1/48 Italeri Me 262 Nachtjager Entry

[robertw]

It's the 18th already?! Where did the time go? So here is my entry. 1/48 Italeri Me 262 Nachtjager. Seems to be pretty popular for the SiG. I've got an idea for a diorama but it may or may not happen as this will make 4 or 5 kits on the workbench. Either way still looking forward to it.

Some of them refused to rotate and not all the photos I took are there as photobucket absolutely refused to let me upload them

[Paul]

Another 262 sweet Look forward to seeing it started

[patrickroos]

Wohoo! Four 262s now...how cool is this!

Good luck dude!

[T3hGuppy]

Cool.

That camo is going to be fun to do.

[robertw]

Cool.

That camo is going to be fun to do.

I think scary is the proper term for me

[robertw]

Finally got to work on this. Will have an update soon.

[MarkVerploeg]

do hurry with the update
i want to see how it looks

[robertw]

Yay for updates!

Finally started working on this and so far I've only got about roughly 50-75% of the cockpit done.

Various shots of the cockpit assembled. First time I've ever worked with photo etch so be easy on me...






Primed and ready for paint.


And here is where I'm at as far as painting goes. It's uhhh... not pretty but also not done. Lots of work that needs done still. I have a feeling I'm biting off more than I can chew with painting this cockpit.









Built the landing gear bay (I think that's what it is I don't remember)

[robertw]

Got a lot done this week and while I've enjoyed the build thus far it's starting to test my patience. Mostly everything had a good fit with the exception of the engines and the rear landing gears. The engines required a good bit of filling and sanding. The landing gears just didn't really seem to fit right. So here are the few pictures I took this week. Thought there were more but apparently not.

The canopy is masked. I'd like to thank Paul for making a nice video tutorial on masking
You can also see the engines had some pretty major gaps when they attached to the wings. I filled and sanded to the best of my ability and to the durability of the build. I was sanding and heard a snap and engine started coming off. SCARY!


My super high tech way of keeping paint from getting inside the cockpit.


And the engines.


And the landing gear bays. It's not fancy but it works.


Through some research I determined the main colors used on the 262 were dark green, light green, and light gray. These aren't the "proper" colors except for bruanviolett but they will suffice


Here is the paint scheme I'm going to do. Honestly it scares me but hey, gotta try new things eventually!


Can't wait to have this one done. As long as I don't screw it up, good chance of that, it should look great sitting on a shelf.

Until next time.

[MarkVerploeg]

Very nice progres
but did you put weight in the nose?
Can't wait to see it finished
Cheers Mark

[robertw]

Very nice progres
but did you put weight in the nose?
Can't wait to see it finished
Cheers Mark

Yep I done the weight today. Had to actually grind a screw down to just the head and then stuffed it some silly putty in there. It was quite difficult finding something small yet heavy enough.

[robertw]

Quick mini update.

I put those mother f*********************** fiddly arse antennas on. I just don't even want to think about it


I wasn't happy with the fit of the engines to the wings. I used Tamiya putty as the Vallejo drys to soft and sands off in chunks. It looks rough in the pictures but it's actually quite smooth. Will find out just how seamless it is when I prime it which will hopefully be tomorrow (which is actually today... I need to go to bed.)


Hopefully by the end of tomorrow, today, whatever, I will have it partially painted.

[Paul]

Nice progress Robert, look forward to seeing you tackle the paint scheme

[MarkVerploeg]

I recognize all the filled seamlines
And the antenna's where a not so nice task for me aswell
But it is looking great
Can't wait for thr end result

[robertw]

Today has been a day. The modelling gods did not favor me today.

After the first round of primer it revealed all the little seam issues. Bit of putty and I called it good


So after I primed it and put the lightest color on the fuselage and had a horrible attempt at pre-shading (the airbrush didn't want to cooperate at all) I decided to start masking when disaster struck. I went to re position a piece of tape when I hear "zzzzzzrrr" the sound of paint peeling off. It peeled off on both wings and both rear horizontal stabilizers. So I was pretty upset obviously and went to good ole Google to figure out why it peeled. I forgot to wash the model So that was probably the cause of it.


