Mk1 Design 1:32 Heinkel He 219 'Detail Up Set'

[James H]

1:32 Heinkel He 219 'Detail Up Set'
Mk1 Design
Catalogue # MA-32004
Available from Hannants for £83.40

 

 

 

Revell's Heinkel He 219 kit, released in 2012, was more than a bit of a mixed bag. A concoction of incorrect shapes/angles and spurious detail seemed to show a wanton lack of research from Revell, and the kit has been universally panned on the numerous modelling forums. I may be noExperten on the He 219, but even I could see that things weren't right. However, if you're willing to ignore these issues, the model does actually build up beautifully. Numerous companies have released upgrade and correction sets for the kit, but here's one you may not have heard of before, fromMK1 Design.

 

This release is packaged in a slim, clear plastic box measuring 215mm x 155mm and roughly 15mm deep. Inside the pack can be seen many PE, colour PE, turned brass, resin and white metal parts. Some of the more delicate parts are fixed to the internal card backing, whilst others are bagged into ziplock wallets within the main box. Flip the box over and you'll find a full colour, photographic instruction sheet. Now, let's see how this will improve the standard kit.

 

PE (Part A)

 

This is certainly a wide-ranging set of parts, covering many areas of the airframe, both internally and externally. Revell made a big mistake with the lack of detail on the engine cowl flaps. MK1 have supplied these here as individual PE leaves, which need to be carefully arranged around the circumference of the cowl. I just hope they meet up at the end point! You may need to induce a shallow curve with these. I just can't tell. Inside the engine cowl ring, you will normally see the radiator faces, which under normal circumstances would have a sort of mesh texture. Here, a full set of individual plates has been supplied. Due to the open nature of the texture, consider applying these with Klear/Future, or something similar. CA may look a little messy unless you're very careful.

 

Oddly, seatbelt straps are included here, minus buckles (found on colour PE fret). I can't understand the rationale in making these in regular brass and having to thread nickel-plated buckles over them. Single piece colour PE would have been preferable, or some material such as that used by HGW.

 

Other parts on this fret include weapon pack gun blanking plates and channel caps, undercarriage compression strut jackets, exhaust tube forward grilles, windscreen armour plate, rudder pedals, nose gear bay plumbing and also finishing strips which you will fit into the rear of the stabiliser, before you add the elevators.

 

Colour PE (Part A)

 

I don't suppose it will come as any surprise to see that MK1 have tackled this in the same way that Eduard have with their own colour-printed parts. There is nothing on this fret to say this has been made by Eduard, and the style doesn't look typical of them, but I suppose it is possible. Parts on the colour fret include full cockpit instrumentation, including radio set fascias, and a multi-layer instrument panel, as we see with Eduard releases. A liberal smattering of PE covers everything from oxygen regulators, to other smaller sidewall detail. Quite impressive.

 

Other parts on this fret includes the dipole array from the 219's spine, and a whole series of etch buckles for the belts which are presented on the first, brass fret.

 

 

Resin Wheels

 

Each of the 219's wheels is presented here as a single resin piece, with integral hub. Tread detail looks excellent, and the hubs are cast with the hydraulic lines in place. It is only the main tires that have a tread pattern, with the nose wheel being smooth. Detail is generally excellent, and of the wheels are very realistically weighted too, which is a vast improvement over the standard kit parts. The wheels exhibit some writing around the flat face. This says 'AVION and 'NACIONAL FIFELLI' (Pirelli?) . That all sounds a little strange to me. There are some tire sizes cast in situ too. I can't vouch at all how the detail is portrayed on these wheels in terms of tread or that odd writing. Perhaps you can make more sense of it?

 

Casting is excellent, and the product appears very high quality. Casting blocks are connected to the parts via a thin wall which falls on the flat, weighted part of the wheel.

 

 

Turned Brass parts

 

These parts are quite impressive. Revell's exhaust flame damping tubes are a little weak to be honest (but still better than those in the ZM kit), and could do with replacing. MK1 have supplied superbly turned, thin wall brass replacements, complete with their straps, and with holes machined in the side into which he exhaust stubs will locate. A front cap is supplied for these tubes.

 

 

 

For a night-fighter such as the He 219, you'll need an impressive radar array. Again, the kit parts are average, but you are limited with injection plastic. This set provides a whole new set of turned metal dipoles for the nose and tail of the aircraft. These look incredibly detailed.

 

Other turned brass parts are included for the gun pack barrels in the belly, as well as for the upper firing MK108 guns too. A metal pitot is also included.

 

White Metal Parts

 

This is the last pack within this set, and contains no less than EIGHTEEN parts, all of which appear to be superbly cast, with no poor surface as seen on many SAC undercarriage sets. Main gear struts and actuators are included, as is the forward nose gear strut, with separate oleo scissor and two-piece fork, where the wheel would be sandwiched. It also appears that MK1 made the same mistake as Revell here and produced the undercarriage struts as they would look without any load, leading the model to sit too high, and with the wrong attitude.

 

 

A full suite of prop blades is also included, but to me, they seem to lack any proper aerofoil curvature to the rear. The shapes to look right, however, but some fine seams lines could do with being polished away.

 

 

The last metal parts here are for a replacement radio bank for the rear cockpit, and a simple ballast weight. These will certainly help push the centre of gravity forward and prevent your model being a nose-sitter, but please check the CoG before you seal everything up!

 

Instructions

A single, full-colour A4 sheet clearly shows the parts in the kit to be replaced, and where the extra details need to fit to the existing plastic. MK1 have done a very good job of this aspect, with everything being clearly labelled/numbered.

 

 

 

Conclusion
Like the Revell kit, this upgrade set is a bit of a mixed bag. Some parts have been carried off extremely well, such as the PE parts (with the exception of the seat belts), and the turned brass parts. Others less so. The wheels look great, but the bizarre text on them leaves me puzzled. The white metal parts are a general let-down in several areas. This is also quite an expensive set for what you get, and for me, you'd better channelling your money into the Eduard upgrade sets.

 

Average

 

James H

 

My sincere thanks to KA Models for this review sample. To purchase directly, click THIS link.

[RalphSarc]

Really enjoyed your review James. Interesting the quality difference in the parts. Thanks for taking the time to put this together.

[nmayhew]

I think you were more than generous Jim

 

I think the tyres might have the wrong tread pattern - should be octagonal from memory?

 

Landing gear error is really really poor - all they had to do was spend 10mins googling and they could have found this (and lots of other stuff no doubt) out, and thus avoid these errors

[Wingco57]

Good honest review James.

Cees

[Matt_]

I think you were more than generous Jim

 

I think the tyres might have the wrong tread pattern - should be octagonal from memory?

 

Landing gear error is really really poor - all they had to do was spend 10mins googling and they could have found this (and lots of other stuff no doubt) out, and thus avoid these errors

 

Yep, octagonal...

 

A great review James as it should put most well and truly off purchasing. Better off with Eduard, Barracuda wheels and rads and a nice RB aerial array....

 

Matt

[mgbgtv8steve]

Thanks James for another of your honest reviews! This is what LSM is really good for!

 

Steve S.

[StefHos]

i bought tis set somewhere on ebay for half the price it sells in Uk or Europe. The Pe is nice idd. But im still considering to buy some Eduard stuff to go along with it. Deff the wheel set from Eduard and the exterior set. Whats really nice in the Mk I design set are the turned brass parts