Salamanders

 

 

FROG's dark green color is difficult to photograph 

Left is Lindberg's figure, right one is FROG. 

Just two figures 

Planet Models and Hobby Boss both had almost ready fuselage block. 

Resin is laborious 

Some bubble filling with plastic rods and CA-glue 

Checking the fit of upper cockpit and canopy for Planet Models. 

 

Wings for Hobby Boss  

Black primer. Also checked the wing assembly for Planet Models. 

Short-run kit needs a lot of work... Reminds me from Bell X-2 with similar cockpit construction 

Parts need lots of fitting 

 

Fuselage needs lots of cleansing 

Landing gear had to be checked. 

More assembly and fitting before painting and putting fuselage parts together. 

Made all four AZ models' instrument panels because they were using decals. 

Parts for three remaining AZ models Salamanders' interior. 

 

First AZ model Salamander (becoming A-2 variant) ready for closing fuselage. 

Planet Models and Hobby Boss cockpits painted. Hobby Boss doesn't shine with details. 

Lots of fixing is needed for the bad fit. 

AZ model cockpit is acceptable but not perfect. 

Pilots for Revell/FROG and Lindberg ready! 

SH kit fuselage fits exactly the best available drawing by MBI Publications (c) Michal Bratáč 2003 

 

FROG fuselage fits well to the shape of older He-162 drawing. 

Raised panel lines are a big minus. 

Dragon kit's fuselage doesn't fit well on anything. It is closer to the older drawing. 

Panel lines follow the older drawing exactly. 

Lindberg's fuselage seems to have the length right and most proportions, but it is higher than should be. 

Many panel lines seems to be improvised +the raised rivets! 

AZ Model kit seems to have the worst shape. 

 

SH and AZ 

SH and AZ 

SH and FROG 

SH and FROG. Notice the curved main landing gear bay hole! 

SH and Lindberg

 

SH and Lindberg 

SH and Dragon 

SH and Dragon 

SH and Dragon 

FROG's engine inlet being smoothed before gluing. 

FROG kit is lacking the compressor of the engine, so I casted a new one from an AZ kit part. Mold made using Blue Stuff. 

Planet models' cockpit is so good but lacking gunsight, so I scratched that quickly. Also it should be sanded smooth now. 

Lindberg and FROG are gettin color inside. Also lead weights added. 

Lindberg fuselage and wings joined. 

 

FROG fuselage halves joined 

Dragon kit's cockpit started. Nice details, but the plastic is very soft. 

Planet models got its canopy installled. 

I had to make main landing gear bay comparison. AZ kit has identical (probably copied) parts from Dragon kit.  

 

Dragon's landing gears are tricky. 

 

AZ-model's left inner "gun barrel" is not lined well with outside muzzle hole. 

Three other AZ-models (versions A-9, C and D) progressing simultaneously. 

fixing nozzle seam line. 

 

AZ-kits need a lot of putty. 

The landing gear bay of Dragon kit is too narrow for the fuselage 

Fit in SH-kit is pretty good. 

Dragon kit cockpit was lacking side panels, so I scratched them. Forgot to take the picture before painting... 

Special Hobby and Dragon kits' interiors painted and varnished. 

I suddenly remembered that the gun barrels need to be improved. 

Dragon got the Master's brass barrels. For the SH-kit I used injection needles. 

Dragon got Eduard's photo-etched pre-painted belts while SH got its own decal belts. SH-kit didn't have nose gear window so I drilled a hole for it and filled it with Micro Kristal Klear. 

Dragon fuselage halves finally joined. 

Special Hobby fuselage halves finally joined. 

Some cockpits are not completed yet, but at least all are taking shape with joined fuselages. 

After smoothing the seams the panel lines needs to be scribed again on AZ model kits. 

Dragon's model will have an open canopy. The clear part is a bit too wide, or I squeezed the fuselage too narrow. 

SH got Eduard's masks while AZ model's mask is self-made. 

Planet models' Jumo 004 -jet. 

Pretty bad fit. Lots of thin black CA glue. 

