VintageEagle

Revell’s Me 262 A-1a will become available later this week and I was wondering if any company has announced some aftermarket parts already. Especially cockpit upgrades.

Hello Sophie, have you glued the cockpit (and the cover underneath the windshield) to one fuselage half first and then to the other when you closed the fuselage? Or have you first closed the fuselage and then glued the cockpit into place from below? I am at this step now and not sure what the best way is. I also have the Eduard cockpit. Cheers, Roger

Hi Radu, Sorry for my misinformation and thank you for correcting me! I never noticed it on the real aircraft and just assumed that there is no such "step". I should have checked my references first before posting. I am glad that no correction is required on the kit parts. Cheers, Roger

The aft part of the canopy has a distinctive step that was not present in the original. However, looking at the sprue shot, it seems that this "step" is moulded into the separate rear canopy part and not the fuselage. It should therefore be relatively easy to sand it off.

There are some new photos incl. a sprue photo published by Revell here: https://www.revell.de/produkte-revell/produktvorschau/me262-a-1-jetfighter.html The fuselage is a completely new part. See the comparison below (first the A-1, then the B-1):

Revell has updated their page today and the Me 262 now appears under the "Preview" section. The indicated delivery week is week 29, which corresponds to 15 to 20 July. There are also some new photos. It can now be preordered via the Revell page: https://www.revell.de/produkte-revell/produktvorschau/me262-a-1-jetfighter.html

I thought that anodizing can only be done with aluminium and not steel, but I am not expert. I continued to paint the fuselage inside. I left the inside bare metal. And I painted one fork in RLM 02 (looks darker in the photo than it actually does; this is for my Fw 190 A-8) and will paint another one in dark brown (this is for my Fw 190 F-8 White 48). Here is a comparison of the new position of the tail wheel assembly with is slightly more up in the fuselage. The difference is not huge, but it corresponds much better with most wartime photos I have seen of Fw 190s.

D.B. Thank you. I am not sure that I have seen a landing gear painted RLM 66 before, but it may well be. I I checked photos of the NASM's Ta 152 and it too seems to have a fork that has a dark brown metallic finish (it may be rust, but I don't think so): Here is photo of Fw 190 F-8 Green 5 at Ansbach (Source: private collection). It too had a very dark fork. It looks almost black. It was definately not RLM 02 nor lightgrey as found on other aircraft. I have yet to see a fork in RLM 66. Jerry Crandall wrote me today that he once owned an original fork that had no signs of paint, but had a dark bronze metal finish. I therefore tend to believe that the fork of 'White 48' was most likely also dark brown.

I found another photo of Yellow 8 at Ansbach, this time in color. Even though it is not very sharp, the color of the fork appears to be RLM 02 in this shot. So maybe it only looked dark in the b/w photo as it was in the shadow underneath the fuselage. (Source:criticalpast.com)

Here are some more photos. First, a photo of the tail wheel of 'White 48' when it was at Namur. You can see the very dark color. Compare it to the black boots of the solider. (Source: Hideki Noro, LO+ST).: Another example of this dark tail wheel fork can be found on Fw 190 A-8 Yellow 8 captured at Ansbach (Source: http://www.354thpmfg.com/galleries_wwlouie_pt5.html): Then the photo of the recovered Fw 190 D-9 tail wheel fork from lake Schwerin (Source: http://www.daedalus-berlin.de/Fw190D9_fahrwerk.htm): And another example of such a dark brownish finish can be found on the Fw 190 at the Belgrad museum (unfortunately, I could only find a low quality shot; Source: http://axis.classicwings.com): I tend to believe that these dark looking forks were not painted, but had this dark brown metallic surface finish. I assume that it was some kind of protective layer that was electrochemically created, but I am not an expert on surface treatment technologies in WWII. Any thoughts?

OK, the cockpit side walls are painted, but I am struggling a bit with the tail wheel. I studied different wartime b/w and color photos and found that there were tail wheel forks painted in RLM 02, lightgrey and a very dark looking color, which may not have been paint but the surface of the cast metal. Here’s an example of the fork of the Fw 190 D-9 that was recovered from lake Schwerin: http://www.daedalus-berlin.de/Fw190D9_fahrwerk.htm White 48 at Lippstadt had such a dark fork and I am not sure what color I should use. Is there a Fw 190 expert who knows the answer? Also, I believe the inside of the fuselage at the tail wheel was left bare metal, but it us very hard to find good wartime reference material. Can anyone help? Roger

Time flies. I cannot believe that I started this build in 2017. Anyways, the fuselage halves are finally complete. I have summarized below all the changes I made. One thing that took me a while to figure out was the correct position of the tail wheel. Built out of the box, it extends too far out of the fuselage. On 90%+ photos I have seen of wartime Fw 190 the tail wheel does not extend as much and therefore I have decided to reposition it. I finally decided to add a new pin-hole to have the required strength of the assembly. Also, on the Revell kit the fuselage near the tail wheel has a fictitious shape that I filled with CA and sanded smooth. But now everything is ready to add paint to the inside to then finally add the cockpit and close the fuselage halves.

The landing gear and gear wells look superb! Would you mind explaining step by step how you achieved this realistic looking weathering? EDIT: Just read the whole thread and realized that you have explained your paint process in detail. Thanks! The tiny stains were added by a sponge. And the chipping was achieved by using chipping fluid. Did you use dry pastels on the tire or was it a wash?

I would prefer scissors only (as I may opt for metal legs and as I prefer manually applied wires for the pressure hose). The double scissors were suggested already at the end of the war by Messerschmitt and were supposed to enter serial production. However, I have not yet found an example of a late war produced Me 262 with these double scissors. Looking forward to learn more about the quality of the printed parts.

So, riveting of both fuselage halves done for 2 fuselages. Now sanding and re-riveting before the halves can finally be joined. I filled the two hatches on the port side and also changed the height of the main foot rest as it was too tall. I will most likely also apply a thin primer layer to better see the surface quality once done with sanding & re-riveting. Cheers, Roger