¹⁄35

Henschel of the Eastern Front

Finale

All that was left to do was some minor assembly to include attaching the cowl, bombs, drop tank, windscreen, propeller, exhausts and landing gear.  As a nice finishing touch, I went ahead and rigged the antennae wires. 

The two part antennae wire may look daunting at first but is actually quite simple to do.  First use a very small drill bit and drill a shallow hole in the rudder where the antennae can be glued and in the fuselage mount behind the cockpit.  For my antennae, I like to use invisible thread which is actually very thin monofilament line.  I use this instead of regular thread because regular thread has small hairs that stick out and makes it look unrealistic.  Second, I cut a length of thread longer than the distance from the rudder to the antennae mount located centerline of the upper wing.  Third, I apply a very small drop of super glue in the hole I drilled in the rudder and stuck one end of the thread into the hole.  It only takes a few seconds for the glue to set but give it a few minutes to get some good adhesion before proceeding.  Fourth, apply a small drop of super glue to the top of the antennae mount on the upper wing and pull the antennae tight and lay it down on the drop of super glue.  Hold it long enough for the glue to set and then use a sharp (get a new one if you need to) razor blade to trim the extra antennae wire from the upper wing mount.  Fifth, apply a small drop of glue to the fuselage mount behind the cockpit and insert a second length of thread into the hole.  Six, take the second piece of thread and make a few turns around the first antennae wire while pulling it tight toward the rudder and apply a small bit of glue to the turns to hold the second antennae wire in place.  Seven, trim the second antennae wire.  Because the invisible thread is clear, I go back and color it with black permanent marker.  There you have it, a two-part antennae.  A process very similar to this can be used to rig biplanes.

Overall this was a very fun kit to build.  The new resin cockpit, unspatted landing gear and decals really improve the old ESCI kit.