**** DONE 1/48 Tamiya Me 262 A-2 Heavy Hitters Group Build

[kgambit]

Great job Andy.

Sent you a pm.

[vikingBerserker]

Outstanding Andy!

[Heinz]

Man that looks sweet

[109ROAMING]

Man that looks sweet

Second this!

[javlin]

One word Andy "Hot, Hot , Hot" or is that three.Cheers Kevin

[Crimea_River]

Thanks everyone. Dwight, thanks for the PM.

[Wayne Little]

Looking good Andy!

[Crimea_River]

Some more.

Finished the RLM 81 overspray and worked on the underside. First batch of photos shows various views of the upper surfaces. The close-ups reveal some of the trouble I had with the squiggles. I tried to hide the paint bursts as best I could but the close-ups are merciless. I don't know what happened with the "Y" decal on the starboard side. It almost seems like the bottom of the black outline broke apart, possibly from a blob of Solvaset. I'll go over it with a fine brush later to touch it up.

The top side has a flat coat applied to protect the Pollyscale from masking I need to do. The white nose and fin top have to be done yet and I'll probably get at this tomorrow. Canopy mask was peeled off but a bit of touch up is needed.

Final two shots show the underside. Panel lines and rivets were traced in pencil and areas around the engine panels were smudged with ground graphite applied by brush. A coat of Dullcoat has been applied. Wheels go on next and some subtle weathering is left to do. Also a few stencils yet to be applied.

Thanks for tuning in.

[Airframes]

Beaut work CR ! Looks brilliant mate!

[Heinz]

With Terry here mate, looks great

[rochie]

wow that looks bloody amazing Andy, very well done mate

[Wayne Little]

Tough pattern to do Andy...not a bad job at all!

[Crimea_River]

I appreciate all the nice comments guys.

I suffered a major setback during painting of the white fin tip. After painting the white, I removed the Tamiya tape only to find that half the basecoat was coming off with it and, just to ice the cake, along came the half the swastika with it. More choice words. Pic below.

I can see two things that possibly went wrong here. As Dwight pointed out, I should have washed the model before painting. Secondly, I didn't reseal the decals with Future after they were applied. Rather, I went straight to the flat coat. I would have thought that applying the flat coat over the decals would have been enough to seal them. I didn't flatten the tape over the decal, just lightly applied it and yet it pulled away. The decals were Tamiya from the kit applied normally and with Solvaset. Is it strictly verboten to mask over decals? In hindsight, I should probably have used paper to cover the decal.

Any thoughts/tips? In the meatime, I have some rework to do and will have to hunt through my spares to see if I have some swastikas of the right size.

[rochie]

Nightmare Andy, what measurements are the swastikas and if i have some i'll send them to you

[Airframes]

What a bummer! I've never had that problem, but I use enamels, whcih stick like s**t to a blanket! I've found virtually any clear coat, matt or gloss, seals the decals and they can be easily masked. I've been using a matt clear I make from Klear (Future) and Tamiya Flat Base. If you're using acrylics, the problem might be lack of primer. I haven't had a problem with Future lifting off, or paint, on the two occassions I've used only acrylics, over primer.