Airfix Henschel Hs 123 'vintage classic' 72nd scale

My first completed build of 2024 - in mid-August! Airfix 72nd Hs 123, nowadays a 'vintage classic'. That means 'not very good' and/or 'lacking in detail'.  Quite a few builds of this kit can be found on youtube, but all of them are pretty poor! None of the modellers attempt to add some extra detail, which given the 'age' of the model, it desperately needs.

A few easy 'adds' including cutting out and posing the tail surfaces, sanding away all the horrible raised detail, adding a 'cockpit' (reshaping the seat, adding belts, a 'stick' and the characteristic 'double' instrument panel) along with the usual wine bottle foil seat belts. Rather like the Gladiator there was no cockpit floor as such. Cut away the pilot's entry doors and replace with plastic card - on the model the coaming is about a scale foot thick! As is the appallingly thick windscreen which is easily replaced with a cut-out from clear plastic - I used an empty water bottle.

 I had a number of disasters during construction, including snapping off a cabane strut and losing one of the footsteps - a replacement was made from wire. 

I've dug out some replacement decals - for some reason the 'Schlacht' triangle is presented in 'red' on the kit decal sheet.

More pics and some 'reference' material on my Luftwaffe blog.