1/32 Meng Me163 Komet

[mostrich]

Your delicate filling work is so tidy and accurate. Those things make the difference at the end.

[speedgraflex]

No worries, John! Building mojo is most important!

[jkim]

Your delicate filling work is so tidy and accurate. Those things make the difference at the end.

Thanks Torben! Milliput with water is a great for delicate fill work. Sometimes all you need to do is smooth out the "floor" of the glue seam without totally filling it and Milliput is ideal for that scenario.

No worries, John! Building mojo is most important!

It's normally not the most important part of the build but I did embark on this one specifically to re-ignite my modeling motivation. Therefore, I've tried to keep the build on a more simple path.

[Stuart]

Fabulous work so far John!

[jkim]

A bit more work on the Komet... instead of the kit-supplied gunsight or the one included in the Aires resin cockpit, I chose to use a Quickboost Revi-16 gunsight. The optical glass is cut from a sheet of clear packaging with the edges of the front element painted in transparent blue/green.


The mounting base from the clear kit part was grafted onto the bottom of the resin gunsight. There are visible stress marks on the transparent armored glass... I have an extra transparent sprue courtesy of Meng customer service so I'll probably utilize it to fix this issue.


I've decided to glue in the side windows at this point and then mask them off for painting. I REALLY don't like Meng's choice to mold the windows and canopy WITHOUT the surrounding frame. It makes for a tricky and most likely noticeable glue joint.



And as previously mentioned, the three-part set of panels along the top spine were glued together instead of trying to glue them in separately later.


Hopefully this strategy will net a neater result but it's hard to stay at this dry-fitting stage.

[keavdog]

Whoa - that's a lot of filler and sanding.

[KSaarni]

Looking good John!

Interesting to see, how you will deal with the frameless canopy and windows.

- Kari

[Handiabled]

Looks great so far and love the detail. Looks like you have your work cut out for you with seams on this one

[jkim]

Thanks guys!

Whoa - that's a lot of filler and sanding.

Hmmm... actually, there really isn't much filler. There IS a large amount of light grey around the upper wing roots but that is just grey primer that was sprayed when I glued in the cannon bay covers and wasn't sanded off.

Another shot of the gun sight after replacing one of the armored glass plates. I also had to reverse the gun sight as I had glued it on BACKWARDS. Funny how many Revi 16 gunsights I've installed and how normal the backward one looked to me even when reviewing the photo. I must've have some sort of visual dyslexia.

[jkim]

Here is the two-part canopy. The clear part, dipped in Future to enhance clarity, has been glued onto the canopy frame by carefully seeping Tamiya Extra Thin into the seam. I'd much rather have this molded as a single clear piece like almost any other manufacturer would have done. Why reinvent the wheel?