Hi Louis. Hope you have a great Memorial Day.

To add to your book collection, I have this terrific book that is packed with just beautiful profile paintings and great 262 detail.

I found this illustration of the S1 variant in overall RLM 76, not a common bird at all.

Really enjoying this WiP (despite being a 'filler'), and looking forward to the journey.

Thanks Pedro for the compliments. This model has been a real joy to build !
I found out that the early "S" planes had holes in the nose section for 4 cannon openings. This particular kit didn't have that. Instead it came supplied with the two gun openings in the nose.

The kit I am building came with two MK 108 30MM cannons. There was also a difference in how the spent casing ejector chutes were, between the "early" and "later" versions of the 262.

I have two other Tamiya 262 kits in the stash, so out of curiosity I opened one up.

Lucky for me it has the 4 gun nose and associated spent casing ejector chutes. However, I don't know if these are the proper "early" ones or not... Plus I don't have any pictures, (and haven't found any online) showing the "S" version with the nose bay opened up. I can't tell if they had two guns installed or four. On occasion, even though the plane had the 4 gun openings, they sometimes only carried the two lower ones.

So after some thought, I decided to not open the nose section. So I took the 4 gun opening from the other Tamiya kit for use in this build.

I really don't know just yet if I want to add a lot of details to the main gear bays or not. You're correct, from a book I have that shows some good detail pictures of this area, it does appear to have an off silver effect, with a light tint to it. This could be the result of time and aging, or even accumulation of dust and old grease...

From what I can see in the photos which are color pictures taken from "Black X", it appears that the fuselage stringers and areas that were riveted received a light coat of RLM 02 as a protective measure.

The rest of the areas were natural unpainted metal.

I appreciate the offer for the photos, but at this point I don't know if I will add any more details other than what is provided in the kit.

Thanks again !

Wow, Louis some photos of sprues and technical details and then 'boom' you drop this sensational cockpit - absolutely beautiful!
'All killer, no filler'.

Then it was time to start on the wings... 🙂

These parts fit just as nicely as the fuselage parts did. Not gaps, no fuss, no muss...

I gave them a test fit onto the fuselage... Lo and behold, the fit was spot on with the very first try. So out came the bottle of liquid glue... Which thankfully I did not spill on the plane this time...

Here's how the fit is on the underside... Again it's perfect. I'm not bragging by any means, it's just this kit is this good. They did their homework with the fit ... My only concern is the kit has the leading edge slats molded in place in the closed position... These would normally be deployed open when the plane was parked, simply due to gravity like they did on the 109...

Here's a close up of the details under the pilots cockpit tub... The oil wash has yet to be applied.

Next up was getting the 4 gun nose panel and cannon bay covers ready to install... Here the elevators and rudder have been added.

Then I decided to build up the engine nacelles, but wanted to leave the ends open so I could glue them in place from the inside. It just makes a neater looking build... and they fit great too...

Here you can see the underside of the plane now that most of the big parts have been done. The box is starting to look bare. 🙂

This last photo shows the main landing gear bay and the bottom side of the cockpit tub with the engines added... I am very pleased with how this one is going together... I hope to have it done very soon.

Thanks for following along so far,

and as usual,
"comments are encouraged"

Good night my friends.

Thing looks stinking' deadly...even in miniature and 70+ years later...

Nice job, Lou. Really remarkable how you put your hand to stuff.

Wow a WIp within a WIP Louis, the 1/1 scale Challenger is one to watch. 4 spd car, coupe or a rare convertible. Really can't wait when you start showing a little more on this project. LOL. Back to the 262. It seems like on these Tamiya kits, once you get past the cockpit details, they go together quite quickly. The engineering despite the extra bits on the newer kits, you just apply some liquid cement attach and done, on to the next part to install. This one ready for some colors now. Next let see how you approach your paint session. At this point on mine I first mask the canopy and then paint the interior color on the framing. Then pre-shade the panel lines. Looking forward to your technique.

Chuck,
You pretty much nailed the next few steps on the 262. The only difference is that I have never sprayed pre shading on the panel lines on any of my builds. Not that I have not thought about it, I just have never tried to. This build would probably have been a great candidate for the technique though. Maybe I'll try it out on the next monotone light color plane I build. Perhaps the Monogram He-111 ? The overall RLM 79 may benefit from it...

Thanks for the compliments and this can be a Build within a build.

Yes the Challenger I'm restoring will be 440 car with a pistol grip 4 speed transmission. It started out life with a 318 small block V-8, but I replaced it with a pretty nasty big block. It will eventually get painted in a Bright red trimmed in black with a black interior. I'll toss in a picture of the progress from time to time.

Here's a few recent pictures of the Challenger progress for you.

This picture shows the car on its way to my friends body shop. We were taking the car off the frame rail jig and placing it on my rotisserie. My friend wanted to use the jig so I lent it to him. He has a 1970 Challenger sitting on it now. In this picture, it is sitting on the yellow frame rail jig that I built for it to keep things squared as welding was done.

Since it's a unibody car, the body's sheet metal has to be in alignment since the suspension is keyed from this. If it's not straight, the car could end up going down the road a little crooked... and the other body panels will not fit properly... not good.

Here's how it looks when we brought it back home. Now it's on the rotisserie and is ready for some minor body work to get it perfectly straight before painting. What I mean by "body work" is nothing major. All of that work has already been done.

I'm talking about getting the body panels to fit proper, and block sanding the car to make sure that all of the body lines are laser straight, and the body is nice and flat with perfect gaps between the panels.

Here I am test fitting the new rear bumper. It fit perfectly and I think that it is because the car was welded on the jig. This kept things squared, and is paying off big time now. After test fitting the rear bumper, I re bolted the back half of the car back on the rotisserie.

Thanks again buddy. I'm really looking forward to seeing your Betty come to life. It's a great choice for a new project.