Michael @michaelt, this was an amazing full report on the Dragon kit. I loved reading it and found it most useful. It also shows your quality approach and affection.
Thanks for sharing!

Hobby Boss Me 262A-1a/U3:

Something was niggling me during the build of this aircraft that became more apparent when it came to painting and decaling the nose, in particular the dark rectangular section and the white 25.
When compared to photos of the actual aircraft, the rear of camera fairings seemed to sit too low on the fuselage side.
Below is a head on shot of the kit with an outline that I traced around a head-on photo of the same aircraft from the JaPo book. The perspective is close but not quite the same, with the view point of the real aircraft being slightly lower.
Nevertheless, it is evident that the fairings on the real aircraft sat much higher, and are somewhat deeper on section than those on the kit.
It is possible that the fairings on the kit represent those intended for the definitive Me 262A-5. In the book M3 262 Volume Two by J. Richard Smith and Eddie Creek (Classic Publications), they briefly describe the Me 262A-5 as having fairings that were "although larger, these were slimmer and more streamlined than those fitted to the earlier provisional variant" (Me 262A-1a/U3). An accompanying line drawing shows no difference between the two, however.
Photos of the real aircraft also show that a line taken from the forward point to rear point of the fairing rises where on the kit this line is flat, meaning that the rear of the fairing is too low. On the real aircraft the rear fairing is on level with the bottom of the forward curve of the '2', while on the kit it is about half way up the 2. So, when it came to placing this decal, I couldn't align the 2 with the fairing without the 25 being far too low.
So, what does this mean?
It is a pity that Hobby Boss made a few shape errors on this kit (or mislabelled it as a Me 262A-1a/U3 rather than a Me 262A-5), but it is still a great kit and it looks like a reconnaissance Me 262.
If the shape errors bother you, I noticed CMK make (or made) a conversion set for the Tamiya kit.

1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

Final summary on the Hobby Boss Me 262A-1a/U3:
– The kit is a mix of Me 232A-1a/U3 (interim recon version) and Me 262A-5 (projected production recon version - I previously called this the Me 262A-4, which was actually the original designation for the Me 262A-1a/U3);

• Me 262A-1a/U3: some were armed with a single MK 108 canon in nose with projecting blast tube and this is included on fuselage parts.
• Me 262A-5: was to be armed with two MK 108 canon in lower nose gun and ports are moulded on fuselage halves and instructions have you add the MK 108s.
• I removed all armament for the version I built.
  – Camera ports under nose are solid and incorrect shape. These could be covers that were intended for the Me 262A-5. I corrected them.
  – The camera bay has basic detail, but I closed the covers.
  – The aerodynamic fairings over the camera bays are an incorrect shape and sit a little too low. However, I didn’t realise this until too late and I doubt that I would have attempted to fix them if I had seen it earlier.
  – The kit has internal parts for the rear fuselage and open access panel so you can view some of the detail. It includes: the main compass, radio boxes and mounting frame and oxygen bottles and mounting frame.
  – No seatbelts are included so I used after-market etched belts.
  – Decals are included for the instrument panel.
  – While the kit includes a white metal nose gear bay to prevent tail sitting, this is barely sufficient and a knock or less than flat surface will have the aircraft on its tail – I recommend that you add more weight here.
  – The fit of the parts are generally very good and any problems encountered were probably my fault.
  – Unlike the Dragon kit, the undercarriage and associated covers are very well engineered.
  – As for the Dragon kit, I added a short section of thin copper wire to the rear canopy and attached aerial wire using Infini Model Fine (0.082mm) Aero Black Rigging line.

Colours:
Overall RLM 76 Light Blue with a first scribble of RLM 82 Bright Green and a second scribble of RLM 81 Brown-Violet.
The patch under the 25 is RLM 82 Dark Green, forward engine covers in a lightened RLM 76 and rear pore engine section in RLM 02 Grey-Green.
The JaPo book includes a photo of this aircraft being flown post-war with its new name on its nose but with full German national markings retained. A second later photo shows the under wing national markings over painted with a light colour, for which I used a lightened RLM 76, and the tail swastika painted out with a dark colour, for which I used RLM 71 Dark Green.
This second photo shows that the American star-and-bars insignia were applied directly over the fuselage crosses. I chose to do the same for the port upper wing but decided to overspray the starboard upper wing marking (actually, I masked this and then over-sprayed) with the lightened RLM 76.
(I will post final photos on this site soon).

Tamiya Me 262A-1a:
– Kit includes a nicely detailed gun bay and alternative open/closed gun bay covers.
– Decal seatbelts are included but I used after-market belts instead.
– Decals are provided for the instrument panel.
– The kit includes white metal nose gear bay and, unlike the Hobby Boss kit, this is enough weight to prevent tail sitting.
– Fit of parts is very good and any difficulties I had were my fault for not following the instructions.
– Unlike the Dragon kit, the undercarriage and associated covers are very well engineered.
– As for the Dragon and Hobby Boss kits, I added a short section of thin copper wire to the rear canopy and attached aerial wire using Infini Model Fine (0.082mm) Aero Black Rigging line.

Colours:
This scheme is documented in detail in the JaPo book. I purchased the edition which included a 1/48 scale decal sheet for this and nine other Me 262s.
It is a standard RLM 81 Brown-Violet and RLM 82 Bright Green over RLM 76 Light Blue.
Over this is sprayed streaks of a mix of RLM 76 and RLM 02 Grey-Green (about 50:50) and these are then darkened by spraying thin lines of RLM 82 Dark Green.
The nose on this aircraft is a replacement and was painted is a patchy mottle of RLM 81 Brown-Violet and RLM 82 Bright Green over RLM 02.
The inner starboard flap is also a replacement painted RLM 02.
The fuselage band was masked and painted RLM 21 White and RLM 24 Blue.

Thank you for the research Michael - great stuff for us to keep in mind when the urge to build any of these pops up! It has been a pleasure to follow your progress, thank you for sharing.

Great triple build. Beautiful result and many thanks for posting your findings.

Ironically after all this I'm inclined to go with the old Monogram kit. Until Hobby Boss stops sprinkling random rivets without paying attention to their references, I won't touch their models with a ten-foot pole. All three kits appear to be less accurate than the Monogram one, which is my #1 priority. With the filled-in panel lines of the original, reworking the Monogram features will possibly be easiest to, and money not spent on the kit (it's dirt cheap) can be invested into after-market goodies. Either that or wait till Eduard does one 🙂