I then re primed the wings, began masking, and sprayed my first color coat. All was going smooth until the very last piece of tape when this happened...
This was my reaction:


Despite the paint peeling off the fuselage here is the result of the first color coat.


I used RLM02. Question to anybody that reads this and uses Vallejo model air. Do they all spray so gloriously out of the bottle? It was amazing to just put a few drips in my airbrush and start spraying. Only issue I had was the paint started drying after a few minutes while I was spraying.


Time to mask again.


And the result. There are obviously a crap load of touching up to do and would rather have gotten closer to finished today. But considering my problems I think it's going well. I'm liking the color scheme a lot.


Oh and one more quick question. For those that have done mottling with an airbrush. What size needle do you have? I have an Iwata-Medea Revolution CR Dual Action and I'm not sure how well I'm going to be able to do it without making it look like crap. I'm going to at least take a for sale sign or something and practice.

Okay, I'm going to bed now.

[robertw]

Well today I tried my hand at mottling and well... it ain't pretty. I had two things going against me. One paint kept clogging the airbrush and two my airbrush needle is more for general purpose than fine detail. I tried different degrees of thinning as well as different air pressures and well nothing really worked. I realize I'm not going to get it perfect my first try so oh well I guess. So it's getting closer. Bye!

[patrickroos]

Looks good! Whats wrong with that mottling?

You can do mottling with any size needle...
What size do you have and what paint are u using?
If it gets blocked even if you keep cleaning the tip with thinner during spraying, it sounds like it needs a good cleaning.

Practice makes perfect! Tip: Always keep some nice thick cardboard or other paper at hand.
Or any kind of plastic, like packaging or lids etc...
Basically anything that can be sprayed.
Often we get paint over when done painting the model, dont throw it out, use it to practice!!!
Or, just load up the brush and practice...

[robertw]

It's finally done. This build has fought me for the last 2 weeks but I got it done. I'll post my reveal thread tomorrow. I'm quite happy with it I must say. It is no where near to the quality of most of the builds here on ISM but it's probably my best and proudest thus far. Only thing I'm not happy with is the canopy. It was a disaster. Oh, this is my first ever GB/SiG that I've entered and finished. SWEET!

[T3hGuppy]

Damn those issues with paint peel.


You did a great job with the paint work though buddy looks awesome.

[MarkVerploeg]

Looks great dude
I didn't have problems with the canopy though
But the night vision thingy is a bit hard to get in place
But for a better fit i cut off those tabs on the side i think (not sure)
Cheers Mark

[rodrant]

Hey ! It is great ! The mottling goes with pratice but yours is quite good , it is a beautifull kit ! Congratulations on what you achieved !


And now that this is complete , on to the next

[Ads24]

Lovely looking 262

I use Model Air quite a lot, and think they do some pretty good RLM colours. I have found the same problems as you, though, with them drying very quickly and sticking in the airbrush. Either that or I wondered is some bits of dried on paint from the cap were falling into a colour cup?

Either way - your results are awesome

[patrickroos]

I Think You did a great job, and its a good looking 262, well done!!

[robertw]

Damn those issues with paint peel.


You did a great job with the paint work though buddy looks awesome.

Thanks! First time trying something like this. Yes the paint peeling made things difficult but I prevailed!

[robertw]

Looks great dude
I didn't have problems with the canopy though
But the night vision thingy is a bit hard to get in place
But for a better fit i cut off those tabs on the side i think (not sure)
Cheers Mark

Thanks!
Canopy was simply due to inexperience.
That's what that thing is? It was quite fiddly to get in there.

[robertw]

Hey ! It is great ! The mottling goes with pratice but yours is quite good , it is a beautifull kit ! Congratulations on what you achieved !


And now that this is complete , on to the next

Thanks!
The mottling is growing on me more and more.
Already started the next

[robertw]

Lovely looking 262

I use Model Air quite a lot, and think they do some pretty good RLM colours. I have found the same problems as you, though, with them drying very quickly and sticking in the airbrush. Either that or I wondered is some bits of dried on paint from the cap were falling into a colour cup?

Either way - your results are awesome

Yeah it seems that is the general consensus with Model Air. I'll have to get some retarded.

Thanks, it was certainly a challenge though!

[robertw]

I Think You did a great job, and its a good looking 262, well done!!

Thank you very much!