jackroadkill

I'll look forward to seeing what you go with, Adam. I've got the Airfix Do17Z but not built it, and I did build the Beaufort when it came out (it never got as far as the stash!) and it's a really nice kit indeed. You always get a great result so I'm sure whichever kit you choose the finished article will be grand.

Always nice to see a Schwalbe on the table. Cracking job so far, especially persuading the PE to behave.

Oh, hello! That looks like a great build of a nice kit (much nicer than Eduard's 1/48 version, which gave me PTSD, dyspepsia, swollen ankles and false pregnancy). You've chosen an interesting scheme, and I'll enjoy seeing the progress continue.

Excellent work, sir! I like it a lot. I've a hankering to build one representing Adrian Warburton's machine at some point, but when that would be I have no idea - I'll watch yours coming together instead!

Okay, things are moving; I had some time last night and again today to work on the 262 and she's now approaching something like an airframe. Thanks to @Retired Bob's advice I took a file to the metal(ish) part that provides nose weight and forms the nose wheel well, did some trimming, taping and other wrangling and got the fuselage closed up. Prior to this I had my first experience of Quinta Studios' excellent 3D decals - SO much less hassle that PE. I really enjoyed the experience and will certainly use them again in future builds What was a pretty average cockpit now looks like this: I didn't use all of them, the main reason being that I forgot to grind the detail off the circuit-breaker panel on the starboard side of the cockpit prior to construction, and I also haven't done the seatbelts yet, as the seat needs some more work before I fit it, but to say I'm impressed is a definite. The engines went together easily and quickly, but I had to trim the leading edge fairings that blend the wings to the cowlings, and the port one isn't as tidy as it could be, so when I do the small amount of filling that's required (on the fuselage and vertical stabiliser) I'll wipe a bit into the slight gap I made. The fir of the fuselage wasn't without a few small challenges but I think I've got them sorted now, with the possible exception of the seam in front of the windscreen, as this took a bit more percussion engineering than the rest of the seams. Following another of @Retired Bob's suggestions, I painted the cavernous U/C wells silver, rather than the RLM02 that HobbyBoss recommends. I don't know how accurate this is, but neither does anyone else, so who cares? I slathered a bit of dirty grey-green PLW around in there and will get some oil staining on it as well before the build is complete. As things stand I'm happy with this aspect of the build, not least because spraying those lacquers gives me so much joy. Here the wings are just dry fitted, but as you can see it looks pretty smart. I fitted the tailplane but for some reason forgot about the rudder, so that'll go on next, I think. The next jobs will be to fit the various covers etc on the fuselage, paint and assemble the undercarriage and do some pre-painting masking. After that it'll be black-basing (using my new Procon Boy for the job, which will be another first), fitting all the breakable bits, and at some point there'll even be some work on the paint scheme. Cheers, JRK

Ah, lovely - got one of these in the stash and might one day build it! She's looking grand, James.

Can you calm down, please, James - you're making so much progress I haven't been able to comment on anyone else's threads!

I'm getting envious of your build rate... Cracking job as per.

Wow, looking good there, James. You're not hanging about with the 217 builds you've got in this GB, are you?!

If you don't hear from me by Sunday night, send a St Bernard...

Brilliant, thanks Bob. I'll do that as well.

The A-1b?

Cheers Craig, I'm enjoying this one a lot so far.

Hello all, a proof of life post for you today; no huge progress (hoping for more this weekend) but progress nonetheless. I've done some dry-fitting of the fuselage sub-assemblies and there'll be a few shenanigans getting it closed up unless I trim some of the mounting brackets for the cockpit and gun bay a little, but I'm not overly worried about that at this point. I've got the RLM66 in the cockpit and have also done the gun bay in the same colour; I'm going to close the covers etc so no big details will be seen. The black on the rear of the engine parts is a primer for what will be a burnt iron lacquer, and the compressor blades will be a suitable metallic colour. The mainplanes are together and awaiting the primer and top-coat on the wheelwells (and the same is true for the underside of the tub and gaping space between that and the wings), but the next job is to get the Quinta Studios 3D decals into the cockpit. In the picture the nacelles are just snapped together. So far, so good - hopefully I'll have more to show you soon, and by then the gluey thumbprint on the starboard wing root will be gone! Cheers, JRK

Thanks Bob, I'll probably go with your suggestions.

