As I mentioned in a previous post, this build is part of the Luftwaffe Group Build that I started over on my YouTube channel. At the current time there are just ten participants including myself, all in various stages of completion, four of which having been totally completed. The Luftwaffe GB (1939-45) will continue until the end of September 2015, so anyone with a WWII German aircraft kit is welcome to join. Anyway, enough of this chitter chatter.
Out of the box the cockpit was reasonably well detailed but I didn't like the decal supplied for seat harnesses, so decided to make my own with Tamiya tape and wire for the buckles - the result is debatable but I think it looks better than the decal - just........... The ejector seat (one of the first fitted to an aircraft), lacked some details of the real seat, so brass wire was used to add the missing detail.
Below is a photo of when I installed the wings and tail section. If you click on the photos to enlarge them, you'll see the arrows point to where I needed filler; the air-frame of course needed a small amount of filler where the two fuselage halves join.
Being a Tamiya kit (circa.1996 I think......) it goes together rather nicely, however, I have plans to have my 162 in a partial natural metal finish, so the fuselage has to be perfectly finished because as you know, silver loves to show up untidy finishes in our builds. Grrrrrrrrr! So, with an extremely vague, but still apparent seam line on my 162's lower fuselage, I have ordered myself some Mr. Surfacer and will be attempting to make the line disappear, while also filling in some of the panel lines that my Perfect Plastic Putty can't fix.
But why is this crazy guy removing the panel lines? Well, the photo below is what I'm aiming to achieve, and I'll readily agree I've probably bitten off way more that I can chew..................
And below is how my 162 stands today looking very clean in primer.
Sadly she is still not ready for her aluminum coat and if I'm honest, I'm dreading applying it. As my plan is to depict her abandoned at the end of hostilities, this will give me the opportunity to execute some nice weathering techniques I haven't tried before but, this is not something to think about now.
Until next time, comrade!
See part 3 HERE
