¹⁄72

Messerschmitt Me 163B

This is the German WWII rocket fighter Me 163B Komet, servicing in the JG400 in 1945. The model is made from the Academy 1/72 kit, which includes also the Scheuch-Schlepper, that is the tractor used for carrying the plane before take-off and after landing.

The camouflage is inspired to the Komet preserved at the Ottawa National Aviation Museum, after the 2001 restoration, with the exception of the tail mottles (not too realistic). The model is painted in RLM76 (lower surface) and RLM81/82 (upper surfaces and fuselage), reproduced using the Gunze acrylics. The JG400 unit badge, depicting the Baron von Munchhausen on a cannon ball, is well known but it is not documented in any photo.

The Academy kit is very nice and cheap (only ab. 9 € in Italy) and allows to reproduce both the single-seater (Me 163B) and the training two-seater version (Me 163S). It needed only a few scratchbuilt parts in the cockpit (cables, seat belts and harnesses). Indeed, the Scheuch-Schlepper is too simplified. However, I decided to build it out of box, avoiding any complication. Swastikas are taken from an Aeromaster decal sheet, since they are not included in the kit.