Revell Me.262A-1a & P-51B Combat Set (03711) 1:72

[Mike]

Me.262A-1a & P-51B Combat Set (03711)

1:72 Revell

 

 

Believe it or not (most of you will), the technologically advanced Messerschmitt Me.262 and the P-51 Mustang did actually square off against each other in the skies over Germany.  Not many P-51Bs would have still been in service, but even though there was a huge difference in top speed, the doughty Mustang shot down a number of these shark-like fighters, especially at the weaker points of their flight envelope during take-off and landing, where the low spool-up of the jet engines made them an easier target.

 

This kit from Revell is in their Combat Set range, and puts together these old foes in the one box, both of them being a product of the late 90s.  The 262 came out in 1997, while the Mustang was released a year later, although having been moulded in silver styrene this time around, it looks older on initial inspection.  Let’s handle them separate in case there’s a (dog) fight.

 

Me.262A-1a

The shark-like profile of the Messerschmitt Me.262 Schwalbe and its almost matchless abilities at the time have given it a high profile despite its lack of practical effect on the outcome of WWII.  If Der Fuhrer had been a little less prone to meddling however, the effect of its presence may have been felt more by the bomber streams than it was – thankfully!  That's if they could have solved the metallurgy of the engines to obtain sufficient time before they burned themselves to destruction – 100 hours for most engines if the aircraft it hung off lasted that long.  That's a lot of ifs, but if we concentrate on the actual performance of it, it's still an impressive aircraft that was superior to the British Meteor in most respects, using axial flow jet engines and swept outer wing panels together with a slippery aerodynamic shape.  It first flew with a prop in the nose and dummy engines, dragging its tail along the ground until airborne, but this was changed once the engines were live, as the heat and thrust from both engines would have played havoc with their landing strips.

 

The delays were caused partly by Hitler's insistence that the airframe should be able to carry bombs, which it eventually could under its nose, but as usual their efforts were spread too thin by trying to make the Schwalbe a jack of all trades, all of which took valuable engineers and strategic materials away from the fighters that were desperately needed in the Defence of the Reich.  The huge speed differential between the Schwalbe and its bomber stream targets meant that zoom attacks were necessary, giving precious little time for the pilot to take aim due to the high rate of closure and subsequent overshoot.  The aircraft were also vulnerable during take-off and landing due to the slow spooling-up of early jet engines, which the Allies took full advantage of to reduce the fleet further, with intensive maintenance whittling away at the available airframes even further.  It was a case of too little too late in terms of numbers, and even with their speed advantage a few were shot down in flight by piston-engined Allied aircraft due in part to the extensive experience that the Allied crews had gained during the invasion and the comparative lack of experienced German pilots by that stage of the war.  As the Allies rolled through Germany, they captured airbases and research establishments with many variants that didn't see combat found and hoovered up by US Operation Paperclip and similar operations by the other Allied governments.

 

 

 

 

 

The kit is on four sprues of pale greenish grey styrene, with a clear sprue in a separate bag, and shared instructions and decals.  Construction of the 262 begins with the two fuselage halves, which should have a few holes drilled out and another on the spine that straddles both parts.  The cockpit tub is next, and this one really is a tub.  The front bulkhead is partly moulded-in but has another laminated to it, while the aft one is glued in place along with seat, instrument panel and control column.  The detail is pretty good for the scale, and there is also some wheel bay detail on the opposite face to the tub, as well as the inside of the fuselage halves.  The tub also has a couple of ejector pin marks that will need filling if you are cutting out the bays (see later) and think the centreline bay divider won’t hide them.  The fuselage can then be closed up with some nose-weight added because this is a potential tail-sitter thanks to the nose wheel.  The nose has a big empty slot underneath, which is filled by an insert with the nose-gear bay slotted inside, which has some internal ribbing within.  The rear of the cockpit cut-out is covered with a ‘hump’, which makes it ready for its wings.

 

The lower wing is a full-width, and inexplicably has a pair of main gear bay roof panels moulded-in, despite it already having the correct hollow bay details already there.  If it makes your mind boggle as much as mine, just cut out the inner section and make good.  Sounds easy if you say it fast, doesn’t it?  The lower is glued to the fuselage and joined by the two upper wing panels, then the two engines and their nacelles are made up from two side cowlings, nose cone, and rear bullet that is attached to the inside on the two horizontal stator vanes, but take care to ensure the bullet is in the centre of the exhaust before you leave the glue to dry.  When you’ve dealt with the seams they should insert neatly into the underside of the wing, filling out the notches in the leading-edge with their fairings.  The elevators slot into the tail in the usual tab & slot manner, then it’s on to the landing gear.

 

You can quickly pose the gear retracted by fitting the single nose gear bay door and the two main bay doors after removing the pegs for the landed option.  The bay doors are all separated for the gear-down option, then the nose wheel with separate tyre goes into the bay with the two door parts, while each main wheel strut has a separate retraction jack, two captive bay doors and separate wheel, which is rather well appointed with detail.  The trapezoid inner doors are both positioned on the centreline between the bays, and if you’ve cut that bit off to see the correctly shaped interior, you need to get the styrene rod and glue out!  A pitot probe is fitted to the port wingtip, with two antennae under the wing and fuselage, then a finely-moulded D/F loop behind the cockpit, and a single part canopy part is glued over the aperture, although you’re going to have to work to find some of the canopy framing lines.  Again, it’s not the kit’s finest part, and it’s somewhat of a let-down compared to the rest of the kit.  The aftermarket seems bereft of replacements, although I’ve been wrong before.

