PK-113 Messerschmitt Me 410

[paul-muc]

 

I will build the Me 410 B-1 of the
1. Staffel "Edelweiss" Kampfgeschwader 51, stationed in Beauvais, France, February 1944.

This means no canon under the nose but my preferred splinter camouflage RLM 70, 71 over 65.

So here are the sprues.

 

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The pilots (last sprue top right) are gone.

[GREG DESTEC]

Cool 😎

 

I have one of these as well. Will be interested to see yours progress.

 

Cheers Greg 👍

[JOCKNEY]

Great stuff Paul,

I've never built one of these so I'm keen to see how it turns out, Best of luck  

Cheers Pat

[paul-muc]

I started with the seats. They are very wide, so I resized them.

 

 

Then I spent some time on the cockpit. The kit has only the floor and these two seats. I invented the interior, inspired by an upgrade set I've seen in the internet.

 

 

In the nose of the fuselage you see a bit of alu foil. There was a small gap between glazing and body and the foil is very thin and separates the part that has to be protected from the part that has to be filled with putty. When it is dry you can easily remove the foil and you get a clean edge.

Nothing to say about the wings. I have thinned the edges of the air intakes of the cowlings.

[PeterB]

The Mushroom Publications book on the 410 has lots of good pics including the cockpit interior. I used it as a source when building my 410 in the Frog GB and they kindly gave me permission to post a few of them. The instrument layout is a bit unusual as it has a hole in the middle so the pilot can see out of the glazing. I scratched one for my build.

Not the best of pics - I got the focus wrong but you can see the instruments at each side and at the bottom.

 

and here is a Mushroom pic of the same.

 I built the fighter version that was preserved at RAF St Athan and was used by Mushroom for their book.

 

Pete

Edited February 21, 2022 by PeterB

[Rabbit Leader]

Great to see another 410 being build. I've always liked the look of the 210 / 410 series, although I have neither kit currently stashed. I'll try to resist adding one but hold no promises if I like the look of what I'm seeing here. 

Cheers and best of luck.. Dave 

[paul-muc]

A bit colourful (artist's licence), but all in all not bad.

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Thanks for those references, but I don't want to make it too complicated. You won't see a lot of it anyway.

[paul-muc]

The front panel has got the gate for the view through the window in the nose. The white plastic sheet behind the cockpit backs the pivoted base of the canon on the outside (red circle) so I can add the canon at the end.

 

 

The fit was okay, only a bit of filling and sanding at the wing roots.

 

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Next step is priming.

[paul-muc]

She's got a coat of Tamiya primer and then I started painting. I will use a flat brush and Revell Aqua Color.

 

 

The underside has got two coats of blue and will get a third one. The surface looks good, no brush strokes.

 

[stevej60]

Great progress Paul,making me want this kit now.

[Rabbit Leader]

Impressive work Paul and nice updates since I've last looked. Looks like you're having fun. 

Cheers.. Dave 

[paul-muc]

Now, nearly complete, you can already see the sleek feature of this aircraft. I have painted the canopy with brush and without masking. Any surplus along the frame could easily be scratched off with a wooden toothpick because Aqua Color doesn't stick well to a smooth surface.

 

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Some minor touch ups are necessary, for instance the reflection along the edge of the canopy and then it will be decalling with very old decals.

I had downloaded the instructions of Fine Moulds of this model for comparison. It was interesting that for the same individual aircraft the camo scheme is completely different. I think there are no reliable references for this "Edelweiss".

[paul-muc]

With my last models I hadn't much luck with the decals. So this time I've tried a different method. I cut out any transparent part of the decals to avoid the silvering I was expecting with these old decals. For the crosses of the upper wings and at the fuselage I cut a stripe of masking tape with the same width as the transparent center of the crosses. Then I put the tape on the wings and fuselage at the places where the transparent parts would have been.

 

 

I cut out the white angles and transferred them onto the model, using the tape crosses for orientation. Later I cut out the Hs, hoping they wouldn't break. They did, but I could put them together on the model. You know that from swastikas that come in two parts. MicroSet and MicroSet did a great job.

 

 

The result should have been good, but I made a mistake with the lettering on the right side of the fuselage. I had placed the crosses at the identical place on both sides, but on the right side it is too near at the cannon, leaving not enough place for the Hs. I hadn't considered the cover of the cannon I put on later. It is longer than the round base. So the black H is partially concealed. Too late for a correction.

 

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The rest was adding the remaining parts. The undercarriage looks a bit strange, but the angles of legs and wheels are correct. As I am not an artist in weathering I did a bit of Revell pigments here and there and so she is finished now.

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[paul-muc]

[Rabbit Leader]

An excellent finish to a fantastic Matchbox build. That's really turned out lovely Paul, you should be really proud of the quality of the finished kit and galley photographs. 

Cheers and well modelled.. Dave 

[JOCKNEY]

Congratulations @paul-muc

Please accept my sincere apologies for missing this build the first time around. 

it really does look the business, 

Cheers Pat