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AIRFIX 1:72 HENSCHEL HS 123
Reviewer: Kevin Ronayne kevin.ronayne@nuigalway.ie
Kit Review submitted:
18 January 2002
The Henschel Hs 123 first flew in 1935, and was designed to meet a Luftwaffe requirement for a dive-bomber. The Luftwaffe requirement was a two-stage one: the Hs 123 beat off a Feisler design to become an interim dive-bomber, later to be joined by a definitive dive-bomber design - the Junkers Ju 87. Technically, the Hs 123 was as much a Stuka as the Ju 87, as the name was simply an abbreviation for the German term for dive-bomber. However, when five Hs 123's were sent for evaluation in the Spanish Civil war, they were used in a conventional close support role instead, where they proved very successful. Thus, the Hs 123 began to equip Luftwaffe close support units. However, German doctrine evolved to view the dive-bomber as the main close support aircraft, so most Hs 123's were relegated to training units by the outbreak of WW II. The sole frontline unit performed so well in the Polish campaign that the Hs 123 received a stay of execution. The aircraft continued to serve for several more years, demonstrating a formidable reputation to absorb combat damage. On the Eastern front, it could operate from the most primitive and muddy advanced airstrips, once the spats were removed. The Hs 123 was one of the very few dedicated single-seat ground attack aircraft of the period, and the most successful. Obviously, it's sturdiness, coupled with Luftwaffe air superiority, did a lot to help - think on how the Il-2 Sturmovik had to be given a rear gunner to improve combat survivability. However, as no new production had taken place since before the war, attrition gradually took it's toll, and Hs 123's ceased frontline operations in the spring of 1944.
As far as I'm aware, this is the only mainstream kit of the Hs 123 in 1/72 scale - possibly the only one full stop. Originally issued in the early- to mid-1970's, it has been in and out of the Airfix catalogue ever since, and took me a very long time to track down. The example I built came packaged in the current 1-piece box style. There is a slightly earlier version in an older (and smaller) two-piece box, which you may come across. This has identical contents, including the same instruction leaflet and decal sheet. The kit has 38 parts in total, including a tiny windscreen, which was floating free in this particular example. The rest of the kit is on two main sprues with separate wing pieces, all in standard light gray. All parts are in a sealed bag. There was very little flash. The instructions are on a 4-page A4 leaflet. This has an 8-step construction guide, with the normal in-place painting instructions. There are two subject options: Luftwaffe and Spanish Nationalist (i.e., Spanish Civil War). Each has a full-page 4-way paint and decalling guide. Helpfully, the lower wings are shown separately to give a full view of the camouflage patterns. As you would expect, the paint codes are all in Humbrol, with no RLM callouts - these are obvious anyway. As a series two kit, it should be reasonably priced wherever you buy it.
On the face of it, this kit presents a very straightforward project - and it did, for the most part. The first step was to de-rivet the rear 2/3 of the fuselage and rear control surfaces - Airfix were still a few years away from doing away with rivets on subjects like this. I opted not to completely remove the rivets, but to leave the bases in place. These would then be just about visible under a couple of layers of paint. Whether or this was the right thing to do is another matter. Apart from the rivets, there was restrained raised panel detail on the fuselage, and simulated 'rib' construction on the main wings.
The cockpit detail left a lot to be desired, consisting of a pilot figure on a seat which attached to a bulkhead part - no control stick or instrument panel. Before I undertook to improve this, I assembled the fuselage halves, along with the rear bulkhead. The parasol struts were molded into each fuselage half, which eliminated one potential source of problems later on. There was also a separate upper central fuselage piece, on which the gun troughs were located. The word 'trough' is almost literally true here, as they were ridiculously long and deep. Based on limited information from side-view plates, I filled these in almost completely, leaving only a small opening at the front. I didn't add the gun barrels which appear (from the evidence) to protrude from these openings. I attached a rudimentary instrument panel to the underside of this upper part, complete with some realistic looking dials. I threw way the pilot, as this would only have obscured the detail I was adding. I put a proper floor on the cockpit, and added some seat belts to the seat. The cockpit interior was painted mainly Hu 31 (i.e., RLM 02), as per the instructions. The cockpit opening looked very narrow, so I widened it a bit using a modelling knife.
Before dealing with the engine, I added the wings. Out of habit, I added the tailplanes and support struts first. On single-engined piston aircraft, the tailplanes are almost always set at a zero-degree angle. I find that the assembled tailplane/rudder section is then a good visual guide when trying to attach the main wings at the correct angle. Here, though, that wasn't an issue. Each main wing was a single part. With the parasol struts already in place, and the big interwing struts set to attach at the correct angle, this made for one of the easier biplane wing constructions I've experienced. I just had to force some of the parts around until everything basically clicked into place, and keep them there while the glue set. The main wheels were simple - there was no option for a spat less configuration.
