Me-163 build

[Shoelace]

What an amazing form for a plane. Looks mean as hell.

 

[Doc J]

Nice PSS project.

Must be a bit relaxing after cutting and stippling countless yards of carbon and glass for the Impulse!

Love the model and they fly well - at least the 36" balsa version Imade many years ago did. Had a roll rate like a DeWalt drill. Not sure how effective the rudder will be. Probably more of a waggle than a yaw I do remember the wing can be stalled to give a very safe nose up mushy landing.

I did mine in some kind of red colur scheme. Was there such? or was it me with a bit of red paint to use up?

Looking forward to the maiden(s)

Doc - in Darkest China.

 

[Shoelace]

I didn't know K&A made one of these, and it looks like they may still be making some of their kits??

I was looking at their site... It seems to be pretty old and hasn't been updated in a while. No prices on their planes... Is there a new updated version where it looks that they're selling them? There's an ARF glider on there that looks really sweet that could be interesting.

 

[thenated0g]

I remember the hobbyking one (powered) had takeoff wheels and you had a bomb drop servo to drop the wheels after takeoff. And it had the spot in back for a estes rocket i think?

 

[Red]

Nice PSS project.

Must be a bit relaxing after cutting and stippling countless yards of carbon and glass for the Impulse!

Love the model and they fly well - at least the 36" balsa version Imade many years ago did. Had a roll rate like a DeWalt drill. Not sure how effective the rudder will be. Probably more of a waggle than a yaw I do remember the wing can be stalled to give a very safe nose up mushy landing.

I did mine in some kind of red colur scheme. Was there such? or was it me with a bit of red paint to use up?

Looking forward to the maiden(s)

Doc - in Darkest China.

Yeah I’m enjoying the month off from Impulse, truth be told though I’m looking forward to getting back at it pretty soon.

I’m hoping the -163 flys well, I’ve always loved it. There indeed is a red one! I’m sure the rudder won’t do much but it’s fun. I’m really looking forward to painting this one and attempting to weather it. The section is a bit thick as it was designed as a powered model, but it’s light so I hope it flies well.

 

[Red]

I remember the hobbyking one (powered) had takeoff wheels and you had a bomb drop servo to drop the wheels after takeoff. And it had the spot in back for a estes rocket i think?

Yeah missed out on that one. It indeed had a rocket mount.

 

[Red]

Well I’m short a couple hinge points for the rudder, but other than that it’s built and ready to start the painting process. I won’t bond the glazing in until after it’s all painted.

I’ll try the LHS, but I may be stuck ordering something. On to the next one!

 

[Mucksmear]

That’s some nice surface detail on the fuse aft of the cockpit! Looking forward to the paint!

 

[Red]

That’s some nice surface detail on the fuse aft of the cockpit! Looking forward to the paint!

I've been watching some plastic model painting videos for tips lol. Should be fun to try.

 

[Red]

Got the rudder hinged and servo tray bonded in. That completes the mechanical part of the build other than setting the CG.

I sprayed some color on the bottom side. The actual color is supposed to be RLM Duck Egg Blue. I don’t have any decent shops around that carry plastic model paints, so I’m making due. This is not a scale competition build anyway, I think it is close enough. Once the shading and weathering is done that will help. I need to work on finding a couple suitable greens for the top side.

 

[Red]

Got some color on the top side now. I’ll add some dark grey for camo, then flat clear over the whole thing before markings and weathering.

 

[Hill Hobbit]

I like the rudder linkage Red, I’ve been thinking about getting a Magnus and putting a rudder on it using a closed loop system. I hate stuff out in the breeze though, so you’ve just given me some inspiration!

 

[Red]

All the base colors are down now, but I’m not happy. The junk Rustoleum wrinkled all over the green and grey. So that sucks. I really don’t want to sand it off because I will lose all the panel line surface detail. So at this point I’m going to let it dry for a week or so, then it will get a flat clear. I will then paint the rest of the markings and it will get a healthy dose of weathering. It will be a 10 footer for sure!

 

[Wayne]

Sorry to hear that. She looks really good in the photo.. Sounds like a good solution.

 

[Red]

I sprayed the whole thing with flat clear today. Luckily no further wrinkles. Next it’s time to add markings then I weather it up.

I’m drawing the bar crosses in CAD along with the other markings. Then I’ll cut them out of masking film on my cheapo eBay vinyl cutter and use my airbrush to paint them on.

 

[Wayne]

Looks great!!

 

[Red]

Looping back to this one, I began with adding the bar crosses. I cut masks from vinyl masking film with my sticker cutter. The turned out just OK. The masking is a little thicker than I would like, so no matter how well I pressed it down it wanted to lift where the previous wrinkles were. Even with heat. But I got them painted and again I plan to hide everything with lots of weathering.

 

[Doc J]

Very scaley, Red - are you going to keep it as a sloper or bung a 'lectric motor in front?

(Slo-per! slo-per! slo-per!)

Makes me think of the DeHavilland (My original company beieve it or not) Swallow a bit, though that had a jet engine. Hmm that might make a nice simple PSS too.

Great work!

Doc.

 

[Red]

Getting back around to this one. I finished up all the markings (all paint) and sprayed that with flat clear. Tomorrow I will attempt to add some weathering and then we will call this one done. Magnet clamps and RC-56 glue for the glazing and my meager attempt to paint a 3D printed pilot. It's gonna fly this year!

Red

 

[SailHigh]

Was watching the videos of Friedrichshafen Aero Expo 2024 and among all the new GA aircraft popped a newly built full size Me 163 using jet engine. No more C-stoff and T-stoff!