1/32 Trumpeter Me 262A-1a "Yellow 3"

[JKim]

I think it is time to queue up my next large scale project. I want to get out of the 109/190 groove and try something different (for me anyway) and I've settled on a Luftwaffe jet fighter, the Me 262. My subject will be this aircraft...

Lots of cool visual features on this aircraft.... the hard mottle on the tail... the blue and white checkers... the yellow numerals... the bold skull badge... so the painting and markings should be fun to do. Here is a profile by Tom Tullis that shows what the entire plane may have looked like...

I'll be using the Trumpeter Me 262 A-1a (Heavy Armament) kit.

The following aftermarket add-ons have been purchased for this build:

Aires Me 262 Resin Cockpit and Wheel Bay set
Barracuda 262 Resin Main Wheels and Nose Wheel
HGW Seat Belts
Montex Super Masks

I'm still in the painting stages of the 1/48 Hien build so I'm not sure when this one starts. But before I start cutting sprue, I'd like to take a look at the kit contents and the aftermarket stuff too. Visualizing the build components helps the gears in my head to start turning, identifying potential trouble spots and highlighting options and possibilities.

 

[JKim]

The Me 262 A-1a comes in a big sturdy TOP OPENING box. About the same size as the Tamiya F4U-1a box, which I also have on the shelf.

The instructions are the typical heavy-on-graphics, light-on-words approach that you find on most modern kits these days. Color call-outs are Gunze.

I chose this particular boxing of the 262 because it had the markings for Yellow 3 included. The Montex Masks should cover the bigger markings but I'll still need to use the stenciling from the kit decal sheet. The black and white assembly instructions is augmented by a large color sheet showing the camo and markings. Again, Gunze colors are referenced.

I'm not going to run the stenciling through spellcheck... I'm satisfied if it LOOKS like German wording and not just scribbled lines, which I've seen on some decal sheets. I also have lots of extras from the multiple G-10's and D-9's that I have built in the past.

The Trumpeter kit comes with some non-styrene extras that are packaged in this little side box.

The extras include metal landing gear (there are also styrene versions, giving the modeler a choice), soft vinyl tires (no plastic alternative) and some photoetched harnesses. The clear parts were also packed into this box. Note the clear instrument panel.

The majority of the plastic parts are molded in neutral grey and packed, 2 or 3 sprues at a time, in plastic baggies.

This big sprue holds the two fuselage halves plus some interior structural parts.

The parts are embellished nicely with mostly recessed details including fine panels lines and rivets. Lots of rivets. The rivet work on Trumpeter kits is not universally appreciated. While I can't say I hate rivets since I've personally put them on my last 5 or 6 builds, I don't know if I like Trumpeter's execution of these rivets. They tend to more obtrusive than rivets applied manually using tools like RB's Rivet-R and more than the competitor's rivets (Tamiya or Eduard for example). I'll leave it at that for now.

The interior side of the fuselage features ribbing down its full length. The Aires resin cockpit tub will require the removal of at least some of this ribbing, I suspect.

The other main sprue holds the wing parts in the standard 3-part configuration.

Like the fuselage, the molding is nice but the rivets look to be a little overpowering.

 

[JKim]

More sprue shots! This documentation is actually very helpful to me as it gives me a closer look at the parts before I start. This sprue contains the tail control surfaces, the landing gear components and various cowlings and doors.

Trumpeter put a lot of detail into this kit as evidenced by the fasteners on the stabilizers and the detailed wheel hubs. I don't have any experience with vinyl tires but am leery with being able to perform paint work and weathering on this material so I've opted to go with Barracuda resin replacements.

The landing gear is provided in both plastic and metal versions. I've reviewed as many of the online builds of this kit that I could find. One of the things that was pointed out was that the main landing gear legs may be too long.

This sprue looks like it has mostly front fuselage stuff... the gun bays and some cockpit components. I plan on building this one with all hatches closed.

Note the smooth face on the instrument panel. The clear sprue has the outer instrument panel. Trumpeter has supplied a sheet of clear acetate with the instrument gauges printed on it that is supposed to sandwiched between the two plastic parts. I've seen pretty nice results using these components but I have the Aries set, which has its own version of the instrument panel.

This sprue is dedicated to the fuel tanks, both internal and external. My plan for this build is: all hatches closed but the canopy hinged open. I'm guessing a lot of the internal detail that Trumpeter supplies will not be visible.

The external drop tanks are nicely represented but I haven't decided if I'll use them.

This sprue holds what I assume are the engine parts and two identical sprues are included. I was expecting to see a big long piece that resembles a turbojet but I guess that it will be built up from these parts.

The engine nacelle sprue is also repeated twice. If you do the math, that means 4 complete nacelles? Yup.

If you want, you can utilize the clear components to make see-through engine cowlings. Interesting but not my cup of tea!

I'll be sticking with the traditional solid plastic for the nacelles. Aren't the semi-circle hand hold things supposed to be flush?

