We review the 3D Monographs 50 from Kagero - The He-219 Uhu Pt II

Kagero have acted with haste and replaced their old Monograph book on the He-219 “Uhu” with two new sparkly editions - part one we have already looked at and liked very much (It is already out of print) – is there enough of this popular aircraft to stretch into two books? Let’s see in today’s review…

Monographs 50 (3D Edition): Heinkel He 219 UHU - Vol.II

Marek J. Murawski, Marek Ryś

112 pages

Format: A4 portrait - (210x297 mm)

Soft cover

English language.

52 black-and-white archive photos + 219 x 3D Renders

A3 double sided plans (1/32)

Well you would be right on if you thought that the He 219 is popular right now – with the two large scale aircraft (1/32) of this kit in different variants the thirst for knowledge is ever present amongst modeller and we all need to know the info to turn out a better model than the next guy – c’mon you can admit it.

Well Kagero has joined the fray – they have already published their original monograph on this book (Kagero 3041 Heinkel He 219 Uhu - Marek J. Murawski) – long sold out and in dual English and Polish languages combined into one book, well it has been edited, added to and expanded into two volumes.  The initial book sold so well that this expanded title in two volumes seems a good idea.

These books are indeed similar to the original which I have – but they are updated in text and in the additions of some masterful modern 3D imagery that almost makes you think that the renders are the real object. The first volume I looked at a while ago and found the renders, aircraft plans in smaller scales and other additions a worthwhile bonus and reason to buy – now the second edition is with me I sat down to read it.

The book comes in the same format as the former publication – Portrait A4 size with a glossy cover and again a lovely bit of artwork (seems the Uhu never takes a bad picture) with the first part of the book mainly text and pictures (52 black-and-white archive photos) as well as a total of over two hundred (219 to be exact) 3D Renders of this aircraft.

As well as all of this there are two large format A3 plans of several views of the Uhu (A2 model) which I think many modellers will find interesting. I know it is hard to judge the accuracy of a drawing - but these look pretty good from what I have seen in a few authoritative books. Having long experience with sourcing model dimensions for manufacturers I don’t trust anything but a reproduction from the factory so I cannot say with 100% certainty but these are not a work of fiction. They are a good guide to help your strive for absolute accuracy never the less.

The book starts off with a historical view of the real operational history of this nightfighter. This for me is much more interesting than the flight testing in volume one of this series. We are treated to the story of this bird right through from it’s first sortie with 5 enemy aircraft shot down in one night to the nightly struggle against Halifax’s, Lancasters and their hunters the Mosquito – with explanations of the combat from a third person perspective – thru to the end of petrol supplies and the end of the war.

This part of the book is around thirty- three pages – and in amongst the well written text are some very good pictures – some you will have seen before like the shots of the Heinkel’s in the warehouse captured by the Americans whilst others I had not previously seen – I am not the foremost expert on what is unpublished or not but it is nice to see some shots for the first time here. It seems there are many more pictures of dilapidated ‘219’s than flying versions and this book doesn’t disappoint on the “allies collecting souvenirs” pictures that were common in the end months of the war. One example is seen over a few shots and it’s transformation after it had been “picked” is profound. Overall the text and photography is as good as any other book I have seen on this aircraft.

The next part is the true “meat” of the book and worth the admission price alone in my opinion. There are 219 (coincidence?) colour three dimensional renders of much of this aircraft that were not covered in the first volume (mostly the cockpit in that book)

The renders start in the rear navigator’s cockpit and include near lifelike looking renders of his radar and radio equipment as well as the insides and exteriors of the canopy and the internal details of the FUG 220 radar in the nose as well as the internal ribbing for most of the aircraft and the oxygen and fuel tanks.

The armament of the aircraft is shown here as well as the skinned part of the aircraft inside and out – those people who forked out for the ZM kit with all the internal detail will see the benefit of this part of the book – I would like to see anyone replicate the detail on offer here though.

Close ups of the tail, the retracted and extended landing gear and even the wing-less aircraft on a maintenance trolley like it is currently at the NASM Udvar-Hazy Center where the last soon to be operational He-219 (if you don’t count the one they are recovering from the north sea)is held is shown here.

The last images are of the whole aircraft here in totalis – in fresh new aluminium it really is a pretty plane – even prettier then the Ta-154 Mosquito - it’s projected successor, which is also shown on the final two pages in (glorious)3D.



And no you don't need 3D glasses before you ask the question.. :-)

Well the first book is very good so if you can pick it up then definitely do – it will make a great bookend with this edition which is the perfect soulmate – the larger plans and the 3D renders complete the parts missing from the first book and I suppose it is a smart move by the publishers to divide the books like this and spread out all the good stuff into two books. There isn’t any filler here so question about it being enough for two books is answered quite positively .

I could go another of these books! ?

Adam Norenberg.

Thanks to the peeps at Kagero for this book to read and review!