Messerschmitt Me 163 S, Academy 1/72

[MichelC]

The last guy who saw the pics some time today crossed the bandwidth threshold and made them go 'poof'. It's already the 14th where I am so they should be back up anytime now.

In the meantime you can check the beginning of the back story to my Komet here: http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,37224.0.html

Well, sort of...

M

[PR19_Kit]

  The piccies are back now. 

Are you sure you have the pitch of those generator blades correct Michel? 

How big are they anyway, across the tips I mean?

[James]

Many others have already voiced their admiration,  and quite properly too!  Please may I add my name to the growing list of those  in awe of your work?

And mine. Beautiful work.

[MichelC]

Thank you guys !

Here's (loosely) the sequence of steps I followed to paint and weather:

-   Priming with Mr. Surfacer 1200
-   Undercoat of MM Metalizer Stainless Steel (for those parts requiring chipping)
-   Liquid Mask applied with a sponge
-   Base coat
-   Unmasking
-   Light coat of the base color to tone down the flashy metallic paint
-   Detail painting with Vallejo paints
-   Acrylic sludge wash
-   Dry-brushing with Vallejo
-   Vallejo flat clear
-   Mig pigments

In pics:

Metalizer and Maskol.



A trick to quickly remove the Maskol: bunch up a small piece of latex from your latex gloves, hold it in your eyebrow tweezers (yours, not your wife's, every self-respecting modeler has got eyebrow tweezers in his tool box ) and rub it over the Maskol. The latex will wipe the silicone-based stuff right off.



The result.



The skid's treatment was different. No Maskol here. Just metal undercoat, black base coat. Then the acrylic paint was scratched, making lengthwise marks.



One can use several different tools to do it. I used them all, including the fiberglass pen.



A highly thinned coat of Gunze Tire Gray was over-sprayed to tone it all down.



I got more pics but I gotta run so I'll post later. Here's a last one, of the prop.



Kit, blades' pitch is correct, I checked it against my reference pics before gluing them.  As to the prop's diameter it's 5mm or 3/16 in. 

More to come.

M

[MichelC]

After the base coat, the detail painting, including the tire alignment strip, made from a piece of red decal.



Don't worry about the silvering, it's gone after the flat clear and pigments.



The pigments hide a lot of the earlier work but there's nothing like it to make a part look old and tired.



When used in conjunction, the different weathering technique tend to tone each other down so that the end result is a subtle, very real looking part (IMHO).



I made every effort to keep the airframe as clean as possible because gliders a generally kept very clean. But I saw no reason to do the same with the landing gear. Who's ever heard of a spotless Me 163 skid and dolly apart from a museum curator? So I let her rip.















Cheers!

M

[PR19_Kit]

This is totally astonishing work.....   

I went up and hauled my own un-built Academy Me-163 out of The Loft and measured the main wheel. Michel's piccie above is EIGHT times full size!!!!!

[crudebuteffective]

every time I look at this build I have to remind myself that this is not 1:32 or bigger

amazing !!!!

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Incredible !!

Ian

[Daryl J.]

Skill in action! 

[MichelC]

Thanks all of you who keep watching this thread! 

Got some more done today, namely the trip flaps and elevons were painted. I think they'll look sharp once they're attached in their up and/or down positions.

Home stretch now! 

M

[Father Ennis]

Just incredible ... !!!   I'm in awe of your work. It looks real in the photos ...    The Gods have blessed you my son,go forth and multiply ...

[MichelC]

Thank you for your blessing, Father! 

The control surfaces are in place. It was extra work but the result was worth the effort, methinks.   













More soon.

M

[sturmvogel]

Superb!

[MichelC]

Thank you sturmvogel!

Landing flaps: check!













M

[scooter]

That cotton swab tip really puts it into scale...