Bare metal ME 262 question

[Guest]

Hi all.

Steve sent me some pix of 262's that wew not painted yet with some very interesting grey/brown putty over the seams. I think it may be a cool sceeme to do.

Here is the question. The kit I have is the Tamiya 1/48 262 bomber version.

Were those ever flown in bare metal (having no time to paint them) or were the german war effort still OK when they were being built.

If they were painted, could the fighter bomber be built as the fighter? what external differences are there ecxept for the bombracks?

Thanx

Theuns

[stona]

Hi Theuns,I'll be home on Thursday and will check for unpainted bombers then. I can't remember any but that doesn't mean they didn't exist

Externally the two versions were the same though some (not all) fighter bomber versions didn't carry all four cannon in the nose. .

I can give some more precise answers when I get to my books rather than relying on my dodgy memory!

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

An interesting question.

I built my 1/72 Me 262 and finished it off in NMF. I found it very hard filling the panel lines with putty, but leaving some unfilled wouldn't have looked right......I did try painting them but it looked crapola. It's still sitting in the box unfinished

[stona]

An interesting question. I built my 1/72 Me 262 and finished it off in NMF. I found it very hard filling the panel lines with putty, but leaving some unfilled wouldn't have looked right......I did try painting them but it looked crapola. It's still sitting in the box unfinished

It is a difficult thing to replicate in 1/72 scale. The putty was fairly roughly applied but was then sanded to give a reasonably smooth airframe.

When painted normally it became invisible (sorry pre-shaders!) but many late war production aircraft had a very thin coat of camouflage laquer and the putty remained visible (good for the pre-shaders!). A few,like the examples referred to by Theuns didn't get painted at all.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

So to be scale correct then, one needs to putty and sand the whole airframe smooth sothat no pannels are actually visable! This is starting to sound like a bad idea, ecpecially in silver that show up all you mistakes. Maybe I should rethink this one....

Theuns

[stona]

So to be scale correct then, one needs to putty and sand the whole airframe smooth sothat no pannels are actually visable! This is starting to sound like a bad idea, ecpecially in silver that show up all you mistakes. Maybe I should rethink this one....Theuns

All the joints between skins were either taped and puttied or just puttied and then sanded smooth prior,normally,to painting.

If you take a close look at any painted Me 262 you will struggle to see a panel line except around removeable access panels.

Allied reports often say that a lot of putty was used as some panels didn't fit that well. Some were screwed rather than riveted on and allied engineers noted that they were not interchangeable between aircraft,i.e. they were drilled and screwed in situ and the holes would not line up if an attempt was made to fit the panel to another airframe!

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Very interesting, I was under the impresion that german engineering was perfect even in the late stages of the war.

Theuns

[stona]

Very interesting, I was under the impresion that german engineering was perfect even in the late stages of the war.Theuns

Far from it. Standards fell considerably. There were frequent reports of bad manufacture,lack of reliability,poor surface finish and even sabotage.

Late war allied assesments of German aircraft make quite a contrast to earlier ones in which the allied engineers are usually very complimentary about the high quality of the design and construction of aircraft.

Cheers

Steve

[stona]

Theuns I've had a quick check and can only say that these aircraft,left in bare metal,were few and far between.

The story of the best known one is pretty typical. W.Nr 111711,an Me 262 A-1a (Jabo),was flown into allied hands at Rhein-Main by defecting test pilot Uffz. Hans Fay on 30/3/45. Fay was one of 22 pilots assigned to ferry Schwabisch-Hall built Me 262s to Memmingen to prevent their capture. This would explain its unfinished state. This was also the aircraft's first flight! Fay initially set course for his parents' home at Lachen-Speydorf but carried on to Frankfurt Rhein-Main when he had difficulty with the undercarriage.

I haven't found a single photograph of an Me 262 in front line service uncamouflaged.

Cheers

Steve

[flyjoe180]

There are a few unfinished ME262s without paint (including an underside shot in flight) on this site: Interpreting Military Aircraft Camouflage from Historical Records

[stona]

Hi Joe,The last three shots are all W.Nr. 111711 and all were taken in the US post war.

It is not unusual to find partially assembled or otherwise incomplete aircraft,largely unpainted,particularly around the production/assembly facilities, but it seems that those that entered service received at least a rudimentary camouflage.It was probably a condition of acceptance by the BAL/Luftwaffe.

Don't forget that when an aircraft was accepted their were all sorts of legal implications (even in nazi Germany) related to change of ownership,guarantees and payments to the manufacturer.Anything deemed incomplete or sub-standard would not be accepted.

As an aside "re-manufactured" airframes generated mountains of paper work relating to their value,which parts were still guaranteed and so on.

Cheers

Steve