Italeri 1/72 Henschel HS 126

ITALERI 1:72 HENSCHEL HS 126

Reviewer: Steve Papworth (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 26 April 2003

Kit Details:

1/72 Henschel Hs 126 - Italeri Kit 109.

The Aircraft:

The Henschel Hs 126 was an army co-operation aircraft. It is a parasol winged monoplane, designed as a short range scout plane and artillery spotter. It flew for the first time in autumn 1936 equipped with a Junker Jumo liquid cooled engine. Two further versions powered by radial engines were produced and these were accepted into production by the Luftwaffe. The production versions designated Hs126 A & B were equipped with a BMW Bramo Fafnir 323 A-1 radial engine of 850Hp giving the aircraft a top speed of 213Mph and a range of 432 miles. The aircraft was armed with 2 x 7.92mm machines guns, one fixed forward firing and the second operated by the observer, the aircraft could carry up to 150Kgs of bombs. The Hs 126 had good STOL capabilities and approximately 600 were built. It served in Spain with the Condor Legion, Eastern Europe and North Africa. The Greek government ordered 16 in 1939. The aircraft served with the Fiesler Storch in the army co-op and reconnaissance role until 1944/45 when it was replaced by the Fw189. The aircraft was then used for training and target towing. About 200 were used by the ‘Nachtsclachtgruppen’ on the eastern front in the night intruder role.

Instructions:

The instructions are a double sided A4 document. This details information about the aircraft, a parts list and two steps which encompass the assembly details. It contains photographs of the aircraft and the completed model. Instruction is given in four languages.

The Kit:

The kit consists of 61 injection moulded parts in light brown plastic and four clear parts for the canopy and landing lights. These were sealed in a bag with no parts having come free from the sprues in my kit. This is my first Italeri kit and the quality of the moulding in excellent. Apart from a small amount of flash around the engine block and wing struts the parts were clean.

Construction:

There are only two steps given in the construction so as usual I started in the cockpit. The cockpit has reasonable detail for a 1/72 kit. You get a pilot figure with dashboard, seat, floor and minimal other details. The dashboard is etched with the instruments. The observer figure has a stool, radio, some other piece of equipment which I have no idea what it is and his machine gun. The Hs-126 has a semi open cockpit so attention to detail and painting is important here as the cockpit interior is visible. In my opinion the rear machine gun mount is too large so you may want to replace it or make up one yourself. After painting and assembling the cockpit I joined the fuselage halves. These fit well with only a light sand needed to smooth out the joins. The engine was painted in aluminium and placed between two cowling halves. The fit of these is not as good as the fuselage but glue and paint covered the join nicely, it can only be seen if you look hard for it. The tail plane assembly is next. This is simple but care must be taken with the tail plane struts. The pictures and instructions do not show if the struts are stagger or in line and the struts do not line up with the marks on the fuselage. There are a few pictures on the net which seem to show them staggered so that’s what I did. The wing struts for the parasol wing slip neatly into two slots in the fuselage and sit tight. In a test fit they were in the correct position for the upper wing so I glued them in place and then added the undercarriage.

There are two undercarriage versions, one with spats for the standard model and the second without the spats for the eastern front version. Anyone who has modelled Eastern front Stukas knows that the spats were removed to prevent them filling with mud and then freezing solid overnight. This is NOT made clear in the painting instructions for the eastern front version. The undercarriage legs need to be modified to fit the spats prior to assembly.

After assembling the fuselage I stopped and painted the fuselage and the underside of the wing as it would be the next best thing to impossible to do it once the model was completed. Another trap for young players is the landing lights. These fit into the lower wing half which is a single piece. I forgot to paint the underside of the upper wing half first and got caught with the original moulding colour showing through. It doesn’t look too bad but I could have done better. After painting the fuselage I attached the canopy as it’s partially covered by the wing. As I mentioned the lower wing is a single piece and the upper has two halves. These fit well and proved no problem. After that a couple of small details like the tail wheel, the wind generator and the bomb rack are fitted and that’s it.

Painting:

Two colour schemes are provided, in colour, on the back of the box. One for a North African aircraft and the second for an eastern front machine. All colours are given as Model Master but easily transfer to Humbrol. I chose the North African Machine to give a bit of colour to my cabinet. I don’t own an airbrush so I use pieces of sponge to apply the mottled Luftwaffe camouflage. (I’ve got different types of sponge for the varying types) With a bit of practice I can replicate an airbrush effect which looks OK in 1/72 but probably wouldn’t cut the mustard in larger scale.

Decals:

The decals are minimal but are well sized and easy to apply. Being a European kit don’t bother looking for swastikas.

Overall:

This is my first Italeri kit and I was impressed by the quality. The Hs 126 is a relatively obscure aircraft which is what attracted me to it and I’m pretty sure this is the only version on the market (the kit has been produced also by Airfix and Matchbox I believe - Ed). Unlike Airfix and Revell they don’t give a skill level on the box but recommend it for modeller from age 10+. The kit is straightforward and could be built by any average modeller. I reckon it’s a great addition to my Luftwaffe shelf.

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