My kit building has gone from slow to slower and bad to worse recently. I tried to join in the Blitzenbuild with an Airfix Hawker Fury and life happened, so that kit's still on my bench, half baked. My MiG-21 is nearly done, but that's still on the bench too. There's a crashed Bf109 which has been looking at me accusingly since the beginning of last year's Entropy GB, and guess what? Yup, that's still on the bench. They all need finishing, and by rights they need finishing before I start on another build, but I find myself at the start of this GB, the point where the MiG and the Fury had to be finished having been and gone. Existential grumblings aside, I've been looking forward to beginning this kit. I seem to quite like HobbyBoss's offerings, and the Me262 had a hugely significant role at the dawn of the Jet Age. We all know about the delays to production, Hitler's insistence that they be used as a bomber, the short engine life, fuel and pilot shortages, dispersal of production sites etc, but I have to confess I didn't know about this variant, one powered by two BMW engines rather than the ubiquitous Jumos. Doing a little research explains why; there were only two known examples produced. Both were evaluated at Reichlin and apparently ended up on the front lines, according to HB's blurb but other sources (okay, Wikipedia!) say that three examples were built. There's the usual debate about schemes, so I may play a little fast and loose with what HB suggests, reserach depending. Anyway, enough waffle. Here's the box: You'll notice the box art is intended to draw your attention to the main visible difference between this and the A1-a, the shape of the fairing at the rear of the engine being different. Other than that, from a modelling point of view there's nothing else to separate the two variants. AM-wise I'll just be using some Reskit wheels, which I've used in the past and like; some Quinta Studio 3D interior decals, which I have no experience of but am looking forward to, and the usual canopy masks. I'm forgoing PE because I have a difficult relationship with it, and I'm trying to get back to enjoying the game. This is what I've built so far, and it's all gone together very nicely indeed. There are a couple of dubious colour calls for the interior but I'll follow my nose with those. This is as far as I could go without painting something; it was three degrees in my workshop for most of the day so I didn't think that airbrushing enamels would be a great idea. There's a whole load of radio and compass gear that goes in the interior but you wouldn't see any of it even if I left the radio hatch open (which I'm not going to do) so I just left it out. the next job is to get some RLM66 around the cockpit and then some 02 in the other visible areas. Following that I'll put the internals in, apply the 3d decals and close up the fuselage halves. Hopefully I can actually get a result in soon, as well as completing my other stalled builds. Cheers, JRK

Nice, John. like @81-er, I'll look forward to seeing that one come together.

Mar, your work always amazing me - it's beyond superb. What a result!

She's come out brilliantly, James. Well done, sir!

Oh yes, very nice!

Right, disclosure time - I'm not going to finish before tomorrow night. I've got to work tomorrow now, and I spent today without getting to the bench until nine p.m. because I was busy facilitating a reconciliation between my dad and one of my two brothers. I'll still continue the build under the BB rules though, and we'll see how long it actually takes me to finish it. I managed to get some shiny shiny on the alloy parts of the fuselage!: You may well ask why I haven't stuck said fuselage together; it's because I've painted the exhausts, which poke out of the sides of the cowling and I wanted to avoid spraying them in HR's Polished Aluminium by accident. I'll have to tidy up the cement damage when I close it all up but that's a problem for another day. I don't really know how I'm only three hours in after three days, but anyway, that's my timer. Cheers, JRK

Niiiice! Coming on really well, Bertie.

Meet me at the pork futures warehouse. Come alone.

Great minds, Bertram, great minds! It's on top of the range now, gassing off quietly whilst I drink more tea and try not to buy stuff on the interweb.

Morning Bertie; it's HR Hobbies' (nee Alclad 2)lacquer effort. I like it very much but have just discovered that in a cold workshop on the top of a Welsh mountain it doesn't cure as fast as it normally would, which is a pain as I wanted to assemble the airframe this morning. I'll have to put it in the house for a while to finish gassing off. In fact, while on the subject of paint, this build will be fully painted in HR Hobbies lacquers other than the prop, spinner and wheels, which will be painted in my usual Colourcoats enamels.