DITCHED

A composition based in a forrest or in a hangar had been done, I wanted something different but had to take into account the huge size of the aircraft at this scale.

The inspriration came when I was shown one of these aircraft having crash-landed in a river in Norway ... and what caught my attention was the shallow depth of the river, the glass was not broken in the nose of the aircraft and only minimal damage was done to the wings. I did some research and found that a considerable number of these aircraft had to make forced landings in this country, some with relatively little damage, I didn’t hesitate to get down to work.

The diorama was to represent an aircraft operating in this area which has had a failure of its left engine and had to make a forced landing. The crew members have been able to evacuate the aircraft (one has succumbed) and they’ve managed to alert an Army car that was in the area with the use of distress flares. The wooden boat in the corner and the car are included for their interest and enrich the composition.

BUILDING THE HEINKEL
The Heinkel is from Revell and required a number of improvements, although in general the dimensions are correct but I felt the kit lacks detail in places.

For starters, I had to work on the cockpit adding different elements constructed in evergreen, such as the pilot's seat, side bulkheads with wiring etc.

An important detail was that I had to cut the glass side door which was moulded as one piece along with surrounding glass. A closed door did not fit the scene I wanted to represent with the escaping crew. The Eduard photoetch is especially important for this part of the cockpit, and essential to the extra detailed end result.

The bomb compartment was made using photoetch from Eduard, which looks great and is of high quality but honestly ... not really  worth it because once finished you can barely see the fruits of your labour.

The most laborious part of the build was the rear radio compartment where I had to rebuild all the ribbing, radios,  cabinets, etc. This wasn’t done too complicated or over-the-top because once again, the detail will be hidden once the fuselage is closed.

On the outside I added Evergreen for little engine cowling details as well as a new exhaust, adapted for this version of the aircraft. The engine has different wiring added from Plus Model. More Eduard photoetch was added to detail the exterior and open canopy door. This aircraft had metal prop blades, to give the effect of impact with the water they were heated and bent.