An RAF Me 410 B-2/U2/R2 - Meng 1/48. +++++Finished+++++

[mark.au]

I dunno, tardiness of this magnitude from both @bigbadbadge and @Dunny tends to a scant disregard for attendance!  It’s almost as if you’ve been focused on family and festivities… 😉.  I’m gonna need to see the notes! 😂

 

Thanks for the comments gents, you too @AliGauld, paint begins when I get back from the road trip.

[Dunny]

7 minutes ago, mark.au said:

I dunno, tardiness of this magnitude from both @bigbadbadge and @Dunny 

Sorry Mr .au - won't happen again 🤣

[bigbadbadge]

1 hour ago, mark.au said:

I dunno, tardiness of this magnitude from both @bigbadbadge and @Dunny tends to a scant disregard for attendance!  It’s almost as if you’ve been focused on family and festivities… 😉.  I’m gonna need to see the notes! 😂

 

Thanks for the comments gents, you too @AliGauld, paint begins when I get back from the road trip.

The dog ate my note Mark sorry😄😉

[mark.au]

So, where was I and what did I miss?  Our road trip which began the day before NYE covered three States and one Territory and a lot of fun times with good friends.  I got a lot of riding done in Adelaide (Roger, I was literally about to message you about being in town when I saw your post about having some friends staying with you so I left you alone - you'll thank me later  ), it really is some fantastic road riding down there.  I turned my social medias off, my phone to silent and disconnected.  Was wonderful.  We've been back a couple of days now but I haven't found my regular groove yet and only just this evening visited the bench and opened up BM.  I see a lot of catching up to be done!

 

This evening I did a seam check on the canopy and fuselage for the 410.

 

 

 

 

Overall it doesn't look too bad, just a little filler and clean up required around the rear and front seams of the canopy.  The pics actually flatter it somewhat, it's a bit gappier than it looks above.  My terrible assembly skills served me well on the fuselage seam which on the real thing actually was a panel line, albeit harder to see than the more obvious vertical lap joints.  In trying to make a good join I still have a seam which in this case it entirely accurate.  Lucky me.

 

I pre-shaded the lower panels and covers in preparation for the light blue paint to come.  I didn't bother with a pre-shade on the uppers as texture there will be post-shaded.

 

A lot happens here in the WIP section - I've got a lot of catching up to do so bear with me as I start reading up on your collective brilliance over the last 10 days.

 

Cheers.

[AliGauld]

Glad to here you had a good trip, but nice to have you back.

All looks good from here

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[VT Red Sox Fan]

Mark, well done—I don’t know much about the 410, but the pre-shading and cockpit look amazing!  Following with interest—best, Erwin 

[bigbadbadge]

Good to see you back at it Mark and glad you had a great trip.

It's always great to be handed a bonus such as the seem panel lines.

Chris

[Winded Penguin]

2 hours ago, VT Red Sox Fan said:

Mark, well done—I don’t know much about the 410, but the pre-shading and cockpit look amazing!  Following with interest—best, Erwin 

Yes, this is me to a T 👍

[heloman1]

Coming together very nicely Mark. I missed some parts and just played catch-up. We were in Cape Town for a week, my partners niece had her 50th BD. Talk about bad drivers and the wind!

If you care to look, I have a build in the Salty Dogs GB, a Sea King Commando. Early days yet. Plus I'm working with les than my normal hobby room supplies. I'm about to move house!!! Not he best idea at y age but I'll end up with a three roomed mancave.

 

Colin

[mark.au]

Thanks for the comments, all.

 

On 11/01/2023 at 22:11, heloman1 said:

If you care to look, I have a build in the Salty Dogs GB, a Sea King Commando. Early days yet.

Followed. Looking forward to your progress with that, Colin.

 

Despite appearances, I’ve been making a little progress on the 410.  I’ve experienced a little loss of modelling mojo mostly to do with preparation for a big riding event in a couple of weeks.  

