Heinkel P.1080 - Part 10

Finishing the Engines

It turned out that the engines were the most challenging parts of the model to assemble.  

 Almost done...

Finally, with the last engine completed and attached to the fuselage, the remaining parts -- canopy, wings, rudder and landing skid should be easy.

Finishing Touches

Canopy done!

Wings -- notice the minimal use of formers on the wings.  Actually, for the whole model, only the central fuselage and the wings have formers.

All Done!

III.JG-11 receives the first delivery of the Heinkel P.1080 from Eric Flugzeugwerke!

Actually, I'm not yet done

I still need to work on the trolley that the P.1080 uses for taxiing and takeoff.

Heinkel P.1080 - Part 09

Working on the Ramjet Engines

With the fuselage completed, it was time to work on the engines.

I started by assembling the inner part of the engine.  After which, I worked on the outer part.

The idea was to slide the inner tube inside the outer part of the engine.

Finally, the engine attached to the fuselage.

One more engine to go!

Unfortunately, this was the farthest I could go for the weekend.  :(

Heinkel P.1080 - Part 08

Build Started!

Lots of small fiddly pieces...but persistence paid off.

I started with assembling 2/3 of the fuselage from the tail end, and then 1/3 from the front end.

Then, before joining the two parts of the fuselage, I cut out the area that would later intersect with the engines.

Finally, the fuselage is done!

Save for some small fiddly pieces like the gun tubes, it was a relatively straightforward assembly.

Next up, the engine fairings, and hopefully, the engines.

Heinkel P.1080 - Part 07

Working on the Camo

For this model, I used a plane-jane splinter camo pattern.

Originally, I wanted to do that famous squiggly pattern that the Luftwaffe aircraft was known for.  But I was not sure if it would look good.  So I made a small test pattern on the wings.

It was "nice".  But it kinda overpowered the details of the plane, such as the liveries and the seams+joints. 

I'll do without the squiggly lines for now.  Maybe I'll try again on a different design.

Camo Completed!

I decided to use the markings from III./JG11.

Bottom shot looks really clean.  I'll see if I can add some weathering to this.  

Frontal shot looks badass!

With the camo pattern done, the next step would be to start the test build!

As always, I'll be working in 1:48 scale.

Heinkel P.1080 - Part 06

Still so much work to do...

Unfortunately, I botched up the UV-Mapping job that I did last week.

I used Pepakura to export the UV mapping info, which I then imported back to Metaseq.  I didn't realize that the UV mapping info that Pepakura exported had the X-axis inverted!  I only realized this when I started working on making the lines or seams that represent the joints on the aircraft.

I had to redo the whole UV-mapping.  

Glue Guides

I also spent a lot of time drawing and positioning the place markers for the engines, fairings, rudder and canopy.

Skinning Progress

Finally, with the tedious guide lines done, I can work with the actual skinning.