Here is the finished Tamiya 1/48 scale Do 335 I have been working on the past few weeks.
The model has been modified slightly to make it into a Do 335B-12 two seat trainer.

In order to speed up production of the badly needed Do 335 the RLM decided to concentrate all production on just one version of the Do 335, the Do 335B-2 heavy fighter. Even though the Do 335 was easy to fly younger pilots were having trouble with it during landings and too many Do 335's were getting damage from the tail striking the ground with too much force causing the weak rear fuselage to buckle. In order to decrease the amount of landing accidents the decision was made to produce a small number of two seat trainers to remedy the problem, the quickest way to build some trainers without disrupting the production line was to divert a few of the finished Do 335B-2's over to Blohm & Voss to convert them into the trainer version, these aircraft were known as the Do 335B-12 and my model represents one such aircraft W.Nr. 240161 marked as ''yellow 34''.

When the war ended some of the G.I.'s were amazed by the futuristic shape of the Do 335 and called it a 'Buck Rogers space plane'!


More views of the Do 335B-12...







Matrixone

Hi Les,

Another awesome model! 1/48 is a bit of a change for you.

The squiggle is tight. Is the swirl on the prop spinner masked or decal?

Who are the figures by?

The belly shot, bottle under the nose - is that Floquil paint?

Thanks for the comments Fred!

I use mostly Model Master enamel paints on my models but do have a few tins of Xtracolor that are sometimes used.

Since no spiral decals exist for the Do 335 spinner I tried using a Fw 190D-9 spiral decal but that did not work out too good, so the spinner is half decal half hand painted...only the first third of the spiral is decal.

The figures (and jeep) used in these set of pictures was from the Tamiya U.S. Soldiers at rest kit, the figures are so-so but the jeep is fantastic IMHO. If I had the money to do so I would buy and build every one of the 1/48 scale series of Tamiya armor kits, they are great fun to make for an aircraft modeler such as myself.




Matrixone

Les,
Another simply outstanding build with your continued excellent photo presentation.

Your paint camo scheme is dead on perfect, and the weathering just seams to blend everything together.

Very well done my friend.

Joel

Thanks for the more than kind words Joel!

Right now I have three Messerschmitts on the bench, more on those later.


Matrixone

Hello Matrixone

I've seen most of your dioramas, in admiration and inspiration.
Regarding the "how-to"s, I respect your privacy in not sharing visuals for the protection of the magic in what we see, though can you at least give some info on the lighting you use in your dioramas? It is very life-like. I assume you use multiple light sources, are the background pictures backlit as well? What Kelvin is the main light above?

Thank you very much, looking forward to drool over your next work.

Sorry couldn't find an edit button for my previous post

I read in another thread that you take your photos outside?? So that is the sunlight? It really is bizzare, all your dioramas have the same lighting angle! Do you take pictures always at a specific hour??

Thanks Bora!

Yes all my pictures (even in-progress pictures) are taken outdoors.

The main reason some of my pictures have the same angle of shadows in them is I have a limited amount of sunlight each day without shadows from tree branches ruining my pictures so I have a very limited span of time to work with.

Expect to see another German twin engine fighter built by me in these forums.


Matrixone

Please say it's a Me 410! pls pls pls

Bora,
Sorry no Me 410 this time, I already built one not too long ago.
Here are some snaps of the Me 410...




Matrixone

Outstanding Les


Nice 410 , which kit ?


Terri

Thanks Terri!

Its the old 1/48 scale Pro-Modeler kit.


Matrixone

Fantastic! Both models, I mean.

Both of these are real beauties!

If I could afford a warbird, I would have had a Dornier 335...



Magnus

I am in awe of both of these. The paint jobs and weathering are just incredible. Two beauties. Wow.

Whoa excellent paint on Me 410!

I didn't know Me 410 had cannon pod on its belly tho, that's awesome

Thanks for the kind words!

Bora,
The Me 410 could carry different weapon packs, my model shows just one variation.

You might be interested in another German twin I have just started, its a Bf 110G-4 from the Pro-Modeler kit.
Here is the cockpit during construction.


Another model on my workbench is the 1/32 scale Revell Bf 109G-10'Erla'.
The JG 301 RVD band was masked and airbrushed, and in the last picture you can see the decals have been put on too.




Matrixone

Great work as always. Your work with the Airbrush is 1st class.

Can't wait to see the finished Bf 110!

Btw, have you ever built a He-219 UHU? Checked your forum posts years back,couldn't find one. That's a great looking plane too.

(edit) A little off topic question: I recently replaced my old Chinese (Fanghua) airbrush wih a Paasche Talon. It somehow started spitting during mottling. I use Tamiya or Gunze acrylics with Tamiya yellow-cap lacquer thinner (1:2.5 ratio @15 psi). I tried increasing pressure to 25 psi, couldn't solve the problem. It spits with a little press, if I press a little more it splatters. It does fine for 2-3 seconds with a little pressure tweaking then stops spraying, and then I have to re-press which causes spitting. Could you offer a solution? Sorry if i'm hijacking the thread

Thank you very much

fantastic stuff, love the black and white shots and the flying saucer in the back ground of the one is the bomb!

very cool
Doug

Thanks Naseby, Bora, and Doug!

Bora,
I use enamel paint so I am not sure if I could be much help with your issues spraying mottling.

When I airbrush camouflage schemes I thin my paint quite a bit, my guess is 60% thinner 40% paint ratio. I never measure paint/thinner amounts and go by eyeballing it to see if it looks thin enough to spray on the model.

My PSI for airbrushing is between 15 and 10 and when spraying mottles or scribbles, on small scale models I sometimes drop it down to 8 PSI.

From your description my guess the splatters from your airbrush may be coming from tip dry, tip dry is where paint will collect on the tip of the airbrush needle and sometimes will cause the airbrush to clog or cause a paint spatter effect when the clump of paint on the tip comes off at a time when you least expect it.
What I do to reduce the tip dry problem is remove the tip of the airbrush, doing this will keep the airflow from the airbrush steady and reduce the paint build up on the end of the airbrush needle and also makes it easy to use a paint brush dipped in thinner to remove any paint build up on the needle tip. During an airbrush painting session its common for me to use a paint brush wet with thinner on the needle a few times to clear it and when spraying mottling on 1/72 scale models every 5 minutes of painting I will use the paint brush to wipe the paint off the needle even if it has not given me any trouble...better to do it that way instead of screwing up the paint finish.

I should mention here that not all airbrushes will function with the tip of the airbrush removed...my Iwata can my Badgers can't.
Also when you remove the tip of the airbrush the end of the needle will be exposed, use extreme care to avoid bumping the tip of the needle against anything.

HTH

Matrixone

bora i agree with matrix. sounds like the paint is drying on the tip of the airbrush. you can try to look for a retarder to add to the paint to keep it from drying so fast. that is depending on what your using and if you can find a retarder for it.

joe.

Thanks bomber!

I have this Mr RetarderMild (http://ak-interactive.com/v2/?product=mr-retarder-mild)

Though it's all japanese on it, don't know if it works with acrylic

Sorry couldn't edit my previous post.
Mr Retarder Mild does work with acrylics! Just used a drop of it for painting the canopy frames and flow was very smooth!
And it turns out, although I never remove the airbrush cap, a friend of mine bent the tip of the needle while playing around with the airbrush. Fixed that also
All my problems solved!
Thanks everyone!