Messerschmitt Me262 variants in 1/144th

[Bigkev]

Will they both be a similar colour or different Kevin ?

Hi Msea,
Thanks. No, they will both be different.
The bomb component will be in primer/natural metal as it was intended to be expendable, the upper will have a full camouflage, with a slightly different nose colouring as it was an 'add-on' component to the normal airframe.
The take off dolly will be in RLM 02, or Grun Grau 74 have not decided yet.
But remember this is a 'what if '46' item so anything goes, I hope.
Cheers,
Bigkev

[Bigkev]

Hi All,
Have been battling with the take off dolly today, and tomorrow will be ready to assemble it.
Have managed to add detail to the body, cut down the sponsons and created the upright supports on the wheel assemblies. Picture of all the bits from scratch shown.
Have made a RATO pack from a cut down Fw-190 drop tank, some plasticard and then re-assembled.
The upper and lower aircraft components have been sprayed with Mr. Surfacer 1500, which leave a great surface for painting. The lower bomb component was okay but noticed two blemishes on the upper, so these will need a minute bit of Green Stuff in each hole/gap, so another job tomorrow.
Some pictures follow:-
Cheers,
Bigkev

[zak]

Some lovely scratch built pieces there, nice to see.
This is turning into a great bit of modelling.

[Haddock]

I think we could all do with a few lessons on how to be
clean, tidy and methodical.
Haddock.

[zak]

I think we could all do with a few lessons on how to be
clean, tidy and methodical.
Haddock.

Well, I certainly could!

[Haddock]

Me too!!

[MSea]

I don't understand the concept !!!!!

[chriswil42]

You just need instructions from your better half Martin.

[Haddock]

Isn't that known as "henpecked"
Haddock.

[councilman]

Amazing detail for 1/144.
Andy.

[Bigkev]

Hi Guys,
Thanks for your comments, much appreciated.
Well I've been getting stuck into the Take Off Dolly today.
I started off by completing the nose wheel assembly, it has a strange forward raking suspension unit, though the wheel forks go towards the rear. It will need a compression oleo later in the build.
One of my major issues with this dolly was that I needed to have two pairs of hands to manipulate the wheels the frames and the axle all at same time. So I made a jig out of Balsa to take the wheel axles, and an axle substitute. I could then lay the various parts on top of each other, sandwich between the outer frame and then glue.
Once done, I could assemble the dolly parts already prepared. This took a Long..... time, adjusting the axles, the supports, wheels, etc.
Eventually I succeeded, and managed to get the bomber component lined up. This then needed, two V shape supports from the dolly upper to under the wing. These were made from four lengths of aerofoil section plastic rod, set at an angle on a thin plastic card joining strip then superglued together, and dipped into Baking Powder (Thanks Zak) to make a really hard join. These were then sanded to a really thin section before cutting the arms to length. It took numerous attempts but I got there in the end.
At this point I did a dry run of the assembly just to check the angles, joins, alignment. I have noticed the starboard wing of the upper component need to be fractionally higher, which I will attend to once final assembly takes place.
The Dolly is 95% complete, it just needs axle covers, compression struts, some rivets and the RATO pack mounted an fitted.
Then it will out with the paint and decals.......
Some pictures of the above follow:-
Bigkev     

[zak]

What a star, such perfection and in such a small scale - note to self borrow Kev's glasses, they must be better than mine.
Really impressive stuff, well done, I love it.
Dave

[Haddock]

I want to know what he takes to maintain a steady hand, I could sure do with some.
Haddock.

[Wizzel]

Those pictures remind me of the CADs that companies like Airfix use to promote their new kits nowadays.  Fantastic work Kev.  1/144 has really come on in the last few years hasn't it.

What's the tip for baking powder and superglue from Zak?  I must have missed that one somewhere along the way.

[zak]

Those pictures remind me of the CADs that companies like Airfix use to promote their new kits nowadays.  Fantastic work Kev.  1/144 has really come on in the last few years hasn't it.

What's the tip for baking powder and superglue from Zak?  I must have missed that one somewhere along the way.

The superglue and baking powder form a really solid filler.
Apply superglue to the joint, add baking powder and repeat as needed, it can be filed and sanded and is really tough. Not original to me, I came across the method in Bill Horan's book on Panzer Modelling.
It also strengthens the joint, I use it mainly on plastic card.