 

I was going to use Hataka paint for this one as it’s easier that mixing colours but I had such a miserable experience with the initial application of the base RLM76 that I reverted to my artist acrylic.  Below is the result.  Unfortunately, the double coat obliterated the pre-shade. Not a big deal.

 

 

Next, I mixed up some RLM74 and 75 and applied the mottle to the forward fuselage.  The rear (from just behind the holes) and fin will be covered by the light gray the RAF applied to cover the Luftwaffe markings.  
 

I like how it turned out.

 

I also applied the topmost camouflage on the fuselage and tail

 

 

There’s a bit of texture to be added, and I may tone down the mottle a tad as reference photos show the mottle to be quite sparingly applied on this airframe.  But, this will work for the base camouflage.  Next post will go into that a little further.

 

For now though, I’m heading to Perth for a few days, more updates when I return.

 

Cheers.

[bigbadbadge]

Nice paintwork Mark, like the mottling.  Have a good trip and hope the modelling Mojo levels eturn to normal soon.

Chris

[Dunny]

Mark,

 

Looking lovely - glad you had a pleasant trip and always good to get away!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[AliGauld]

All looks splendid,

Enjoy the trip to Perth.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[hendie]

excellent finish on a difficult paint scheme

[mark.au]

On 16/01/2023 at 16:46, bigbadbadge said:

Nice paintwork Mark, like the mottling.  Have a good trip and hope the modelling Mojo levels eturn to normal soon.

Chris

Mojo levels have returned to normal, thanks Chris.

 

On 16/01/2023 at 16:48, Dunny said:

Mark,

 

Looking lovely - glad you had a pleasant trip and always good to get away!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

I hope your trip to the coast is equally good.

 

On 16/01/2023 at 22:34, AliGauld said:

All looks splendid,

Enjoy the trip to Perth.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

Perth was productive and even enjoyable, thanks.  I had a little jog around King's Park and the Botanical Gardens on Tuesday morning and they're spectacular at sunrise overlooking the Swan and Perth's CBD.

 

On 16/01/2023 at 23:04, hendie said:

excellent finish on a difficult paint scheme

Thanks Allan, this one came out well - I used a more laissez fair approach to its application and I think that assisted.  Speaking of which...

 

I dug out some of the pics I took last year at the AWM storage facility of their 109G, the only one in the world (AFAIK) still in its original paint.  The colours aren't particularly relevant to this build (but will be to others; note that I carefully checked the images at the time of taking them against how the airframe actually looked to my eye - these pics on my iPhone and subsequently on my computer screen look exactly as the airframe did that day in that light), but I was interested in how the paint - particularly the mottle - was applied.

 

 

 

 

The rudder colours are interesting inasmuch as the blue is different from that on the fuselage and its mottle also of a different style.  I was interested to see that RLM66 was used where the wing joins the fuselage, not RLM02.

 

I think we (I, at least) modellers tend to make the mottle too neat and tidy, this example at least is very rough with a lot of overspray.  Nothing is very tight, from the mottle itself to the demarcation on the upper camo.  I based how I applied my mottle on how this looked in terms of technique, not style though.

 

My subject is this airframe, which the RAF designated AM74.

 

 

 

The mottle appears quite muted which could be a combination of factors; it was indeed muted and/or the images are somewhat blown out and all some of the finer details have been lost.  I am going forward on the basis that it is a combination of both.  There's a couple of points to ponder;

• The port engine nacelle has an interesting demarcation forward and below the exhausts.  
• The upper camo can be seen on the leading edges of both the tail and the wings - one of my thoughts was that the airframe had been painted in an overall night fighter type scheme but the presence of those leading edge demarcations suggests the uppers were still in standard scheme.  There's also a clear demarcation on the port engine carb intake further suggesting the camo.
• The canopy framing is in RLM66 as is the frame of the 109 above.
• The fuselage has been overpainted with a light grey colour (I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of that, all the colour profiles I've found also indicate light grey).  I chose to paint mine to the point on the fuselage where the markings would have begun as I suppose the purpose of the light grey was to cover the Luftwaffe markings.
• I see mottle on the tail under the elevators so I left mine that way, clearly the rudder is also still in original paint

So, here's where I got to.  I haven't yet toned down the finish, this is raw paint, unsealed.

