Reich Defenders V: Hunters of the Dark

Great to see some paint on Mike. Nice work.

And today's progress -- canopy interior grey went on yesterday, today I added the antenna fairing behind the canopy and preshaded the airframe upper surfaces, then immediately added two light coats of RLM 76. Next up, mask the gear wells and continue to the black. I will be soft masking the demarcations, with luck.

Honestly, I just want this one off the bench -- if one more thing crops up that prevents me from finishing, it'll enjoy the dubious honour of being the fist model I have ever binned in my life. So if you see shoddy filler here and there, that's why!

M/TB379

Hi guys, a little more progress to report. The canopy is on, as reported last time, a prominent gap was fixed with white glue, then the engines were masked and the model was washed overall and air-dried. Then I applied the eduard mask set and corrected a few places with strips of tape:

The target for tomorrow is to have the painting well under way. Ay this time the 66 is on over the canopy. I need to make a call on rescribing panel lines across dressed joints, then preshade the top surfaces and very possibly go on and apply the 76 base colour, including the nose gear well.

After that I need to get the nose and main gear bays masked before laying on the black, trying for acceptable soft demarcations against the 76. Then the fine 02 squiggles, and into the clearcoats and the run to the finish.

M/TB379

Good to se you sticking with it Mike, lok forward to seeing some paint on it.

Do you have any plans for an RD VI GB.

Talk about time-consuming... Before Christmas I tackled the wheels of this SOB and found that the styrene parts did not fit into the vinyl tyres... I ordered up the Aries resin wheel set and it's now painted up and ready.

The etched parts in the cockpit and under the canopy were a paint, I ended up ditching the canopy handle loops and the instrumen t panel that goes inside the forward canopy, there is simply no way I can see to fit them, not with my eyesight and dexterity. It's a bitter thing to acknowledge your limitations but I think I've reached mine.

Here she is, looking like a 262 now. I need to fill some gaps around the windshield with white glue, polish out the finger prints and inexplicable blemishes that appear the moment the canopy is attached, then get to the masks.

This project was been a PIT U know what, which explains why i spen the last few days finishing an armour kit instead...

M/TB379

That is a 262 for sure. Nice work TB. Can't wait to see it in colors.

This was a cool and fun GB. I'm kinda hoping we see a general night fighter type GB in 16. Hint hint.

BK

She's finally starting to look like a 262:

Here we are at last -- as promised, fuselage assembled and mounted to the wing. What a job -- look at all the filler on the engines, for one thing! Now I'm using Testors putty and I'm having more luck than I did with that rock-hard Tammy stuff. The wing did not want to fit at all, in fact the overall fit has been a challenge from day one, so the wing was shimmed with styrene, superglued at the back, then flexed into place everywhere else and held there by friction fit with tape while liquid glue flowed throughout and did its work. I won't dare untape it till tomorrow at least, after a couple more applications anywhere there looks to still be a seam...

Then some more joint dressing as necessary, add the tailplanes, and I'm getting into the home stretch re construction. I have all the paints and clearcoats necessary so hopefully it'll be fairly straightforward (he says with a wry smile, given the mottle involved...)

We have a particularly strong heatwave here in southern Australia (108F today, I believe, and a bit more tomorrow before a major crash over the weekend, then the temp goes north again in a hurry...) so I'll be working through it as possible. I have this one plus a Banshee approaching the finish line, a Bf 109 for the 109 GB at the painting stage, and a Brumbar to paint, hopefully all by New Year. If I can manage that lot, I'll be only one model behind last year's completions.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Ah, well, guys, better late than never! It's over a month since the GB officially closed but I swore I'd get that 262 done. I realised the thing that's been keeping me from doing it has been both difficulties with putty (laboriously overcome) and a loathing of photoetch.

The etch problem -- well, I added the etched levers to the cockpit after a great deal of mental resistance to working with parts too small for me to actually see properly, even under a good light and using a magnifying aid. The harnesses -- well, I abandoned them. Not every model I've built has harness, and here's one in that category.

So, you'll see in the pics below the extent of filling needed on the engines, plus the completed cockpit and the nose gear bay installed, with the recommended 9g of weight added. That's crushed air rifle slugs, very old stock -- we haven't had guns in Aus in nearly a generation.

The next photos should show the fuselage together and mounted to the wing, and hopefully I'll sail through the job from that point.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

That is an interesting possibility. Another thought could be aircraft that served in the Zerstörer roll, as they were mostly bomber destroyers, which would certainly be a defensive roll. Of course that would have us dealing with many of the same airframes that we just dealt with for the night fighters (Bf 110, Ju 88, Do 217, ect) so that may not be a great idea after all.

Thunderbolt379

Thanks, TJ and AJ! Please take the time you need, I'd rather have finished builds out there than get all official about time! Bombers? Interesting... Though bombers are an essentially offensive weapon, and the theme is defence.... I recall Hitler's edict that all new aircraft be able to carry bombs to act in the strike role following the invasion, so that would count as tactical bombing in the defensive role. What's your thinking on this? There would need to be some distinction between the role of Reich Defence and a general build on German bombers as such. Cheers, Mike/TB379

 

Touché.

I guess if you really wanted to, you could argue that after North Africa fell, the Germans were for the most part almost always on the defensive (On the Western/Italian front that is.) That said, I see your point, and I would probably agree with you.

tempestjohnny

Thanks to you TB. What's next for RDVI. I was thinking bombers. He111 Do17/217 Ju88 types. John

 

I would fully support the next one being Luftwaffe bombers.