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Smer 1/72nd Me 262 in Czech livery


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First completion of the year, the Smer Me 262 as an Avia S-92 in Czech livery.

 

Experienced modellers will notice many flaws, mostly mine - it sometimes feels that my litany of "it don't fit, honest guv" is a bit bad workman blaming his tools, (you may agree!) but like the other Smer kit I've made, a Morane Saulnier 406 in 1/72, ithis did have a couple of fit issues.

 

My faults? Probably the stand out is the paint colour, which I suspect is a little more green than the grey green Smer advise should be, some painting issues, visible brushmarks and some sanding not sanded out, if you see what I mean. But .... the decals Smer provided are excellent, they glided onto gloss varnish, settled nicely and under a coat of Windsor & Newton galleria flat varnish- which is decidedly satin - the decals do not, to my eye, have any silvering at all.

 

Here are some photos;

 

SAM_2069 SAM_2070 SAM_2071 SAM_2073 SAM_2074 SAM_2075

 

There was some p/e supplied in the kit, very sparingly used by myself. Also, I was a bit unhappy with the somewhat ropey canopy masking,I#ve done much better in the past.

 

Still, it looks like an Me 262, and I am one down, several more to go !!

 

Thanks for looking.

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Yes, the unmistakable rakish lines of the Schwalbe are there and shown to advantage by your model!

 

Of course, a light monotone paint coat is a real challenge when wielding a hairy stick, but at a sensible viewing distance it looks quite convincing.

 

I wonder if the SMER kit is originally by Heller?

 

Nice job!

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

 

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@Spitfire31,

 

thanks for the kind words.

 

I've had a look at the model's history on scalemates, and it might have been a hasegawa reboxing. I think I may have read that wrong, because the hasegawa kits I have built have not been as basic as this one was.

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47 minutes ago, Spitfire31 said:

wonder if the SMER kit is originally by Heller?

The two-seater night fighter certainly is.  Maybe they have reworked the fuselage moulds for a single seater (and since passed it off to MisterCraft)..

It is definitely not a Hase, those have a more modular approach (cowling over the gun housing is separate). 

 

Good start for 2023 :)

 

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50 minutes ago, Tomcat101 said:

It looks as though you had fun and made an interesting model in unusual livery.  Well done. :)

Overall, I think I did enjoy making this one.

 

I quite like using “alternative livery”, as I think it just makes the model stand out a little. 

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27 minutes ago, alt-92 said:

The two-seater night fighter certainly is.  Maybe they have reworked the fuselage moulds for a single seater (and since passed it off to MisterCraft)..

It is definitely not a Hase, those have a more modular approach (cowling over the gun housing is separate). 

 

Good start for 2023 :)

 

Thanks!

 

I’m glad my impression it wasn’t a Hasegawa model seems correct, this one seems a bit basic compared to the other Hasegawa kits I’ve made.

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I have found that the Winsor and Newton acrylic matt needs a really good stir / shake before you apply it.

Interesting model too.  Bravo.

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@FatFlyHalf ,

 

thanks for the kind words and the tip. I did wonder about shaking/stirring, I'll probably shake/stir it to death now!

 

@Bertie McBoatface ,

 

I've built SMER. I understand . 

 

Seriously, it's come out rather nicely in this previously unseen scheme. Unseen by me anyway.

 

Thanks for the kind words.

 

I don't think they are awful, but I needed to think about how I dealt with the kit. Incidentally, I have had worse fit problems with a Special Hobby kit!

 

As I mentioned, they are sparse on detail, so if you wanted to detail them up there's a pretty big blank canvas there!

 

I do think that if you;ve got a different set of decals, sometimes better to use those; after all, I know I built an Me 262 in German livery as a teen, so when there's a different livery, why not?

 

I have several kits in the stash with alternative decals for a plane captured, eg Japanese captured by US or UK, American captured by German, which I will almost certainly use.

 

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Well, as you wrote, there really is some potential to improve building. Also the Heller/Směr Me-262 is not the best kits in 72 scale. I am convinced you will improve your skills with the other finished kits 😉  But the most important is to enjoy the build and be happy with the result. I wish you all the best 👍

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