Heinkel He 111Z-1
Limited Edition Reissue

Italeri

Reviewed by Glen Porter

Italeri's 1/72 scale Heinkel He 111Z-1 will be available online from Squadron.com

The Heinkel HE-111Z-1, (Zwilling is German for twin), was one of those remarkable aircraft that was born out of a necessity to find something to tow the ME 321 Freight glider. Essentially, two HE-111 H6 bombers, joined with a constant cord centre wing with three engines. With a total of five Jumo 211 F2 motors, the Z1 had a combined 6750 hp for take-off.

This is not a new kit but a Limited Edition Reissue. However, like some other kits that Italeri have re-released recently it is still quite good with no flash or sink marks and heaps of detail. You get two HE-111 H6 fuselage sprues, one wing sprue and two clear sprues, all from the same kit plus a new one with the wing centre section and engines. It shows it's age only by the presence of raised panel lines and crew figures.

There are two colour schemes on offer, both from Russia in 1943, one in a winter scheme and the other in RLM 70, 71 and 63. Decals, although a bit on the boring side, have all the necessary markings for these two aircraft.

The two clear sprues are very clear indeed, as we've come to expect from Italeri of late and they are both in plastic bags although some of the others aren't.

Be warned - if you want to build this kit you had better have plenty of display space as even in 1/72 scale, this is a big model. On the box it's marked as Limited Edition so don't hang about waiting for Hasegawa to release one which I think is very unlikely!

Recommended.

Thanks to Italeri for the review sample