CANicoll

Funny you say that. My Grex sat for a LONG time as well before I took it out of the box. I wasn't really sure how to clean it properly which was the biggest barrier for me. Once I overcame that hurdle (thank you YouTube) then it was just spraying paint on my paint mule (an old 1/48 Mustang) to see how it worked. Finally, took the leap of faith and put it on an Eduard 109. If it makes you happy, then it's a success, right?

THANKS Carl, and I have to agree with you. Sometimes it is just about the 'doing' and 'completing' and just enjoying the process. I actually enjoy the research going into a build just as much - finding out about the pilots, especially. Kind of makes history a bit more real to me. Chris

Thanks, Harv! I'm still working on it. Chris

Phil, Much appreciated! I've built three Revell kits - best as I can remember. The old B that JohnB grafted the D nose onto. Definitely an old kit. The 'new' P-51D kit is one of my favorites - fits very well, goes together pretty easily, has a terrific OOB cockpit, and no engine to mess with (and gets hidden anyway). And now this ME-262 which I would say is between the two Mustangs in terms of fit and ease of build. But I'm having fun with it! Chris

Thank you Peter! I think I needed to dial back the air pressure even a bit more, but overall, I'm pretty happy with it. Like you, I've had to move to different airbrushes to try and accomplish what I'm trying to do. I have an H&S which is supposed to be able to draw lines a fine as a hair. Hmm - I'm not quite at angel hair pasta thin-ness just yet!

Looks AWESOME! Great job on the nose. "To the brave go the spoils"! Chris

Painting update. I bought the GREX Tritium TG5 specifically for the German-style of aircraft camo, using the .3mm needle (I have both the .3 and .5mm). I just can't work my Iwata HP-CS to the same degree no matter how much I tried. This is my second attempt - the first was a 1/48 Eduard ME-109 which was a fun build, really nice. I did this side first, after practicing on my paint-mule. RLM 74 over a RLM 76 base. Both colors are MRP acrylic lacquers - I love how quickly they dry to the touch for easy handling. I sprayed at about 8-10psi. If I remember correctly, @Peterpools got me started on MRP, despite my store of Model Master and Vallejo. Thanks Peter! I was not as successful with the very small mottles, so I need more work/practice on that. This is pretty much the first time in almost a year that I've done a major paint effort. Here is the fuselage, laid on top of the wings for an early look. There is a fair bit of overspray but I'm going to try a VERY light sanding to see what kind of effect that will have. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the effect, but your comments (and suggestions for improvement) are greatly appreciated. Chris

And an antenna wire to snake down inside the canopy. FIRST time I've seen that level of detail...

Really looking good, and really convincing me NOT to try a build like this! Well, maybe. But definitely following along with you, step by step. Cockpit looking terrific! Chris

Gary, Funny that you mention the resin seats with the belts molded on. I only did one model with those types of seats and they came out really good, to my eye anyway. But for some (obstinate?) reason I keep buying and trying the HGW belts. I'm pretty good at putting them together. Not so good at the varnishing, etc part... What are you going to do for the ME109?

Peter, I want to see how this works out! I do not do a good job with any seatbelts to be honest. Even the HGW ones don't seem to come out with way lots of other folks are able to get theirs to look...

Hey, beauty is in the eye of the beholder! The yellow bands look good, as well as the tri-color mottling. I just came across the link from Britmodeller on German Camo that you might be interested in. I perused it and it may be of only limited help/information, but thought I would pass it along just in case something caught your eye. Chris

Gary, Have you chosen a scheme? Inquiring minds want to know! Chris

Thanks Peter, Adding the paper backing to the decal seatbelts should do the trick. Good idea!

VERY cool and VERY much interested in watching your build of the ZM kit. It just looks like an incredible number of parts (reminds me of WNW actually) so can't wait to see what you do with them as I know it will be terrific to follow. Blue 14 is my first choice or Yellow 20 as second are my votes! Cheers, Chris

Bird from NJG 11, May of 1945, because the light blue fuselage caught my eye and looked interesting. Sadly, in these pics the color looks more gray so i will have to fix that in the photos in the future postings. Catching this build already underway, but hope it is still of interest. Building OOB, for better or worse, to help reduce the cost and keep the build fairly simple. Also liked the camo pattern on the wings, compared to the green wings on 'Red 8' which is the other plane represented by this kit. Plus, the way the plane was painted, it was very easy to paint the wings and elevators separate from the fuselage, making painting that bottled fuselage camo a bit easier. Per my usual technique, working on a faded paint effect even given the relatively short life these planes actually saw. I'll claim poor-quality paint late in the war for the effect! With the engine nacelles dry fitted: The cockpit begs for some really nice additional detail, but even OOB, I think the decals worked pretty well. They would have worked even better had I gotten the main IP decal on a little straighter. A BIG disappointment is how bad the decal seatbelts appear in 1/32 scale. UGH. I kind of wish I had just left them off. But in for a penny, in for a pound I guess. PE seatbelts would have been better, I think. f And the Radar operator's station came out better than I expected. Next up is to attach the antenna, do a bit of masking (the black under the fuselage will come in after painting the camo) and then look to mask the canopy and get that painted. Comments welcomed! Chris

Good to see you active over here Peter! I've missed you at the other site. I need to take a bunch of pictures of the ME-262 and put together a build thread. You, as usual, spur me on! Thanks for the comments and suggestions - I'll be working on those too. All the best, Chris

Thanks Clunk! I'll fix up the prop and the yellow bands just because. Still trying to get back to the 1/32 ME-262 and the fuselage camo... Its a BIG beast! CN

Thanks Gary! I'm pretty sure it is a telescopic sight, but just remembered to look at the pictures of the Seiran at Udvar Hazy (which is only about 20 min away from where I live) and that plane doesn't have it. In any event, seems to be over-scale...

Thanks Martin! I appreciate the kind words and the welcome. Looking forward to spending a lot of time here. Chris

Hi everyone! A fun little build that took me way too long to finish. I usually try and do something in 1/72 when I am working on a larger kit (in this instance, the 1/32 Revell Me 262 B1-U1) so that I feel like I am actually accomplishing something in a reasonable amount of time. Looking at the pictures I notice the weathering is very inconsistent - the nosecone and props are pristine, as are the yellow wing strips, in contrast to the rest of the aircraft. Something I will fix here shortly. The dolly is wholly unweathered at this point, too. Comments and suggestions are of course, welcomed. This is actually only my second Japanese aircraft, both in 1/72. Thanks, Chris

A really stunning piece of work! I thought this was 1/32 with all of that detail that you packed in there. Love the subject, and what you did with it. That finish is terrific. Thanks for sharing. Chris