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Sounds like a fun group build so I am throwing my hat in the ring with a Pegasus 1/48 V-2 Missile.  It should be a very simple build as there are only 15 parts and it's a snap-together!  How hard can that be?  I've built several V-2s over the years, although I have always done them as post-war rounds that were launched carrying scientific instruments.  This will be my first one built as a weapon.

 

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All parts off the sprues and have started clean up.  As with other Pegasus kits, the plastic is hard and heavy, with a slightly waxy feel to it.  Overall, it is reasonably accurate, except for the launch table which is completely fictional.  Pegasus must have gotten that from a preserved V-2 somewhere.  That will have to be heavily modified.

 

I will have a hard time not using all the cool stickers they give you with the kit...  I wonder if Hitler would have let them put the big "Boom!" emblem on the bird.  

 

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Edited by swbailey
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Started by assembling the upper body of the rocket.  Being a snap-tite, the fit tolerances are not the same as something by Tamiya or Hasegawa.  Sanding down the joint , bit there is still going to be some need for some filler to fix it.

 

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The aft section attaches to the main body with a ring that is encircled with small "blocks" that stand up to the outer diameter of the body.  Unfortunately, the seam runs circumferentialy around the ring, meaning there is lots of scrapping and sanding down between the little blocks to get rid of the mold seam line.  The two halves of the lower body trap two of the fins, but leave a bit of a gap around the fins that will have to be filled.

 

Also have to trap the exhaust nozzle in when closing the aft section.  Fit will require putty here too.  

 

All the gluing was done with Micro Mark's "Same Stuff," which is the same as my beloved Tenex 7R liquid glue, which is no longer available.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

While working on the rocket and waiting for filler to dry, I started to take a crack at the launch table.  This is completely inaccurate and should be pitched, but since there is no replacement for it in 1/48 scale, I decided to work with what I had.  I'm guessing that Pegasus based their launch table on one used to display a V-2 in a museum or some other display.  It has a round blast deflector in the center which is completely wrong for a V-2 in the field, and only one upper support plate.  My first job was to scratch built the rotating table that the rocket sat on.  This was done with a couple of sheets of thick Evergreen sheet styrene.  After cutting and sanding it to shape, I added four sets of guides for the missile's fins to sit in.  I then bent and added some wire "supports" that go out and hold the exhaust vanes while on the pad.  I also added a pair of support struts on each leg using some parts I found in my spares box.  Lastly, I added the valve box, again from something I found in the spares box.  Next, I will be building the gear boxes that go on each leg to level the launch table, and the oxygen top up piping.

 

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Original kit launch table.                                                              Launch table with added level and support struts on the legs.

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This past weekend was a three-day weekend for me and allowed me to get a lot done on the model.  I was able to get all the seams filled, and a coat of Tamiya surface primer down on the missile.  After a couple quick fixes to some seams I missed, we were ready to go to paint.  Using drawings from my rocket guru friend Peter Alway, (whose books are a must for anyone modeling rockets and missiles) I first shot the Signal White part of the ragged scheme used in late 1944.  To do this I used Tamiya Deck Tan with some Flat White mixed in.  From reading about the colors, it sounded to me that "Signal White" could be anything from a light grey color to a sandy color.  So, the deck tan and white seemed to be a good choice.  After that was dry, I shot Model Master Tan for the brown part of the scheme.  I suppose it could have been a little yellower, but it looked good to me.

 

Another day and more masking.  This was for the olive green...  I used Tamiya tape and the new Tamiya flexible tape for the edges and filled in with regular old masking tape.

 

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Couldn't resist... although it was late and I had to work early the next day, I decided to go ahead and shoot the olive green part of the camouflage.  I tried to do some cross referencing between RAL colors and FS standard colors and wasn't happy with the color the converter came up with.  So, I instead used Model Master Field Drab and I was pleased with the results.  When I first took the masking off, I was stunned to see the Signal White mixture looking very gray, with almost no beige tone to it.  However, as I photographed the model under better light, it looks good to me.  Next step on the missile is to do a wee little bit of weathering, since these were not left out in the weather like a lot of military equipment.  They were tarped during most of their trip from the factory to the launch site, so there was little chance for them to weather.  Just a few paint chips around access doors, etc.

 

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Had some time to work further on the launch table.  Using Evergreen styrene rods and tubes as well as some parts out of my spares box, I made the supports for the 5-way plug and the liquid oxygen top off line.  I also added the base for the cable cable mast which will support the power cables that plug in about 3/4th the way up the missile.  As I've worked on this, I've discovered there are a variety of launch tables used for the V-2 and they are not all the same.  The one I am constructing will be a bit of a "mash-up" of several different styles.  As the late Dave "Boh" Boczanski called it, "creative gizmology."  If it looks busy, it's good.

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Edited by swbailey
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Got the launch table pretty much finished this weekend and ready for paint.  Added the hand cranks made out of Evergreen plastics and been wire from paper clips for the cranks.  Also added the cable mast and made up the cable bundle (not shown) that will connect into the rocket.  So, with a little scratch-building, the  launch table isn't half bad.

 

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Got busy and wrapped this one up.  I painted the launch table with Tamiya XF-63 German Gray, then applied some washes of black and dry-brushed some light gray to weather out the assembly.  For the blast deflector, I airbrushed some thin flat black outward from the center for the soot from previous launches on the launch table.  Next I sprayed some Alclad Steel in a tighter spot, and finished up with some Alclad Aluminum to highlight the areas where paint had been burned off the deflector.   Then I dry brushed on some rust just for a little corrosion.  (I got the idea from the blast deflector on my model rocket launch pads.)  

 

For all the electrical cabling, I used various weights of wire from some hair-fine solder to telephone wire and some thick gauge coated wire that I bummed off the aircraft mechanics in our shop, for the liquid oxygen top off line.  Just to add another color, I painted all the wiring an RLM 71 Dunkelgrun.  Not sure if German cables were that color, but I wanted to avoid a black or gray, as I didn't want it to stand out too much from the rest of the launch table.

 

All the details on the base were made from Evergreen plastic, wire and a couple small boxes of old armor kits I found in the spares bin.

 

Last step for the missile was to mark off the access panels for the guidance electronics and add the two decals with the Werke numbers.  

 

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I'm calling this one done.  It was a pleasurable and fun build.  Spent more time on making a plausible looking launch table than I did on the missile.  I'm sure I will be building more of these Pegasus kits in different schemes.  Being a snap-tite, the kits are certainly cheap enough!

 

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