Zoukei-Mura 1/32 He 219A-0, Converted to an A-2

By Wouter Groenen

After a 10-year hiatus, the dark ages between 2000 and 2010, I became interested in building scale models again. I was always attracted to large scale models. When it was announced in 2012 that Zoukei Mura was going to release the Heinkel He 219 in scale 1/32 I woke up. What a cool plane, I wanted to build it! I decided that it was a good reason to focus on planes in scale 1/32 from now on. Models where you can put a lot of detail in, you are busy with it for a while and you do not have to buy that many. We all know how that ends. The stock to be built increases faster than the models being built.

Anyway, although I occasionally make a trip to a smaller scale, or larger (I still have a halfway built 1:16 King Tiger), I manage quite well to focus on 1/32. We have also been quite spoiled in the last decades with new models, more than enough choice!

Before I ventured into the He 219, I wanted to gain some building experience. In the meantime, more than 10 years have passed and I thought it was time to really start on the He 219.

The He219

The He219 has been the subject of many books in recent years. I’m not going full on history here, but it was cutting edge technology at the time. That being said, the aircraft's performance did suffer from the relatively weak engines. In addition, the aircraft was produced too late and in too small numbers (because of political decision making) to make a serious difference. Perhaps that was a good thing. The aircraft was specifically designed for night-time hunting. It was the first operational production aircraft with ejection seats. Nose wheel instead of tail wheel. The cockpit at the very front and top of the aircraft for good all-round visibility. Elements that you still see in fighter aircraft today.

Collecting references, I quickly came to the conclusion that I wanted to build the aircraft with a completely black bottom and a Wellenmuster (wave pattern) camouflage on top. Just like the surviving example at NASM, which coincidently was being restored at that time. I got hold of 'A research paper (3rd edition)' by R. Ferguson, one of top researchers on this subject. He concluded that there are two construction series that were executed in this scheme; work numbers 290054 - 290078 and 290110 - 290129. Both series were built as the He 219 A-2 variant. After further searching I came across a decal set of OWL decals. Work number 290070 - with the Verbandskennzeichen (license plate) G9 + CH. More about this later.

There is an awesome period picture of the He 219 in flight from the same build batch, which is what inspired me, work number (290068). If I’m not mistaken, this is in fact the sole surviving He 219.

History

R. Ferguson was also able to find out what happened to the specific frame I wanted to build. Like all other He 219s, the aircraft belonged to NJG1 and operated from Fliegerhorst Venlo in the Netherlands, my home country. In the night of 3 / 4 February 1945, Hauptman Graf Rességuier and Feldwebel Fritz Habicht took off to intercept enemy bombers. The reports are not clear, but the aircraft was hit by enemy fire near Roermond. The pilot was slightly injured, the navigator seriously injured. Both managed to escape using the ejection seat. Rességuier landed with his parachute near Schmelendorf, Germany, just across the border from Venlo and Roermond.

The registration number of the aircraft is G9+OH and not G9+CH as stated in various publications and the decal set of OWL Decals set, OWLD32015. In the model I have adjusted the decals so that it says OH.

The Model

Although the ZM models are known for their extensive interiors, I still prefer to build 'complete' aircraft. Why not the Revell version you might ask? I bought that one too, but putting them side by side, the difference is night and day in my opinion. The ZM version comes a lot closer to the original, both in overall shape and detail.

It so happens that the ZM model is made as an A-0 variant. There is a lot to be said about that, but the external differences between the A-0 and A-2 variants are not that big. There is one element that stands out, the air intake for the engines. For the first aircraft it was round or oval shape, but it was soon changed to a so-called shark mouth shape. The Revell version does have that shape of air intake. This change was made quite easily and quickly. Furthermore, I only used aftermarket sets from ZM itself, the metal chassis and the antennas.

The Construction

The construction was pretty straightforward, apart from the previously mentioned modification of the air intake. It is clear that the model was designed with the idea of opening all the hatches. They can be closed but the margins are very small. For that reason, I used the interior parts as much as possible, but did not paint them. I left out the engines, these are nice mini models that I may use for something else. I kept the cockpit quite simple. This is because I also wanted the cockpit closed so that the lines of the aircraft would be kept clean. Besides that, I added lead weight behind the props, just to keep the nose down.

Painting

After sanding, filling and priming it was time for the paint job. I was a bit apprehensive about the camouflage scheme. RLM76 over RLM75 in a meandering pattern. Not sure if I could pull it off. The easy way is to spray RLM76 first and then apply RLM75 over it with simple dots. However, this does not match the way how it was originally done. Long story short, I opted for the original way. After many trials, the best method turned out to be to make small circles with the airbrush. Then you break up the resulting pattern with random lines and by connecting the circles in several places. It took me a few evenings of my life in any case. I almost stopped after the third or fourth attempt and had to take a break for two weeks. But in the end, I persevered, and though not 100% as hoped, I’m ultimately quite satisfied with the end result.

The painting was done mainly with paint from Mr. Paint. The main colors I used were MRP 65 (RLM75), MRP 225 (FS35622) (I found the RLM76 version a bit too blue) for the top and MRP 137 (Black) for the bottom.

Enjoy!