Me-2262 Schnellerbomber

sequoiaranger · January 10, 2012, 04:34:24 PM

Now that "overnight guest season" of the holidays is officially over, my work on the Schnellerbomber may resume soon.

I found this in a Finnish History site: "Risto Ryti, the Finnish Prime Minister, asked in summer of 1944 for the latest German air armaments to stave off the Soviets. Mannerheim, the Finnish commander in chief, had asked for German help on June 12, and on June 16 the Flight detachment Kuhlmey (a composite ad hoc wing of about 70 dive bombers and ground attack fighters [emphasis mine], with a fighter and an air transport component) arrived in Finland."

That's all I needed to know!!------A contingent of Me-2262's would have been included, of course! In an Eastern "Operation Bodenplatte", a dawn raid of the new Me-2262's surprised and wiped out a large contingent of Soviet air forces on the ground. The weakened Soviet air force and enhanced Finnish ground-attack capability was in part responsible for the Finnish victory of Tali-Ihantala.

sequoiaranger · March 08, 2012, 09:54:35 AM

*FINALLY*, I get a small break in the medical/travel paradigm I have been caught in, and resume work on the Me-2262!

I felt I needed a SLIGHTLY larger tail for the 2262, so combined my two Jo-Han Me-262 tails by cutting them (diagonal cut-line visible, gray Hasegawa 262 tail for comparison) and adding them together vertically. Then I chopped off the rear (rudder) and put a tall Ar-234 rudder there---PERFECT!

Next, you can see in this "overlay" that the 2262 (white) tail is slightly taller and broader, while keeping the 262 shape, and the horizontal tailplanes will be just a scosh higher as well. I will be using the Frogfoot horizontal tailplanes with Jo-Han 262 tip additions.

I have more "medical" issues this afternoon; the after-effects will probably keep me relatively house-bound and hopefully working more on the long-delayed 2262 project.

NARSES2 · March 09, 2012, 12:47:22 AM

Neat work - best of luck with the "issues"

Chris

tc2324 · March 09, 2012, 03:52:36 AM

Lovely work so far.

sequoiaranger · March 09, 2012, 09:50:44 AM

>Lovely work so far. Neat work <

Thanks, tc and NARSES. It really feels GOOD to be back at the workbench! I am a little surprised at my difficulties in this highly eclectic "Me-262" whif. It is far more challenging than I first thought. Not that I am not up to challenges, but I have had my own body challenges to deal with recently, and was hoping for a fairly "easy" whif. But, I am dauntless (Douglas SBD??) and crazy-fearless when it comes to styrene, so "Forsooth! Yonder Challenges Await!"

>---best of luck with the "issues"<

Thanks here, too! The last six months I have been REGULARLY in and out of hospitals, clinics, surgical centers, doctors' offices, various scanning "tunnels", etc. and had countless needles stuck in my arm and elsewhere. I have weathered it all, so far (more to come!). As counterpoint, I have also squeezed in travel to Spain, the Canaries, Belize, Honduras, and Mexico (both coasts) between all the medical stuff, so if I am going to "claim" any sympathy, I have to play down the travel and play up the medical misery!

As always with whifs, I look toward the end-product satisfaction and ENJOY the vicissitudes of plastic, putty, and paint along the way!

sequoiaranger · March 11, 2012, 10:24:57 AM

I knew my fuselage would be a "witches brew" of chunks of various Me-262s and other parts, but little did I know that a 1/48 trashed P-51 would also come into the mix. I also knew that I would have to "butt-joint" sections, so here is illustrated the "tab" supports to help connect the parts for strength (an old vac-form trick that works here, as well). The dark brown curved strip from the cockpit rearward is the top-rear fuselage of the P-51.

I experimented with various non-tapering forward "extensions" (actually, you might see them in the pic above) and settled on the cockpit-forward portion of the glass-nosed MPM 262, with some modifications. In the pic below you can see how they all came together (and a crude canopy and rear-defence gun is drawn in). NOW I gotta LOT of grinding-down, and "PSR" building-up to do to unify them, but the shape/length is THERE!!

sequoiaranger · March 16, 2012, 09:37:34 AM

To complete my "lactating Daschund" look, I needed six pylons and six similar bombs (three sets of two bombs, Sturmvogel-style). I had found five identical SC 500's from some Italeri He-111 kits, and was looking for the sixth that I *KNEW* had to be around somewhere. All I found, however, was ONE HALF of the correct bomb and the tail ring. The other half of the bomb was missing. GRRR!

So, I had to CREATE the other half. I found a fuel-tank half that was similar shape, had to section it down a bit for length (still not identical shape, but oh-well!), then carefully cut some .010 stock for the fin, and voila (the two bombs are identical in size; only the photo angle makes my "fake" one appear larger)!

I will clean up the contours a bit, then mount the "imposter" bomb on the rear pylons (hardest to see, under the rear fuselage) and "point" the fake side to the middle where it will be hard to notice with the other bomb in the visual way. One of my "successful failures".

Part of successful whiffery is to mask or de-emphasize your flaws!!

ysi_maniac · March 16, 2012, 10:08:15 AM

Looks promising indeed!

sequoiaranger · March 17, 2012, 10:29:33 AM

>Looks promising indeed!<

Thanks. I have "assembled" most of the components for an interim "portrait". The clear nose cone is not there, but you can see what this "Schnellerbomber" is going to look like--kind of like an Northrop F-89 "Scorpion" with extra wing jets.

dumaniac · March 18, 2012, 11:27:20 PM

looks goooood

nice progress

tc2324 · March 20, 2012, 09:42:01 AM

That really is coming on nicely.

More please.

sequoiaranger · March 20, 2012, 10:02:57 AM

>That really is coming on nicely. More please.<

tc, and the two "maniacs"--Thanks for the encouragement!

My "schnellerbomber" (faster-bomber) is plagued with "Langsamkeit" (slowness) as the PSR cycle revolves to seemingly eternal spins (currently fifth iteration). But I am close to reasonable satisfaction ("perfection" being un-attainable)! Once the difficult contours of the fuselage are satisfactorily puttied and smoothed (perhaps even TODAY!), the wings will be cemented on, cockpit and bombardier's station completed, landing gear, guns, and bombs attached, and "we" will be ready to decorate!

The decoration will be a Finnish-ESQUE winter camo of white, mixed with areas of medium-blue and black-green. Lots of color intermingling. Then the Finnish markings (some decals from other whif-buddies forthcoming---salivating waiting!) and plausible(?) backstory.

Believe me, no one wants this to be completed more than I do! 'Course, all that means is that I go on to the next one ('56 T-bird stretch-limo in 1/87th scale)!!

pyro-manic · March 20, 2012, 11:13:18 AM

Looking good, SR.

Don't think I'd like to try landing the thing though...!

Tophe · March 20, 2012, 11:25:44 AM

Good work.

PACOPEPE · March 20, 2012, 12:07:59 PM

Good idea, and very interesting scheme for my favorite aircraft; the Me 262.

I´ve chose a similar camo to build my finnish whif: Saab J 21 R with finnish markings.

For your very laborious whif: i´ve found a photo of an interesting version; with slipper fuel tanks. I´ll use them for my version of Näcthjäger Me 262 HG III (three seater).

Cheers
Fran