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My second build will be this Smer kit

 

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It was issued in the late 1990's, and the plastic is the same as the venerable Heller kit (ref. no. L086) of 1974 (according to Scalemates).

 

The Smer kit has additional metal (which is a very small PE fret), and some more modern decals.

 

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The PE appears to be for the exterior, with some small panels on the fuselage, the scissors links for the main wheels, some aerials, and a replacement for

the radar "antlers" at the front.  May be worth using some of this.

 

The decals are for two versions, one Czech (which I am not too enamoured with) and a Luftwaffe example, as per the bottom of the box. 

 

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I will probably go for this one, or else some aftermarket ones from my decals stash.

 

The number of pieces on the four sprues is quite modest, and they are free of flash.  

 

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They do include a fairly well-appointed cabin for this two-seater aircraft (though of course no seatbelts, which will have to come from the stash of accessories - probably Eduard).

 

 

The canopy is a single item, and it is very thick:-

 

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I may replace it with this Squadron vac form canopy instead.

 

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More tomorrow....

 

 

Philip

 

 

 

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Glad to see this Me 262 on here as I was  toying with the idea of purchasing one (just to make the postage more economical) last night. I suspect it has a fairly open wheel well area which kinda distracted me a little. Good luck with this edition. Glad to hear it’s flash free and that you can embellish it a little with PE.

 

Cheers.. Dave 

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57 minutes ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Glad to see this Me 262 on here as I was  toying with the idea of purchasing one (just to make the postage more economical) last night. I suspect it has a fairly open wheel well area which kinda distracted me a little. Good luck with this edition. Glad to hear it’s flash free and that you can embellish it a little with PE.

 

Cheers.. Dave 

 

You're not joking, Dave.  It has no wheel well at all!  Neither for the main wheels (which is bad enough), but there is just empty space over the front wheel.    Seeing as I need to put in weight there, to prevent the model becoming a tail sitter, I will have to make up a wheel well for that, at the very least.  Out with the plasticard......again.....

 

Philip

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Some small bit of work yesterday evening...

 

As I noted when I had a look at the kit and did a dry run, there was absolutely no wheel well for the front nose wheel.  Just a big gap, and a small circular pin hole

on either side to take the nose wheel.   Not good enough, not just from the point of view of the look of the thing, but from the practical aspect that I need to put

some nose weight in there, to prevent the model becoming a tail sitter.   Also, the wheel wells for the main wheels are completely blank.

 

So I made up a wheel well in the front, thereby giving myself sufficient space to hold some lead pieces/fishing weights, along with a bulkhead to separate this area

from the cockpit.  I also did a bit of "spurious" detailing in this, and on the bottom of the fuselage, to give the impression of something happening in the

main wheel wells.   At this scale, that is probably enough.....

 

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So this morning, all of the interior pieces were given a spray of grey primer, which is now drying.   This evening, I will run out the Gunze versions

of RLM 02 and  RLM 66, and make a start on the wheel wells and cockpit.

 

Philip

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Another weekend, another bit of progress...

 

The cockpit has been assembled, and painted in RLM 66 (Gunze),  Details have been picked out using Vallejo model color, and then a little weathering was

added (not too much) using a little silver and a bit of brown where the crew would have put their muddy feet.  Then all was given a light spray of matt

varnish to bring it together and mute the silver a bit.  Then Eduard seatbelts were added, and the IP lenses and the radar screen in front of the rear crew

member given little spots of white glue, to simulate glass.

 

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Meanwhile, I dug out my old stash of fishing weights, cut one up into little pieces (as the individual "olives" were too big to fit) and packed them in with blu tack,

then added a few smaller pieces of lead from another weight.  The total is about 11g, which should be enough (naturally, the instructions don't give you an amount

of weight to put in, so better to be safe....)

 

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The cockpit has now been put into the fuselage and all is ready to close up.

 

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More later....

 

Philip

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 02/11/2020 at 23:19, JOCKNEY said:

Hi Philip 

I found an older Heller boxing of this today. It looks a really nice kit, have you done anymore since we last heard from you ?

Cheers Pat 

 

 

Yes indeed, Pat.  After a LOT of filling around the engine nacelles,, and a fair bit of sanding, I finished the wings.

 

Also, once I finished weathering the cockpit, I put the fuselage together on Monday.  Then this was mated to the wings:-

 

Upper view:-

 

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Lower view:-

 

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You will see that Heller requires you to put in the nose wheel leg before you close up the fuselage.   I can see this getting damaged

during the later processes, but I couldn't see a way of closing up the fuselage without it.  I will just have to be ultra careful.  It did

survive the seam filling/clean-up.

 

The cockpit detail looks really well, I think, in these close ups:-

 

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So, after a bit of thought, and in order that as much as possible of this detail will be visible, I think I will try the Squadron

vac form canopy.   (This will be my first try at one of these...so wish me luck!)

 

However, in the meantime, the assembled aircraft needs to get a bit of paint on the undersides, so this evening (after a

day spent watching a certain election count on CNN all night and much of the day) I have masked off the upper surfaces

and airbrushed a coat of Gunze RLM 66 on the undersurfaces.  If this works out, I will do a further session of detail

painting, highlighting some panels, a little post shading etc,. tomorrow.

 

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Philip

 

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  • 1 month later...

Hi @Prenton, any progress to report on your ME 262? It's starting to look pretty good! I hope we'll see it in the gallery soon. 

 

And you haven't forgotten about your Bloch have you? I think you can still finish them, no need for panic yet 🙂 

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On 11/12/2020 at 12:54, JeroenS said:

Hi @Prenton, any progress to report on your ME 262? It's starting to look pretty good! I hope we'll see it in the gallery soon. 

 

And you haven't forgotten about your Bloch have you? I think you can still finish them, no need for panic yet 🙂 

No worries - the 262 has the undersides fully painted, and I am about to embark on the (gulp!) vacform canopy, before painting the topside....

 

I also have received the Yahu instrument panel for the Bloch (finally - it took well over a month from Poland...I won't be using that retailer again!).

 

I have every intention of having both kits finished in time for the end of the group build.  Probably I will work more on the 262 first.  (Unfortunately, my modelling area is also the dining room which, for some reason (!), has to be cleared for the period 19th December till January 2nd.....yeah - I know, such a first world problem....😙)

 

Philip

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On 11/4/2020 at 11:03 PM, Rabbit Leader said:

I agree, that’s great progress and it’s all coming together rather nicely. You’re making many others take a 2nd look at this old Heller kit.

Cheers.. Dave 

This is more correct than you realise! Looks across to my right from my work desk and sees the Smer box tempting me.......

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...
On 30/12/2020 at 20:31, JOCKNEY said:

Hi @Prenton

Have you had a chance to make any more progress on the 262 since we last heard from you  ?

It was looking really sharp in the last photos. 

Cheers Pat 

 

Thanks Pat - I hope to get back to it this coming weekend.

 

Thanks,

 

Philip

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 07/02/2021 at 14:28, JeroenS said:

Hi @Prenton, the "Heller GB hosting team" hopes you'll be able to find some time this week to finish your builds, it would be nice to have them in the gallery!

Sorry guys - life got in the way.  will do it in due course.

 

Philip

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