135
Henschel of the Eastern Front

The rest of the assembly was minor things like the center-line drop tank, boarding steps, ram-air venturi, cockpit entry doors, bomb racks and the unspatted landing gear.  As I said in my full-build review, the molding of the unspatted landing gear is flawless.  Each landing gear is comprised of three pieces-the unspatted gear strut, wheel yolk and the support yolk.  Assembly was very easy and looks great when finished.  I did find that the modification I made to the lower wing to accept the unspatted gear required a little more work.  The reason being that when I made the original modification, I made it without the upper-half of the lower wing attached per the instructions.  When the lower wing halves are glued together, there is a bit of plastic from the upper-half that impedes inserting the unspatted gear strut all the way into the hole.  I was able to take care of it with the motor tool and rounded bur inserted into the hole but I recommend that anyone performing this mod do some dry-fitting of the gear strut with both halves of the lower wing before assembly is completed.

About the Author

About Bryan Dewberry (Tin_Can)
FROM: FLORIDA, UNITED STATES

My interest in modeling started while watching my dad work late night's on old Star Trek and WWII plane models. I modeled planes for about 3 or 4 years before joining the Navy in 1990 and then took a 12-year break from the hobby before starting back-up again last fall. Man has it changed since I'v...


Comments

:-) A very well written and informative article. Thanks Bryan I now have no excuses about getting one of these detail sets :-) A pity it dosen't include bombs and bomb racks though. Mal
JUL 26, 2003 - 09:23 AM
Thanks, Bryan. I picked up this kit at the last 50% off Hobby Lobby sale, but haven't started it yet. Your full-build review will be very helpful when I do. Great article. Mike
JUL 26, 2003 - 10:03 AM
Hi Bryan I got a pair of these beasties by mail order from the States (still haven't seen one over here), so your Feature is going to be ESSENTIAL reading!! :-) :-) I can't help feeling AMtech have missed an opportunity and left the job "half done"... after all the effort of adding an un-spatted u/c and commissioning a resin cockpit, it's such a shame they haven't chosen to replace a lot of the old Esci detail parts, which are pretty heavy by today's standards. I guess we should just be thankful to see an Hs123 available again :-) Nice one :-) :-) :-) Rowan
JUL 26, 2003 - 10:18 AM