instrument
covers are very shiny.
I was satisfied with
the result - it took 15 minutes in total
Against the real thing a pretty good representation
I could make more if I had more time but I just wanted to show you how easily these sets apply and how they look on the kit – how the kit can be enhanced by them as well. Usually I am against these types of add-ons – but seeing it is an improvement on an already sufficient kit part I like what I see and I will continue to use them on my build which is slowly progressing and we shall see later on the modelling news.
I recommend this set to anyone who wants to further better their
already quite good Revell He 111P-1 cockpit – the additions to the seatbelts
and the rudder pedals for example leave the kit parts in the cold – nice work
Revell.
Revell model kits are
available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit www.revell.eu