 

 

Next for the fuselage will be a seal and then I'll paint the RAF markings and apply any stencils that may be relevant.  I'll do some texture/weathering after that.  

 

While the paint was drying, I started on the port wing.  The kit includes a nicely detailed engine, but I'm not a fan of open panels so I assembled the engine quickly - including glue fingerprints - to see how much I needed to do in order to mount the exhausts and propeller.  The included pic of the instruction gives an idea...

 

 

I didn't assemble all of it, leaving off parts that I knew wouldn't be needed.  I must say though, after a splash of paint it does look quite impressive.  I may even leave the starboard engine visible... Probably not.

 

I also assembled the main undercarriage bay.  The PE was easy to install but won't really be seen.  I won't be opening the holes indicated outboard as there won't be any ordnance on my model.  The paint callout if RLM02 for the gear bay which I think is correct for the 410 - happy to be corrected on that though.

 

 

Some paint detailing required in there but it also looks quite nice.  I'm impressed overall with the kit so far as detail, engineering and fit have all been top notch.  I dry fitted to test how the engine and undercarriage bay would fit and it all slots together very nicely.

 

 

I'll finish the port wing completely before doing the starboard.  I'll intersperse that with finishing the fuselage.

 

Cheers.

 

 

 

 

[AliGauld]

Glad you enjoyed the trip,

Everything seems to be going according to plan.

Looking forward to it all coming together.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[k5054nz]

I agree, she's looking superb! And it's always fascinating to see photos of the AWM's 109. Thank goodness Doug Arnold was caught and stopped from exporting it!!

[mark.au]

Thanks gents, @AliGauld and @k5054nz.

 

While my WIPing has gone off the boil lately, progress continued.  I progressed the wings to basic completion and then painted them.  I opted to paint a solid block of light grey because I felt that would be consistent with the fuselage paint work.  I think I see a demarcation wherein the aileron is left original colour on the underside.  It's not clear, but I thought it added visual interest - I did the same on the upper surface, too.

 

 

In and around getting the wings to this stage, I worked on some of the peripherals such as the undercarriage.  I also noticed that the flaps are down so I painted the flaps such that the RLM02 would be visible in the flap's inner edge.

 

 

I finished the side mounted machine guns.  Interestingly, they are still installed when most of the time the weapons were removed from captured aircraft.

 

 

I found another image of the subject aircraft.  It's visible in one of the photos of the 1946 Farnborough exhibition of captured aircraft.  There's a few things that caught my eye.

 

 

The mottle seems more pronounced in this exposure.  The grey paint on the fuselage starts right at the end of the gun barrels; when I checked the model I had it in the wrong place so had to make a small change.  The upper wing certainly looks like it was painted grey as per the fuselage, but the aileron looks like it was probably painted grey, too.  After reworking the fuselage I had this.

 

 

 

Finally, it was time to begin the markings.  I drew up the masks and cut them.  The process was as usual and I was able to work through the painting in a continuous process.  I didn't get any bleed and there's only one roundel that I'm not completely happy with, but I'm being picky and it's possible that no one else will notice what I see.

 

 

I found a reference that noted the writing which is barely visible in the available photos was "AIR MIN V-3". How they got that I don't know as I could make out anything intelligible from the photos I've seen but I'll take their word for it.

 

 

 

Next will be the few stencil decals that the airframe requires and after that I'll do some light texturing and weathering.  The airframe seems to me to be in very good shape in the photos so I'm not going to beat it up.

