HKM 1/32 Do 335

[Bruce_Crosby]

Hi Guys,

 

Yesterday I finished up HKM's Do 335 after lots of trials and tribulations. Did I mention lots of swearing?  I showed it at Wilshire Scale Model Society club meeting last night, expecting a lot of Flak but it seemed to get a good reception.  I'm not that enamoured of it personally.  I'm trying to get the mass of photos on my iPhone up to Flickr and it seems to be taking forever so I'll start off with some of the earlier pix.  Don't laugh too much!

 

Tyres assembled and one of the U/C legs

 

 

Partial engine assembly.

 

 

Nose leg and bay test fit.

 

 

Taped up fuselage and wings, its flipping huge!

 

 

Yahu IP.

 

 

Some mission Models MMP-047 Black on the engines.

 

 

I added some Eduard etch bits to the engines.  this was a total waste of time!  The lifting eyes on the rear engine fouled the top cover badly and the front engine ones can't be seen anyway!

 

Rear cooling and oil radiator scoop with Eduard grilles fitted.  Can't see them on the finished model!

 

 

There's a bomb!

 

 

Eduard's front radiators were used,

 

 

Test fitting all the time!

 

 

Rear engine and main fuel tank.

 

Edited October 22, 2021 by Bruce_Crosby
spelling

[Out2gtcha]

Looks good so far!

To me the kit fit really amazingly. Was it a fit issue you had?

[Mark P]

Sounds like the problem is the Eduard P/E not the HK kit?

 

Mark Proulx

[Bruce_Crosby]

Mark, it was the PE fouling the top fuselage alignment, it clashes with the hinge points for the open cowling covers. 

[MikeMaben]

[Bruce_Crosby]

Hi Guys,

 

Here's some more progress pix of the HKM Do 335A.

 

I already had paint on the seat when I realised it wasn't right.  HKM give two raised moulded bars to take a seat pan cushion, except the seat was designed for a bum parachute, which doubled as a cushion, but there should be seat back cushion.  So I scraped out the seat pan and made a rear cushion from a lump of plasticard.

 

 

After the remedials and a bit of paint.  

 

 

 

Now with Eduard's Colour Etched Steel Seat belts in place.  Yes, I'm going for quick and easy!

 

 

Next up was painting the cockpit tub.  At this point I couldn't get my hands on the Eduard Interior Set, rare as hen's teeth. Airbrushed overall colours but a painful few hours brushing on the details.  Sorry, I'm not the best brush painter in the world!

 

 

 

[Bruce_Crosby]

Hi Guys,

 

Another thrilling instalment of the HKM Do-335A build.

 

HKM completely missed the canvas cover over the rear of the centrally mounted 30mm Cannon.  I used a part of a kit that was laying around and filed some folds into it and cemented it into place.  Better than nothing.

 

This is better!  Now we're getting somewhere!

 

 

 

 

A lot later on, with the Yahu IP in place and the whole cockpit cemented onto the backbone.

 

 

A start painting the two engines.

 

 

Front engine almost ready to put in place.

 

 

Here's both of them pretty much ready to go.

 

[Bruce_Crosby]

Hu Guys,

 

Here's the next bit. 

 

Front engine bulkhead with some RLM02 and the cables picked out in Yellow.

 

 

Undercarriage legs assembled and painted.

 

 

Some detail painting in the nose wheel bay.

 

 

Lots of other bits made and painted, then finally assembled on the backbone.

 

 

This is actually a test fit before I Assembled the photo above.

 

 

This is the real assembly prior to fitting the wings and top panels.

 

And with the wings in place.

 

 

 

 

 

[fab]

'Love the blue of the oxygen bottle,

 

Amities

 

Fab

[Bruce_Crosby]

Hi Guys,

 

Assembly wasn't all plain sailing, I ended up with a nasty gap between the rear fuselage and the oil cooler exhaust ramp.  So I wedged in a bit of plasticard, ran in some Tamiya Extra Thin, waited a bit then trimmed and sanded.

 

 

Underside prior to blanking and painting.  Wheel wells are already in natural metal.

 

 

I cemented all the control surfaces in place except the flaps, still haven't decided whether to have them up or deployed. Minor fill at the wing roots, just a wipe on - wipe off job really.

 

 

Colour scheme:  I've gone completely off the reservation now.  In keeping with recent models like the Mistel  Me 262/He 162 and Me 262/Ef 126 which are clearly "what if" builds, I decided to paint the Do 335 as a 1946 project, with limited colour palette, all-metal undersides, etc.  So the first port of call was the underside, all metal using colours from Mission Models.  I've used foam to blank out the wheel wells at this point. 

 

 

Different shades of metal all over the place.

 

 

 

Here's what we've got so far.

 

 

The first true colour is RLM 82 from Mission Models and i added some of their standard Green to lighten the colour slightly. There is some Late Sky, the RAF type, up the sides of the fuselage, here with the 82 mottled over it.  I have assumed that by 1946 there would have not been nice clean edge sharp delineation between the primary cammo colours, so I've just airbrushed a loose interpretation of the factory scheme to the upper wings and fuselage spine areas.

 

 

On with Mission Models RLM 81 for the other main cammo colour and mottles, all freehand airbrushed, trying to get as close to the top layout of the official pattern as I could.

 

 

Edited October 23, 2021 by Bruce_Crosby
posted way too early!

[LSP_Kevin]

Looks good so far, Bruce!

 

Kev

[Phartycr0c]

great looking build Bruce. Iv'e got one up next for a build so this provides a little inspiration! 

 

[Dpgsbody55]

Great looking build.  You've made some nice detail additions in the cockpit, which turned out well. 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[JMcD]

Real cool stuff here!!

[MikeMaben]