Revell's 1/48 scale
Messerschmitt Me 163B

Part Two by Peter Kormos
 

  

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

Me163B-0 "White 54" presumably belonged to the training unit JG 400, 13. or 14. Staffel depending on what reference you look at. The plane was captured close to the end of WWII and then transferred to the USA.

Maybe the best known photo of this plane was taken at Freeman Field in 1946 when an open exhibition on captured airplanes was held for public. The interesting thing about this plane is that most probably it's not "white 54" but "white 42" with "white 54"'s fin attached.

Checking my references, I noted that "white 54" 'this stabilizer reappeared on at least yet another Komet. This Me163 had a prominent "V" spray line on the lower port side of the fuselage in front of the skid. Another point of interest is the dented top section of the fin and different shape of the rear view window. Apart from these, there are a number of other small differences that I had to pay attention to when downgrading the kit - which forms a serial production version.

 

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.

My model was painted with Gunze acrylics and weathered with atrists' oil paints.

Figures

The figure with sunglasses came from the Resination USAF set, the one on the plane is from the ICM RAF figure set.

Unfortunately, I cannot recall who makes the third figure.

Accessories

Ladder is made of copper wire and strips of soda can. The copper wires were soldered together, so that the joints were more resistant when handling. The little board is made of thin strips of wood glued together with super glue. The information paper was printed out on PC after writitng some text in MS Word text editor.

Base

The wooden base is made by my friend, Vendel Vasas and the airstrip was made of concrete. The tarmac strips were painted on with black water colors.



 

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 21 June, 2006
Last Updated 21 June, 2006

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