1/48 Me262B-1a/U1 "Red 8" - The Jet Age.

[Crimea_River]

Thanks all.

Wheel wells and cockpit tub undersides got a coat of Alclad Dark Aluminum and a panel wash:

 

[T Bolt]

Those wheel wells are looking great Andy. Wish I had more spair time this summer, I would pull out my Tamiya 262 and make it a third

 

[Donivanp]

Looks great

 

[Wayne Little]

 

[Wurger]

 

[JKim]

Great looking wells Andy! I find the circular tub structure of the wheel wells very interesting and it looks like Hobby Boss and Dragon (and Tamiya as well) approached this area with similar engineering.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks all.

 

[rochie]

Looks good Andy

 

[Crimea_River]

Cheers Karl. Wiring started in the wheel wells:

 

[Vic Balshaw]

That Alclad sure comes out a treat, so has that wiring.

 

[Wurger]

 

[JKim]

Nice wiring work Andy! I didn't go whole hog on mine either. I like the wire ties... nice touch!

 

[Catch22]

Great work Andy.

 

[Wayne Little]

nice work!

 

[rochie]

very nice Andy

 

[Gnomey]

Looks great so far Andy!

 

[Totalize]

Excellent stuff Andy. Nice attention to detail on the wheel bay and landing gear. Looking good.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. This is a catch-up on work since last Thursday.

The dim-sized instrument panel was hand painted then wiring was added to the back and the unit was then installed into the right fuselage half. Scratch details were added to the Bordfunker's position on the wall.

The engine details were assembled, painted, and added to the nacelles, which were then in turn glued together. I didn't bother with cleaning the entire seam on the exit cone as it won't be seen beyond the last few millimeters.

The FuG 16Z radio and the flight/radar instruments below it as supplied with the kit have little resemblance to the actual units based on reference photos I have. I therefore decided to tackle a modification to make this area look like it should. Here's what the radio looked like as supplied with the kit:

And here's what it should look like:

I started by filing off the incorrect details and replacing them with bits of plastic card, rod, and stretched sprue to come up with this:

...and once painted with a base coat, it looks like this. I really wished I could see as close as these brutal closeups when I build these things. Despte magnifying glasses, I managed to glue the radio face on crooked.

With the instrument panel done and having confirmed that I can get the seats and radio in after assembly, I proceeded to glue the fuselage halves together. I had to wrestle quite a bit with this as it seems that there was a twist of some of the parts and around the nose area. There are also few locating pins so it was a challenge getting things to line up properly. So, time was spent on blending the seams and the first paint check is seen int eh last two pics below.

There are a couple of minor fixes needed but so far, so good. The nose will stay open until I install the wings and nacelles so I can check the balance and add the right amount of weight so this rig doesn't squat on its tail. Thanks for tuning in.

 

[Gnomey]

Great work so far Andy!

 

[Wurger]