HobbyBoss' BMW 003 -jet 

Dragon got this lower part that imitates cartridge ejecting holes. 

 

Hobbyboss' jet intake needs some black CA-glue to fill gaps.  

Now all AZ models have a canopy. 

HobbyBoss' Salamander got its jet 

Dragon's engine parts on the left and SH's on the right. SH's parts are more accurate. 

These two cooling air intake scoops looked bad due the molding restrictions... 

... so I made new ones from a styrene sheet. 

Dragon's BMW 003 will be visible (open cowling) while SH's engine is basic closed. I figured to add wires for exhaust temperature sensors from 0,2mm lead wire. 

FROG's wings coming up. Two-piece wings needed lots of putty. 

AZ-model's A-2 got its wings, but the trailing edge has a huge gap. 

 

 

Engines take some time so I started to add wings. 

Dragon's BMW got its exhaust nozzle... 

...that had huge gaps between the nozzle and the engine frame. It is fixed now with 0,2mm styrene sheet. 

 

AZ's C-variant's wings don't have excellent fit. 

AZ's D-variant has good enough fit , but aligning of the wings is mediocore. 

Just realized that wings should be added before engine. Fortunately the SH-kit has so good fit that I could add the engine lastly. 

Everyone has wings 

Dragon's elevator's span is too wide so I got an idea of using AZ Model kit's elevator, that is almost direct copy but has correct span. 

AZ Model's A-2 got also its H-tail. It was very laborious. 

C-model got the first V-tail. 

Special Hobby's H-tail was the easiest and the most accurate. 5/5. No need for any putty. 

Tail comparison. 

Plastic strips added to the AZ kits. 

Simple cardboard stands for every model. 

 

Lindberg 

Dragon 

FROG/Revell 

HobbyBoss 

Planet Models A-8 

Special Hobby 

AZ model A-2 

AZ model A-9 

AZ model C-version 

AZ model D-version 

HobbyBoss will be painted first as a practice. Here pre-shading. 

I'm painting it French and testing AK's 3rd gen paint. Putting some dark yellow on "wooden" parts was a mistake. 

4 layers of blue and brush-painted black on the engine. 

Few details painted, first protective varnish layer and decals. 

I made a small mistake with Print scale decal sheet No. 72-247. It has French decals but only for the gray/bare metal No.1. The blue Salamander that I wanted to paint was No. 3. As a solution I printed myself these rudder text. 

Lindberg got black primer. For FROG I wanted to test gray primer, that I made mixing black and white. I'm using Vallejo's Acrylic-Polyurethane primers. 

Adding fuel dumping nozzle on Dragon. 

Adding fuel dumping nozzle on SH kit. 

Lindberg getting color. 

Splitter camo. 

Masks off 

FROG is being painted with A.MIG🤔 paints... 

Literal violet brown. 

Stall strips added on Dragon kit. SH-kit already has them. 

RLM76 under the AZ model A-2 

Masking upside and painting. 

AZ Models's A-2 painted with AK's acrylics. Maybe best RLM81 compared to Vallejo and especially A.mig. 

Dragon's BMW 003 engine needed more details and I wanted to be careful with the pipes. I took a picture of the model part, compared to the real engine and drew missing parts. 

Some small plastic parts added and some metal ones. 

1/3 of the wiring done. 

I wanted some heavy weathering with a dot filter. I'm using white, yellow and green. 

Landing gears in their places. 

Removing masks were not so simple as it usually is, because my liquid mask got stuck like a contact glue. After some quick research I tried to remove it with blue tack and it worked! No need for any solvents. 

Just when I thought the model would be ready it turned out to be tail heavy... My "quick" fix was to add tungsten balls into front wheel bay and the cockpit. The total weight of the balls was approx 2,5 grams. 

Canopy back in place and the Hobby Boss Volksjäger is ready! 

 

 

Lindberg is ready soon! Decals applied from Printscale sheet. 

I'm pushing this forward by weathering the landing gear after they have been glued in place. 

This model already had some lead weights in the nose, but it wasn't enough! >🙁 I had to add two tungsten balls into the nose gear bay. 

