43: Messerschmitt ME-262
CET appareil eut une destinée extraordinaire. En mars 1942, un Me-262, doté d’un train tricycle, effectuait son premier vol. En 1943, à la suite d’un rapport du général des chasseurs allemands Galland, enthousiasme par les performances de cet avion, la LUFTWAFFE voulut le commander. Sans même consulter G’ring, Hitler ordonnait la poursuite de sa mise au point, mais interdisait sa construction en série. Vers la fin de l’année toutefois, Hitler se souvint de cet avion, mais, persuadé par G’bbels et Bormann, il voulut en faire un bombardier. Cette décision entraîna de nouvelles études et de nouveaux retards, mais malgré cela, sous la direction du général Milch, la construction de chasseurs se poursuivit jusqu’au jour où Hitler, l’ayant appris, donna l’ordre de les transformer immédiatement en bombardiers.
Ainsi que l’écrivit le général Galland : ” On aurait aussi bien pu transformer un cheval en vache laitière ! ” Ce n’est qu’en octobre que fut abandonnée cette politique. Il était trop tard : le meilleur chasseur du monde ne pouvait lutter à un contre cinquante ! Un jour un pilote d’essai se réfugia à Zurich, en Suisse, à bord d’un Me-262. De peur que l’appareil ne tombât aux mains des alliés, Hitler ordonna l’attaque de Zurich par troupes parachutées. Cette opération, qui avait été confiée au fameux colonel Skorzeny, le libérateur de Mussolini, fut décommandée à la toute dernière minute ; les Suisses avaient d’ailleurs été avertis par l’espionnage allemand de ce qui se tramait et l’avion fut rendu à la LUFTWAFFE. Plusieurs unités furent équipées de cet appareil remarquable, et c’est à bord de l’un d’eux que le grand as allemand Walter Nowotny trouva la mort, descendu le 15 mars 1945 par un Tempest de la R.A.F.
Caractéristiques : Envergure : 12,50 m. – Longueur : 10,60 m. – 2 réacteurs Junkers Jumo 004 de 900 kg. chacun. – Armement : 4 canons de 30 mm. – Vitesse maximum : 869 km/h.
The finished model:
The kit:
The vision:
Much like the kit I used for my 1/144 Voir et Savoir project 16: Grumman F-4 “Wildcat” , this kit was also intended for a 1/144 Leijiverse project, The Revenge Buried in the Mountain. The only difference is that I actually bought the right kit for the job this time. However, after getting my hands on the 1/144 Revell Me 262a kit, I decided that I might need to get another Trumpeter kit (or maybe even an Eduard one) for that project – because there was really no salvaging that kit (although maybe I’ll use it for another Tintin shark submarine project… who knows).
Another small thing worth mentioning is that it wasn’t until quite late in the build that I realized the box showed the Me262 taking on a B-24J Liberator – a funny coincidence because I just happened to be building that one at the same time! Must’ve been Fate!
The build:
Unlike almost all the other build projects in my Voir et Savoir 1/144 project, this one does not require a DC motor… because there’s no propeller! So instead I decided to use some LED lights to replicate the engine like I’ve done in almost all my 1/144 Area 88 projects. However, after inspecting the kit, I realized a) there really wasn’t very much room for the light to shine out the back end, and b) almost all the pics (including the Voir et Savoir inspiration one) showed some kind of emission coming out the back end of the engines. So, I decided to just leave off the kit parts and plug up the ends with a bit of cotton.
Hiding the lights was a bit of a challenge. Wing mounted engines aren’t too tricky on larger planes, but for a fighter this size – well there’s really no interior of the wing to hide the wires in. So, I decided to use really small SMDs to provide the light and, with a little careful sideways drilling, I was able to feed the tiny wires through the wheel wells and into the fuselage. I have to say, that bit of trickery is probably what I the most proud of on this build. It worked perfectly and there’s absolutely no visible evidence that there are wires running out from the wings.
The kit went together really well otherwise, but I was a little surprised at how much putty and sanding was required for this kit. I guess, given how superior the engineering and detailing were to the Revell kit, I was expecting a bit more than I should have. It wasn’t hard to accomplish, but as always, putty and sanding is a bit of a pain.
As I’ve mentioned before, given the difficulty in matching the unit markings perfectly, I’ve adopted a “close enough is good enough” attitude. So plane “9” from the image became plane “5” on the workbench – with the No. 5 decal being the only significant contribution coming from that Revell kit (although I did use the registration number for my 16: Grumman F-4 “Wildcat”).
All in all, I’m happy with how this turned out, but feel free to leave me a comment and tell me what you think.