 

To use those bomb-mounts that slowed the 262’s gestation too much, a pair of two-part auxiliary fuel tanks are provided that sit on short pylons under the nose.  Silly Adolf.

 

 

North American P-51B Mustang

Originally developed to fulfil a British requirement for a new fighter aircraft, the unmistakeable North American P-51 Mustang famously went from drawing board to first flight in just 178 days. It went on to become one of the most famous and successful aircraft of the Second World War.

 

The original Allinson engine was hopeless above 12,000ft, and was transformed by being replaced by Rolls Royce’s legendary Merlin engine.  With its Achilles heel sent packing, the Mustang went from strength to strength and was eventually developed into several successively better variants. The P-51D introduced a number of improvements in response to combat experience, including a cut-down rear fuselage and bubble canopy, plus an increase in the number of 0.5 inch machine guns from four to six. Over 8,000 P-51Ds were produced, more than any other Mustang variant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As already mentioned, this is a re-release of one of Revell’s earlier kits from the late 90s. there are three sprues of silver-coloured plastic, a one-piece canopy on its own sprue (wrapped separately for protection), with the instruction and decal sheet shared between the kits.

 

As may be expected of an older kit, the quality of mouldings is not quite up there with Revell’s latest releases. There is an amount of flash present and some fairly prominent ejector-pin marks on the upper wing and some more inside, so some cleaning up will be required, which is best done before commencing the build. Surface detail is comprised of fine engraved lines and rivets plus some raised details where appropriate, so care will have to be taken when sanding seams to avoid destroying this detail.

 

The cockpit is made up on a floor panel, with heavy moulded-in wood effect, the rear radio gear on a pedestal and a front bulkhead, which is improved with the addition of an instrument panel with moulded-in rudder pedals, control column and seat with moulded-in belts.  The sidewalls of the fuselage also have some basic internal detail moulded in, and after painting the fuselage can be closed up and left to cure, followed by some seam filling.  The lower wing has a couple of holes reamed out for the drop-tanks, then it is attached to the underside of the fuselage and joined by the upper wings, with the two elevators slotted into the tail, at right-angles to the tail fin.  The exhaust stacks slot into the sides of the nose, then with the airframe flipped on its back, the chin scoop lip, belly intake lip, and two cooling flaps at the rear are installed, capable of being posed open or closed if you wish.

 

You have the option to model this Mustang with wheels up or down. With wheels up, there are just three parts and you’re done.  For the wheels down option, there’s a single tail-wheel part and you chop the tail bay door piece in half then pose them splayed open.  The main bay doors are cut into two sections, with the tapered part attached to the main strut along with the wheel, and the rest of the door attached to the centre divider between the bay halves under the fuselage.  The prop has four separate blades on a rear boss, which are then hidden away after adding a retaining ring by the spinner cap.  A clear leading-edge landing light is fitted into the cut-out in the port wing, then the other clear part, the one-piece canopy is glued into the cockpit.  This part is not the best, and is a funny shape (IMHO) as well as being far from clear.  It’s a shame, really as beneath the old-skool silver moulding, it’s not a bad kit, so I’d be looking for a replacement part for the Malcolm hood, and a quick search on Hannants shows one for another brand, but whether it’ll fit, I don’t know.  The last parts are the two optional compressed paper fuel tanks that each mount on a short pylon with anti-sway braces on each side, fore and aft.

 

 

Markings

Each kit has just the one decal option as per the boxtop, and those are on the same sheet, although you’ll need some Swastikas for the tail of the 262 if you’re going to depict them.  From the box you can build one of each of the following:

 

• Messerschmitt 262A-1a W.Nr. 110836*
• P-51B Mustang Captain Willard Millikan, 336th Fighter Squ., 4th Fighter Group, May 1945

 

 

* A misprint has slipped past the proof-reader on the instructions, with the heading over the 262 reading “Messerschmitt Bf.109G-10, Normandie, D-Day”.  Even with my limited knowledge of aviation, I can tell you that’s a mistake.  There’s no prop, for a start.  We all make mistakes though, so let’s not go on about it.  To err is human… If you don’t make mistakes, you’re either lying to yourself and everyone else, or a deity.

 

Anyway, moving on, decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas.

 

 

Conclusion

 

This is a re-release of two nice little kits that have disappointing canopies.  The Mustang has the most work to prep the parts, and the 262 has that weird and extraneous main gear bay.  They’re by no means perfect kits, but as they say forewarned is forearmed.

 

Recommended, just read the whole review.

 

 

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit

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[vppelt68]

A great way to get all-new (younger?) modellers or returning (older?) members to this great hobby.

[Sturmovik]

I was checking Google regarding Me 262 Black L, and came across several profiles mentioning the 262 was painted in RLM 81/82, not in the single colour of the instructions. 

Apart from that, it's another nice option with the Mustang included.

[BerndM]

It was fun building them back in the days when they came out in the 1990s.

Nice to see them back with better decals.