Monogram's 1/48 scale
Messerschmitt Me 262 A-1a

by Ingo Degenhardt

Messerschmitt Me 262 A-1a

  images by Lutz Degenhardt

Revell-Monogram's 1/48 scale Messerschmitt Me 262 A-1a is available online from Squadron

This is the second of three Me 262 I built in a row after the Me 262 B-1a/U1. This time it’s the old Monogram kit with a few fit issues, raised panel lines and rather sparse cockpit and wheel well detail but with correct outlines and the brake pipes already moulded to the gear legs.

I rescribed all the panel lines before assembly. As expected, a lot of sanding became necessary which would have done damage beyond repair to any raised detail.

Some parts were replaced with leftovers from other kits – such as the closed gun bay doors which come from the Tamiya kit and fit as well as the Monogram part does. The cockpit rear cover hales from the Dragon kit; it is contained there for their single-seat version. It took some work to make it fit but is worth the effort as it is much more detailed than it’s Monogram counterpart. Engine intake covers are Tamiya and fit perfectly without any glue.
Detailing was done by adding the canopy-holding string, antenna wire and drilling out the camera port in the nose. The pitot probe was replaced by two syringe needles of different sizes.

As on all three of my 262’s I did not use any aftermarket or scratchbuilt items to show the wing leading edge spoilers in their usual extended position on the ground.

Painting

The camouflage scheme was painted with Xtracolor’s RAL 76 for the undersides and RAL 82/83 for the upper splinter and mottle camouflage.

I first sprayed the undersides and nearly all of the fuselage in RAL 76 and when dry, masked it off using Tamiya tape for the wing/fuselage joint and blu-tack for the dividing line approximately half the way up the fuselage side.
Next was the 82/83 splinter scheme, masked with Tamiya tape again. After that all the tape and blu-tack was removed from the fuselage and I sprayed on the mottling free-handed.

However the very first thing painted on this model were the engine intake parts using Alclad Dark Aluminium. These of course were masked all the time during the following painting. Some mottling was done later on the right nacelle. These natural metal nacelle parts indicate replacement engines on both wings. These seemed to come with the intake panels already attached and as some pictures show either no or only some very ‘quick & dirty’ painting was done after installation.

Last paint job before commencing to the decals were the wing and fuselage Balkenkreuze in flat white. I cut spraying masks from adhesive foil using the decals as a guide.

Decals

These come from Monogram and various other sources from my decal collection and are for the “Weisse 5” of Jagdverband 44 (aka Jagdverband Galland) when operating from Munich-Riem in early 1945.

I left off the yellow triangles for fuel and oil specifications on the NM intakes as I do not think they would be stenciled on when no one cared about the camouflage for these parts.

With a little effort the old Monogram kit still makes a very good model with correct outlines. Detailing is a bit rough and of course it is no match for a state-of-the-art kit such as Tamiya. But it was a lot cheaper.

Notes:

The following literature (besides the www.) was used for the building of this model:

• Waffenarsenal No. 90, Band 2 “Me262 – Das Vielzweckflugzeug”

• Me 262 „Stormbird rising“ by Hugh Morgan

• “Me 262 Sturmvogel “ by Dennis R. Jenkins

The Diorama plate was originally intended for an abandoned 1/72 armour scene and therefore may appear a little small for the Me262 but as I do not plan to build anything much smaller than this used it anyway, because it is too nice to be wasted. It was made by Bodo Degenhardt and adds a touch of family business to the diorama.
 

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Model and Text Copyright © 2006 by Ingo Degenhardt
Images Copyright © 2006 by Lutz Degenhardt
Page Created 05 September, 2006
Last Updated 21 February, 2007

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