Trumpeter 1:32 Me 262 A-1a (WIP)

Truly fantastic work! How does the Trumpy kit build up so far? I'm thinking of buying the nightfighter version.

Are you displaying her with all the panels open?

Schatten- 

I will be building her with the cannon bays open as well as the left engine and radio compartment access panel.  So far the fit has been fairly good, even considering I have added wiring inside the fuselage.  I have been doing a lot of reading, and it seems that most of the 262's had all their rivets an joints puttied and sanded smooth, so trumpeters rivet detail, although subtle might be a bit inaccurate.  Several builds that I have seen the builder has gone through the effort of smoothing all this out, but I think that I will not do that.

I have also added a bit of .030 to the top of the left engine nacelle to serve as the bottom of the wing.  Next I have to work out how to build the mounts for the engine to enhance the level of detail there.

The cockpit is well detailed, directly from the box, although if I could do it again, I would thin the back of the plastic instrument panel so the instrument faces are not so deep.  The only detail that I added was an O2 line on the left panel made from two different diameters of wire.

<Matt

Nice start, I have the same kit in the stash, so will be watching this.

I got the G-factor undercarriage for an Me 109 and it looks really nice and was thinking about doing the same for this. So will be keen to see how they are. Do you have the early or late set.

Bish-

I have the late set, and will be using the nose wheel with the treads (guess that is the wide wheel)

<Matt

Nice.

very very nice work so far.

Very nice start Matt.  I'm trying to get my hands on the 1/48 Tamiya version.  I'll be following your progress.

Joe  

blkhwkmatt

 I have been doing a lot of reading, and it seems that most of the 262's had all their rivets an joints puttied and sanded smooth, so trumpeters rivet detail, although subtle might be a bit inaccurate.  Several builds that I have seen the builder has gone through the effort of smoothing all this out, but I think that I will not do that.

So shooting it with a couple of coats of primer and sanding that down to mostly cover the rivets, in spite of how it would look, would be the more-accurate thing to do?  Hmm, I have a couple of these in my stash I'll have to look at. 

Gene Beaird

CrashTestDummy

blkhwkmatt

 I have been doing a lot of reading, and it seems that most of the 262's had all their rivets an joints puttied and sanded smooth, so trumpeters rivet detail, although subtle might be a bit inaccurate.  Several builds that I have seen the builder has gone through the effort of smoothing all this out, but I think that I will not do that.

So shooting it with a couple of coats of primer and sanding that down to mostly cover the rivets, in spite of how it would look, would be the more-accurate thing to do?  Hmm, I have a couple of these in my stash I'll have to look at. 

Gene Beaird

Since the last time that I posted pictures I have completed all the interior washes, positioned everything in it's place inside the fuselage and sealed it up.  Be sure to install the nose gear prior to gluing the fuselage halves together, as it becomes a royal PITA if you don't.  Lucky for me, I remembered at the last minute and was able to install without any drama.  

The panel in front of the cannon bay is the first part I have encountered that doesn't fit as it should.  I didn't take a picture before the fix, but if the panel line was flush on one side (horizontal panel line) the opposite side had a triangular shaped gap that was wider towards the rear.  I used tenax 7R on one side and once set applied massive pressure and cemented the other side.  On the right hand side there is now a small overhang that will need to be  sanded smooth and details restored.

I am pleased at how the cockpit turned out, even the stiff P.E. belts look almost natural.

Here are some photos of the main gear well after the redesign and weathering.

And what the flash reveals of the radio compartment

A couple of detail shots of the engine that will be exposed

Thanks for looking!  Hope to get some more work done on this beast this weekend.

Matt

Very nice work Matt. The cockpit turned out fantastic, as did the gear bays. How did you paint the wires so neatly?

Nathan,  all the silver wires are simply unpainted solder, with tape for the brackets.  For the yellow wiring, I used either the copper innards from a bundle, twisted together or 28 gauge wire, all painted before attaching to the wheel wells. The wiring on the instrument panel was painted after attaching though.  Hope that helps.  All the wiring bundles took the better part of a day to get done.

She's looking damn perfect! I love all the wiring you added!

Gotta say, that's a great job you're doing on that Swallow. Looking forward to seeing more pictures of it.

Great work matt, the pit is really nice.

Here is the latest update:  Completed the main wheel sub assembly and attached the main wing.  Had to dry-fit several times to try and get a flush fit, but wasn't completely successful.  Here is a picture that shows where it is now, after some heavy sanding, adding back the rivet detail and filling the huge seam line with putty.

Just about every major seam on the bottom of the aircraft needed a touch of putty, not sure if it is because of me or just minor flaws in the molds.  At any rate this gave me plenty of opportunity to practice masking the offending seam, filling with squadron white putty and smoothing it out with Tamiya lacquer thinner.  This has worked like a champ and greatly reduced the chance of losing details.

Other work has included filing down the attachment points for the main landing gear so that they will fit, I added a wire to the bottom left corner of the armored glass (represents electrical power for windshield anti-ice, as well as the Revi gunsight with wiring as well.  All the flaps and ailerons are attached to the main wings.  Will be attaching the rudder as well as dry fitting the horizontal stabs prior to painting.

Soon it will be time for the primer and that complicated camo scheme.

Thanks again for looking and all the wonderful comments.

Matt

Great work, Matt! You really make me want to get that nightfighter version now!

1st class work Matt.  The wheel well detailing looks pretty SH.

wing_nut

1st class work Matt.  The wheel well detailing looks pretty SH.

Thanks Wing_Nut, means a lot from you!!

Once again, thanks to all for the encouraging comments. Been a long time since I have posted a WIP thread.  

I have a bit more progress to report: Here is a picture of dry fitting the main gear as i mentioned last time:

After a bit of masking I primed the bird with Tamiya fine surface primer (L) from a rattle can and then pre-shaded the panel lines with black. Once that was complete on went the RLM 76, and these photos show the results so far.  All the primary paints will be the MM acrylic paint lines, unless the colors look too far off, then I will go with the color of eagles paints.

Thanks for looking!

Next will be the RLM 81 and 82 for the splinter camo.  Once that is complete the real fun begins.

Nice airbrushing. I like the underside shading.

Looking forward to seeing some paint on this. I hadn't realised how big these kits were. Nice progress matt

Looking good I'm working on the Trump 1/48 me262 and have run into all the same seam and gap issues you have. Hope in the end mine turns out as good. I'll be watching to see this bird done.

Thanks everyone for the interest and the comments, it is very much appreciated!

Here is another brief update : Basic splinter camo complete, along with the beginnings of the mottleing on the sides.

I used post-it notes to give the sharp edges to the colors (first time trying this, very easy and no lifting of paint).

Still painting, I have gone back over the RLM 76 on the sides and nacelles to clean up the lines / over spray.  I find that doing this adds a bit of sharpness to the mottle, and removes the almost invisible over spray from them.

Next up is the stripes, thinking that I am going with the late war RLM 84 (the straw tinted color), not sure if I am going to use silly putty to mask off the areas or go at it free hand.  some of the bigger areas might be easier freehand, not sure yet.

Thanks for looking,

Matt

That's one awesome looking paint job! Really nice work!

Great paint job, which paints did you use.

Bish

Great paint job, which paints did you use.

Thanks matt. I dolike the look of the RLM 81. The brand I normally use, Xtracolor, went a bit od a while back with several different shades of green turning up. I have been looking for a good replacement.

Matt, that looks super! Love the greens and browns.

This camo paint turned out so well that I really didn't want to continue with the next step, which is adding all the RLM 84 "stripes" with the dark green interiors.  going to be a challenge for sure...