dashotgun Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 Hi Thunnus, I am looking forward to your interpretation of this most fascinating aircraft. My colleague Dave Wadman and I first reported on "Yellow 3+I" way back in 1997 in one of our Experten Decals books. I offer below a few comments for your consideration. Based on continuing research by Dan O'Connell, this Me 262 was probably WNr.170305, a machine originally assigned to I.KG(J) 54 in the autumn of 1944. Sometime in mid February 1945 it was transferred to III./KG(J) 54, specifically its 9. Staffel. Last year a new photo of it turned up on Ebay that revealed its full code "B3+AT", with the missing third character "A" visible,. The unit code "B3" was in small characters and not visible with just a small square patch of fresh paint visible. This was the full Verbandkennzeichen it wore until late March 1945 when all KG(J) units dispensed with their alpha-numeric bomber style codes and used the numeric fighter style. The machine was now coded "Yellow 3" with the III. Gruppe vertical bar, and both markings in yellow outlined in black. The yellow III. Gruppe diagonal sash worn by the unit during the February-March period was overpainted but the Totenkopfwappen was retained. And of course, the unit's newly assigned blue and white tail band was also applied at this time. Note that III. Gruppe was unique with its Me 262 aircraft being documented via photographs wearing three styles of this marking. These new markings were thus relatively clean and fresh and contrasted with the worn and faded camouflage colours of this old aircraft. Yellow 3's main camouflage was the dark green version of RLM 81 applied to all uppersurfaces and RLM 76 on the undersides. That the machine was heavily weathered is attested to the observation of the puttied seams bleeding through the surface paint. The tail and rudder were painted in RLM 76 and hard-edged mottles of RLM 70 Schwarzgrün as confirmed by colour photos of a related machine "V303", WNr.170303. This component was an experimental wooden tail manufactured by a subcontractor. It was well-painted and had a slight sheen. And being an early production aircraft had the fared-in rear light as opposed to the bulb style supplied with the kite. Best of luck with the build. Cheers, David PS: Drop me a line and I can forward the images to assist with your build. D. a question and a request the photos I have seen only show the fuselage in the junkyard but he profiles show the solid wing color does anyone have a clue if that is true? also I have seen natural metal on the front of the jet engine and red nose sometimes with a band again anything true or supposition. What rlm for the blue band in the back of the ac? the request could you send me the pictures you have this is next on my to build pile tia david Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alaninaustria Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 Hi John! Really looking forward to your return and subsequent updates! Cheers Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bstarr3 Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 John, I would not have believed that was your first figure. Great color variation on the uniform and a very realistic face. Great work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunnus Posted March 8, 2018 Author Share Posted March 8, 2018 Thanks for the kind comments guys! I just returned from my overseas trip... still trying to get caught up at work and get rid of the jet lag. I have a bunch of photos that I need to process so I won't be able to jump into the modeling room for at least a few days. But I'll hop back onto this 262 build as soon as I can! Gazzas and alaninaustria 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazzas Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 Welcome back, John. Gaz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alaninaustria Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 Great to see you back John! Pilot tip - to get rid of jet-lag drink lots of water, hit the gym and/or go for a nice relaxing long walk before bed time! Works everytime for me! Cheers Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunnus Posted March 23, 2018 Author Share Posted March 23, 2018 (edited) Hello LSP'ers! I'm finally able to report some more work on Yellow 3. After my two week trip to Kazakhstan/Kyrgyzstan, I was busy getting over the jet-lag and posting all of the photos from the trip on Facebook. 900 photos spread out over 11 albums! After getting the photos done, it was just a matter of venturing back into the man-cave after a month layoff. There were days where I had free time but for whatever reason, I didn't feel the urge to get back into modeling. I hadn't really gotten into the "meat" of the build and there were still some nagging questions about how the Aires resin cockpit/wheel well was going to fit so there wasn't a definite piece of work or task that I was looking forward to... that uncertainty and lack of momentum was a factor in my delaying my return. But eventually, the call to get back onto Yellow 3 pushed me back into the man-cave. Rainy day here in Southern California so that helped. First order of business was to get a better handle on the resin components and how they fit with the kit parts. Access to the detail to facilitate painting and secure attachment of the parts were primary concerns besides the actual fit. I may have gone through this process already but I can't remember anything concrete about it so repeating it would help