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Watson's Whizzers Messerschmitt Me 262A-1a/U3 *completed*


Brad

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Immediately after the end of hostilities in Europe, the allied powers scoured Germany for the remnants of their advanced technology. The American's set up 'Project LUSTY, which stood for LUftwaffe Secert TechnologY. Col Harold E Watson, a qualified test pilot was selected to head the mission. He picked a number of pilots, all combat veteran's and all Thunderbolt pilots, experienced ground crew, both American and German along with several experienced German pilots. He also carried a signed pass by Dwight D Eisenhower, stating that no senior officer or military police could impede him in his work. 

 

Two teams formed, one went after the piston engine aircraft, the other, jets. It was the jet pilots who were named the 'Watson's Wizzers' and adopted the squadron embalm of Donald Duck flying around the Earth on a Juno 004 engine. Me 262A-1a/U3 'White 30' was captured at Lechfeld. It was named Marge by the 54th ADS, and then Lady Jess IV while with the Wizzers with the aircraft being the mount of Captain Kenneth Dahlstrom. Declared surplus, it was transferred to the US Navy and designated 121443. State side, the aircraft was turned over to the Tactical Test Division at NAS Patuxent River where she was made airworthy and attempted to be flown on November 7th 1945. Failing to become airborne, it crashed into trees at the end of the runway and was subsequently written off. Because of this accident, no further attempts to fly Me 262's was made by the TTD.

 

I'll be using the detailed, but tricky to build 1/48 Dragon model with the Cutting Edge decal sheet. She will be built as she appeared with the 54th ADS named 'Marge'. A little reference too never hurt.

 

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Edited by Brad
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  • 2 weeks later...

Worked on the wheel wells last night. I nearly  glued the wheel well in back to front, it's easy to do at midnight when you're half watching TV as well. Managed to pick that mistake up before I committed glue.

 

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I worked out I can glue the fuselage together before putting in the cockpit, so that's what I've decided to do. Been neglecting this a little as I've been trying to finish up the yard work before the really poor weather sets in. Fit is ok, but it will require some sanding and scribing.

 

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12 hours ago, Greg Law said:

Brad

What are you doing for nose weight? These need a fair bit to sit on the nose wheel.

I might have to visit the local fishing store and gets some smaller sinkers as I've run out.

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Alright back into this one. I got the wings on with the fit on the upper surface almost perfect.

 

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The lower, not so good. It's taken a day or so of building up super glue then sanding, reshaping and rescribing to get things looking ok. I still might need to scribe the lines a little deeper, but the scribing is very fine on the kit itself so they might just do. Next up are the engines which are a little fiddly.

 

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Plugging away still, engines are on and test fitting here proved it's worth with only minor clean up needed. I'm sure I'll need to do some more work there though once I put some paint on looking for faults. Nose is also complete, these parts wouldn't go on perfect no matter what I did and you can see on the bulge that accommodates the cameras there's a bit of a gap to fill, but some super glue should take care of that.

 

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Looking at this thread reminds me that I have a Dragon Me-262 in the stash, mental note to self, test fit and adjust at every stage of the build!

 

You're doing good stuff Brad, keep it up.

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3 hours ago, Wez said:

Looking at this thread reminds me that I have a Dragon Me-262 in the stash, mental note to self, test fit and adjust at every stage of the build!

 

You're doing good stuff Brad, keep it up.

 

Thanks mate. You betcha test fitting everything is a must, although if you do get something slightly out of alignment, just remember that the Me 262 at the Australian War Memorial (the only genuine fighter/bomber left) is 8 inches out of alignment from the nose to the tail!

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29 minutes ago, Brad said:

just remember that the Me 262 at the Australian War Memorial (the only genuine fighter/bomber left) is 8 inches out of alignment from the nose to the tail!

Comforting to know, if someone comments to that effect against my model when I finally build it, I'll tell 'em they were all like it and challenge them to prove otherwise!

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Plugging away slowly. More work on the interior parts, also as you can see, some paint. I've been looking for faults with some silver but also sprayed some RLM 66 on spots that I thought might require more work. I found I needed to do a lot of polishing. 

 

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Lots of sanding tonight. I also put in the instrument panel and the seat, complete with some belts added from Lion Roar. I've also been working on the wheel hubs and still have to add the control column, Getting there slowly, I think I'll paint the wheel bays RLM 02, I think I have some. Will be easier to do the upper surface painting if she is up on her legs.

 

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I put some RLM 76 blue on the undersurfaces and the glued on the landing gear, this makes it much easier to handle and paint. I found a few areas that I'm still not happy with so I'll take some sandpaper to them over the weekend then complete the blue on the upper surface ready for the camouflage.

 

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It's looking very good Brad.

I'm not familiar with this recon variant and I keep thinking V-12 aero engines!  I know that the earliest 262 prototypes had faux prop spinners painted onto their noses (to fool Allied air reconnaissance), and those bulges could have completed the illusion :winkgrin:.

 

Cheers.

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I finished off the blue yesterday and today, the camo. I used RLM 83 dark green. I've left the engines bare at the moment as I'll paint them a different green, maybe RLM 71 or 82.

 

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I managed to finish off the painting last night, RLM 82 light green on the engine pods and some olive drab over some of the German markings. This morning I brushed on some future and this evening, the decals which were very nice to use. I'll let this dry overnight then seal them in the morning ready for some weathering.

 

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Finished off tonight with a light wash a flat and all the little bits at the end added. Thanks for following along, I may be back with another build here as I await the Vietnam GB.

 

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