1/48 Me 410A-1/U-2 Dietrich Puttfarken - Me/FW Group Build

[Crimea_River]

Primer on the intakes. Although not visible here, there's still work to be done to get these right. Back to the grind, so to speak.

After a bit more feedback on Puttfarken's likely fit-out and scheme, the current path forward is this, with revisions in red:

- Overall camo will be standard 74/75/76 oversprayed with black on the undersides and up the sides
- Variant will be Me 410 A-1/U2 with twin MG 151's in the weapons bay
- Flame arrestors over exhausts
- FuG 101 radar altimeter antennae under starboard wing, no other radar.
- aircraft code 9K+MN with small 9K, large M in red, outlined in white, and small N in black same size as the 9K
- W. Nr. 420314 will be overpainted in black (solves one decal problem!)
- Drop tanks on wings painted RLM 76 (not black)
- No KG51 Edelweiss crest
- Spinner colour and pattern (still all conjecture) will be RLM 70 with red caps

Feedback on the above is still very much welcome!

 

[Erich]

Andy personally I would not include a weapons bay bulge/waffen pod under the fuselage of twin 2cm nor would I go for your camo either,

most likely you have 4 2cm weapons forward and the goofy single barbettes either side of the fuselage, since the unit was flying evening operations as an intruder the camo would be in dark greys with a possible flat black undersides maybe even most of the tail and fuselage surfaces. I have an old profile done for the Kg unit back in the early 1970's I'll be darned if I could find it. I do not think the spinners were anything but black/grey and no codes either possibly as they would of been painted over or at least mostly blotted out as the black comes up from the undersides onto the fuselage. wonder if Petrick has a mount in his big book on the 410 ?

 

[Crimea_River]

Erich, thanks for your views. Always welcome.

My logic for the paint scheme is as follows:

1) No real photo evidence for 5/KG51 rigs at the time
2) Photo evidence exists that some V/KG 2 aircraft carried the 74/75/black scheme and, as you know, V/KG2 became II/KG51 in Feb/44. This includes the fmaous U5+FE pics purported to be Abrahamcik's rig. These pcis and the profile are in Petrick's book.
3) One other pic in Petrick's book shows a 1/KG51 410 with definitely two tones on topsides and black sides. Codes are visible as they painted around them.
4) Most importantly..... I LIKE HOW IT LOOKS!

 

[Wayne Little]

good work Andy, sorry can't help much on 410 info....

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Wayne and no worries. No info seems to exist on this one but I continue to scrounge as I finish the build.

 

[jjp_nl]

A lot of work going into this sofar! Gotta remember the way you are working on those intakes for when I start mine. Hope you'll be able to work out the colors scheme to your satisfaction (which to my mind is just about the most important thing in this branch) ...even if little info is to be found on the subject you're building (which all to often happens, I know all about it...although for a change I did pick a subject for my next project of which some actual pics exist)

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Jelmer.

 

[A4K]

Great progress Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Evan.

I've been puttering away at this one so here's a short update. Continue to finish the intakes - almost there. Just one more bit of putty and sand and I think that will be it (Pic 1). Pics 2, 3, 4 show work on the radiators and louvers. The upper louver was cut from the top of the wing and repositioned in a more open position to show off the nice details inside. The rad's been installed, painted, and brushed with a dark, thin wash and the surrounding areas done in RLM 02. Yet to be added are the control linkages for the louvers, which will have to be modified a tad due to the repositioning of the upper unit. More on this to follow shortly.

 

[Wurger]

A very good job Andy. Keep working.

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff Andy.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. Still a little ragged but will be fixed up once the actuators go in and the lower louver goes on.

 

[rochie]

nice work Andy

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Karl.

 

[T Bolt]

Looking good Andy.

 

[Crimea_River]

Tx Glenn

 

[Crimea_River]

Work on the radiators continues. The top radiator louver was molded into the upper wing and, in keeping with photos I've looked at, I decided to open this up. That meant changing the linkages provided with the kit as described below.

The linkages as supplied:

To accommodate the increased opening, I cut the linkages at the hinge points and modified the angle of the lower brackets slightly

The individual parts were then cemented to their respective louvers. Note that the slot for the radiator had to be widened so that it would fit properly.

Then, while the cement was still wet, the lower louver was positioned and the linkages were re-united at the hinge points and cemented

Next up will be clean-up and attachment of the rudder.

 

[lostinhull]

Top work

 

[Lucky13]

Superb!

 

[Airframes]

Great stuff Andy.