Matchbox 1/72 Messerschmitt Me110D

Work continues on the model and although in the last post I said the wings were done, I completely forgot about the underwing radiators. The shape of them is pretty good but Matchbox had blanked off the outlets at the back;

The ‘humps’ at the back of the radiators were removed as it was the only way of opening up the rear outlets. The front intake lips were thinned out somewhat then plastic strips glued inside each one to represent the radiators along with some trunking to fill the empty spaces. The radiator flaps also had the hinge lines scribed in;

Another thing to point out is that the recessed lines for the flaps stop halfway along the undersurface of the wings so these were scribed and shaped to match the kit.

The engine nacelles were next and I don’t really know what Matchbox were thinking here as the openings for the air intakes are moulded solid;

The intakes are actually recessed on the Me110C/D so after cutting away the lumps in front of the intakes and hollowing them out front and back, I recessed the undersides of the cowlings to better match the real aircraft;

Work is still progressing on the nacelles as the panel lines need rescribing, the little air scoops either side need indenting to improve the look and I may hollow out the exhausts.

The Eduard etch set for an Italeri Me110 C/D turned up this week so I’ve made a start on filling the cockpit. The etched instrument panel fits the cockpit pretty well so I made a back for it from scrap plastic sheet. I also made side consoles and seats from scratch plus the radio rack;

The cockpit is also full of magazines for the rear machine gun so I’ll probably make these from plastic rod. They won’t be highly detailed, just a representation of the real ones as you won’t see much through the canopy anyway but something does need to be there to make the cockpit look busy.