1/48 Dragon Me 163B-1a Komet

[adilson]

very good watching

[Nigel Heath]

Just found this thread and am now fully tuned in. Nigel, your mottle masks will come in handy or are you going to go freehand like the big boys do?

I am not quite such a big boy as you Duncan and probably never will be but I think I will try to do it all freehand.

[adilson]

I´m assembly the same, however OOB...

Good luck...

[Nigel Heath]

That looks very nice, I hope mine comes out looking as good.

[hendie]

s'coming along nicely Nigel.

I saw one of these at the Air Force Museum in Ohio (great exhibits) and was amazed at how small it is

[infofrog]

s'coming along nicely Nigel.

I saw one of these at the Air Force Museum in Ohio (great exhibits) and was amazed at how small it is

wright patterson air force museum ohio?

Rick

If so Its 4 hrs and 5 minutes from my house .

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/

[Nigel Heath]

That is a very exact time for the journey.

[hendie]

yup, that's the one. I managed to blag a couple of visits there while on some business trips. Somehow we just managed to end up with an extra day on the trip - so we had to do something to kill the time didn't we?

[Nigel Heath]

I got the tail masked up for internal painting like this:

This morning these masks and the CMK kit arrived from Hannants:

Lets have a look at what's in the CMK set:

Of course I got this mainly for the instrument panel but the seat and joystick are clearly superior to the kit items so I will use those:

The resin cockpit tub is nice but some of the features look inaccurate to my eyes so I will stick with my efforts so far:

It will provide a useful reference for further detailing though. You may have noted that the instructions state this is supposed to be for the Revell kit which slightly conflicts with what Hannants stated. That probably explains why the tub was not such a good fit in the fuselage as the kit part.

They provide some optional PE rudder pedals but in situ they look too big so I will keep the kit items:

Strangely, they only provide one of these actuator parts (PP16) and would have you put it in the wrong place:

That would make fitting the seat a tad tricky and there should be another one on the LHS.

Still, overall its a nice package and worth getting I think.

[Nigel Heath]

I removed the detail off the front of the instrument panel by rubbing it on some 240 grit wet and dry:

It always slightly pains me having to remove such lovely detail but needs must.

I removed the recessed detail with a knife and got the IP parts ready for some paint:

I then drilled out the joystick and glued in some 0.6mm rod to act as a painting handle and location pin later:

This is how I jigged up that and the loop control ready for paining:

I don't want nasty paint contaminating my nice brass rod do I?

[hendie]

I agree, I am fast coming to the conclusion that paint is indeed a nasty nasty substance

nice work though

[Duncan B]

You should have painted the instruments! I've just had great fun painting a 1/48 cockpit, these big kits are so much easier than the one true scale.

Duncan B

[Tim T]

Cracking work Nigel. I still can't get over how small the thing is.

[Nigel Heath]

With my paining skills the instruments would look rubbish plus I am a lazy modeller and always look for an easy solution.

[Col.]

Tidy work so far Nigel

[Nigel Heath]

Right, now I am back from my holiday on the Isle of Man with billydick, let's get this show back on the road.

The CMK resin set contains a windy handle for the cockpit (and spare) which I think just have the edge over the kit part so I cleaned up one:

It didn't have a mounting pin though so I drilled it out and glued it to some 0.6mm rod and got it ready for painting:

I decided to go with the kit detailing on the LHS cockpit side wall but used the CMK resin part as a guide as well as reference photos:

I did cut out and used some of the resin detailing as well as adding copper wire and brass rod. The resin RHS side wall is clearly superior to the kit detailing so I decided to use that:

To get it to fit it required a little trimming:

A little further finessing and removal of the minimal kit detailing was required before final installation:

I glued in the rear cockpit section and did a fit check with the glazing:

The fit was gratifyingly good.

The cockpit floor was bereft of detail so I decided to square up some Archer resin decals and add those:

Next I masked up the bullet proof glass using the precut masks:

While we are here, the resin gunsight by the handwheel is definitely better then the clear kit part so I will use that. It will just need some clear film adding after painting.

I glued on the glass as well as various associated PE parts, the braces are from the kit, the other two from the CMK set.

I filled the brace mounting holes as they should have little tabs that sit on the surface so I think this looks more like reality. This is all nearly ready for a little paint application so I might get that done today.

Bye for now,

Nigel

[TempestV]

Hi Nigel,

Glad your rear glazing fitted properly. that was the worst part of my Komet build.

cheers,

Chris

[Bengalensis]

Good to see more progress on this one, the detailing looks really nice.

[hendie]

I particularly like the Archer decals on the floor - may have to get me some of those

[Nigel Heath]

I can recommend them, the glue is not too good on bare plastic though so I use a little diluted Gator glue as well as lightly sanding the plastic. The rows of rivets are also worth getting.

[Billydick]

Nigel, are you using artistic licence with those Archer decals on the floor ? Just curious.

BillyD

[Col.]

This one is coming along nicely Nigel

[Nigel Heath]

Billy, just a little bit, I was trying to reproduce the detailing seen on the CMK resin cockpit floor:

I realised there was still quite a bit to do before getting the airbrush out, like getting the PE generator propeller ready:

I used my own picture from the walkaround section to help shape that:

Then there was the hub and part of the tail wheel which I secured on a cocktail stick with a dab of Gator glue:

The kit provides two options for the tail wheel assembly, I much prefer the separately moulded wheel, extended option:

I put a slight flat on the wheel and marked it with a drill point to make its position obvious. I have also done the same with the main trolley wheels.

[Nigel Heath]

I have not got too much done today, mainly working on the front landing skid and trolley. The trolley axle has a skink mark but there is no need to fill it as it is hidden once assembled:

In fact it actually provided a convenient mounting point for painting:

I have come to the conclusion that the best way to deal with the intractable kit stainless steel PE is just to snap off the fret attachments. I have had to resharpen my scissors after trying to cut it with those and it knocks hell out of sanding sticks but hey ho I have just about got it whipped into shape. I used thick Gorilla superglue to attach this piece to the skid with this clamping method:

I think the skid is going to be a tricky assembly and painting job. Here the supports are assembled lose without glue ready for some paint:

Now I think I am actually almost ready to breakout the airbrush but I may not be able to do much tomorrow as I have other things planned, hopefully it will happen on Sunday.

[S5 modeller]

Brilliant work as usual Nigel.

You certainly make this modelling malarky look easy.

Do dragon make their own kits, or re box others?

Might have to have a look at them, as I mainly seem to buy revell and recently academy.

Can't wait to see more.

Matt

Edited August 9, 2014 by S5 modeller