Tamiya 262 ??

[T. van Vuuren]

Has anyone built this 1/48 Tamiya 262 with "tractor"?

It seems to look like a rather nice model and with a little effort a good diorama could come out of it.

Would the collours on the box be used in the winter?

I rather like the idea of a snow and mud base with tracks.If I can figure out how to do it!

The mottle cammo might be hard with my current airbrush, will have to see later.

Theuns

View attachment 21168

 

[stona]

I've not made that but you can certainly use the guide colours and still have a winter diorama.

Cheers

Steve

 

[dubster72]

Hi Theuns, for the snow you could use white pva glue & baking soda, I've done that & it works well, see my Jagdtiger dio. For wet mud, use any groundwork material & paint it with Klear/Future for that wet look. Patrick

 

[T. van Vuuren]

Ok thanx guys.

I have not built Tamiya before, but the reviews look to be a good fit and result.

I hope so, it will cost the same as a 1/48 ICM P-51 with crew and 1/48 Academy P-47

Theuns

 

[dubster72]

Well I chose Tamiya for my first airplane kit simply coz I know their armour kits are first-class. Maybe a little more expensive but if it saves hours of filling gaps & sanding, then thats money well spent! Patrick

 

[Paul1978]

I'll be looking forward to seeing the finished masterpiece Paul

 

[Fenlander]

I would love to see this as a diorama. I just love the Kettenkraftrad what a versatile little vehicle, didn't know it was used to pull aircraft. Wonder if I could use one to tow my field kitchen??? Mmmmmm, interesting.

 

[dubster72]

Actually Graham, the dinky little Kletten could pull a Ju-52 so it had some grunt! Patrick

 

[Fenlander]

Got me thinking now. I suppose the straight shaft for the horses could be removed and a 'Y' shape part fabricated to make a hitch for a Kettenkraftrad. Probably never happened in real life but then again, who knows. Can anyone thing of a reason this would not have happened? PM me please as I don't want to Hijack Theuns's thread. Sorry Theuns.

 

[T. van Vuuren]

Hijack, what hijack ?? :-D

I like all the ideas comming out of this!

Yea you are right about the quality and price, but the only thing I am worried about is the difficult paint scheem on this thing with my limited skill and equpement.

T

 

[dubster72]

To be honest Thuens, I think that German mottling can give many an experienced modeller pause for thought! Just an idea, but you could extend a concept often used by AFV modellers to include aircraft. Some people like the idea of 'paper panzers' that might have been used had WW2 gone on longer. So why not have the Me 262 set in winter 1945 with the hard-edge dark green/light green camo scheme seen on late-war German planes? Patrick

 

[T. van Vuuren]

That sounds like a posability. Any body got any pix perhaps?

Even if the reg no and sqn insignea might not be all that acurate it doesnt matter, I build for the fun only!

T

 

[stona]

Hi Theuns. I have copies of the official Messerschmitt drawings for the late war Me262 scheme dating from July 1944. I'll scan them along with a resultant "imaginary" profile this afternoon. The problem is that I've had a quick look through 3 or 4 Luftwaffe bibles and have looked at photographs of about a dozen different aircraft and all except one of them have received some kind of mottle. Most are not in a standard scheme and many feature bare metal parts e.g. nose cones or engine nacelles.

The non-mottled aircraft is an Me262A. The entire upper surfaces are sprayed in RLM 81 or 82 in a very thin coat barely covering the joint filler.The underside of the engines are properly coated in RLM76.The rest of the underside (fuselage and wings) are unpainted. It also features the long obsolete black and white style swastika on the tail and underwing Balkenkreuz. This gives an idea of what we are up against with the late war Luftwaffe!

If you decide to try a mottle don't worry about keeping it neat or symmetrical. This is more a feature of profile painters than german paint sprayers. Many feature all sorts of blotches,streaks and runs.

More to come.

Steve

 

[stona]

Here we go...the salient bits of two pages from "Luftwaffe Colours 1935-1945" by Michael Ullmann. A most excellent reference.

First the plans from Messerschmitt.

And then a profile based on said plans.

Hope this helps. I can sort a few pictures of the real things if it would help. Most obviously B+W showing mainly fuselage.

Cheers

Steve

 

[T. van Vuuren]

Ahh, as usual right on the money Steve!

That collour side view looks a little less complicated than the box art! As you say, I am sure that the painters didn't measure out the size and location of every "bloch" ,come to think of it - rather "un-german" of them usualy wanting everything perfect.

Will a semi good double action gravity feed gun give a "acurate" 1/48 mottle or will I need to try and mask them?

We had this descusion before, but I assume that the pannel yoints willl ,if I want to be acurate, be hardly visable and no need for shading then???

Also I guess that weathering will have been to a minimal because they were relatively "new" planes. I like the idea of a alclad "field repair" to a pannel or two, it will give caracther. Just like using a canabalized rudder or aileeron where the paint doesn't mach up well.

I am starting to like this diorame more and more, now only to come up with the 40pounds to buy the damn thing!

Theuns

 

[stona]

You should be able to get a decent mottle freehand at that scale. Thin your paint,take your time,and build it up gradually. The mottle on the actual aircraft was often very thin as if the painter just gave a quick once over. Remember you can always make adjustments by re-spraying the base colour. I almost always do this to tidy things up,it's part of the process!

Here are two pictures.The first shows a thin random sqiggle which would be hard to replicate but the second shows how the mottling could be used simply to break up the demarcation between upper and lower colours. Much easier to do.

Sqiggles

And mottle

You'd be correct about the panel lines. They were puttied and sanded. Sometimes the putty was visible because such a thin coat of laquer was applied but generally,as in those two pictures, they are indistinct.

Cheers

Steve

 

[stona]

Found another one. Upper colours look like two greys (RLM74 and 75).

You can just about see the demarcation of the colours. It would have followed this earlier scheme (probably)

Again not a lot of mottle which would (again probably) be in the same two upper colours. There are many options!

Cheers

Steve

 

[T. van Vuuren]

Thanx, I will defenately use these pix to paint the 262!

I rather like the red engine intake covers, I wonder if they would have been installed when the plane was towed from the apron to the despersal area?

T

 

[stona]

Hi Theuns,I don't know their procedure with jet engines but that one has a tow attached so why not? it's your model,I for one think it would look very cool with the covers on.

With piston engines at the highest state of readiness (sitzbereitschaft) they would warm the engines up and the pilot would sit in the aircraft. They could theoretically be airborne in less than a minute. I have no idea if they could have done this with jet engines.

Cheers

Steve

Special bonus! cockpit piccies from the handbook.

View attachment 21219

View attachment 21220

 

[T. van Vuuren]

I have pix of the SAAF on "cockpit standby" in the mirage F1's during the Angola bush war.During the summer ,in Africa, in full G-flight gear.Not the most plesant place to be for a few hours!

They had 2 hangers at the end of each end of the runway so the lads did'nt even have to taxi much, just put gas and go. Also 45 sec or less.

I am thinking that the 262 is such an expensive model that I need to practice my painting on some cheaper 1/48 German plane first.Maybe an Academy 1/48 ME 109 will give a good idea of how to paint the 262 later, also the same tipe mottle.

T