I have some 1/48 scale ME 262 model kits in boxes that I am saving for another project and by holding up a wing to the shark, I saw that the scale wasn’t going to be correct if I wanted to mate the wings to the shark body. I took a guess about the next possibility and decided to look for a 1/72 scale kit of the ME 262. I’m pretty sure I found an inexpensive kit from Heller on eBay eventually. I didn’t think to take a photo of the box to be sure for this article but the kit was perfect because the level of detail was on a par with the details of the shark. I didn’t want or need very fine parts but wanted the overall shape and dimensions. The wings and engines are all I needed and the assembled parts fit just about perfectly to the underside of the shark and looked in scale to me. The photo looking down on the shark with the one color background shows the two pieces just sitting together before any surgery on the shark. I should mention that I took early inspiration in life from the English Artist and Designer, Roger Dean. He is famous for his hybrid models and illustrations of animals and machines and his work has always been in my mind as I’ve gone about my model work. Back to the model, I used a razor saw and x-acto to cut away the pliable plastic of the shark fins and belly until I could more or less line up the bottom panel of the wings with the shark body. I used some super glue to mate the two and then used Aves epoxy putty to feather in around the wing root and shark belly. The whole process wasn’t too difficult and I can certainly recommend this project to anyone who is curious about this kind of surgery. The toy was inexpensive and the goal for me was to find an inexpensive model kit. I used an airbrush to spray the body colors and markings. I have a laser cutter, so I decided to make my own German markings and cut stencils. because the decals in the Heller kit were old and not usable. The camouflage effect is my effort at indicating the effect of sunlight through water that can be seen in a lot of photos of sharks. I sprayed the shark body the light color and then taped pieces of the holiday ribbon around the model and sprayed the darker color over that. The display for the model was accidental timing as I was offered the plex stand before it was going to be thrown out. It was originally a display for cosmetics and has a very nice deep blue base. The back is two pieces of clear plex that I slipped a print into. I was trying to make it look a little bit ambiguous between clouds and water. The shark is held up by two pins of wire drilled into the body and through the plex. It looks good from the front but I don’t like that the supports can be seen from other angles. Nothing I can do about that right now though. I think anyone who wants to build something similar will have a lot of fun with it because there is plenty of inspirational pictures of sharks and ME 262 paint schemes available and you can let your imagination go while testing your skills with paint.