Lindberg Volksjäger is ready! 

 

 

Frog got decals from Printscale ark. 

I forgot that Frog's own decal sheet was decent with stencils so I added them, 

AZ model A-2 variant got its own decals. 

Similarly to Lindberg I just added black panel liner, then matt varnish and lastly removed masks. 

 

 

AZ-model's landing gear coming up. The main landing gear struts were removed from the sprue, smoothed and then glued into a sprue for easier painting. 

Planet models is getting more paint. Aluminium surfaces were masked with tape and Revell's liquid mask. 

I took a gamble and painted the AZ model A-9 with new AK's acrylic primer. It seems to be mask proof but it easily scratches. 

Added Vallejo's primers and preshading. 

AZ model's landing gears are very tricky. 

 

Blue tack supporting the glueing of the landing gear doors. 

AZ Model A-9 is getting wild colors. 

Some yellow in A-9. 

Planet model's A-8 got its main colors and the masks were removed (not from canopy ofcourse). 

"Seam line putty" added with brush onto A-8. 

AZ model A-2 is completed! 

 

 

This Whiffie He 162 A-9 will have box-art look like it belonged to JV44. 

1mm tapes placed using blue tape as a gauge. 

Masks off after airbrushing red. 

 

Planet Models' landing gear is a straight copy from Dragon's kit. 

A-8 and A-9 both got decals. In the background the AZ model's C-model had black primer and aluminium paint. It will be a bit similar to A-8. 

Now I noticed that the landing gear doors of AZ model don't fit in their place. 

As a resin kit Planet Models' A-8 is very tail heavy even though I added some lead weight into the nose gear bay... 

C-type progressing and I'm planning some templates for plywood decals. 

AZ model C-type getting a lot of masking for a reason. 

Most mask off for C-type. 

Planet Models' A-8 is ready! 

 

 

AZ model D-type got grey primer that was a mix of Vallejo's black and white primer. 

C-type was painted, then gloss varnish and then experimental plywood decals. 

 

 

 

All plywood decals in place. Fit wasn't always perfect. 

AZ model D-type being masked. 

Some experimental pre-shading. 

C-type got its decals and D-type is getting more colors. 

A-9 getting its under carriage. 

 

D-type mostly painted and masks removed. 

I messed up with C-type. I had applied "filter" on top of plywood decals and then I put masking tape on them for some minor fix. Decals are intack but the "filter" got peeled off. 

AZ model A-9 is ready! 

 

 

AZ model C- and D-type getting their landing gears. Hopefully these will be finished tomorrow. 

AZ model C- and D-type are completed! 

 

All AZ model's Salamanders in the same picture. 

 

SH and Dragon got Mr.Surfacer 1000 sanded and then some preshading. 

RLM76 underside
 

Masking with tape and Revell's liquid mask. 

Dragon got Vallejo's RLM82, and SH got AK's RLM81 V2 

 

Masking SH kit 

I was suspicious towards the idea of using decals for the nose stripes, so I painted them. I sacrificed one Printscale's stripe decal for mask making. 

More misuse of decals as masks 😄 

Most decals added. Stencils are mostly missing. Decals are mix of SH's, Dragon's and Printscale decals. 

Awful and strange disaster happened, when Humbrol Decalfix stripped some paint. It is fixed now. 

BMW 003 for Dragon kit has progressed. 

Left is Dragon kit's front landing gear, right one is Special Hobby's. 

Weathering ongoing and SH's model is getting landing gears. They fit nicely. 

Brake cable is added lead wire. 

Again the model was too backweighted, but luckily I could add some tungsten weights from the engine hole.. 

Dragon's model also needed more nose weight. I could add some tungsten weights inside to the nose before adding the nose gear. 

On top there is the landing gear door from Dragon's kit and below the SH's one. 

Landing gears are in place 

Landing gears are in place, weathering is done and also matt varnish applied. So it is time for engine installation. 

Dragon's canopy masking worked well. 

Canopy support rod was stolen from SH kit because the Dragon's PE-part was too flimsy. 

Special Hobby's and Dragon's Volksjägers are completed! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All together