Messerschmitt Me 163 S, Academy 1/72

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Strewth!

When do you fit the working tyre inflation valve? 

And where will he get a 1:72 working pump

Ian

[PR19_Kit]

Strewth!

When do you fit the working tyre inflation valve? 

And where will he get a 1:72 working pump

Ian

He'll make one, just like he's made everything else! 

I want to know what he'll use when he adds that indefinable smell that all aircraft have. Can, or even should, you scale that?

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

(at the risk of threadjacking)... I know that smell, Kit. Mixture of lubricants, kerosene and slightly dodgy electrics !!

Ian

[Father Ennis]

If I wasn't enjoying this build so much,I would say we need to find him a woman or two ,cause he has too much time on his hands ...... !!!!!!   

[MichelC]

Thanks guys! 

Scale aviation smell. Hmm... I guess the whiff (pun intended) of acrylic paints and CA will have to do. 

M

[MichelC]

So, let's get this thing rolling !

Here's what Academy has to offer in terms of landing gear.



OK, it comes in one piece. It was me who broke it while snipping it off the sprue. Before sticking the pieces back together I made some improvements.



The mounting lugs come from the Eduard fret. Their axles are bits of hypo needle. The alignment pins are bits of wire of the right gauge to fit into the holes under the skid.



This way no need to glue the dolly to the skid, which is something I didn't want to do. The fit is so good that the dolly traverse stays attached once you press it into place. Let's see if it still stays on with the additional weight of the wheels...   

Talking of wheels:



I used the old trick of the hot pressing iron to flatten the tires. Wheel rims come from Eduard and PART. I'm really glad I bought both frets and I'd advise anyone who intends to super-detail the Komet to get both. Between them, they cover every single aspect of the kit.



The generator prop, for example, is covered by PART but ignored by Eduard.



Rather than slip the PE part onto the axle, as suggested, which would place the blades behind the spinner, I cut them off and stuck them into small holes I made on each side of the spinner. The off-center is intentional, just like on the real thing. 



I'll end off with a question for you guys. On the Al Bentley drawings in the Classics volumes 8 & 9 there appears to be a gunsight mounted in the front pit of the S. Although I trust the authors it nevertheless seems a bit strange to me. The trainer was not armed and its main (theoretical) purpose was to practice point landings. What could have been the use of a gunsight? What do you think? Should I add one or not?

M

[NARSES2]

I'm getting a headache just looking as this micro-micro surgery, so I've no idea how you do it 

[philp]

Great stuff.

As to the gunsight, the trainee is learning how to land the fighter version which would have a gunsight blocking part of his view.  I say, add it.

[Gondor]

Great stuff.

As to the gunsight, the trainee is learning how to land the fighter version which would have a gunsight blocking part of his view.  I say, add it.

I agree as it may actually act as a reference in some way as well as a hindrance.

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

For some reason I'm getting a Photobucket error message on ALL your piccies Michel. 

This a disaster for THE most detailed model that we've seen on here. 

[MichelC]

Thank you all for the feedback!

Phil, Gondor, you just gave me the excuse I was looking for to add the gunsight!  I have a Quickboost Revi that will be in plain sight with no canopy or windshield to hide it. 

Kit, that's Photobucket for you! But don't worry, it's only temporary. Storage is not the problem. I'm only at 5% of my free account's limit. The problem is bandwidth. Don't know what that is? Well, I didn't know either until 2 days ago. The bandwidth limit is the limit set for each month on the total number of times you pictures can be viewed. By posting pics on many forums, blogs, etc. you increase the number of views and if you hit the limit your pics can't be viewed anymore. Unless you upgrade (cough up, buddy!) or wait till the end of the one month period. I signed up on a 14th so tomorrow everything should be up and running again. 

M

[Rheged]

For some reason I'm getting a Photobucket error message on ALL your piccies Michel. 

This a disaster for THE most detailed model that we've seen on here. 

I have the same problem!  (Insert here emoticon indicating technological confusion)

[PR19_Kit]

Michel, even your avatar has the error message too! 

[MichelC]

No panic! Everything should be back to normal in a few hours. I'll post some new pics then: I just finished painting the landing gear and I'm doing the weathering now.

M

[Father Ennis]

This is interesting, I didn't see the messages until today ?  In fact ,they were still there this morning !!