Revell's 1/48 scale
Messerschmitt Me 163B
Part One by
Peter Kormos
|
Messerschmitt Me 163B "Komet" |
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
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: Ł2.99
Publisher:
Osprey Publishing
Publish Date:
January 15, 1998
Details: 100 pages; ISBN: 1855326345 |
|
|
Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2006
by Peter Kormos
Page Created 19 June, 2006
Last Updated
18 June, 2006
Back to
HyperScale Main Page
|