Here is my 1/48 scale Monogram ProModeler Me 410 I recently finished.
Yes I know I should not bother building this terrible and inaccurate kit according to the expert on aircraft shapes but it has been in my stash for a number of years and wanted to see for myself just how bad this kit really is.

The model was built SFTB and painted with Model Master enamels, markings were from an old Aeromaster sheet.







This older kit was easy to build except for one area and that was the canopy, it was a poor fit.
To my eyes this looks enough like a Me 410 to me and is no worse or better looking than the new Meng kit.


Matrixone

Wow....nice looking bird. Great job.

Thanks SgtRam!

These older kits are still a great deal of fun to build and don't look that bad compared to the newer release kits.




Matrixone

Beautifully finished 410 Les, very well done indeed.

I did, however, have to look very closely to recognise it. Initially I thought it might have been a P-61 or some obscure Spitfire variant!

Cheers, D

Very good work there Les!! The Hornet is one of my favorite aircraft fielded by the Luftwaffe in WWII. Good work. I have been looking for one inf 72 scale to add to my collection. Russell

Hi Les

Beautiful build - and wonderful weathering at around the wing-root! Can you give a brief outline of the technique you use for areas like that?

All the best

Rowan

Nice job, Les. You've proven the saying that a poor-quality kit well finished always looks better than the latest and greatest when poorly finished.

Good work.

Excellent work, Les!

and as always great photography!

all the best

Steffen

Great finish on that Zerstörer, Les! Well done!
I completly agree with you about the kit. I've built it a few years ago and found only the same poor fitting of the canopy. That new Meng kit might be better with the details but the old Promodeller still looks like a Me 410.

Happy modelling!
Torsten

Hi Les,

Excellent work as always!

Jean-Luc

Les,

This has got to be one of the best replicas of the Hornisse i ever saw, superb job!

Oh, and i still think Monogram's kit is second to none when properly built. By the way can you describe a bit on how you've achived that look on them tires? They look the real thing

Cheers
Pedro

very nice

paul

Les, great job on the 410. Just goes to show that sometimes that "expert" is dead wrong. I built the kit years ago and have wanted to build another for awhile now.
Excellent job on the kit and on the diorama

Later

As I've said elsewhere, thing thing is a real beauty. Great work from the Luftwaffe Modeling Master

Many thanks to all for the generous comments!

Russell,
Italeri made a 1/72 scale Me 410 kit a few years back, it might still be available at some places.

Rowan,
I did most of the weathering on the wing roots with my airbrush, I sprayed on lighter shades of the base color in tiny mottles and swirls, after that I did some dry brushing with silver paint and the final touches were made with a silver artists pencil. While I was adding the weathering to the model I kept the Classic Publications book on the Me 410 nearby to help guide me on how far I should take the weathering on my Me 410.

Pedro,
The weathering on the wheels was done by first painting the hub gloss black followed by some dry brushing with silver paint to bring out the details. The tires themselves were hand painted but the weathering was done by carefully airbrushing some light earth tones on the areas where the tires would have normally made contact with the ground. The final weathering step was dry brushing more earth tones on the tread.





Matrixone

Hi Les

Thanks for the explanation on how you weathered the wing-roots. I'll give it a try - but I seriously doubt I'll achieve the great effect you've produced. The combined fading/scuffing look is just excellent.

All the best

Rowan

ummmm....that black and white picture above
something in there just doesn't quite seem right
You got some 'splainin' to do Lucy!


Later

The Meng kit has problems of its own in the front canopy (too square cross-section), but the underside of the nacelles and oil coolers have been fixed by Vector, with the addition of a new resin set, which is perfect and really a must have for this kit.

The wonky Meng Prop blades and spinners have been addressed by Vector as well.

The Monogram front canopy has issues of its own, so if you manage to smash mould the front half of the Meng clear parts into a rounder cross-section, that and the Vector resin would basically solve all the Meng kit's problems.

The Meng rear fuselage cross-section is slightly too square "shouldered" as well, but much closer than the too oval Eduard Me-110 tail, which nobody notices... I plan on ignoring this, as it really doesn't affect the overall appearance...

Gaston

Bruce, the odd looking object in the B/W pic must be one of those Foo Fighters that was being reported by Allied pilots in 1944/45.

Gaston,
The old Monogram Me 410 is not really all that bad shape wise, besides the canopy problem there is another problem that I noticed and that is the dihedral, the wings on my model look too flat. That might be my fault though and not a problem with the kit itself, I will have to build another to know for sure.
When I can I will get one of those Meng Me 410s and see what its like and for certain I will replace the props and spinners, on the built up Meng Me 410 kits I have seen they look pretty far off to me and its an easy fix to just replace them.

Matrixone

Great job, Les. Feels great to finish it!

Thanks very much Dan!

Aside from the canopy problems this was a fun model to build and paint, I already am thinking about building another one (but I won't), maybe next year.


Matrixone

Les, a really solid looking build. The weathering is what makes this model stand out to me.
Being a returnee to the aircraft side after 3 years in the trenches over at Armorama, I have no pre-concieved opinions about any of the older kits, as I judge each build on just what I see. I'm not a rivet counter now, and wasn't back in the 70s when I was building aircraft models.

Joel

Thanks Joel!

There are a number of old kits in my stash that are much worse than this Me 410 and I still have plans to build them, to me they are just as much fun to put together and paint as the brand new kits. Since I don't enter model contests it is not all that important if my models built from the old kits are perfect, what matters if I had fun building and painting them.

This is another older kit I just finished, its the Hasegawa 1/72 scale Ostwind. Its a lot older kit than the Me 410.


Matrixone

Les, how did you get the chips in the paintwork on the wing roots to look soft like that. It scales a lot better than sharp edged chipping.

Richard,
The weathering on the wing roots was done with a mix of weathering effects.

After the camouflage pattern was painted I airbrushed lighter versions of the camouflage colors in tight mottles and streaks, that was followed by drybrushing silver paint on the areas of the wing roots where most of the chipping was to be placed.
The model was then given its gloss coat and decals added, some of the yellow triangle fuel markings were given a light amount of drybrushing with silver paint to blend them in and then the model was given a flat coat.
When the flat clear coat was 100% dry and did the final bit of paint chipping with a silver artists pencil.
The above might seem like a lot of work but I like the results, the wing roots look like the scuff marks and paint chipping was done over a period of time and not done all at once which looks more realistic to my eyes.


Matrixone