 

I've offered the wings up to the fuselage and the top seam is perfect.  However, the lower seam will not be so good so I'll need to do some repair work after attaching them.  The order of remaining tasks will be the decals, then a little texture and weathering; finish the wings and attach them and repair seams as required; add the antennas and tackle the radar array at the nose as the final task.

 

Cheers.

 

 

 

 

[Dunny]

2 minutes ago, mark.au said:

Thanks gents, @AliGauld and @k5054nz.

 

While my WIPing has gone off the boil lately, progress continued.  I progressed the wings to basic completion and then painted them.  I opted to paint a solid block of light grey because I felt that would be consistent with the fuselage paint work.  I think I see a demarcation wherein the aileron is left original colour on the underside.  It's not clear, but I thought it added visual interest - I did the same on the upper surface, too.

 

 

In and around getting the wings to this stage, I worked on some of the peripherals such as the undercarriage.  I also noticed that the flaps are down so I painted the flaps such that the RLM02 would be visible in the flap's inner edge.

 

 

I finished the side mounted machine guns.  Interestingly, they are still installed when most of the time the weapons were removed from captured aircraft.

 

 

I found another image of the subject aircraft.  It's visible in one of the photos of the 1946 Farnborough exhibition of captured aircraft.  There's a few things that caught my eye.

 

 

The mottle seems more pronounced in this exposure.  The grey paint on the fuselage starts right at the end of the gun barrels; when I checked the model I had it in the wrong place so had to make a small change.  The upper wing certainly looks like it was painted grey as per the fuselage, but the aileron looks like it was probably painted grey, too.  After reworking the fuselage I had this.

 

 

 

Finally, it was time to begin the markings.  I drew up the masks and cut them.  The process was as usual and I was able to work through the painting in a continuous process.  I didn't get any bleed and there's only one roundel that I'm not completely happy with, but I'm being picky and it's possible that no one else will notice what I see.

 

 

I found a reference that noted the writing which is barely visible in the available photos was "AIR MIN V-3". How they got that I don't know as I could make out anything intelligible from the photos I've seen but I'll take their word for it.

 

 

 

Next will be the few stencil decals that the airframe requires and after that I'll do some light texturing and weathering.  The airframe seems to me to be in very good shape in the photos so I'm not going to beat it up.

 

I've offered the wings up to the fuselage and the top seam is perfect.  However, the lower seam will not be so good so I'll need to do some repair work after attaching them.  The order of remaining tasks will be the decals, then a little texture and weathering; finish the wings and attach them and repair seams as required; add the antennas and tackle the radar array at the nose as the final task.

 

Cheers.

 

 

 

 

Looking lovely Mark. I would certainly not be worried about the roundels - they look great to me!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[mark.au]

2 hours ago, Dunny said:

Looking lovely Mark. I would certainly not be worried about the roundels - they look great to me!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

Thanks Roger, it’s possible the one I’m not sure of isn’t in the pics… 😉

[bigbadbadge]

I was going to say the Roundels look flippin fantastic too Mark.

Great work on this the wing and fuselage panels of the grey really do add a visual interest to this .  Great job fella.

Chris

[jackroadkill]

Top drawer there, Mark.  She's coming along nicely; as others have said, don't worry about the roundel.  I can't see any problems with it, and the original item was probably done with a 6" brush in a hurry,  so yours is pretty much guaranteed to look better!

[jackroadkill]

6 hours ago, mark.au said:

most of the time the weapons were removed from captured aircraft.

 

This is something I've often wondered about; do you know why this would be the case?  There must have been a reason for it as it was pretty much standard practise, but whatever that reason is I can't think of it.

[AliGauld]

That is some stellar work.

The mottling in particular looks fantastic.

The Roundels look good to me and much better than anything I've managed so far.

I need more practice. 

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[hendie]

Paint job.  I'm still in awe of that one. Probably the best mottling job I've seen.