me familiarize myself with the kit again. Forgive the redundancy! Dry-fitting resin parts that have no positive location aids is like building a house of cards so I needed to make some temporary glue attachments. The rear cockpit bulkhead was attached to the cockpit tub using white glue. I also white-glued the forward cross-truss onto the bottom of the cockpit tub. Attachment of the straight-edged truss onto the curved cockpit tub was very tenous so I used a big glob of glue and let it dry overnight. The sidewalls were taped into place after the glue was dried. This assembly was placed into the fuselage, which has been taped together. No real locations aids to snap the tub into place. I just butted it up against the kit bulkhead. I slipped the wings on to see how everything fits. The wheel well inserts have been taped into the wing parts beforehand. Looked ok initially with a few concerns. One is the gap/overhang between the wheel well inserts and main wheel well sidewalls. I think I can address that when the assembly is glued into the fuselage by applying glue between the sidewalls and fuselage and spreading the sidewalls outward. Another is that the resin piece that bridges the wheel well longitudinally came up way short, meaning that the forward cross-truss is located too far forward. When I flipped the model over, the kit bulkhead at front of the wheel well opening popped loose. Based on the position of the seat, I think the cockpit tub is situated too far to the rear but the bulkhead coming loose may have disrupted the fit. Edited April 14, 2018 by Thunnus Shawn M, LSP_Kevin and daHeld 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunnus Posted March 23, 2018 Author Share Posted March 23, 2018 (edited) I don't have lots of experience using resin so I'm not an expert or anything. I know that Aires has been criticized for producing resin sets that look great but fit horribly. That has not been my experience. I've found that their stuff CAN be made to fit and usually fit well IF you discover some "keys" which, sadly, Aires does not feel like sharing with its customers. Their instructions are usually terribly vague. While futzing around with Aires cockpit tub for this 262 build, I stumbled onto one of those "keys". Remember that tenuous fit of the forward cross-truss? The cross actually fits much more securely into the bottom wing piece. There is even a lip on inner surface of the wing to guide lateral position of the cross-truss. Any time you can replace a dodgy fit with a secure one is a great win. Another round of dry-fitting ensues. This time around, the cockpit tub seems to be in a better position. The space between the forward cross-truss and the rear wheel well bulkhead has been reduced. I'm also taking this opportunity to check out the fit of nose pieces. Overall the fit is decent but it looks like some shimming might be in order to bridge some of the gaps. I thought about adding the shims now but I think it'd be better to wait until the fuselage halves are glued together. I don't know how accurate this assessment is when everything has just been taped together. Overall, I'm quite pleased with the fit and I'm hoping most everything will get tightened up as the glue hits the plastic. Edited April 14, 2018 by Thunnus Trak-Tor, daHeld, LSP_Kevin and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peterpools Posted March 23, 2018 Share Posted March 23, 2018 John Love the details Aires resin provides and when done, the rewards are well worth the extra work. Awesome work for sure and nice to know, there are hidden tricks in figuring out how Aires resin actually fit. Keep 'em comin Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 Excellent update, John! Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alaninaustria Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 (edited) Nice update John - welcome back!! Really looking forward to seeing your progress with this build! Cheers Alan Edited March 25, 2018 by alaninaustria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David E Brown Posted March 25, 2018 Share Posted March 25, 2018 Hi John, Thanks for sharing your work-arounds and tweaks for the resin upgrades. Hi Dashotgun, There are couple of scrappy views of fragments of its upper surfaces taken from various positions around the aircraft standing on other machines, including from the back of the adjacent Ju 290. In all, no splinter pattern on the wings is observed. Cheers, David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunnus Posted March 26, 2018 Author Share Posted March 26, 2018 (edited) Thanks guys! I spent the weekend painting the cockpit... Edited April 14, 2018 by Thunnus Kahunaminor, daHeld, Uncarina and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunnus Posted March 26, 2018 Author Share Posted March 26, 2018 (edited) Thank you Dan! Here is the Revi gunsight. I added the reflector glass from a thicker plastic than what the Aires set came with so that I could highlight the edges of the rear element with clear blue/green. Due to the construction ahead, I'll hold off on attaching the gun sight until the cockpit tub has been glued into place and the front windscreen is ready to be installed. Edited April 14, 2018 by Thunnus alaninaustria, LSP_Kevin, Kahunaminor and 9 others 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alaninaustria Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 Outstanding work John!! Cheers Alan Thunnus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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