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1/72 scale Academy Me 163S in-progress

M

matrixone

Active member
Here is the start of my build of the Academy 1/72 scale Me 163, Academy gives you the option of making a regular single seat Me 163 or the two seat training version which is what I decided to build.
Academy kits can be hit or miss but this one is one of their better kits and so far has been as good as any other 1/72 scale kit I have built.

In this first pic you can see the instrument panels which had the dials handpainted with no decals used but sadly they can't be seen in these pics. The only part left to add and paint in the cockpit is the thick glass armor, this will be added soon. Also the wings and tail unit have been glued together and and after I check for problems with the seams they will soon be added to the fuselage.
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Matrixone
 
Thanks Randy and Moon Puppy!

This model continues to be a smooth build, I fully expect to start painting it in a day or two.

Matrixone
 
One more in-progress pic, here you can see the airframe is mostly built and it is resting on part of the Schue-Schlepper Me 163 transport vehicle.
I had planned to have been started painting the Me 163 by now but I had a change in plans, I decided to open up and build my 1/72 scale HobbyBoss easy assembly Me 163. My thinking was if I was going to paint a Me 163 I might as well paint two at the same time to save a little paint.

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Since this pic was taken the HobbyBoss Me 163 airframe has been finished, right now I have started masking off the canopies of both models.

Matrixone
 
Academy 1/72 scale Me 163 is a great kit indeed! Great job! :popcorn
I would like to see a new tool kit in 1/48 scale, Hasegawa can you hear me? :laugh:

All the best!!!
Dusan.
 
Thanks Dusan,
Forget Hasegawa, I want Tamiya to make a 1/48 scale Komet, the did a great job on the He 162 and am sure they could do as good a job with a Me 163.

More in-progress pics of these models, the airframes are built and canopies have been masked and glued on.
The models were painted with a coat of gray paint and then gloss black was sprayed on many of the surface details for the pre-shading effect followed by spraying on white paint in radom streaks and mottles on the panels to give a little more contrast. All of this will be mostly covered up with a coat of RLM 76 white-blue that will only allow a very small amount of the pre-shading to still be seen. On models that have a large area of a single color like the undersurfaces of these models look a little better with a hint of pre-shading showing and keeps them from looking bland and toylike.

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Matrixone
 
More progress done on these models...today I covered up much of the pre-shading with a coat of RLM 76 white-blue. The pre-shading looks a little heavy right now but after the model(s) have the rest of the camo paint, markings, and flat coat the pre-shading will hardly be noticed. :cheer:

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Matrixone
 
I am done painting the undersurfaces so I have started painting the topside camo colors, here you can see I have sprayed on the RLM 81. I don't care for the Model Master version of RLM 81 so I mixed up a custom color using Model Master O.D. and Dark Brown...this color don't look quite right but after the RLM 82 green is sprayed on it will look a lot more brown.

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Also painted today was two different colors on my 1/48 scale what-if.

Matrixone
 
The camo painting is now finished on these models, the RLM 82 green was sprayed on earlier today. For the RLM 82 I used Xtracolor enamel paint, this is an excellent paint to work with and makes it easy to spray fine lines or mottles and all the painting was done free-handed with no masking needed. The only problem with Xtracolor paint is its a very high gloss paint and takes a little longer to dry. The high gloss RLM 82 looks really strange next to the RLM 81 which is dead flat, this is not really a problem since a coat of clear gloss will even out the colors and make them look as intended.
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Matrixone
 
A couple more in-progress pics of the Komets, as you can see I have started putting the decals on.

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The rest of the decals will be added today.

Matrixone
 
Beautiful work!!! :ro:

Btw, You reminded me about Xtracolor, Thanks! I have a whole RLM set in my possession I have to see the condition of paints (enamel also from y. 1998).

All the best!
Dusan
 
Thanks Dusan and Moon Puppy!

Dusan,
One thing I like about Xtracolor is they will update their line of paints from time to time, Model Master really should update and improve their line of RLM colors, they STILL mark their RLM 82 and RLM 83 incorrectly even though its well known by most everyone that RLM 82 is the lighter shade of green and RLM 83 is the darker shade.

Moon Puppy,
Its hard to keep up with all the building going on!


Matrixone
 
Thanks Sherman 18!

No in-progress pics right now, I am in the middle of adding light oil washes to a few random panels near the lower fuselage and when thats dry I will be spraying on a flat clear coat.

While waiting for the clear gloss coat to dry on the 1/72 scale models I opened up a 1/48 scale Komet and started building it. :hmmm

Matrixone
 
Okay Dave, here are a couple of new pics(they don't show much progress though). ;)

I have added some light oil washes on a few panel lines on the lower surfaces and near the control sufaces on the uppersurfaces.
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The panel lines look too dark at this point but after I spray on the flat clear coat some of the starkness on the panel lines will be muted. Even on such tiny models as these some highlighting of the panel lines is needed to keep them from looking toylike with a totally bland single color finish. Yes the Komets were usually kept very clean but still some dirt would start to collect in the panel lines of the lower fuselage.

Matrixone
 
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