Kettenkraftrad

by Tony Bell

Kettenkraftrad

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Okay, it’s not an aircraft, but it is aircraft related. This is Tamiya’s little 1:48 scale Kettenkraftrad, which came with the Me-262A-2a kit. I was so intrigued by this little gem that I built it straight away, before even touching the Stormbird.

I built it straight from the box, even using Tamiya acrylics to paint it. Assembly was a snap (almost literally) with clever engineering and perfect fit. I first painted a base coat of flat black, followed by Dark Yellow applied in thin coats allowing the black to peek through in the recesses. I decided that a monochrome scheme was a little boring, so I airbrushed a squiggly Olive Green pattern. The tracks were painted Humbrol Metal Cote Steel with a wash of red-brown watercolours. The most time consuming aspect of this build was picking out the individual track blocks with Aeromaster acrylic Tire Black (what I will do when I run out of that one, I don’t know.) The front tire and road wheels were also painted likewise.

Weathering consisted of a light wash of burnt umber Windsor and Newton artist’s oil paint, followed by a light drybrushing of buff, also mixed from artist’s oils. Everything was sealed in with a coat of Polly Scale acrylic matt varnish, followed by a light dusting of heavily thinned Tamiya Buff to unify all the colours. Chipping and scuffing were added with a Prismacolor Steel coloured pencil. Finally the driver’s seat was painted satin black and the passenger seat Testors Burnt Sienna enamel.

From start to finish, this mini-project took me about a week and a half, which is warp speed considering the glacial pace I normally work at.

There has been considerable spleen-venting here on Hyperscale and in other internet forums about Tamiya’s decision to include the Kettenkraftrad in with the Me-262, and the resultant additional cost. I for one am glad they did.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

Model, Images and Article Copyright © 2002 by Tony Bell
Page Created 17 November 2002
Last updated 04 June 2007

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