Revell's 1/48 scale
Messerschmitt Me 163B

Part One by Peter Kormos
 

  

Revell's  1/48 scale Messerschmtit Me 163 is available online from Squadron.com

Messerschmitt Me163B-1 W.Nr.191907 presumably belonged to JG400, and after capture at Husum the plane was shipped to the UK. From the UK it was transferred to Australia in 1946. The plane found it's way to Point Cook, where it remained in a shipping crate and was literally forgotten until 1971.

When unpacked, besides empty beer cans and playing cards, a Komet was found in relatively good condition. By then, it was known to be the last Me163 Komet to wear it's original camouflage.


 

This is the 1:48 scale Me163B model from Revell. It is exactly the same kit as the Dragon offering, but the PE parts are molded in plastic. Model was painted with Gunze acrylics, weathering and paint touch-ups were reproduced with atrists' oil paints and home brew mix of Gunze acrylics.

The kit can be built rather simply, the "only problematic area" is the shape of the nose. The inaccuracy is best called "double bubble impression that I learned here on HyperScale's Plane Talking forum. It means that the curvature around the nose cone-to-fuselage seam is not consistent. "Double bubble" is only present on the sides of the fuselage and the top and bottom are OK.

With putty and careful sanding, this can be fixed rather simply.

The above photo shows the original shape (red line) and the correct one (green line)


 

I'd like to thank my friends: Károly Brassai and Péter Tóth for the help during construction of the model.

Special thanks goes to Rob de Bie, Alan Scheckenbach, Zoltán Tóth and Sándor Fülöp for the help on researching the history and camouflage of the real plane.

References

• AJPress: Me163 Komet

• Aero Detail: Me163 and He162

• http://www.xs4all.nl/~robdebie/me163.htm

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

German Jet Aces of World War 2 Aircraft of the Aces 17 Author: Hugh Morgan, John Weal Illustrator: John Weal US Price: $19.95 UK Price: £2.99 Publisher: Osprey Publishing Publish Date:  January 15, 1998 Details: 100 pages; ISBN: 1855326345 Shop Buy it from Osprey Publishing

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2006 by Peter Kormos
Page Created 19 June, 2006
Last Updated 18 June, 2006

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