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Hunting Swallows

First the layout. I knew which aircraft would be involved, but how and where to place them? Okay one flying and one on the ground. Flying? How to do that tastefully? (1) I placed some trees to at least partially hide the clear plastic sprue left over from another kits canopy mold area. (2) Next I added a rock formation for impact (no pun); just to provide something more than flat terrain (also in the original inspiration print). (3) The base was covered with Railroad Modeling Earth, and (4) a couple of strips of masking tape used as a guide for the "skid" area. 

As you can see I started the aircraft while working out the scene details. (5) Added damage to the ME-262 by removing the starboard engine cover and putting in a false floor. Went to my "junk" box and found some mechanical looking parts (actually parts from 1/76 armor kits) to replicate the top of the exposed engine. (6) Damage to the starboard wing was done, by cutting off the outer wing along panel lines with a razor saw, leaving behind a small portion to become peeled skin. Small pieces of stretched sprue were used to represent structural members and cables that would be exposed. The damaged area was then heated with a candle (votive of course) as were the bottom of the starboard and port engine nacelles and the nose area (7). The canopy was "tacked" closed with white glue and liquid mask (8), to be opened later.
The P-51 was OTB except for digging up some decals to make it look more like Yeager's. I actually considered the P-51 as a secondary subject, background if you will, for the ME-262.