British Rocket – Captured ME-163 - MENG 1/32

[Jeff]

I remember building the very old Hasegawa 163B, and it wasn't as detailed, but it did have the rocket engine, and fell together beautifully, it was a nice kit, is that one still out there?

[DocRob]

45 minutes ago, Jeff said:

I remember building the very old Hasegawa 163B, and it wasn't as detailed, but it did have the rocket engine, and fell together beautifully, it was a nice kit, is that one still out there?

Hi Jeff, the Hasegawa one is still available, but I will finish this one or nothing .

[Jeff]

I hear you Rob................... like a huge challenge not to walk away from.... I'm watching....

[Mikester]

Hmmm, had this one on my "short list' but maybe not!  Looking good though, keep at it!

[DocRob]

7 hours ago, mikester said:

Hmmm, had this one on my "short list' but maybe not!  Looking good though, keep at it!

Not totally sure if it is a kit fault or if it is just me being clumsy. There are enough pictures of finished builds pointing to the latter. Anyhow, the kit is very detailed on the inside and has about a thousand (felt) fuselage parts and cowlings to get aligned. I did a lot of test fitting but in the end there was the GAP .

14 hours ago, Jeff said:

I hear you Rob................... like a huge challenge not to walk away from.... I'm watching....

Like in the old days, just me and the Komet, twenty yards between us, but what about the guns. Browns Komet didn't had any and I have only my Harder & Steenbeck .

Cheers Rob 

[DocRob]

Hola Senhores,

not a good sign for an own WIP to have to use the search function to find it . I needed some time to swear in German, English and Spanish and rant away about the time I wasted with the Komet. After all that time of contemplation, I decided to try to assemble the main components of the 163. With a considerable amount of raw force, I tried to align everything as good as possible. The pictures shows, where that got me after some coarse grinding and destroying lots of surface detail.

I'm still not sure if I will continue as there will be a lot of filling, sanding and rescribing needed with a still suboptimal outcome, but I didn't want to give up easily either.

Decision time 

Cheers Rob

[Wumm]

This is a little coincidental Rob,

I only just had my Meng Komet kit out last night perusing the parts within, after Jim Hatch's recent build and with an eye to my next project after the Sturm Fw190.

There are few fine builds of this kit about, but I notice they're mostly shown with all the panels open, and not buttoned up as yours is. Perhaps it's like the ZM Ta-152 in that respect, where it's meant to be built with everything opened up and doesn't fit so well if constructed in clean condition.

Good luck pushing through with this one.

S

[DocRob]

 

43 minutes ago, Wumm said:

Good luck pushing through with this one.

Hehe , there seem to be some parallels between the mentioned kits. I built the TA-152 a while ago and to button everything up properly proved to be tough. Both kits have a lot of fuselage parts, wing roots, cowlings and panels to align and it sure is easier to leave everything open and visible, but both planes have a design, I want to be presented entirely and undisturbed. There are fine builds of both planes like you mentioned, and some are even closed up. It seems possible and maybe some of the issues with both kits are my fault.

This (I know, it's not a Komet, but the name fits) is from Chino and Nervenklau means something like 'steal my nerves' 

This one is a little self motivator also from Chino and this time it is a Komet  (Like a flea, but strong)

Cheers Rob

 

 

[GazzaS]

Man,

    I almost bought this kit!  So glad now that I didn't.   But I applaud your efforts!

One of the first models I bought when I came back to the hobby was an Eduard Fw-190A8 in smaller scale.   The box art was awesome, and the moldings looked utterly fantastic.  But none of the access hatches fit closed. 

I still have the kit.  It's for spares, only.

 

Gaz

[DocRob]

5 hours ago, GazzaS said:

I almost bought this kit!  So glad now that I didn't.

I did a lot of test fitting with the Komet, and I may have done something not overly perfect, but I think you know how it is, when a kit is starting to get on your nerves. It accumulates in my case and the the pleasure of building starts to be a question of will. 

Anyhow, it's not a bad kit all around, if you want to show all the innards, there are only some minor issues to solve, like the slightly too protruding wing connections to the fuselage. Detail is nice and mostly crisp.
If you want her closed up, you should test fit a lot and get rid of all the unseen parts in the fuselage like ammunition chutes and maybe even the bulkheads. You should emphasis on the contour of the fuselage parts primarily and then decide about the inner parts.

Cheers Rob

[GazzaS]

11 hours ago, DocRob said:

I did a lot of test fitting with the Komet, and I may have done something not overly perfect, but I think you know how it is, when a kit is starting to get on your nerves. It accumulates in my case and the the pleasure of building starts to be a question of will. 

Anyhow, it's not a bad kit all around, if you want to show all the innards, there are only some minor issues to solve, like the slightly too protruding wing connections to the fuselage. Detail is nice and mostly crisp.
If you want her closed up, you should test fit a lot and get rid of all the unseen parts in the fuselage like ammunition chutes and maybe even the bulkheads. You should emphasis on the contour of the fuselage parts primarily and then decide about the inner parts.

Cheers Rob

I'm a buttoned-up kind of guy.  I'm not thrilled by pipes and wires, but by sleek and/or deadly when to comes to aircraft.   If I did a Komet, it'd be climbing for the sky with a serious effort made to hide it's supporting acrylic rod in exhaust gases.  I think I'll just abstain for now.  Hopefully somebody else will build one before I have-to-have-one.

 

I'll just live vicariously through yours for now, buddy.

 

Gaz