History

Jet fighters came to the Luftwaffe first, in the form of the Me 262. Powered by two Jumo 004 engines, it flew, in the words of Adolf Galland "As if an angel were pushing". Technical difficulties with the engines, and chronic fuel shortages meant that the 262's combat advanteages could not be properly exploited, and the aircraft followed Nazi Germany into defeat.

First Impressions

This is a very simple little model. As is common with many 1/144 kits, there is no cockpit detail, and some small details are a trifle clunky. There is a fair amount of flash, indicative of the age of the moulds. The instructions are printed on the bottom of the box, and may confuse beginning modellers. The model's pedigree is unclear. It may originate from the old Crown moulds, or it may be original from Fujimi. Wherever it originated, this is by no means its first appearance on the hobby shop shelf.

Fuselage

The fuselage is in two halves with a seperate rudder. Nose weight will be necessary, but there may not be room to put enough in. No mention of weight is provided in the instructions. It should be possible to grind out the incorrect shelf inside and scratch-build a proper cockpit. Two very rudimentary and thin bombs are provided. The bombs have very small moulded on pylons which look nothing like anything an Me 262 ever carried. They're best left in the box. Two canopies are provided, but they're each far too thick to see much through.

Wings

The wings are in one piece with a saddle for the fuselage to sit on and two others for the engines. The slats, flaps and ailerons are moulded in the flying position. The pitot tube is slightly too far inboard and much too thick.

Empennage

The tailplanes are a one piece moulding which slips into a slot in the vertical fin, and then the rudder is to be glued in place.

Engines

Each engine is made up of a left and right side with intake and exhaust caps which look very similar. Take care to get them on the correct ends of the nacelle.

Landing gear

The landing gear struts and wheels are very clunky and moulded in one piece. The wheel wells are much too shallow to allow the optional closed landing gear doors to fit in place. If the gear down option is chosen, there are no inboard doors, so they'd need to be scratch built.

Accuracy

I don't compare models to drawings or published measurements. When assembled it looks like an Me 262 as long as you're not too close.

Decals and markings

One scheme is offered, for Yellow 5 from KG 6 with its distincive red and black checkered tail band. The printing is very crisp, and there are some very tiny stencils to apply. Swastikas are printed in two halves and there is a pair of black blocks which are apparently swastika subsitiutes.

Colour callouts for the camouflage scheme indicate that the aircraft should be painted in RLM 82/83 with RLM 67 undersides and a yellow nose cap. The printing is quite small, and the colour callouts are in the Gunze Mr Color range only.