Hi everyone!

Here is my work in progress for this rare plane, my first entry at this Great WiP GB!

The Messerschmitt Me 261 Adolfine was a long-range reconnaissance aircraft designed in the late 1930s. It looked like an enlarged version of the Messerschmitt Bf 110. It was not put into production; just three Me 261s were built and used primarily for testing and development purposes.

The kit is vacform with resin detail parts and vacform transparencies. It is my first, and so far the only one, vac kit.

Got this as a present from a friend a dozen years ago. Started it immediately, cutting and gluing the vac parts together. Quite soon I had them put together. Then the kit was left aside, as I had to move to my new house, then my lovely kids arrived, so restarted it about a year ago. Not having experience with vac kits, I ran into some difficulties, mainly dealing with the fact that I had to reinforce the glued vac structure gluing styrene pieces inside, resulting in sink marks which, after reworking, resultin in some holes that had to be refilled and all of this resulted in an endless circle madness. It was all my fault, and I think this is a very good vac kit.

Anyway, my "nothing thrown away" complex personality resulted in persisting with this kit. I put it together as best as I could.

Wheel wells plain looks were augmented by supergluing two pieces of plastic mesh.

Gave it an RLM 70/71/65 camo, deciding to finish it as "V2" (BJ+CQ) prototype. It is of interest that although the "V1" and "V2" were lookalikes, the "V3" had quite a different layout, especially from the mid fuselage and backwards (it also had different engines, but that was not so obvious).

Cockpit and wheel wells are RLM02.

The two under engine chin intakes, not provided by the kit, were fabricated by Qtip stems and glued into positions

Also, not provided by the kit are the two prominent wing intakes (oil coolers I think...) under the wings. Those were fabricated by sheet styrene and streched sprue.

The cockpit is still under construction/detailing, as it is quite visible through the vacanopy.

Prepared the resin stuff, including the separate piece propellers, which are keyed, the wheels, the exhausts etc.

Yesterday I glued the four resin exhausts and touched up the camo at a few spots.

The few existing photos are used as reference to detail the kit.

I know the looks leave a lot to be desired, but I will try to make it as presentable as I can.

Hope you like it, so far.

All the best, my friends!

8 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Signed in already @airbum! Thanks!

Vacuum, that is entirely new to me. Looks like a real challenge.
Your progress seems promising.

Thanks @JohnB! From what I start to understand, vac kits are demanding to the point that some issues regarding parts preparation and follow on structural assembly rigidity have to he addressed. Other than that, they are your typical "short run" kits.
Cheers, my friend!

Tonight I gave the exhausts a burned metal coat and applied the decals. Mr Mark Softer takes care of them now...

Thanks George @gblair! Canopy has been carefully cut from its sheet and let rest on its supposing place. As you can see, fit is...um, there's no fit at all! I was expecting such a case, since this a vac and is my first vac. We' ll see what will be done.

As for the vacanopies, I'm more against than for them. It's my opinion (and I admit that I' ve seen masterpieces with unbelievable crystal clear clarity, letting you see everything), but I find them difficult to cut from their sheet, to paint and to fit. As they cannot be sanded, if required, to fit smoothly to their position, in such case you cut and bend, which means good luck! Vacanopies also usually yellow with time.

I persist with the styrene ones, polishing them, futuring them, using vacs only when I have no alternative.

All the best!

7 attached images. Click to enlarge.

A brave undertaking indeed! Looking great @fiveten.

I will follow with interest - perhaps someone will be able to gather a thread somewhere appropriate on how-to-install these canopies?

This vacanopy is pretty clear and a lot can be seen in the cockpit, so I decided to improve/add some more detail.

There's neither dashboard top cover, nor rear bulkhead. The empty spaces were painted black to hide the offending emptiness, but I don't like it. Will try to fabricate thes from sheet styrene.

As regards the dome, it is impossible to open the hole under it, as there are reinforcement styrene rods running under it. So I painted the area black. Doesn't look that bad, could even be regarded as "passable".

All the best!

1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

Thanks @airbum! I might finish leaving the rear cockpit area just flat black after all. Unless I find a photo of that area...
All the best!