I'm going to build an Me 262A and am planning an unpainted aircraft with putty- filled panel lines.

I'm wondering if I can achieve the same effect by neatly applying and flatting Tamiya Putty in the panel lines of my NMF 262, and then painting the filler the appropriate colour?

Thanks

to get a scale effect, paint applied by brush would probably be more appropriate - or maybe mr. surfacer 1000.

Which scale is this? On anything smaller than 1/32, I think painting the filler would be tricky to do neatly. What about an appropriately coloured weathering pigment- applied with just water, it would be quite easy to fill the panels with it, then spray a varnish over the top when you are happy. I guess the varnish may not be a good idea for some types of metal finish.

Forgot to mention, it's 1/72 scale, so pretty small!

I reckon that my artists acrlyic paints might to the job, and I can easily remove them if it looks wrong.

Looking at period photos of camo-painted 262s, I can see the panel lines are visible, so why on the un-painted ones are they filled, and were they filled to give a perfectly flat, smooth finish? It's hard to tell from the b/w photos of unpainted 262s that I have.

They were filled and sanded smooth. I've made a model at a larger scale. I decided that the putty was probablr RLM02 in colour though some say yellow or red. I sprayed the model in RLM02 and then applied thin strips of masking to the relevant panel lines. It is a labour of love! I finished off with various shades of Alclad and..Voila!

Steve

Hi Steve........

Thanks for that. I was still wondering if the panel lines were completely smoothed, and this has answered that! Your model's a real beauty! I think they look pretty special left with their natural metal finish.

nice work Steven !

Thanks for the nice comment. The putty finished up pretty well smoothed as in these pictures





But started out roughly applied as in this one of a Do335 under construction


Cheers
Steve

Steve, what did you use to fill your panel lines? Now I've seen your model it's inspired me to get on with mine. I'll be happy if mine turns out half as good as yours!

Steve, really nice work.

Alex, good luck, that looks like a real challenge in 1/72.

I didn't fill them. I smoothed the riveting off as best I could then started to paint the relevant lines in my selected colour (RLM02). I effectively ended up doing an undercoat in that colour. I laid strips of tape along the seams to mask them. I cut the tape as accurately widthwise as I could knowing full well that this would allow a little variation! I sprayed various Alclads,some darkened with a drop of enamel gloss black to give a bit of variety and then removed the masking.It gives a reasonable simulation of the puttying,it was sanded smooth after all.
I originally did this as a bit of an exercise and intended to go on and finish it as one of the JV44 machines but decided to keep it and,one day,build another one.
Thanks for the nice comments,I'm pleased you guys like it.
Cheers
Steve