1/48 ESCI Henschel Hs129 B-3

Gallery Article by Lee Burns on June 27 2011

 

This is an old kit, raised panel lines, mould sinks, not a great deal of detail but fits together fairly easy. I didn't really want to go to town with detailing sets but was more interested in the unusual camo schemes associated with the Eastern Front. 

The distempered 'whitewash' that was applied roughly to the German aircraft was waterbased and so would start to wash off after just a few missions and so I wanted to try to create that effect.

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I decided to base the aircraft on a semi-fictional scheme and a technique used by Ian Robertson on his fantastic Hs129. The base splinter camo was painted with  Xtra-Acrylics then coated with Klear to seal it all in.  Decals were applied and set then the white camo applied initially with a chisel brush using Tamyia white thinned down so you can see the brush coats.  The aircraft at this stage looks terrible but then give the camo a fine sanding (I use micro-mesh sand pads - well recommended!) just to level off the brush strokes and bring a bit of detail through.  Next get out your airbrush and spray over the white filling it in and softening the edges. Finally sand down once again so that edges start showing through but don't overdo it.  Tamiya smoke was sprayed along the panel lines for additional weathering effect.

I love these aircraft and will definitely look for a Hasagawa Hs129 and build a 'tricked' up B-2 North Africa variant. 

Lee Burns

Photos and text © by Lee Burns