MONOGRAM 1/48 MESSERSCHMITT ME-262A-1
'INBOX Review'

 

Reviewer: Trevor Boxall  (rec.models.scale)

Kit:  Monogram 1/48 Messerschmitt Me 262 - kit #: 5410

Aircraft:  The Me 262 Schwalbe (Swallow) was a jet fighter originally developed by German designers and prototypes were test flown as early as April 1941.  The first aircraft were equipped with one Jumo 210 G engine in the front, but later were powered by a combination of this engine plus two BMW 003 jet engines in wing pods.  The first fighter powered by two Jumo 004 jet engines took off successfully in July 1942.  However, its service entry was delayed by nearly a year due to Hitler's stance that this fighter aircraft be converted to a fast jet bomber.  Yet, it was still the first jet fighter to enter service in the second world war.  The Me 262 was built in several modifications the most important of which were the single seat fighter Me 262A-1a, Me 262B-1a two-seat trainer and Me 262B-1a/U1 two-seat night fighter.

Inside the Box: Monogram have molded this kit in a dark green plastic with raised panel lines and it shows its vintage, now more than 20 years old.  The kit is not readily available on the market nowadays but you can pick them up second hand or in one of those vast Hobby Store back room collections full of cobwebs and dust - mine was bought new, just to indicate how long I have had this Monogram kit collecting dust for.  There aren't many options when it comes to quarter-scale Me 262s with only a recent offering from Italeri accessible on the market - the rest including this Monogram kit and the DML and Trimaster versions are a little older with the best DML molding now more than a decade old.  Back to my Monogram kit, the parts are crisp and flash free and are contained on three sprues, two larger and a small one that also features a couple of figures, one pilot and the other I assume an officer for the diorama?  There's some 70 parts in all plus four clear parts generally used for the canopy.

Instructions & Decals: These are quite well laid out with a history of the aircraft and the general modelling to do's/don'ts.  The exploded assembly views are numbered and broken down logically and there are enough of them to make each step focussed on just a small aspect of construction - for example the engine pods.  It does suffer a little bit from older Monogram kits in that some areas of construction are not covered because they are starboard side copies with part numbers provided in parentheses (if the port side was covered in an assembly step) or the assumption is made that you would know where the part exactly goes.  Generally though this does not present any problems because they are pretty basic but there's bound to be someone who thinks this detracts from a decent set of guidelines.  The back pages cover a plethora of different versions that can be produced from this kit and I counted seven or eight!  They range from KG 51 bomber versions to about half a dozen fighter versions mostly from JG 7.  The instructions are let down here by two misdemeanours, one is that the exact identification of each of the versions possible from this kit is not provided - no unit breakdown is covered, and all the painting guide allows you to refer from are generic names, there is no paint range or RLM equivalent quoted.  Nevertheless this should be reasonably easy to work out as the German generic names often match up with an RLM equivalent name that can be used from one of the many paint charts available on the Net.  The decal sheet is a bit old and haggard but the yellowing can be fixed up later with the old plastic bag (containing the decal sheet taped to a window) facing the hot sun trick.  The colours on the sheet are in pretty good register and I expect that they will conform quite well to setting solution providing they do not disintegrate or give off a paste-like residue which is not uncommon for Monogram kits of this ilk.  There is a large amount of stencilling also provided and even the forbidden swastikas appear on the sheet!

First Impressions:  As you would expect I am going to say that this kit just shows all the trait of typical mid-to-late 70's molding and having already built a number of Monogram subjects from this era I am not expecting a great deal of trouble that a bit of filler and sanding won't overcome.   The fuselage halves come with the fin already included and the tailplane is one piece, sliding into a slot from the rear, which might present novices with a bit of an alignment problem, particularly if over time any parts have become warped.  The wing is broken down into three pieces with a large underwing section containing holes for the wheel wells and upper wing halves, so the bays are not boxed in very well at all, and only a small amount of detail is provided.  The engine cones and exhausts are not very well done considering it appears they are all essentially the same part as four cone-like parts are provided on the sprue.  Detail is pretty good for this age, with the cockpit well catered for having the tub side panels and main instrument panel featuring raised dials and knobs, in addition to the seat, stick and pedals also provided.

Monogram kits of this era are also well renowned for including some unique options in their kits and this one is no exception.  Other than having a pilot figure and another figure in the kit you can also display the canopy in either the open or closed position.  Stores are provided in the way of bombs and rockets, although the latter was only used in mid 1945 from my recollection so some research will be needed to ensure the right version is depicted.   There are also separate panels for the gun bay and port engine, allowing you to display these open and a port interior engine model is also included.

Overall Comments:  For those of you who have built a few older Monogram kits I don't think there are going to be many nasty surprises in store for us when this one makes it to the workbench.  I expect it will be a pretty solid effort and the test fit of a few major components suggest that this fits into the traditional Monogram category that we have come to expect.  In my time of modelling I have heard a few negative comments about this kit in relation to its final accuracy and many others suggest that the Dragon/DML kit is the best available in this scale.  Either way I am pretty happy with having this sitting on the to-do shelf and I am sure once I investigate in a few aftermarket sets available then this should build into a handsome replica. 

 

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