Hasegawa Messerschmitt ME-163B Komet

[Leaning_Dog]

22 hours ago, MARU5137 said:

How goes it John.

 

Slow and steady wins the race!  

[Gazzas]

Looking good!

[Leaning_Dog]

Making some progress - as I mentioned in my last update, the top and bottom wing pieces join with a seam running right through the middle of the fabric textured control surfaces. The good news is that this seam is on the bottom, and I can guarantee with 100% certainty that once it goes into the cabinet, I will never see it. As a strictly out-of-the-box build of a 48-year old kit, some allowances can be made. On the bright side, this kit has some lovely surface detail. The photo shows dry-fitting during the clean-up/sanding/fitting process. My aim is to get the seam as clean as possible and move on. 

 

  

 

I managed to get some paint on some parts - Model Master RLM 66, followed by some creative dry-brushing and then a little Tamiya black panel line wash here and there for effect. The cockpit looks acceptable and I went 'old school' using masking tape strips for belts. There are a couple more pieces to be added before I glue it into the fuselage. 

 

 

 

The instrument panel looks just fine for the purposes of this exercise - RLM 66 followed by a dry-brushing with Tamiya flat aluminum, then a little dab of Tamiya black panel wash on each of the instruments. There is more contrast than what shows in the photo. Going 'old school' on this one and having a blast! 

 

 

 

The first real issue with the kit showed up when I attempted to dry-fit the cockpit between the front fuselage halves... the bulkhead behind the seat was too wide, so after a considerable amount of carving and sanding a good fit was achieved. Here it's just held together - still a ways off from applying any glue but pretty happy with the way it looks.

 

 

The next big challenge is getting the four fuselage pieces aligned and fitted with tight seams. Because of the age (and mileage?) of the tooling the join surfaces have required a LOT of filing and sanding to get them straight and level - I want to get the seams as clean as possible to hopefully avoid using any filler and preserve the delicate surface detail. 

 

Here's the latest test-fit, and from 3 feet it looks pretty good. In order to minimize the seams, I plan to glue the two left side pieces together, glue the two right side pieces together, then insert the rocket motor, cockpit, and landing skid, and close everything up. So I'll never see the rocket motor again, but I'll know it's in there! 

 

 

 

Thanks for watching!

 

Cheers!

John.

 

[Leaning_Dog]

Time for another update - the cockpit has been completed and glued into the fuselage along with the rocket motor.

 

 

 

 

After a fair bit of filing and sanding to flatten out the mating surfaces, the fuselage halves were joined together, trapping the landing skid assembly between them. The contact points on the landing skid where it attaches to the fuselage are quite small and since they support the entire weight of the model, I let the glue set up a full 24 hours before proceeding with what little work was left on the seams. 

 

 

The wings went together nicely and the seam running through the middle of the control surfaces on the undersides is still there, but since it's on the bottom (and won't be seen from normal viewing angles or distances) I can live with it. I was a little surprised at the poor fit along the leading edge requiring a fair bit of shaving and sanding to clean up. I think this may be indicative of the age/condition of the tooling - I would be curious to see what the fit looks like on an early issue of this kit.

 

 

 

 

Hopefully I'll have some time tomorrow to get the wings attached, and then it's just the clear bits before it's ready for some paint.

 

Thanks for watching.

 

Cheers!

John.

[Leaning_Dog]

As hoped for - I was able to get the wings attached today. All the filing and sanding paid off - there are only two small spots that need a dab of filler. With the assembly of the air frame now complete the only thing between here and paint are the three clear bits. Hopefully there won't be too much fiddling to get a good fit. After being very careful during assembly to keep everything square, I was clearly not careful enough - when I test fit the wheels the model has a very slight list to port. Trying to fix it at this point may cause more harm than good, so I may just leave it alone. Anyway, going to leave this to set up for a good 24 hours before proceeding.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for watching.

 

Cheers!

John.

[BradG]

I wouldn't worry too much about the list, aircraft are very rarely perfectly straight and considering the conditions this would have been built in, god knows if it was aligned properly. The fuselage of the Me 262 in the Australian War Memorial is about 4cm out of alignment from nose to tail, so I think you're good!

[Gazzas]

Looks good to me, John!  It looks so small in your hands...  almost like a 1/48 fighter.