1/48 scale Me 410 in-progress...

[matrixone]

More work has been done on the Pro-Modeler Me 410, here you can see the canopy has been glued on and masked.

The canopy thus far has been the weakest part of this kit and am glad to have this part of the build over and done with.
I spilled glue on one the of the two windscreens provided in the kit and ruined it and had to resort to using the alternate windscreen which is wrong for the aircraft I wanted to model so the finished model will look a little odd to the Me 410 experts.

Matrixone

 

[moon puppy]

Neat!

 

[jknaus]

Cool stuff.

James

 

[matrixone]

Thanks guys!

There is no longer any hope of this ending up as a very good model but at least it will be fun to paint the camo and add some weathering to it. After looking at a lot of photographs of the Me 410 in my reference books these aircraft could get really messy looking at times.

Matrixone

 

[sharkman]

Looking good!

I just bought one of these this year. Awesome plane!

 

[chukw]

Rock on, Les! I'm burnin' to see one of your beautiful paint jobs on this hot rod- cheers!

chuk

 

[matrixone]

Thanks very much Warren and Chukw!


Chukw,
Compared to the fine work you did on your Me 410 build mine will look like crap in comparison...I already bungled up the canopy on it and this one will most likely end up on my 'shelf of shame'. At least this model will be good airbrush and weathering practice.


Matrixone

 

[cb1]

Nice, another one on the list of my favorite aircraft.

 

[matrixone]

Thanks cb1,
This is a great looking aircraft with plenty of character, the more I get into this build the more I like it even though the canopy is a bit messed up. If I had the chance to buy more of these ProModeler Me 410s I would.

After re-reading some of my Me 410 reference books I am finding out just what a good bomber killer this thing was and it was well liked by its crews. Yes the Me 410 could not win deal with the Allied single engined fighters but there were a few times when the Me 410s scored some kills against them.



Matrixone

 

[dewertus]

Me-410 will be in camouflage from the Mediterranean? hyeah

 

[matrixone]

dewertes,
Markings for this model will be in the markings of 3U+AA a Me 410 operated by I./ZG 26 in 1944, camo colors will be in 74/75/76 grays.

Most of the airframe is now built, I might have new pics later.


Matrixone

 

[Paulw]

Knock em out Les

 

[matrixone]

Never did get any pics today, I needed to get outside and check and clean the gutters again before the big wind and rain storm hits here on Friday. Also I am building a car model and spent some time on that, its going too well to stop right now.


Matrixone

 

[ij001]

3U+AA was the same aircraft I built from the same kit. I seem to recall the cowlings were a 'challenge' to get sitting 'right'. Cockpit was a joy tho' oone of Monograms' best.

How are you finding the build, Les ??

Ian

 

[sharkman]

Thanks cb1,
This is a great looking aircraft with plenty of character, the more I get into this build the more I like it even though the canopy is a bit messed up. If I had the chance to buy more of these ProModeler Me 410s I would.

Matrixone

Have you considered the new Meng kit?

I only found out about that one right after I paid for the ProModeler kit I bought.

 

[matrixone]

Ian,
I really like this kit and I too think its one of Monogram's best. But as much as I like this kit there are a few things about it that are poor and the worst problem by far is the fit of the left and right side canopy parts. The left side was shaped correctly but the right side had a slight bow near the top that made for a less than good fit. If ever there was a need for an aftermarket canopy for a kit this one is a perfect example.

Warren,
All the recent talk about the new Meng Me 410 kit got me interested in building a Me 410 but after finding out about some of the shape problems with the Meng kit I think I will stick with the older ProModeler kit even though the canopy design on that kit is less than brilliant.
There is a build of a Meng Me 410 going on over at Aeroscale right now if you want to find out more about this kit...from what I see the Meng kit is no improvement over the older ProModeler offering.

Some new pics...

The props are almost done with their weathering, the wheels are painted but not yet weathered, and the spinner spirals have been masked and painted on.

Here is the other model that I recently started, its the 1/72 scale Mercedes Benz G4/W31 German staff car from Hasegawa.

The body has been painted Testors gloss black enamel and the radiator and rims were painted with AlcladII Chrome, the pics don't show it too well but the AlcladII really does look like the parts are Chrome plated.

Expect to see the staff car in some of my airfield pics later this year.


Matrixone

 

[MrT]

 

[matrixone]

Thanks Terry!

The airframe is now done, next up for it is adding some paint starting with a light coat of the base color of RLM 76 and then the preshading...this Me 410 will get plenty of weathering on the undersurfaces as I am going to finish it as a well used aircraft that had seen a lot of action in defense of the Reich in 1944.

Matrixone

 

[matrixone]

Some new pics...

Just for the fun of it I decided to build the standing pilot figure included in the Me 410 kit, after putting the figure together I used the airbrush to paint the face and flight suit. The airbrush was also used to apply the shading to the folds on the flight suit and it worked quite well but hard to see in my pics, the shading can be seen better in the pic where the the pilot is facing away from the camera.
All other painting of this figure will be hand painted.
The wheels and prop blades for the Me 410 now have all the weathering done on them except for the flat clear coat.

By Friday I expect to have the little Mercedes Benz staff car finished, I used oil paints to weather the seats and they have to dry another day before its safe to handle them again.

The Me 410 has been given its preshading and after the paint is dry I will give the model another light coat of RLM 76 to tone down the preshading, only the preshading around the engine cowls will remain as strong as you see here.

Matrixone

 

[moon puppy]