ME-262: Reich Defender II 10/09-7/10

Fred, absolutels great job my friend it turned out great from the paint job to the detail inside and out terrific job. Hope mine looks that good when finished. I really dig the wiring job on the right side very well done, did you make that yourself. Whats the story with the buckles, did I miss something.

Steve

Congratulations Fred on a stunning build, absolutely stunning. The wiring harness is very cool. I like the canopy support, along with the beautiful paint work. The nav lights are top notch too. Thanks for the tip on the seam lines.

Supressing fire, next to the xacto knife really puts the tiny 262 into scale. Very nice work.

Mobious

Amazing work Fred! 

The detail you added is great and I really like your paint work. Well done!

Daywalker To me it looks like the instructions hint there are vent louvers or flutes (shown in red) on the after burner panels? The box art shows squares, the instructions show streamlines flutes?

Crazy is as crazy does...ALL the control surfaces are now repositioned to a relaxed pose!

Fred Holy *&^% that is awesome.  The extra detail you put in it really make it shine.

JOHN

Thanks again, everyone . 

To be honest, I didn't think it was going to make this far.  I almost blew it with the weathering.  I really wasn't in the mood to put down a coat of Future before decaling - and that usually works out ok.  A little dab of future where the decal is going, plus some decal set and solvent is usually more than enough.  But then I decided to do a panel wash with some ProModeller wash and that turned out to be a disaster.  Without a glosscoat, the solution just dug into the matte finish.  Completely my fault, not the wash's.  It got into the detail ok, but wouldn't come off the surface.  I had to use some windex and q-tips to remove the residue of the wash.  And without the Future coat, I ran the chance of removing the paint layer, as well.  Talk about nerve wracking.  After 4 hours of repairing the top, there was no way I was weathering the bottom LOL.  Originally, I had planned on only doing very minimal weathering, anyway, so I guess it worked out.

Anyway, I'll be sticking around because I see a lot of exciting builds coming along and I want to see what you guys can come up with.

Steve, the wiring harness (in the wheelwell) is part of the Eduard PE set.  I just made it more 3D (and 2 sided) with some paint.  I had planned on making it from stranded copper, but then I saw it was part of the kit, so that was nice.

-Fred

Fred, well done on a superb build, lovely paintwork and getting it finished!  I've managed a gluey fingerprint on mine so wouldnt stand a chance with a clear one!!  Love the way you've masked and painted it.

Cheers...

Fred another beautiful see thru build !!!!! The detail inside is great and ditto with what has been said above. I hope one day to do a see thru half as well as you do, in the mean time I will continue to learn from your builds and those of others here.

I would like to second everyone else on this. Fred excellent work!!! I can only hope that mine turns out half as good as yours. You certaily have some awesome skills.

Gigatron - that is SOME sweet!

I was studying the first pic, and didn't realize the other side was clear until I got to the later pics! Neat effect.

So tell me how you cleaned up an entire bottle of TXT from your bench...?

Much more to do regarding mini-Me

Filled the repositioned wing gaps also fiddled with the gun bay, three times is a charm. The jet engine nacelles are in place, much time involved to get decent fit. Pilot will need control panel as shown sketched on the white strip. Gun barrels on green tape.

Beuller..Ferris? Anyone? Anyone?

Are these flutes on the real life Me 262? Should I add them to Mini Me? Someone please help!

Fred -- superb job, way ahead of anything I could tackle! The work on the latest round of builds here has blown me away and yours is high among them!

I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience with ProModeller wash. I've used it on my last three builds and couldn't be happier. Two of them were finished in RLM-coded enamels (ModelMaster) which have the natural low sheen of the originals, and I found this was quite sufficient for the wash to be cleaned up after application. The flatter the finish the tighter in the wash gets, to be sure, but a moistened q-tip seems to do the job for me -- sometimes all I need do is breathe on the tip and roll it against the direction of motion. it won't take the wash off 100% bit I've found the remaining (faint!) dark haze around the panel lines creates a post-shading effect, which is often visually pleasing.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Thats a very nice looking mini 262. that s gona look good built up

Steve

SupressionFire

Beuller..Ferris? Anyone? Anyone?

Are these flutes on the real life Me 262? Should I add them to Mini Me? Someone please help!

For God sake man its 1/144 scale just hint at the flutes being there.

JOHN

'For God sake man its 1/144 scale just hint at the flutes being there'

Tempestjohnny I can't sir, if there are flutes on the real plane there will be flutes on Mini-Me. So that being said are there flutes on the second last panel of the jet engine nacelle of the Me 262?

Besides would I let the flute drilling jig go to waste I made over the course of the afternoon waiting for a answer?

Kidding! ha ha ha... I can get them looking good with a pin thingy I use to stir paint

Here you go, this should help with those flutes.

Thanks Daywalker!

What scale is that impressive Me 262? The rivets almost look real.... The flutes are defanatly indented to catch air flow from the front. Cool Guess I better haul out the flute drilling jig after all...

Frank, thought it best to post some photo's, before I get to fidgeting with everything and break it. Calling this one a shelf sitter.

 Lost the port side Nav light followed by the starboard, while searching for the first.

Mobious

Mobious Can't hang that one on the wall...'cause its off the hook! Excellent build and paint scheme, once again the bar has been set very high.

