1/32 Revell Me 262B-1/U1 Nachtjager

[MikeMaben]

Very nice work John 

[dennismcc]

Looking good, I am not a Lufwaffe fan but have this kit in the stash so will follow along for hints and tips.

Your comments about the kit cockpit decals echo what I found when I built the Revell 1/32 He 219 a while ago.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Thunnus]

Thanks guys! Moving forward with this build, I've selected the cockpit parts and divided them into two categories.  One - the parts that have decals to be applied to them, which will be painted in RLM 66 Dark Grey (Mr Hobby Aqueous).  Two - parts that will be hairspray chipped, which be painted in Tamiya AS-12 silver, decanted into an airbrush.  The grey parts will be coated in a clear gloss and the silver parts with hairspray.

 

 

Although the camo painting is a long way off, I started thinking about how to represent the mottled finish on Red 10.  Most descriptions of this scheme call out a base of RLM 76 on the topside with a RLM 75 mottle over it.  However, the more I look at some of these late war mottle schemes, the more I think it may have been the opposite.  Here are a couple of photos of Red 10 at the time of capture. Note the overspray of the lighter color over part of the red "10".

 

 

So I want to go with that opposite approach.  Establish the dark color as the base and use the lighter RLM 76 to create the mottle effect.  Using a spare Bf109 wing as a paint mule, I ran a test on this idea.  The wing was sprayed with RLM 83 Dark Green (Mr Hobby Aqueous) and then given a random mottle pattern with RLM 76 Light Blue (AK Real Color 76 Version 2).  I also tested a few of the custom masks that I had created in AutoCAD specifically for Red 10.

 

This approach seems to make sense visually as well as practically since it would represent an easier conversion to a nightfighter scheme.

[johnie hopper]

Be care. Remember that underfoot panel on the floor was made from playwood.

[PeterOlsen]

Hi Thunnus, Looking at the outer port wing flap it’s possible they also could have used a combination of spray techniques - ....perhaps some 75 squiggle over the Mottled 76 as well ? you may wish incorporate this into your finish.

I should probably do an update on my 262 but I’ve been doing a lot of project hopping at the moment.

Good luck with your build and keep up the test fitting, this kit definitely requires it !

 

All the best,

cheers,

Pete

[Kahunaminor]

22 minutes ago, PeterOlsen said:

Hi Thunnus, Looking at the outer port wing flap it’s possible they also could have used a combination of spray techniques - ....perhaps some 75 squiggle over the Mottled 76 as well ? you may wish incorporate this into your finish.

I should probably do an update on my 262 but I’ve been doing a lot of project hopping at the moment.

Good luck with your build and keep up the test fitting, this kit definitely requires it !

 

All the best,

cheers,

Pete

Mate,

I would suggest you are correct. The He-219 at the Smithsonian was found to be RLM 76 squiggles over a dark base. I would also concur with Peter re the port flap. It is like an attempt was made to correct an overuse of RLM 76 in some areas by adding an extra dark squiggle here and there. 
 

Loving what you are doing with this and thanks again for sharing your work.

 

Regards,

Kent

[Thunnus]

12 hours ago, johnie hopper said:

Be care. Remember that underfoot panel on the floor was made from playwood.

 

Ahhh... can you be more specific?  Part 134 or 133 or both?

 

[Thunnus]

7 hours ago, PeterOlsen said:

Hi Thunnus, Looking at the outer port wing flap it’s possible they also could have used a combination of spray techniques - ....perhaps some 75 squiggle over the Mottled 76 as well ? you may wish incorporate this into your finish.

I should probably do an update on my 262 but I’ve been doing a lot of project hopping at the moment.

Good luck with your build and keep up the test fitting, this kit definitely requires it !

 

All the best,

cheers,

Pete

 

Thank you Peter!  Anything is possible right?  And this was just a test mule.  One of the reasons that I chose dark green (RLM 83) was that it seems like a more likely base color than RLM 75.  And I'm not sure I want to introduce a third color on the upper camo.  Are there any color photos of these captured nightfighters?  Pat Donahue's article on Me262B nightfighter camouflage is one of the resources that I've been referencing.

