Henschel Hs 127: Luftwaffe Torpedo Bomber

[dumaniac]

nice built - the dark camo really gives it a brooding look - very intimidating

[zenrat]

Thanks folks.
I painted the canopy framing today and finished off the props so it should be finished Sunday (would be tomorrow but family are descending to eat, drink & plan xmas).

The camo is my interpretation of the standard Luftwaffe seaplane scheme - RLM 72 & 73 over 65.

[zenrat]

Finished.

Henschel Hs 127

The following is translated from the original German text of Buch des Großen Jungen der Luftwaffe (The Big Boy's Book of the Air Force) Oxford Universitätsdruck 1953 edition.

Introduced early in 1940, the Henschel Hs 127 two seat torpedo bomber played a prominent role in aerial phase of Operation Sea Lion (what the English like to refer to as "The Battle of Britain").

The Torpedogruppe 23, operating from the Cherbourg Peninsula struck fear into the hearts of the crews of coastal convoys and, in conjunction with S Boats was primarily responsible for closing the English Channel to shipping..
Designed purely as a torpedo bomber the Hs 127s entry into service was delayed by the RLMs insistence on it being capable of dive bombing.   To this end dive brakes were fitted under the wings outboard of the engines but there is little evidence of them ever being used.

Powered by a pair of BMW 801 radial engines the most unique feature of the Hs 127 was the inverted vertical tail surfaces and anhedral stabilisers.  This design feature was to give the dorsal turrets 20mm cannon a clear field of fire at any defending fighter aircraft that should try to stop the aircraft on its zero feet attack run.
The tail design necessitated a tricycle undercarriage which was massively over-engineered in order to gain acceptance from the initially sceptical RLM.

A weapons load of two 450mm torpedoes could be carried under the fuselage along with a pair of 500kg bombs under each wing root.  Four 15mm cannons were mounted in the nose primarily for suppression of anti aircraft fire on the target vessels.

Following the successful invasion of England the Hs 127 was also used against Russian shipping in the Black Sea, in the Persian Gulf and to support the amphibious phase of the invasion of India where they proved very effective hunting down and sinking the remains of the Royal Navy.

The model.
It's almost an all Airfix affair being an Airfix Petlyakov Pe 2 with engines, nightfighter nose, dorsal turret and vertical tails from an Airfix Do 217E and torpedoes from an Airfix Savoia Marchetti SM 79.
Main landing gear is reversed and nosegear is scratchbuilt using a wheel and leg from a Revell Bf 110 and a jumbo paper clip.  The nose and engines are full of fishing weights to prevent tail sitting.
Paint is Vallejo RLM 73 with home mixed (from Vallejo) RLM 72 over Gunze Mr Color RLM 65.
Decals are Academy Ju 87G.

[NARSES2]

I like that 

[Librarian]

....as do I . Keep getting a vertigo-urge to flip it over. Splinter seems to work so well on aircraft; nice job.

[RAFF-35]

That's a really fantastic build, love the concept so much   

[TomZ]

Great idea. I love it.

TomZ

[PR19_Kit]

A veritable tour de force Fred, oder vieleicht ein Tour de Force, according to Google Translate. 

[zenrat]

Thanks blokes.
These are actually the second set of beauty pics as while "adjusting" the first set i realised I had neglected to fit any radio antennae.  They may look slightly odd where they are but as with the tails they are put that way to avoid being shot off.