Thanks for the positive comments. I spent a lot of time filling/priming/sanding, repeat and repeat again to get rid of, as best as, the 'ghost seams' on the upper fuselage. The cockpit upper areas were then painted RLM 66 with an AK Interactive pen before the canopy was glued in place and masked. Some framework was missing so it's just paint, again using an AK pen but this time RLM 02. I decided to use the LF Models masking set, which I'd bought for my Hs 123 build a while back, as they were in the stash doing nothing. It was an interesting task fitting biplane masks to a jet, but I think it was worth the effort. Vallejo RLM 63 Lichtgrau was sprayed on first, as mentioned in the 123 build this is a lot darker than shown in references but I went with it. The first set of masks were applied then Vallejo RLM 62 Grun was sprayed followed by the last masking and Xtracrylic RLM 61 Dunklebrun. The RLM 62 reacted with the levelling thinner I used so some time was spent cleaning the airbrush. Once all the masking was removed a few touch ups were done. The finished paintwork is a crossover from late camoflague to pre-war as there is some mottling in places.

Like the slinter camouflage.

Is this a bit of a 'what-iffery' camouflage Chris?

It is Kev, for autumn '45 during the big push east.

Looks convincing though.......
Nice work.

After a coat of Klear the decals were applied, these being a mix of some left over from the Academy build and some from my spares. I decided not to fit all the stencils as a lot wouldn't be seen on the dark areas. Finished as an A-2a from 1/KG 51 with, as previously mentioned, the Wikingerschiff bomb racks and bombs coming from the Academy kit plus the pitot and DF loop from spares.
Next up is the Heller kit of a B-1a/U1 two seat nightfighter. This kit also shows it's age, as do I as I've also built this kit a long time ago. There are three sprues of grey plastic and one clear for the canopy. Decals are minimal and so once again the spares will come in handy. The most annoying thing, so far, about this kit is the fact that Heller have moulded their name right where the cockpit tub goes. Why when you've lots of space eldewhere in the fuselage?

You're going for a whole squadron of 262's then Chris?
Nice finish on the model.

Thanks Chris. The cockpit tub was built up with the Yahu 3D console fitted but some work was needed in the rear one. Apparently a few models of the two-seater 262 have used the trainer version as a template and as such the rear seat is too far back, this was brought forward by fitting a shim, and there's also some instruments missing under the kit radar console. To replicate these I cut down a spare front console. This is just visible in the first photo. The placing of Heller's logo turned out to be the least of my worries. When I tried to join the two fuselage halves together I could match the panel lines at the front but everything from the rear of the cockpit back was out. After several attempts at fixing the problem, including cutting the two halves apart at one point, I realised that the model must be suffering from mould shrinkage as one side was definitely shorter than the other.  I've heard of this in the past but it's the first time I've come across it in a main stream kit. So lots of filling and sanding ensued with help from superglue and Plastic Weld. When I'd got the fuselage together as best as something still looked wrong, this turned out to be the tail section which was warped, nothing a little brute force couldn't cure. So at the minute there's lots of bumps and joints to fettle. Apologies for the poor photos I think my camera is ready for a holiday as well?

Lots of time was spent getting the best I could out of the kit before I fitted and masked the canopy with Tamiya tape, placing the main undercarriage legs in and adding the housings for the under belly fuel tanks. After priming it was painted, using a photo of an actual a/c painted as follows, with RLM 76 for the fuselage, tail and parts of the engine pods, which were chipped and masked in places. Followed by RLM 75 and 83 mottle. The main wings, tailplane and nose were painted overall RLM 82 with forward of the wing joint to the upper engine nacelles RLM 80 Olivgrun. Nato Black for the RLM 22 undersides was applied last. Paints used were by Tamiya, Vallejo and Xtracrylics. The decals are all from spares and depict Brown 6 from Nachtjagdgeschwader 3.Then it was time to add the various aerials, with the main ones being way over size, the DF loop and what I assume is the fuel dump pipe before satin varnish was sprayed on.

Very nice camouflage Chris. A great finish.

Another nice build that should of graced the club table at Lincoln Show yesterday.
Good work Chris.

Next up is the MPM kit of the Me 262 Mistel, sometimes refered to as the Mistel 4 only two of which were actually built. The kit uses the parts from the 1986 Smer release of the Me 262B-2 which used the original 1974 Heller release of the aircraft, see previous build, so you can already see where this is going. The parts have knockout points in some awkward or prominent places and there's LOTS of flash. The sprues contain the parts for the Me 262 A-2a/U2 manned a/c, the 262 'missile' and the launch trolley. I started work on the missile at the last PlayDay  and have got it to the point where it has been primed after lots of filler and sanding. Online discussions talk about how this would have been a waste of an expensive airframe and engines but one talks about the theoretical use of retired airframes, with the cockpit area having a wooden cover, to save on metal, so I'm going with this. It is a 'What-if' afterall. All the aircraft parts have faint panel lines so I think some rescribing is in order.

Nice to see the 'bigger' version get built. Mine was to 1/144.
Good to see you building this.

You will soon have as many German as Neil has Spitfires         

Nice start Chris.