Mobious Great build.  The mottling is really good.  Like the color of the fuselage bands also.

JOHN

Tj ~ Thought maybe these flutes could simulate..flutes? If to do again I would install fluts before the jet engines. The very bottem two are on the seam line and will either stay off completly, or just before ready for paint, the filler will most likely crack and two custom flutes will need to be designed. Start small and remember it will 'walk' around as you push and sculpt the plastic, try just over 45 degrees to the vertical. NO heat! cold work. They look cool with plastic sticking up, the picture shows flush, I chose mostly sanded off as it will be black paint and the need to highlight the work.

Mo, great job - I love the paint on this

Thanks, Spike.  I was a little unsure how the masking was going to turn, but I'm happy it worked as well as it did.

Hey Randy, if you ever wanted to try a visible build, this is the one to try it out on.  Turns out, not much is really visible.  Besides the gas tanks, which are a part of the kit, the only other visible parts are the spent shell ejection chutes and the compressed air tanks for the guns.  And even if you didn't add them, no one would even know as they're hard to see anyway.  Unlike the B-17, which has a lot to offer as a visible kit, there's nothing really worth seeing on the StormBird.  3 fuel cells and the autogyro?  Not all that interesting.  Makes for a cool display, but it's kinda empty.  If there were reference photos for the control lines, hydraulics and electrical, it would make for a much better display.  The engine is really nice, once you add the plumbing.

Thanks, GSP - I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Dupes, that really means a lot - thank you.  I'm happy when people can appreciate the little tricks I try to pull off, with my builds.  Thankfully, the glue wasn't too hard to clean up.  I always work on a piece of cardboard, over my sealf-healing mat.  Card board is pretty abuse-friendly and quite absorbent.  So a lot the glue absorbed into the cardboard before it got too far.  I picked up the cardboard and threw it out.  Turned on the window vents and all was well - except for the whole losing a half of a bottle of my favorite glue, thing.

Thanks, TBolt.  Like I said, it really wasn't a bad experience with the wash, just my laziness that caused the problem.  I've used ProModeller on other builds and loved the way it turned out.  In fact, I usually recommend it to anyone who asks about using a wash.

-Fred

Mobius, congrats on an outstanding job, your work on the slats and flaps really brings it to life and I love your paintwork. Is the fuselage band painted or the kit decal? If it's the decal you've just made my choice easier as it looks great

SF, nice work on your flutes, looking forward to more.

Cheers...

I am calling my C-1a done. Although now i have just checked out Mobious awsome build, i realised i have missed the second part of the areal  wire and the loop antenna. Will have to fix that on Mon when i get back.

Sorry for the pics, i just don't have space for a seperate photo area so for now i have to take them on my work bench. But at least this time i managed to avoid the plugged in look from my TV areial.

Frank, that pro modeller wash is brilliant. Thabnks for the tip.

Hope you guys like the pics. As always any comments are welcome. I hope to get the Dio completed in a few weeks and will post some more pics then. I have really enjoyed doing this kit, my first ever 262. And the chance to do a small bit of motteling will really help when i come to the kits i have been putting off for years because i thought i couldn't handle the paint scheme. But now i know its not as scary as i thought.

Mobious a sweet build with a great paint job ! I really like the colors and motteling. Your extra work on the flaps and slats really adds to an already nice build.

SupressionFire man my eyes hurt now just thinking of doing that kind of detail work on a 1/72 scale and here you are doing that on a 1/144 scale ??? Impressive to say the least cant wait to see what you do next with it.

Bish I really like the faded used look of your build, very very well done. Cant believe thats your first attempt at motteling. I can only hope my first 262 build and motteling paint job comes out half as well as yours did. Will be looking forward to seeing your diorama also.

Gigatron Testors liquid? I did the same thing twice when my 1/32 P-51 was on the bench! Not the third time, set up a spill proof bottle. Umm... the idea might make everyones favorate model magazine's 'reader's tips' in a month or so.

vetteman Thanks buddy, now the attencion is at the rear of the engines I had a cool idea for getting the seams flawless with a alunimum tube? Ill do one side tomorow and post WIP.

Mobius - Well done! The splinter looks so nice on a 262. I love your painting skills.

Bish - Great work on that hybrid beast!   I don't know how you guys do such great work in such a small scale.

Wow, now THIS is a treat!  Coming home to find finished photos of TWO builds here!  Well done on both, congrats guys!

Mo- Unbelievable work, always enjoy seeing your finished projects.  The extra work you put into those slats really add to the finished presentation- well done!

Bish- Fancy backdrop or not, this is one sweet looking build.  I certainly hope to see another 262 from you if you have the chance, and if not- there is always Reich Defender III coming later this year...  Looks like you took to the mottling like a natural.

SuppressionFire- I can't believe the amount of extra detailing you are packing into that tiny bird!  Next thing you know, you'll be adding brake lines and plumbing!

Fred, that is STELLAR, my friend! I don't know which side I like more? They both fit the bill. Wow...you'd better pat yourself on the back after that one...that's magazine material!

Bish..looking REAL good.

Mo: "Shelf Sitter" my eye! Leave the scale pilots away from there or you just might see a small Me.262 flying around your living room.