MPM 1/72 Heinkel He 100 (Richard Stacey)

MPM 1:72 HEINKEL HE 100

Reviewer: Richard Stracey (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 11 November 2001

Aircraft:
The Heinkel He 100 first flew on 22nd Jan 1938 and was to go down in history as the fighter that never was. Certainly there were many reports from the Battle of Britain onwards by some of the allies best and most experienced pilots reporting attacks on and by HE 100s. The fact remains that it was a hoax, the HE 100 never saw service with anyone. On June 6^th 1938 Ernst Udet took the 100 km closed circuit record at 294.4 mph. Even this was confusing as the aircraft was referred to as a HE 112 U (for Udet). In another HE 100 Hans Dieterle took the world speed record to 463.92 mph on March 30^th. 1939. More confusion as it was claimed that the aircraft was a standard production fighter, which it wasn’t. Even the aircraft proudly displayed in the Deutscher Museum wasn’t the actual aircraft. For political and personal reasons and the fact that the aircraft industry was committed to 109 and 110s, the HE 100 didn’t go into production. The Soviet Union was very interested and took six prototypes and Japan three and the manufacturing rights but nothing came of it. Twelve were loaned to the Luftwaffe and to confuse matters was referred to as the HE 113 and by repainting squadron emblems and numbers convinced everyone that there were squadrons of HE 100s in service. In fact they never saw action.

Construction Notes:
MPM #72016 1/72 Heinkel He 100
The MPM kit consists of twenty four plastic parts, a fret of photoetch parts, a vacform canopy and decals for two aircraft. There are plenty of small photoetch parts in the cockpit, most of which can’t be seen, even with the canopy open. The assembly is conventional and simple. I found it best to remove the parts from the sprue with a razor saw, as the gates are quite large. I pinned the horizontal tail surfaces as they were just a butt joint. The wing/fuselage fit is good but the lower fuselage behind the trailing edge which is part of the lower wing (2) needs strong rubber bands to force it upwards to mate with the lower fuselage. Even so, having used polystyrene cement and having left it for nearly thirty six hours, it still pulled away. I re glued it using superglue which held. Before gluing the fuselage halves file or cut a very small indentation for the ariel (F13). Being photoetch, it requires a slot, rather than a hole to fit. I never found out what the photoetch parts F6 were for. MPM give a choice of plastic or photoetch wheel covers and dashboard. I scratchbuilt the undercarriage door struts (17 & 22) as the molding process just couldn’t make the small enough. The pitot tube has to be scratchbuilt , as per instructions, for the same reason. The canopy, with a bit of care, fits well.

Versions and Decals:
The decal option is for “white 13”or “white 21”of the same fictitious squadron and the colours shown as RLM 70 Black Green over RLM 65 Light Blue. As far as my references go, the colours should be a splinter of 70/71 over 65. This I did but using the first paint that came to hand I used Humbrol 91 for RLM 70 and Agama N2M for RLM 71. The result is that the splinter is only obvious in very strong light otherwise it looks like one colour! The decals are by Propagteam, need I say more? Yes, very tricky, use plenty of water and slide them into place. The result, perfection. The menu letters I and J are mixed up. I is for the propeller and J is for the wing. Check the carrier film as many decals share the same film so require separating. The four white dots should be orange/yellow and fit below the canopy, in front of the number and slightly lower, in front of the fuselage cross. It was easy enough to touch them up after they were in place. I suspect that the numbers are a little oversize and one of my references show yellow fuel triangles on the wing next to the filler caps that are marked on the kit.

References:
References can be found in the Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Aircraft V9 p.2138/9, Flying Review of Feb 1963 and Air Enthusiast No.38 of 1989. The only other 1/72 HE 100 is an elderly Lindberg offering and Heller make a HE 112.

Overall:
I have made many MPM kits and enjoyed them all, this one included. The HE 100, to me, always looked like a sleek, fast racer in warpaint.

Note: the following related reviews links have not been updated since early 2000's - more kit reviews of this aircraft may now be on SMAKR, not reflected below. Refer to the Index for other kits of this type.

Related Reviews:-

MPM 1/72 Heinkel He 100 (Myself)
HiPM 1/48 Heinkel He-100D

Related INBOX Reviews:-

MPM 1/72 Heinkel He 100

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