Trumpeter 1/32 Me262 By Will Riepl

The new Trumpeter’s kits have come a long way from their first kits. The new kit of the Me 262 in 1/32 scale is one of their best efforts yet. And at last they have stopped doing the moveable control surface, like they had on the F 105. They were just a lot of work to make them fit.

First thing…you have some choices to make: Full engine enclosed or transparent Radio compartment open or shut. Gun bay open or closed.

The first thing to start with is the cockpit assembly. Trumpeter did a beautiful job with this cockpit. With some dry brushing and wire you will come out with a good-looking cockpit. The only thing that I added was the oxygen regulator and hose to the left side of the cockpit. I made the hose out of wire and the oxygen regulator is part F32 of the engine.

I did add some wiring for the back of the instrument panel. You would see this wiring through the cockpit of an actual Me 262. I added some attachment points for the seat belts; the kit has some very nice photo etched seat belts. I would like to see Hasegawa do this with their kits. It would be a nice addition.

The next step is the gun bay. I added some wiring, decals and dry brushing to bring out all the details of the gun bay. There are some very good reference pictures of the gun bay to help you see just what goes where. The other thing that I added was the ammo feed belts for the top cannon I made them out of some 10Th plastic.

The next step is the engine assembly. If you do not want to put the full engine in the nacelle, you can use the three parts for the intake and two parts for the exhaust.There's a good gap in the parts that would take some work to fill it in with putty. I made a plastic ring and glued it to part( F-13) and gluedthis to part ( E 23) With a little sanding you will end up with a good fit. Now you can glue the nacelle halves together.

Next came the main gear assembly for the cockpit tub. Now is the time to do all the dry brushing and detailing of the tub

Next is the fuselage. Now is the time to put in the radio parts if you want. It looks like they will have a clear fuselage at some time for they have all the ribs on the inside of the fuselage. You can put the gun bay and the cockpit in the fuselage now and do not forget to put is some weight. I put mine in the forward part of the gun bay. Youcan glue the fuselage together now.

Now comes the wing. Not a lot to do here. I did add some plastic to both sides of the engine nacelle where it joins to the wing. It is easier to glue the nacelles to the wing, do all your sanding and then glue the wing to the fuselage.

Now you can add the horizontal tail assembly . The kit has the elevator in the down position If you want to leave it make sure that you have the stick in the forward position. I put mine in the neutral position.

There is lot of good reference out there on the me 262. And some very nice decals for the aircraft. Cutting Edge has three sets of decals , and I used Stormbirds Part 2. The aircraft that I wanted to do is from 9/KG(J) 54 at Neuberg am Donau April 1945A very good picture can be found in the Jagdwaffe Jet Fighters and Rocket Interceptors, also there are some very good pictures and drawings of other Me 262 that you could use.

First I sprayed Mr. Surfacer 1000 and did a light sanding. Then I painted the seams in Black Green, then put the yellow band on the fuselage, and I also I painted the fuselage cross on at this point. With that all masked off I painted a light coat of Black Green, just enough to cover the gray of the Mr. Surfacer. Then I made a drawing of a tail camouflage and cut it out of Frisket paper and painted the tail RLM 76. then put the Frisket paper down and painted the Black Green. The wings and tail were painted with RLM 83 and RLM 81.

Next I sprayed on a coat of Future Floor Wax and let it dry for a day. I used the kit decals for the stenciling and Cutting Edge decals for the markings. I added a second coat of Future and let dry another day.

I applied an oil wash of Black and Burnt Umber, then applied a flat coat over everything.

Next is the landing gear. This was the only thing I found wrong with this kit. First is the main gear. They molded it with the gear fully extended, which will give a tail high sit. I cut an 1/8” out of the oleo strut. You could cut more to sit a little lower. I pinned it and glued it back in place.

For the nose strut you will have to look at pictures of the specific aircraft you want to do.

The kit has scissors on the strut, but only the prototypes had these scissors. Production aircraft did not have them. I cut mine off. I added some wire for the brake lines and the main gears.

Again check your references for the canopy. Not all Me 262 had armor plate headrests. You only see them in the last production runs. I cut the bars off the headrest and reglued it to the canopy.

Then I put on the gun bay doors, flaps and slats. I put the post antenna on the bottom of the wing. To simulate the wood post, I used my wife’s acrylic paints. I painted the post a yellow/gold color and let it dry completely. Then I took a small makeup sponge, dipped it in Walnut stain, dabbed it off and lightly applied color with a long stroke to the post.

All the time I spent building this kit, I kept saying this is like doing a Hasegawa or Academy kit. There is a great attention to detail here that leads me to believe that Trumpeter has now set the mark. And all these parts and pieces for under $70.
Way to go, Trumpeter!

Thanks to Stevens for the review sample and Cutting Edge for the decals.

References:

• Luftwaffe Colors Vol. 5 Section 4

• Monografie Lotnicze No 30 Me 262 Schwalbe CZ1

• Aircraft Monograph No 9 Me 262 Schwalbe Pt 2

• Messerschmitt Me 262 Development Testing Production
  By Radinger & Schick.

• JG 44 Galland Circus Robert Forsyth

• FAOW No 2 (1987) Me 262.