I have started work on the new Meng 1/32 scale Me 163.

This is a terrific kit and even has P.E. parts, the decal sheet looks good too but I will see just how good they are after the model is painted.

Here is the cockpit after some painting has been done on it, the dark leather headrest was painted in a custom mixed color with a thick coat of paint and before the paint was fully dry I pressed clean sandpaper against it to give it some texture, after the paint dried I had a realistic looking leather headrest with little effort.

One thing I don't like about this kit is the decals they give you for the instruments...they have white faces with black numbers for most instruments in Luftwaffe aircraft including the Me 163 this should be the reverse.

Meng provides a couple of stands to be used if the modeler chooses to display the model with the tail off so the well detailed rocket motor can be seen, the instructions would have you paint the stands a solid wood brown color, I went one step further and paint mine with a wood grain effect that was varnished.


Matrixone

Les, a really nice start. The cockpit seat and harness really looks good. Nice touch with the wooden supports, as they look so much better then if you just painted them solid brown.

Thank you Joel,
This is really a nice kit and the rocket motor is well detailed but more than a little tricky to assemble.

I discovered something else that I don't care for in this kit and its the tires...for whatever reason Meng decided to include 'rubber' tires instead of plastic. One of the tires in my kit was split and there is no way to fix this, I can hope by placing the split on the inside it will not really show that badly on the finished model. The best move would be to replace the kits wheels with resin aftermarket items.


Matrixone

Roy Sutherland to the rescue!

Nice start on the 163 Les, and those resin wheels look like a must have Jessie I will be getting a set for my model.

Thanks Jessica and Mal!

I would love to replace the wheels on this kit but due to lack of funds this model has to be O.O.B.
If anybody reading this post is going to be building this kit the decals for the instruments really should be replaced, they let the whole model down in my opinion, otherwise the cockpit is one of this best O.O.B. pits I have ever worked with.

Here is another picture of the rocket motor after some detail painting has been done.


Matrixone

Les, have you gotten in touch with Meng or their importer about the damaged rubber tire? At worst with proof of purchase they will replace it.

Joel

Hi Les! Fantastic work on the cockpit. It looks very nice to me.

The instrument decals, how do they go on? If they are supposed to be placed on a clear piece of plastic, it could be that they should go on the back of that piece. It is that way in Tamiyas 1/32 Spitfire. The instrument decals are printed backwards, so when placed on the back of the clear instrument panel you actually see what used to be the back of the decal.

/Fred

Thanks for the suggestion Joel,
I think the damaged tire could have been my fault after trying to use sandpaper to scuff up the treads to make the tires look used. One tire cracked almost in half.

Fred,
Meng gives you two options for the instrument panel, one is a photoetch part and the other is plastic. I chose the plastic version. The instrument decals are supposed to fit inside holes on the instrument panel and would look great if the instrument decals at least resembled those used on Luftwaffe aircraft, why Meng chose to provide those bizarre looking instrument decals with white backgrounds and black numbers is a mystery.
The decals went on with no problem though even if they do look strange. And no the decals were not supposed to used under a clear plastic sheet, no such clear part was in the kit and neither was it mentioned in the instruction booklet.

Another in-progress pic, here the cockpit parts are in the process of being glued together.


Matrixone

More in-progress pics of the Me 163.



The last bits of the rocket motor have now been added, also some pre-painting of some of the fuselage parts has been done in preparation for gluing the fuselage halves together.


Matrixone

hi les,

this is one of the many 1/32 german rocket/jet fighters I want!

amazing start you've made already,

can't wait to see more of this beauty,

james.

Nice work Les!
What brand of colour do you use for the metal finish and will the rocket engine end up inside the fuselage?

/Fredrik

Thanks James and Fredrick!

Fredrick,
The metal finish on the fuel tank was custom mixed paint, I used Testors Chrome enamel and dulled it down by adding some flat gray.
The rocket motor will be closed inside the fuselage forever so you better look at it now.

Matrixone

Les, your cockpit and rocket motor certainly have that real look to them. Your "Metal" work really looks convincing.
Every time I looked at that one picture of the rocket motor bolted directly to the back of the cockpit, I thought about that poor pilot who literally had it strapped to his back. This definitely wasn't the ride for valued pilots, nor for guys looking forward to retirement status.
Joel

Thanks Joel,
The Me 163 was for sure a risky aircraft to go to war in but by mid-1944 ALL Luftwaffe aircraft were dangerous to their pilots, the swarms of Allied fighters were making every mission flown by the Luftwaffe a gamble if the pilot would survive until the end of the day or not.

Here the ammo has been loaded on the airframe.



Since the above picture was taken the airframe has been put together and I have started some painting. Here I added the pre-shading...

...and here is the pre-shading after its been covered up.


Matrixone

Looks great!

How was the airframe to get together? Any tips?

With the separate tail and wing fillets it looks like it might be hard to get a good fit (which it seems you have done).

Thanks!

Doug

Thanks Doug!

Up until I got around to gluing the larger parts together the fit of this kit was perfect but the fuselage halves gave me trouble which was very likely my fault but the worst problem by far was getting a good join of the wing roots. This area requires a precise fit and as I found out the hard way my wings were slightly too thick to fit in the grooves of the fuselage and left a very ugly step where it should have been smooth. I ended up using Mr. Surfacer to blend in the wing roots.
If you are building this kit I would suggest sanding down the top and bottom wing halves before gluing them together near the wing roots to improve the fit of the wings to the grooves in the fuselage. If the wings on my model were not as thick as they were they would have been a perfect fit to the fuselage with no putty needed.

Since I take all the pictures of my finished models outdoors any building or painting defects really stand out like a sore thumb so this model will not look very good.


Matrixone

Les, the pre-shading on your build looks really good, and that's coming from someone who most of the time doesn't like how the pre-shading comes out. Yours just has the slightest of shadow effect, which is what it should be.
Joel

Thanks very much Joel!

Pre-shading has its uses, I believe if you use it with restraint its effective as a weathering tool but if done too heavy its makes a model look almost like a quilt.
What you see on this model now will hardly be seen after the rest of the paint and the markings are on it.

Matrixone

Les, Still, your technique is realistic looking, and that's the bottom line.
Joel

More painting done on the Me 163, the uppersurface colors have been airbrushed on as well as the yellow nose. The black border was hand brushed.


...and here are the undersurfaces again, here you can see the small stencil decals have been added and they were lightly airbrushed with highly thinned RLM 76 to tone them down.


Matrixone

Les,
Really a rock solid camo paint scheme, nicely done. You're a much braver man than I for doing the black border by hand. I know I would have screwed it up something terrible. Yours looks airbrushed, nicely done.

I also over spray all my decals with a very light wash, usually the tops get a earthy dust color, while the bottom goes more towards a "oilish" tone. Just helps to knock down that brightness of the decals. Your decals look like stencils now. Perfect.

Joel

Mottles are looking good! This will be one sharp looking aircraft when you get it finished.

Doug

Thanks Joel and Doug!

Joel,
Unless I would be building a factory fresh airplane I prefer to have the smaller stencil decals toned down a little bit, it really helps them from looking like decals and more like they were painted on.

Matrixone

Very nice Les, this might be the same scheme that I intend to build mine in, the same as my 1/48 version. Very nicely done mottling