During our new years gathering of my local IPMS department i ran into the HobbyBoss 1/72 Messerschmitt Me163 Komet. I tought it would be a nice kit to try out my new airbrush, It was cheap and had a low parts count. I had the idea to have it assembeld quickly so i could start spraying.
Overall the kit has got a pretty good surface detail but lacks a bit of cockpit detail.
The Boxart 
A peak inside the box 
The cockpit is pretty empty 
The cockpit is pretty empty
I planned to use this mostly as a airbrush experiment. As the cockpit was really empty i decided to do a little bit of scratch building to add some more detail. I havent got a whole lot of scratchbuilding experiance so this was also a nice way to experiment on that part.
Scratchbuild dashboard and side consoles 
Glued them in place 
Added some ledwire detail and fueltank 
Added some ledwire detail and fueltank
I gave the cockpit a black primer coat, after that i hand painted all the details. When the painting was finished i gave the cockpit a gloss coat followed by a wash to pick out all the detail and last a flatcoat to seal it all.
Black primer coat 
Detail painting the cockpit 
Detail painting the cockpit 
Detail painting the cockpit
After painting up the entire cockpit, the next step was glueing everything in place. The fit was really good so filler was hardly needed. I masked the cockpit and sprayed a black primer coat.
I started painting with the lower fusalage using my new airbrush, the H&S infinity with a 0.15 needle. It’s really amazing, the amount of control you have with this. I am really happy i bought it. I sprayed the ME163 lower fusalage and the undersides of the wing RLM 76 Light blue. After letting it dry i masked off the lowerhalf of the plane and went on with the first top side camoflage color RLM 82 Light green. After the base color RLM 82 i added some shadows and high lights by adding some white and black to the base color.
The lower half painted RLM 76 
The lower half painted RLM 76 
Masked off the lower half 
Painted the first top color RLM82
I masked off the top color RLM82, i sprayed the second camoflage base coat RLM 81 Brown Violet. After that i added some shadows and highlights again by adding some white and black to the basecoat. Time to remove the masking and reveal the end result.
Masked off the RLM82 
Painted the RLM81 
Result after removing the masks 
Result after removing the masks
After having everything painted i sealed it all off with a glosscoat. Decals where applied, followed with another glosscoat. I added some slight weathering with a Tamiya black panelline wash. Followed with a Flat coat.
Glosscoat applied 
Decals are on time for a panelline wash 
Panelline wash applied 
Flatcoat is on and masks removed
I am pretty pleased with the end result of my HobbyBoss 1/72 Messerschmitt Me163 Komet, its a simple kit but has plenty of detail and fits great. It was a pretty quick build and was a nice test subject for my new Harder & Steenbeck Infinty.
Nice kit with very precisely added cockpit details. Your workflow clearly explained. Well done! 👏