Airfix 1/72 Me410a

[Andy T]

I've been hearing good things about the recent Airfix kits and with this being their latest release I was looking forward to a straightforward build.

So far I'm suitably impressed!



There's plenty in the box, 6 plastic sprue, 1 clear, nice looking decals and a full colour sheet depicting two paint schemes.

Thumbnails in case you want a look



I got carried away with the build as everything went together so well. Nice clean parts with very positive location points made the cockpit and navigators area a breeze to put together. Seat are dry fitted for now.



The one piece lower wing is reinforced with a spar that also includes part of the landing gear bay. Another piece is added which completes the nicely detailed bays, having 3 locating tabs each to make certain of placement.

Just behind the spar you can see one of the three location holes for the navigators pit. This sits here and slips up behind the cockpit once the wings are added. Great engineering, and a dry fit shows it should all work fine.





A couple of small instrument panels are added to the cockpit sides and we're ready to paint the interior. Cockpit is just snapped in place here for the picture. Very positive fit. The ejector marks up in the nose may possibly be visible later so I'll fill them before going any further.

 

[papa 695]

Looks a very nice kit Andy, and a cracking start.

 

[Jakko]

Impressive kit, by the looks of it.

 

[Valeron]

Looking good so far. I've had my eye on this kit so I'll be keen to see how it goes.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Looking very good Andy.

 

[adt70hk]

I got one for my birthday on Monday! I've seen his things about this too!

Looking forward to seeing how you get on!

ATB

Andrew

 

[flyjoe180]

Nice start Andy, looks like a good kit

 

[Andy T]

Pulling quite a crowd I see, thanks for joining me gents.

It's been a joy to build so far. As usual I know nothing about the real aircraft but I'm trying to learn as I go.

 

[Mickc1440]

Looks very nice already Andy, airfix really do seem to be trying

 

[Andy T]

Cheers Mick. I'm hooked so far!

I managed to get the base colours on this afternoon. I'm following the Airfix call outs so please don't shoot me if you know better.

The kit has the option for twin machine guns or the big cannon under the nose. I'm going for the cannon so painted the appropriate chin part.



There are a few other options available too. The radiator flaps can be built open or closed, and it can be built wheels up or down, with separate parts for each option. Not bad for a reasonably priced 1/72 kit.

One thing puzzled me though. While painting I always check ahead to see if anything else needs to be the same colour whilst the paint is in the cup. These parts are added almost at the end of the build but are mostly cockpit colour, so I can't understand why they aren't added earlier so they can be sprayed together.



I've added & painted them now and everything seems to dry fit together with no issues so something to consider if you come to build one of these.

Obviously if it bites me in the behind later in the build I'll let you know.

 

[Andy T]

Cockpit is painted and I've made some rudimentary belts:



Then the fuselage halves were joined. It needed a little squeeze around the cockpit, probably due to paint in the joints, but overall a very good fit:



And the navigator/ rear gunners tub was fitted to the lower wing:



Then on with the wings. It took a bit of jiggling to get the lower wings in, since the gunners section is a very close fit and has to be threaded up into place too, but the end result is really good, and the wing roots are nice and tight:





Then even more options. The leading edge flaps can be built extended or retracted, and the elevators can be either level or drooped. You could probably build this kit over a dozen different ways!

The horizontal stabilisers have a fair bit of play in the joints so they'll be sat like this overnight to dry level:

 

[therapy]

That's really looking nice Andy. Any idea what that is on the 'shelf' behind the gunner? Looks like a rolled up blanket or something.....

Nick

 

[Andy T]

Thanks Nick, but I have absolutely no idea what that thing is

Airfix would have you paint it in humbrol 62 leather. I can't find a clear picture of the real thing yet to work out what it is and the models I've seen have it in various colours, so a bit of a mystery at the moment.

I'm hoping to come across a clearer picture before the canopy goes on.

 

[stillp]

That's really looking nice Andy. Any idea what that is on the 'shelf' behind the gunner? Looks like a rolled up blanket or something.....

Nick

Perhaps a life raft?
Pete

 

[The Smythe Meister]

Apologies, I've missed this until now!
Coming along excellently,and at a pace too,Andy ,
Very nice looking plane that,a shame they don't do it in 1/48, braille scale is too small for me!
Following closely from here on in.

 

[Jim R]

Cracking start Andy. Reinforces all the good things said about these new Airfix kits. That's a great looking cockpit, shows that you don't need aftermarket stuff to get a really good result. Glad the wing root join is good, so often that's where work is needed.

 

[Waspie]

Perhaps a life raft?

My two penneth on what I reckon!! Assuming the rear seat crew isn't a pilot I would hazard a guess at maybe a binocular case for the back seater to ID targets or use for navigation!!! A life raft I reckon would be larger and a brighter colour.

 

[stillp]

My two penneth on what I reckon!! Assuming the rear seat crew isn't a pilot I would hazard a guess at maybe a binocular case for the back seater to ID targets or use for navigation!!! A life raft I reckon would be larger and a brighter colour.

Could be Doug, but I know that's where the life raft was stowed on some Allied aircraft. A binocular case or sextant case (or both) would make sense though, particularly as Airfix want it painted in leather brown.
Pete

 

[Waspie]

Could be Doug, but I know that's where the life raft was stowed on some Allied aircraft. A binocular case or sextant case would make sense though.
Pete

One of my many jobs in the navy was packing life rafts from single to ten man rafts. That allowing for thinner materials these days is awful small to be even a single man raft!! Plus and in my opinion a big plus is the absence of a CO2 bottle to inflate it. Or even a bellows to inflate the raft.

I was thinking sextant too but they tend to be square(ish) and the case tends to wooden!! Methinks it may be a conundrum we never solve. Unless someone knows different???

As an aside. It always amused visitors to our squadron when being shown around the helicopters. A common question was parachutes. When explained we never* used them but we did sit down on a life raft!! Then came the 'suppose you jump from the helicopter, count 1 - 1000, 2 - 2000 etc, look up and check life raft has deployed!!' Oh how we cringed!!!

I put an Asterix next to 'never' as all check flights of 10,000 feet required a parachute.

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

As always with new Airfix, a cracking little kit
The 'problem' though, as you're finding Andy, is the tolerances of CAD stuff. There's no provision for paint 'thickness'!
Still, future modellers, should there be any in 2083, won't need to worry about the mould warping over the next sixty years!