This little sprue is the HEAVY ARMAMENT section. The R4M rockets under each wing. I'm glad that Trumpeter chose to mold the rockets separately from the racks, which makes painting easier. I'm not sure if R4M's are appropriate for Yellow 3 but I'm considering hanging them on the wings.

That concludes our look at the kit contents. Next is a review of the the aftermarket stuff...

 

[Airframes]

Good one John - you going to do it 'complete', or as found in the scrap yard !
Yes, the 'kick in' steps on the nacelles should be flush - see Wayne's build.
I really wish that manufacturer's would bin the 1980's fad of vinyl tyres and clear instrument panels. Not only are the vinyl items a pain to paint, but they often don't fit very well and, after time, they can degrade too. The clear instrument panels only work properly if very clear and thin, and in mostc ases are just a waste of time.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Wayne Little]

Good stuff, done Yellow 3 in 1/48 scale, a previous GB build, lots of forward thinking through building and lots of dry fitting John.....you will see what i mean as you go.

 

[SANCER]

Hola John.
Sure it will be another interesting work, that you will enjoy processing. I just put together a Me262 and had fun learning during the process (1/48).
It looks very nice Trumpeter kit and with the AM and your skills, will be another illustrative thread to follow.

Saludos

 

[Crimea_River]

Looking forward to this. Note that 262's had their rivets puttied and sanded so you really should not see any if you want to be authentic.

 

[fubar57]

Good choice John. While looking for a photo of your bird I came across a build on another site and the guy mentioned that some of the colour call-outs for the cockpit were off. Not sure if he's correct or not. PM'd you some pics

 

[JKim]

Thanks guys! You know... I think I prefer 1/32 scale over 1/48 at this point. Mostly due to my failing eyes... just easier to work on.

Good one John - you going to do it 'complete', or as found in the scrap yard !
Yes, the 'kick in' steps on the nacelles should be flush - see Wayne's build.
I really wish that manufacturer's would bin the 1980's fad of vinyl tyres and clear instrument panels. Not only are the vinyl items a pain to paint, but they often don't fit very well and, after time, they can degrade too. The clear instrument panels only work properly if very clear and thin, and in mostc ases are just a waste of time.

I'm gonna do the complete bird so there will be a bit of speculation involved since the reference photos are of an incomplete Terry, I mean airframe. I agree about the vinyl tires. They look pretty good but I'm afraid they'll react to the paints and form a gooey mess over time. The clear instrument panel for this kit has holes for the dials, which defeats the purpose of molding it clear in the first place.

Good stuff, done Yellow 3 in 1/48 scale, a previous GB build, lots of forward thinking through building and lots of dry fitting John.....you will see what i mean as you go.

I will take a look at your GB build! Based on what you're experiencing on your current 1/32 build, I am somewhat prepared for a lot of tweaking to get things to fit. I'm complicating matters by including an aftermarket cockpit and wheel wells so that will slow me down even more.

Hola John.
Sure it will be another interesting work, that you will enjoy processing. I just put together a Me262 and had fun learning during the process (1/48).
It looks very nice Trumpeter kit and with the AM and your skills, will be another illustrative thread to follow.

Saludos

Thanks! There is a lot to like about this Trumpeter kit. I get the feeling that they took this subject pretty seriously and wanted to produce a good model. That's my initial feeling looking at the parts but we'll see if that view changes once I start building.

Looking forward to this. Note that 262's had their rivets puttied and sanded so you really should see any if you want to be authentic.

Hmmmm... I'm not sure I want to get rid of the rivets. I'm not convinced that puttying rivets made them disappear, especially with the wear and tear of war service based on my cursory review of reference photos. I AM planning to tone down the rivets though. My initial plan is to give the exterior surface a light sanding and re-scribe all of the panel lines. That combined with the priming/painting process, should knock the rivets down a bit. Authenticity is good but can be subjective on scaled representations. I want to create something interesting and I like the fact that rivets give some visual interest to an otherwise flat surface.

Good choice John. While looking for a photo of your bird I came across a build on another site and the guy mentioned that some of the colour call-outs for the cockpit were off. Not sure if he's correct or not. PM'd you some pics

Thanks for the pics Geo! When it comes to Luftwaffe interiors, I usually don't rely on the call-outs on the instructions. I have enough references to make an educated guess.

 

[JKim]

I've come to the biggest and most questionable aftermarket piece... the Aires cockpit and wheel well set. Since cockpit tub is integral with the wheel wells on the 262, it makes sense that any cockpit upgrade would have to include the wheel well too. The Aires set is well appointed and includes a bunch of resin in grey and creme as well as a fret of photoetch and a clear sheet of printed acetate for the instrument dials and gunsight glass.