 

http://ipmsvagabonds.com/page3/page52/page52.html

 

Of Red 10, he states:

Quote

An overall finish of RLM 76 (possibly the light gray primer color can be considered) with a random mottle or in some areas serpentine lines of RLM 75. It is possible that the color may have been RLM 82 or 83 but tonal comparisons lead me to believe that the color used was RLM 75. 

 

If we now assume that RLM 76 was sprayed over the darker color, could the overspray caused the tonal shift to make Mr. Donahue guess that the RLM 83 was 75?  I think so.  Obviously lots of subjectivity and speculation on my part but that's what makes these late war Luftwaffe build so fun!

[Thunnus]

The painting of the cockpit components has started.  Here is the starboard electrical switch panel, which is a combination of hand-painted switches, an Airscale instrument decal and Eduard PE for the strip labels under the switches.

 

[Mark P]

Nice work so far. Looking forward to seeing the finished result. 

 

If I may be so bold, please note the appearance of a solid green upper surface color to the horizontal tail surfcaes, a feature many have overlooked. Also note the curtain arrangement fitted to the interior framing of the aft canopy.

 

HTH

 

Mark Proulx

[Thunnus]

1 hour ago, Mark P said:

Nice work so far. Looking forward to seeing the finished result. 

 

If I may be so bold, please note the appearance of a solid green upper surface color to the horizontal tail surfcaes, a feature many have overlooked. Also note the curtain arrangement fitted to the interior framing of the aft canopy.

 

HTH

 

Mark Proulx

 

Thanks Mark!  Yes, I have noted that possibility although I can't see anything definitive in the photos.  But that dark color seems to extend to the reinforcing plates on the vertical tail unit just above and below the stabilizers.

 

I'm not aware of any curtains on the aft canopy however.  Like actual fabric drapes?

[Mark P]

Thunnus, have a close look at the two photos you attached above. The curtains quite visible in the aft canopy frame attached to the horizontal structure. Likely used to shield light away to assist the radar operator. It looks like two drop down curtains, one for the left and one for the right side.

 

HTH

 

Mark Proulx

Edited November 23, 2020 by Mark P
Spelling

[johnie hopper]

2 hours ago, Thunnus said:

 

Ahhh... can you be more specific?  Part 134 or 133 or both?

 

No 134 are in real three components. Wooden/playwood footstand, long metal rod and the lever in the end. Rod and lever are parts of rudder control mechanism.

No 133 is a lower part of cockpit cockpit barrel.

[Thunnus]

36 minutes ago, Mark P said:

Thunnus, have a close look at the two photos you attached above. The curtains quite visible in the aft canopy frame attached to the horizontal structure. Likely used to shield light away to assist the radar operator. It looks like two drop down curtains, one for the left and one for the right side.

 

HTH

 

Mark Proulx

 

Ahhhh... I see it!  Rolled up in the retracted position using two tie points.  Hmmm... I may or may not depict this.  I don't doubt their presence but my rule is... if I can't do something convincingly, I don't like to do it at all.  And things mounted on the inside of clear parts always scare me! 

 

 

24 minutes ago, johnie hopper said:

No 134 are in real three components. Wooden/playwood footstand, long metal rod and the lever in the end. Rod and lever are parts of rudder control mechanism.

No 133 is a lower part of cockpit cockpit barrel.

 

Thank you!  I can make the necessary adjustments!

[johnie hopper]

Hope it's not late. You should remove yellow part from the left front console. It is hand pump for wind shield cleaning and I think it was never realised there (even though there is some hint on model wind shield too - I'm afraid that it was coming from Prague's Avia S-92 which was used as one of model sources). I didn't see this system in any other Me-262.

There were two holes (in Red 8). One was used for oxygen breathing hose (with diameter 28 mm), the usage of the second one hole I still don't know.