1/72 Heinkel He1078A

by Dan Duna

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Here is the third Luft '46 scratchbuild design taken from Dan Johnson's excellent site (http://www.luft46.com). This one took 4 weeks to complete and is made entirely of Aluminum and brass (landing gear).  The fuselage is two solid pieces pinned together with 1/16 "dia dowel pins, along with the wings. The cockpit, gear bays, inlet  and exhaust were machined out.  Everything else was hand contoured with an air grinder, files and sandpaper. I found the vacuum-formed canopy in the spare parts bin.

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Photo 3

Photo 4

Photo 5

Photo 3 shows the fwd. landing gear being made from brass. The landing gears were turned in a battery drill chuck with a file. The wheels were turned on a lathe from Aluminum and painted. Photo 4 shows The .080" thick Aluminum used for the wings. The LH side is contoured and scribed. I used a fine tooth X-acto saw to cut the control surfaces. Scribe lines were put in with a razor blade and metal straight edge. Photo 5 shows the rough-cut fuselage in process. The band saw marks are evident on all sides.

Photos 6, 7, and 8 show the progression and assembly of the model. I had to redo the canopy because of fit problems. The horizontal was a piece of .020" thk. Aluminum and the fin was slotted with an X-acto saw to fit it in.

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Photo 6

Photo 7

Photo 8

Painting was kept to a minimum: the cockpit, gears and bays with Tamiya acrylics. Shaded panels came from sanding the metal in different directions. All in all, I am pleased with this one and am also glad that it is finally done!

Dan

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Photos and text © by Dan Duna