Complete - Tamiya 1/48 He-219 A-7 Uhu

Ye, i am going to get it all planned out.I am hoping to start it next month after i finish my 109. I'll post a WiP, so we shall see how the misting works out.

Thanks Bish!  I highly recommend you plan out every part of a scheme like this and practice on something before you put paint on the model.  I thought about misting some more of the 76 on to tie things together more, but at this point I'm leaving things at "good enough."

I rather like the look of that Bob. I am still to do one of these schemes and am a little concerned about howit mght turn out. But one thing i am going to try is to mist a very thin coat of the light blue over the mottleing to lighten it and blend it in a bit.

This has been the most frustrating paint job I've ever done.  I'd spray, have some type of problem, try something else only to run into another problem.  I finally went back to my original idea of using the paper masks and not caring too much about getting soft edges to the camo.  It isn't perfect and may not be too accurate, but it's as good as I'm going to get it.  There are a few mistakes, but you'll only see them if you get real close and know where to look.  I'm going to let the paint dry and tomorrow I'll shoot a glosscoat on it and start getting ready for decals.

Well, I was able to shoot the RLM 76 Lichtblau and it looked great.  I spent some time cutting masks for the camo out of a full-size sheet Tamiya included in the box to make all those splotches look good.  I started spraying the 75 Grauviolett on the wing, left side of the cockpit and vertical stabilizer, only to realize I have some major overspray and coverage issues that were not repairable.  So I'm going to respray the 75 and try a different way to mask the camo pattern.  If that doesn't work I think I may switch schemes to an overall 75 top with squiggles in 76.  I'll let you know after I get a chance to paint it again this weekend.  Argh.

Thanks Joe!  I've noticed a couple of small boo boos here and there, but they are all my own doing, and hopefully they won't be too noticeable.  I'm hoping to preshade panel lines tomorrow.  I can't wait to get some color on her.

I love the fact that I've got one of these bad boys in my stash!!  I'm definitely getting some motivation from this WIP. Great progress !!

Thanks JJ. I noticed a bit of the seam on the top of the fuselage after I primed it, but it should be good now.  I highly recommend this kit.

Nicely done.  I hafta get one of these someday.

Not a huge update, but the major assembly is done, now I just have to mask and prime it.  After that preshading...

Thanks Joe! I'm humbled by your words as I always enjoy watching your builds.  I'm hoping to get some time at the bench after the weekend.

Looking great! Always liked the 219.  I should have grabbed one when Hobby Lobby had it a few years ago.  I look forward to your progress.

Joe

Thanks Tulip!  This is my third Tamiya kit, and I have to say that I really like them.  They're very well engineered and so far I haven't needed any filler.  I've been teaching summer school so that has limited my bench time, but this is the last week so hope fully I'll get back to it on Monday.

I have that as well Tulip, but it will be a while before I get to it. Hope you will do a thread when you start yours.

outstanding job.

I am a little surprised about TAMIYA. They are usually so thorough to include everything you could think of in their kits.

I would still buy though as they are fun to put together.

Right now I have a 1/32 Revell Germany HE-219 sitting on the to do shelf

Thanks Bish! I attached the flaps today. The kit gives you the option of having them up or down. Based on the few pictures I've seen, the 219 had the flaps up when it's on the ground. I decided to go that route, especially since it will make painting the camo easier

Nice progress there bob, looking forward to seeing more.

Thanks!

Wow thise PE seat belts look great !  So doeas the work you're doing on this cool kit.  WTG SB !

Thanks Mike! So far it's turning out to be a very nice kit

Off to a very nice start there!  I've had this kit in my hands several times at the LHS but haven't picked it up yet.  Will be following along.

Mike

Real life managed to get in the way of bench time, but I've been able to snag a few minutes here and there.  I finished the main landing gear bays and assembled the main components of the wings.  I thought the landing gear bays were a little sparse...

So I added a bit of detail to them based on a picture of the ZM 1/32 kit.  I didn't add as much as I could have, but I don't have a whole lot of experience with scratchbuilding.  I think it looks busy enough anyways.

And the completed wings...

After spending the better part of a week trying to get the decal seatbelts to look right, I gave up.  Luckily, I saw a deal for PE seatbelt sets on Ebay so I picked a few up.  And they look much better.

Fuselage is closed up and ready to move on to the next bit

We'll both find out together Rob, this is my first time doing an aircraft with an antenna array like this 

That metal cockpit is a really good idea.  There's got to be a market for AM metal cockpits, particularly for those notorious tail sitters!  I'll be keeping an eye on this one as I have always wondered how folks manage to align all the antennas on the front.

Groot

Thank you! They are decals that come in the kit. I dry brushed the panel before I applied the decals, then hit them with Micro Set and Micro Sol. Afterwards I did a thin black wash and then a blast of Testor's dull coat. When that dried a put a drop of Future on each of the dials to simulate glass.

The panel in image #5 is fantastic. Are those decals? Drybrushed? how did you do that?

Thanks Andy!  I took a look at those seatbelts, and I'm considering something like that too if the decal thing doesn't work out.  

SB, first off great start! Cockpit looks perfect! As far as printing seatbelts, ajd3530 just hooked me up with a gentlemen who lives in the same town as me (I know what are the chances!), anyway he runs a sign making business and prints off sheets with Luftwaffe, US, and British belts on them (1/48 & 1/32 scale). I just picked them up last night and haven't been able to try them out on a build but you can take a look at them on ajd3530's build over on the Mustang GB pg 33. Just another possible option. Keep up the great work!

-Andy

You're certainly doing fine justice to this kit.  Very nice detail. looking forward to watching your W.I.P..

Thank you gentlmen, this aircraft has really grown on me. I hadn't heard too much about it until a couple of years ago when I visited the Udvar-Hazy Center in DC where they only had the restored fuselage on display. The more I learned about it, the more I started to like it.