The Model:

Because the models made by Huma are limited run, they’re not of the same quality you would expect from major manufacturers, such as Monogram, Revell Germany or Tamiya.  In fact, they’re a lot more like an old Revell, AMT, Hobbycraft or even a FROG.  That means that there’s not a lot of detail, and the fit is only so-so.

The Hs 132 has 33 pieces to it, although 16 of these are for the landing gear and their doors.  This means there’s not really a lot to assembling this kit.  The wings are moulded as one piece, and the body comes in halves, with the tailplane being a separate piece.  There’s almost no internal detail, the cockpit being particularly spartan.  It includes a couch for the pilot, a back wall, a floor (also the ‘roof’ of the front wheel bay) and a decal of a dashboard.  There’s no internal detailing, and you have to make sure to paint the inside of the rest of the plane dark grey/black, since you can see into the engine bulge if you look at the right angle.

Assembly is straightforward, and the pieces (except the tailplane) fit very well.  The plastic is quite soft, and sanding the assemblies once they’re on is actually very easy.  There’s little putty needed on this plane, although there is quite a bit of flash on some of the parts.  The points at which the parts attach to the sprue are also very thick, and will definitely result in marring of some of the parts.  This also makes cutting the landing gear retraction struts off the sprue a challenging operation.

The cockpit glass is nice and clear, and is fairly free of distortion.  The fit is also quite good, something not usually found of cheaper or some limited-run models.  There’s only minimal framing, so not a lot of work is required.  A coat of Future inside and out does help, though.  The glass was stuck on with white glue, which is always advisable. According to photos on Luft ’46, the real 132 had an armoured glass windscreen INSIDE the clear bullet on the front of the plane, but no such detail is included herein.  That’s a shame, really, as it would have been an interesting bit of realism.  To make things less boring, I added a piece of leftover photoetch from the Airwaves He 177 set to make a ‘dashboard.’  A decal was included for this, but it didn’t turn my crank, so to speak.

There are no radio masts, aerials or anything else besides the landing gear and a bomb that go on this plane.  The bomb comes in two halves, and is easy to assemble, requiring only a bit of sanding.  The wheels are quite nice, although they are of the ‘slick’, i.e., untreaded, variety.  Note: I tried to glue the gear in using Ambroid Proweld.  It didn’t work worth a toot because I had already painted the gear bays Testors oil aluminum with a black wash.  Thus, I went back to Testors model cement from the orange tube – worked like a charm!

Decals came from a variety of kits, mostly the Revell Germany Me P.1099 B heavy weapons kit my brother made.  The ‘bomb-pooping devil’ (oddly appropriate, actually), the side crosses, the underwing crosses, the Werke Number and the numbers on the side all came from here.  The upper wing crosses were from the Huma decal sheet.  Huma’s decals are much, much better than Revell Germany’s.  They’re thinner and contoured better to the lines of the plane.  Unfortunately, despite glossing the airplane before decaling, there was still a bit of silvering on the side crosses.  Some decal set would probably have gone well here, but alas, I didn’t have any at the time.  The Swastikas came from my Almark decal sheet.

Finally, the plane was flat coated using Microscale Microflat.  I found out something very interesting about this product, too.  If it is too thick, it will go on semi-gloss.  To get the right amount of flatness, it should be thinned to about 70% water/ 30% flat coat.  Never thin this stuff with anything other than water, either; it will turn to mud if you do.