Next came the engine. The first part was a standard construction, with propeller, engine block, retaining part and cowling. The cowling interior was given as Hu 31 (RLM 02 again), and the propeller as Hu 91 (RLM 70) - both seemed correct to me. There was an ugly mold seam running right around the cowling, which had to be cleaned up. Two semi-circular exhaust collector parts were attached to the back of the engine block. These in turn had exhaust pipes which protrude out the back of the cowling, and attach onto the sides of the main fuselage - the cowling does not attach directly to the main fuselage. This is a complicated and unnecessary system, as you can't see most of this detail once everything is assembled. To make matters worse, I mislaid these parts, and had to wait about five weeks to get replacement parts from a second copy of the kit that I had stashed away. Having seen how it works, I reckon I could have scratchbuilt a couple of small parts that would have attached from the fuselage to cowling interior - much more straightforward. I also had to get a new windscreen, as I had mislaid that is well. Curiously, the kit I raided had three (!) windscreen parts on a sprue marked only with the word 'BULLDOG'. Surely, this can't have been from the Bristol Bulldog biplane kit? It certainly looks like it - it fits perfectly here, but it doesn't quite slope back at the correct angle for the Hs 123.
The underwing 50 KG bombs were mounted with the fins at a 90-degree angle - i.e., '+' , not 'x'. Although plates tend to show a 45-degree angle, I've seen pictures showing the other orientation, so I didn't mess with this. I also added the central drop tank, even though I had heard that this was not used on combat missions. Again, I have seen pictures that clearly show it in place. I toyed with the idea of putting a 250 KG bomb on the centreline instead, but I didn't know what the bomb crutch should look like. Also, I wasn't sure if the Hs 123 could carry both underwing and centreline bombs at the same time - some references say yes, some say no ...
The final parts to be added were an overwing aerial and the 'stirrups' on either side of the fuselage. I also made a few other minor alterations. The fairing behind headrest should be shorter, and slope more abruptly, than it does in the kit. I gradually cut it away until it looked correct. I added a horizontal strut that should connect the main tailwheel strut to a fairing in front of it. Finally, I inserted an extra strut that appears to connect the upper wing to the main fuselage, located slightly behind the parasol struts. Perhaps this is a fuel pipe? One item I did not add was the delicate-looking triangular bracing on the front of the engine cowling, which is clearly illustrated on the box artwork.
© Kevin Ronayne 2005
This is meant to equate to the 'standard' scheme of:
I was happy to use the colours suggested - note that Hu 173 is discontinued. RLM 63 always seem to be rendered as a very light gray on plates depicting this camouflage scheme, but other references suggests that it should indeed be a bit darker and bluer. Note that Hu 31 was specified both for interiors (RLM 02) as well as RLM 62 - both RLM colours seem to be quite similar anyway. In my Heller Condor Legion Bf 109 B review, I noted that there was some suggestion that the overall scheme of RLM 63 (gray) used on those fighters might actually have been RLM 02 (gray/green). For obvious reasons, that scenario does not arise here. Irritatingly, the box artwork appears to show white wingtip markings on both surfaces of both wings - but the painting guide only shows markings on the upper surface of the upper wings.
As you can see, the decal sheet is very basic, but adequate (except for the swastikas, of course). The Spanish Nationalist rudder 'cross' marking is produced as an outline that is positioned on a prepainted rudder. This is better than the normal solution of a full rudder decal, which is always very awkward to work with. The decals were of a very good quality is most respects, although a bit prone to shrivelling - handle with extreme care.
© Kevin Ronayne 2005
One apparent problem is that the wings look a bit too thick in cross section, despite consisting of single parts - maybe it's just that the leading edges are a bit too blunt. However, the central section of the upper wing should certainly be thinner than the rest of the wing. The propeller spinner also looks a little short. Some other minor problems existed and were mostly corrected, as discussed in the construction notes. Dimensional accuracy is very good: length seems to be spot on, and wingspan is maybe .5 mm too short. Overall, it looks the part - and it's not as if you have a range of alternatives to choose from anyway.
For most (if not all) modellers, this kit is desired for the subject matter alone, and the quality is a secondary issue. Luckily, the kit is a competent one like most other Airfix kits from the early 1970's, and most obvious flaws are easily fixed. However, I want more! Over nearly a quarter of a century, I have built (quite literally) hundreds of Airfix kits, although the numbers have gradually tailed off over time. My opinion of Airfix kits in general has tended to decline somewhat over the years. Ten or fifteen years ago, I would have thought that this was a great kit, if a little basic. Building this kit now, I thought to myself 'Heller would have done it better'. Maybe someone like Condor will eventually produce a new mold, if we're really lucky!
Resource material is surprisingly thin on the ground for the Hs 123, and I had to rely on a few standard Luftwaffe / Axis reference texts. The most useful online general reference was Urban Fredriksson's Colour Charts at the IPMS Stockholm site. These charts now have approximate FS colour chips attached, both for paint standards and model paint manufacturers!
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