Hobby Boss Me-262B-1a 2-seat trainer

This is a bit of a "What-If", since Germany was out of North Africa long before the 262 came around. But I was curious how the plane would look in Desert Yellow, so what the hell...



Many more pics:
http://www.inpayne.com/models/me262b1a.html

Big problem with the Hobby Boss kit: This is not an Me-262B-1a 2-seat trainer as advertised on the box. The kit is actually the 2-seat night fighter version (all the NF parts are in the box), with instructions and decals leaving out the NF parts to supposedly make a trainer. Unfortunately, the rear cockpits are entirely different between the two planes - the trainer has a full dual-control cockpit with full instrument panel and joystick. The Night Fighter cockpit is smaller, has no flight controls, and has a radar set on the console. In fact the instructions tell you to put the radar boxes in, where the trainer had nothing.

Because of this, I decided to hide the total lack of controls in the back seat by throwing a tarp over it. The tarp is facial tissue, soaked with water and molded to shape, then (after it dried) soaked with drops of Future to lock it into the shape.

As for backstory, I'm thinking this was a war-weary old trainer that some desert squadron commander also used as a hack to fly around to other units. He had the top panels of the aft cockpit tinted to spare his delicate Aryan skin.

Model Master paints, pre-shading and post-shading, MiG washes, random Aeromaster decals, a light overspray of sand color which was then wiped front-to-back with a tissue soaked lightly in spirits.

It's not authentic, but it was fun!