Here’s the latest pic of 2/3 of my “Fly by Night” project. The other kit (not shown) is ProModeler’s Ta 154 Moskito. I’m building three 1/48 Nachtjagers (nightfighters).
Since I can’t paint until the new AB arrives, I decided to do a little extra work on the 262s. The two-seater is the Dragon kit, and the single-seater is Trimaster.
When I build this kit, I always slice the lower wing into three parts, and discard the piece that spans the engine cutouts. The nacelles and wings fit MUCH better without these. I then glue the outer wing bottoms to the wing tops after removing the alignment pins. At this point, I decided to drop the leading edge slats. I carefully removed them with a #11 blade, and cleaned the edges. The interior of these areas will be made with sheet styrene once the nacelles and wing center section have been added (after the cockpit & wheel wells are finished).
The wings were then glued to the fuselage. This prevents having to fill and sand here.
The nacelles were built, and the top front seam is left unglued. This allows a better fit of these parts to the wings. I’ve also added the tailplanes.
I’m nearing the end of what I can do without starting the painting. It’s a new challenge for me, figuring out how much I can assemble before I have to paint. I hope to have the new AB (Badger 150 replacement) by Monday (PLEASE !)
Pix, I dunno if you seen this or not (probably have by now), but seeing as you have a real interest in the 262, here’s a link to a site about a private venture to build five brand new ME 262s:
Thanks yardbird, chukw, ModelNerd, Model Grandpa, Adam, Gilmund, pingtang, Swanny, and ghettochild !
chukw - make sure you wash the butter off your hands before you pick up your model !
ModelNerd - I’ve seen the site, and it’s pretty good. The reproductions are very close to the originals. I’ll edit this post to include a link to my favorite Me 262 walkaround. http://aircraftwalkaround.hobbyvista.com/me262/me262.htm
Model Grandpa - I just spend a lot of time at the bench. At least six hours/day, seven days/week. The 262s are very familiar to me, as they’re my 13th & 14th from the Trimaster/DML/Dragon molds. Very few surprises left with these kits.
Adam - I hope I get the AB soon too. With all this unpainted gray plastic in front of me, I feel like I’m building modern aircraft. I need some color !
Gilmund - I don’t care to assemble models in the “traditional” method. Too much like “Insert tab A into slot B. Repeat 70 times. Your model is done.” Too boring for me.
Swanny - why be afraid? There’s no competition here. If there was, I’d be gone in a heartbeat. Just remember my quote: “Build what you like, like what you build.” Your models are yours, and mine are mine, and all builds are different.
Your build looks great. I like how you have broken down the sub-assemblies,and am looking forward to your progress. My grandfather has the 1/32 Hasegawa offering,now I wouldn’t mind picking it up.
Looking good Pix-- I have one of the Tamiya uglies [;)] on the pile that I will get around to eventually…but I want to advance my skills before I tackle the scheme I want to try!
A 40-hour build week, I am envious. I get an hour or two 2-3 days a week and on a good weekend maybe 6-7 hours. Sometimes more, sometime less, but I take what I can get.
Thanks Thad, Allen, mucker, Jeeves, Model Grandpa, and Adam !
Thad - I’ll be adding the wiring and hoses to the gearbay and landing gear on these kits, as I did my previous 262. I’ll include step-by-step pics if you want to try it on yours, too.
Allen - you may find the wiring info useful also. It would be MUCH easier to add it in 1/32.
Model Grandpa - that’s probably one of the only percs of being disabled, but at least I’ve found something I can do that I love.
Adam - building WW II aircraft, and Luftwaffe birds in particular, leads to some very colorful shelves. THe grays of modern aircraft just do nothing for me.
I JUST GOT MY AIRBRUSH ! Looks like I’ll be immersed in paint fumes for the next few days. There’s a lot of work to do.