I really like the PE/acetate/resin sandwich approach to the instrument panel, especially when the PE itself is layered with separate sections and bezels. Much preferred over the pre-painted Eduard stuff. One can even highlight the instruments with some color if so inclined. The PE fret also includes harnesses and separate buckles for the seat belt system. Redundant for my build since I'll be using the HGW belts but nice to have. That large rectangular piece? Keep that in mind as I look at the next component in this set.

Aires also includes a nose wheel bay, cast in one, inconveniently deep, piece. How you go about painting and weathering inside this narrow orifice is a big head- scratcher. That big rectangular piece on the photoetch fret above is supposed to be rolled into a half-tube and glued into the deepest recess of the nose wheel bay... are you kidding me? I'm picturing the designers giggling amongst themselves when they got away with that one.

The central piece is the cockpit tub. Very nicely molded with lots of detail but similar to the nose wheel well, cast in a way that will make painting difficult.

The outside of the cockpit tub is the tubular ceiling of the main wheel well.

The next two pieces are the sidewalls of the wheel well, festooned with detail including wiring harnesses. I really like how crisp Aires casts their resin parts... top of the line quality.

What's NOT so top of the line are the Aires instructions. All of the Aires parts are represented in relation to each other but do you notice the lack of reference to the Trumpeter kit? After studying the Aires instructions, I have little or no idea where the resin parts end and the kit parts begin. I don't know what modifications of the kit parts are required for the resin parts to fit properly. And the illustrations seem to be inconsistent with the resin parts, showing notches on the top edge of the cockpit tub and bulkhead where none exists on the part itself. Resin upgrades, in my limited experience, are usually inexact affairs with no positive locating pins or tabs and relying on edge to edge connections. This inexactness is further complicated by casting blocks along the join edges... a sloppy cut or imperfect trim will rob you of precious contact surface area for joining parts. Lots of uncertainty about this set in my mind.

So before doing anything on this build, I have to figure out how this Aires set works with very little help from Aires. I've decided the best way to do this is to assemble, by dry-fit hopefully, the kit components first. Putting together the kit cockpit, wheel and nose well will hopefully shed some light onto the Aires replacement parts. I need some more confidence before I commit to using this set.

I've cobbled together the main components of the kit cockpit using tape.

Those big tabs fit into slots in the fuselage sides, giving the cockpit a firm and positive fit. No problems fitting the fuselage sides together, trapping the cockpit in between. Ah... so easy and simple. I'm wondering if the Aires upgrades are worth the effort.

Concurrent to this, I've started to remove the casting blocks off of the resin components and do some preliminary assembly of the Aires cockpit.

I'm getting a better picture of how things fit but I still have a lot of learning to do.

 

[Wurger]

 

[SANCER]

What a great detail in the Aires pieces. I can see the difficulty that both the cockpit and the nose wheel bay will entail, because of the narrowness and depth of the pieces ... ...could it be an option to cut one of the sides with a thin saw? IMHO
I can already see that you are heating up the engines !!

Saludos

 

[Gnomey]

Great work so far John!

 

[Crimea_River]

The Aires details look great but one thing not depicted are wire harnesses that cross between the tub and the boxes on the outer wall. It's something I couldn't let go but that's just me.

 

[turbo]

Lots of goodies to play with there John, looking forward to this...

 

[JKim]

What a great detail in the Aires pieces. I can see the difficulty that both the cockpit and the nose wheel bay will entail, because of the narrowness and depth of the pieces ... ...could it be an option to cut one of the sides with a thin saw? IMHO
I can already see that you are heating up the engines !!

Saludos

Thanks for checking in Luis! I don't think painting the cockpit will be too difficult and the view into the nose wheel well is so restricted, I don't know if it would be worthwhile to cut it open. But that is definitely something that I will consider.

The Aires details look great but one thing not depicted are wire harnesses that cross between the tub and the boxes on the outer wall. It's something I couldn't let go but that's just me.

View attachment 480393

I'm not above adding detail to a detail set, if it is necessary. As an example, the back of the Aires instrument panel has some wiring molded but it is all flat to the panel so I was thinking of adding some wiring there. The wheel wells could be a similar situation. I didn't see any separate wiring bundles but there are some braces and piping cast separately so I need to get a handle on exactly what the Aires set provides before figuring out what I should add.

Lots of goodies to play with there John, looking forward to this...

Always a love/hate thing with this aftermarket stuff. I love looking at it now before the struggle of making it fit.

I'm not quite ready to jump back onto the 262 just yet but I will be returning to it soon.

 

[Crimea_River]

John, I've detailed two Me262 wheel wells now and have some references I could share. Happy to share if/when you decide to add more.

 

[le_steph40]

Hello John,
look forward to seeing this build

 

[JKim]

John, I've detailed two Me262 wheel wells now and have some references I could share. Happy to share if/when you decide to add more.

Thanks Andy! References are always helpful. I have a scan of the Squadron Walk Around book that has some wheel well pics of restored aircraft. So other than that, I'm pretty light on references to internal detail.