Me-262TN of the Kriegsmarine

[Cliffy B]

Alright gents, I know I have about 10 days but we'll see how this goes.  I have been wanting to build one of these for some time and finally got my hands on one of Revell's 1/72 Me-262B kits.  I also have one of Eduard's twin 1/144 Bravo kits as well.  I'll post some progress later on tonight but hopefully, if all goes according to plan, the finished 262 will be a Kriegsmarine Night fighter/fighter bomber from the GZ.  Ordnance will be whiffed as well.  We'll see what happens!

[Cliffy B]

Alright well I've made some progress!  The first 1/144 bird is ready for assembly tomorrow.  Waiting for the cockpit parts to dry as well as the ordnance and equipment.  For such a small kit dry fitting is revealing a VERY nice parts fit overall.  Won't need but a tiny bit of filler in a few spots, mainly due to some overzealous sanding on my part.  I'll start on the 2nd bird tomorrow and post up some shots then as well.  These kits are MUCH simpler than the Superbugs I was building.  Should be done in time easily. 

[dumaniac]

I did a naval 262 with folded wings about a year ago in 48 scale - a fella gets a chance to use the RLM blues - nice change from green and greys - I'll try to work out how to post a pic in a couple of weeks - good luck

[Cliffy B]

Time for some photos!

Requisite shot of the kit.  I love this little kit, best part is its only $8 and comes with PE!!!!!!!


Group shot of the two birds in pieces.  Interiors have been painted Gunship Gray and all await final construction.  


Close up on one dry fitted.  Some ordnance is layed out as well.  Some DML weapons were cannibalized to make some whiff wire guided ASMs.  Think the RX-4 AAM on steroids.  Ten feet long with an armor piercing warhead.  Originally designed to take out tanks they were adapted to the anti-shipping role and were used to great affect in the invasion of Iceland in 1946.



For an idea on how small these little guys are, the squares on the cutting matte are 1"!

Just need to glue the major pieces, attach the gear and ordnance, and hit them with some paint.

Both birds will be fighter bombers but with different ordnance.  Need to go get some more Evergreen tomorrow so I can scratch the weapons for the second bird.  For fun and variety both will get different paint schemes.  Any ideas on a good camo scheme for the stormy North Atlantic?  So far I've come up with RLM-24 "Dark Blue" and Gunship Gray over Medium Blue Gray for one of them.

Any comments, thoughts, ideas, etc... are appreciated as always.

[Taiidantomcat]

Cool box art and great progress! I like those missiles  How are you going to paint these? Wave mirror at 1/144 would be amazing! 

[Cliffy B]

Thanks man.  Wave mirror you say?    Do tell, I'm intrigued now.

[Taiidantomcat]

The official name is Wellenmuster (spelling?  ) The germans added this squggly lines on their machines for overwater ops:

In Italy:


Model by Swanny:



Hey a 262!



And a profile:



If you get the airbrush to spray fine enough it could be done, quite a challenge in 1/144! Or you could cheat... Get thin (rolled) tape or clay. paint the whole model the wave color you desire then lay the clay on top like spaghetti and paint as normal. remove spaghetti clay or tape and walla! wave mirror  as long as the tape or clay you use is rounded it will have that "soft edge" sprayed on effect too.

Just a thought though paint it how you see fit 

[Cliffy B]

Ahhhh....THAT camo...  Never really understood how that could have been effective.  At distance it would all just blend together anyway so I don't know.  I'm not sure if I even have a brush small enough to effectively pull off that crazy scheme in this scale.  I was planning on doing some hard line splinter camo on both without the annoying mottling at the demarcation lines.  I think I'll try to blend the demarcation line though a different way... 

[Cliffy B]

Need some help gents.  I've been Photoshopping camo schemes for my 262s and I can't decide on which 2 look the best.  Take a look and post your opinions please.  I drew them up on a single seat 262 since I couldn't find a decent drawing of a two-seater.  I want one night and one day scheme.  Sorry for the billion and one variations  

Night Camo Scheme 1: RLM-24 (Dk Blue) and Blue/Gray over Black


Night Camo Scheme 2: RLM-24 and Gunship Gray over Black


Night Camo Scheme 3: RLM-24 and RLM-74 (Gray/Green) over Black


Day Camo Scheme 1: RLM-24 and Blue/Gray over RLM-65 (Lt Blue)


Day Camo Scheme 1a: RLM-24 and Blue/Gray over RLM-65 (Higher Demarcation Line)


Day Camo Scheme 1b: RLM-24 (Darker shade) and Blue/Gray over RLM-65 (Higher Demarcation Line)


Day Camo Scheme 2: RLM-24 and Gunship Gray over RLM-65


Day Camo Scheme 3: RLM-24 and RLM-74 over RLM-65


Day Camo Scheme 3a: RLM-24 (Darker shade) and RLM-74 over RLM-65 (Higher Demarcation Line)


Day Camo Scheme 3b: RLM-24 and RLM-74 over Blue/Gray and RLM-65


Day Camo Scheme 4: RLM-24 and Gunship Gray over Flint Gray (Lt Gray/Green) and RLM-65


Day Camo Scheme 4a: RLM-24 (Darker shade) and Blue/Gray over Flint Gray and RLM-65


Day Camo Scheme 4b: RLM-24 (Darker shade) and RLM-74 over Flint Gray and RLM-65


Again sorry for the billion and one variations.  Let me know which ones look the best and which would go well for the stormy North Atlantic.  Feel free to send me back to the drawing boards.

Any comments, thoughts, ideas, etc... are appreciated as always.

-Mike

[Taiidantomcat]

I like day camo scheme 1A, and night scheme 1 the best but they are all good! And don't apologize for variety--its not a bad thing!

[Hotte]

The official name is Wellenmuster (spelling?  ) The germans added this squggly lines on their machines for overwater ops:

In Italy:


Model by Swanny:



Hey a 262!



And a profile:



If you get the airbrush to spray fine enough it could be done, quite a challenge in 1/144! Or you could cheat... Get thin (rolled) tape or clay. paint the whole model the wave color you desire then lay the clay on top like spaghetti and paint as normal. remove spaghetti clay or tape and walla! wave mirror  as long as the tape or clay you use is rounded it will have that "soft edge" sprayed on effect too.

Just a thought though paint it how you see fit 

The Name is official "Mäander-Camouflage".
It was used also with night fighters (Bf 110) and over Sea (He 177)

Hotte

[dumaniac]

The germans had nice blue camo - it may a break from greys and greens - a naval 262 would be great

[Weaver]

I like Night Cammo 1 and Day Cammo 1 and the fact that they're the same top colours with a different underside makes practical sense too. Aesthetically, I think the low demarcation lines work better than the high ones, and there'salso the 262's triangular cross section to consider: some of anything you paint above the wing level will be visible from above.

Nice builds Cliff! 

I've got a couple of nice 262s (SMER 1/72nd and Tamiya 1/100th) that I'm disinclined to whiff, and a pile of horrid Airfix ones that are fair game....

[GTX]

Why not something high viz instead?

Regards,

Greg

[Cliffy B]

Splain yourself Greg.  I'm going to add some colored bands to the engine intakes/nose/tail to denote their from two different squadrons.  Not really sure what you'd consider high-vis for Luftwaffe/Kriegsmarine aircraft.