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I've always had a fascination for experimental aircraft or those than never left the drawing board. If there were more 1/48 kits of experimental aircraft of other nations, I would happily build those. As the Me 509 and Ta 183 would share many paints, I thought I might as well try doing a double bill. My Ta 183 thread: As with my AM Tech Ta 183 build, this thread is mainly because I couldn't find a Britmodeller post on this kit that runs to the end of the build. I haven't gone overboard with detailing, but I've tried to add a little extra realism. As I'm only an average modeller, it isn't intended to be the definitive build review, it's just intended to help you avoid the pitfalls I fell into. I hope it helps someone. The Trumpeter 'clear' parts were some of least clear parts I have ever seen. They were so cloudy I was concerned that just a dip in the floor polish wouldn't be up to the job, so I polished the canopy with toilet paper and white toothpaste before they became anywhere near acceptable. The photo etch on the other hand is excellent, very thin and easy to shape, even the seatbelt was easy to drape in a natural position. One build review I read elsewhere online said that the rudder peddles are unusable because you can't bend the circular heal bit. Simple solution, just cut each side leaving it just attached in the centre. I replaced the gun barrels with Albion Alloys 1mm tube. As you can see from the photo, the kit parts are only expected to embed into the leading edge by about 1mm, which is a bit silly. So I glued a short length of sprue inside the wing and when the top of the wing was fitted, drilled the openings into the sprue to give the barrels more support. If you do this, make sure the size of the sprue (or whatever you use) doesn’t interfere with the fit of the wing or the wheel well. Two of the barrels have an additional cuff at the business end, which I replicated with 1mm wide masking tape. If you intend to open the shell chutes under the wing, probably better to do it now. I forgot until the wing was zipped up and it's never as easy. The panel lines are quite lightly engraved, but the control surfaces are just as light, so I scribed them deeper as I though it looked, well, better – personal preference really. Normally I'd cut them off, reposition them blah, blah, blah, but this time I didn't want the hassle as this is supposed to be a quickish build. It's always the case that a plastic kit can't replicate the scale thickness of panels etc. of the real aircraft, but for some reason the undercarriage doors looked particularly thick. I should have replace them all, but I really couldn't be bothered, so I just did the easiest ones. And added some detailing to the insides. I'm not sure if the wheel cover would only have been attached at the top of the leg? Of course, as this aircraft never really existed, you can do pretty much what you want to and lift two fingers in the general direction of the the rivet counters, which is always a pleasure, so I decided that it was attached at the bottom as well. In which case it needed to be articulated to give the impression of it allowing some movement. I simply used a razor saw to cut part way through then carefully bend in place. Finally, a little stretched sprue was glued into the cuts. Even though this shortens the cover, it still fits the tabs at the top and bottom of the undercarriage leg, which I thought was a little odd. This just seemed to be butt jointed, so I strengthened it with a couple of wire 'hinges'. While I'm talking about the undercarriage, always think it adds a teeny little extra realism when the nose wheel is off centre…. I thought the retractable belly radiator looked a bit boring, so I had a bit of a play – it didn't really exist, so you can't say it's wrong. I prefer it anyway. The original: Nearly done: Done: Thanks for looking – comments welcome. Gorby