Heinkel He-1062 "Molch" (Newt)

[sequoiaranger]

OK--here is the Alpine Newt, after which I am camouflaging the He-1062. The top is a blue-green-gray with black or black-green splotches. There is a brown ridge with yellow spots down the spine. Side is white (I will probably tone that down to light gray) with dark spots. I think this will be largely hand-painted:

Here is a hasty mock-up I did, using the old, cut-up He-162 (notice shortened canopy-to-engine interface) plus some spare parts. The actual He-1062 has more fuselage room in front of the engine to put another Croatian cross:

Here is the bottom view of the red-orange. I will probably put some white striping in there, too. Notice the swastika superimposed over the Ustashi emblem--I will "improve" that as well.

Here is the top view:

I may alter the colors a bit, but you get the idea!

[Arc3371]

Good looking, but why the swastika on a croatian aircraft?

[sequoiaranger]

>Good looking, but why the swastika on a croatian aircraft?<

A few postings down is the "explanation"--the "Newt" is part of the last-ditch battles from the Bavarian "Redoubt" of Nazi hold-outs, and the Ustashi Croatians among them were "allowed" to use Croatian markings to show solidarity with the European Nazi Empire. The "Nazi Enclave (of) Kroatien" modified their emblem to include the Nazi symbol.

[Arc3371]

Sorry missed that

[sequoiaranger]

Tribulations and Triumphs with the canopy--the Falcon Vac-Formed canopy set luckily had TWO in it, as an unthinking use of a file near the canopy inadvertently scraped across the clear and put DEEP scratches in it. Bummed, I cut out the other one and glued it on instead. Actually, it fit MUCH better, for some reason, and cured some problems I was going to have to otherwise endure. The Falcon canopies, however, did not have the little round "porthole" endemic to the He-162 (and appearing on the old, badly Vac-formed canopy I had originally considered) so...I beveled the inside of a piece of copper tubing to make a sharp edge, and pressed and rotated the pipe in the clear plastic to make the "porthole".  

To my dismay, when I put the RC-57 canopy glue (water-based white glue with good sticking properties) on and seated the canopy, the canopy started to fog up from the inside!!! Luckily I had had a similar experience with another model and knew what to do. The airspace in the little cockpit (sealed in both front and back) was insufficient to allow all the moisture from the glue to evaporate (normally, a large cockpit and/or air access to the fuselage is plenty to prevent the fogging). I found an appropriate place to drill a tiny vent hole (that is all that is needed, actually---just SOME air exchange) that I can plug up later prior to painting. It worked!!

[sequoiaranger]

Here is the Alpine Newt in all its glory--Top view:

Side View:

And proudly, I present the He-1062 Molch in its "newt" camo! (The He-162 painting dummy has the look of the undersides)

OK, you can wipe that silly smirk off your face, now!  

[Ed S]

Nicely painted.  It's nice to see Mother Nature being copied so well.

Ed

[ChernayaAkula]

Brilliant! 

[jeremak]

Unbeliveable! It would be a great nightfighter scheme.

[GTX]

Superb!

Regards,

Greg

[sequoiaranger]

>It's nice to see Mother Nature being copied so well.<

Thanks. Yeah, it will almost be a shame to cover the camo with insignia!

BlackEagle, Jmak, GTX--Thanks.

The end part of the Molch's backstory:

"Drazen Gingrovich, a noted Croatian herpetologist before joining the Luftwaffe, painted his #4 aircraft much like his favorite research subject, Triturus Alpestris , or the Alpine Newt (you can imagine his nickname!)  A highlight of "NEKRO 4"s career (the subject of my model) was to meet and escort Hitler's "Mein Flucht" *aircraft, rail-launched out of a surrounded Berlin and flown by Hanna Reitsch, into the Redoubt. It shot down two Mustangs on that perilous mission, outrunning several others in the process. Hitler himself gratefully applied the two kill markings to the tail of "NEKRO 4" and conferred the Iron Cross on the spot to Drazen. When it flew on its next interception, damage inflicted by the guns of an Allied Lockheed P-80 fighter had the plane ditch in the Bodensee, a large Bavarian fresh-water lake. The plane sank to the bottom, and modern "wreck-divers" are advised to check out "the largest Triturus Alpestris on record" lying half-submerged in the mud."

*A whiff, down the list a ways, of the machine that carried the Fuhrer, Hanna Reitsch, and Goering out of Berlin as the Soviets were closing in. A combo mainly of a LINDBERG Do-335 with a LINDBERG Ar-234 glass nose and (DML) dual wing jets.

[The Wooksta!]

I've just twigged that the testbed has 219 fins.  Good idea as the original was so unstable it likely would have ended up with bigger fins.

Sure I've seen an early 3 view of the 162 with triangular fins.

[frank2056]

It looks great, Craig - it really would be a shame to cover it up with marking. Maybe low viz or simplified late war markings? 
The Molch looks a lot bigger than I'd expected (almost the size of a normal aircraft). The picture without the pops and the masked canopy reminds me of this:

[Gondor]

Fantastic pain job and I like the layout of the aircraft. 

Gondor

[sequoiaranger]

>It looks great, Craig - it really would be a shame to cover it up with marking. Maybe low viz or simplified late war markings?<

The top Croatian "Balkenkruze" will have only a thin white outline (VERY tedious to cut out most of the white around the marking). I toned down the side crosses with gray. Undersides....well what would be the use of "low viz" national markings with red-orange and white stripes?? 
 
>The Molch looks a lot bigger than I'd expected (almost the size of a normal aircraft).<

Yes. The wingspan of the "Salamander" was a scant 23 feet; the Newt's is 36 feet, a tad more than an Me-109, but not as much as an Me-262. At 39 feet in length, it's about as long as a Stuka. The drone you mentioned has enormous wings (meant to cruise at slow speed), but certainly has a similar configuration.

>Fantastic pain job and I like the layout of the aircraft.<

Yes, the Newt has been a "pain" at times, but exhilarating at others!  Almost all the decals are on, now. Completion this week, methinks. Today is Master's Sunday (Golf) so progress will be interrupted.

>I've just twigged that the testbed has 219 fins.  Good idea as the original was so unstable it likely would have ended up with bigger fins. Sure I've seen an early 3 view of the 162 with triangular fins.<

You HAVE seen a prototype with "triangular" fins, but they were smaller than the boxy ones later adopted. A HEINKEL 219? That was a HUGE aircraft and the tailfins would be far too outsized for a He-162. On my He-1062 the tail is farther back from the main body of the aircraft (something the Germans were experimenting with--lengthening the fuselage to get the tail farther back) that would alleviate much of the instability (as would the greater wingspan).