The Me163S was the two-seat instructor variant of the innovative rocket fighter. To make space for the instructor, the fuselage fuel tanks were removed, making it a powerless aircraft. After the war, a couple of the Me163S' found their way into the Soviet Union, where they were tested.

The Pavla kit of the Me163S is an interesting diversion from the normal Luftwaffe stuff, and is fairly well done. There are 22 injection molded parts, a vacformed canopy, and a photoetch fret included. The decal options are for one German and one Russian plane and are printed by Propagteam. The injection parts feature very fine recessed panel lines that aren't very deep. The plastic is somewhat rough, which will require some light sanding to smooth out. Unfortunately, this light sanding will most likely obliterate the panel lines, so you might want to go over the lines first and make them a little deeper.

Recognizing the limitations of their injection molding machines, the cockpit is made up of injection tubs, with all the detail parts coming from the photoetch fret. Side consoles, seat belts, rudder pedals, and sidewall detail is all provided, which is very well done. Also provided in brass are the trim tabs for the rudder and ailerons, the landing skid mounts, and the nose propellor. These small details are very welcome, since if they were injection molded they would have been very thick and most likely unusable.

The decals look to be very thin and are up to the usual standards of Propagteam. They were all perfectly registered, and feature a full set of stencils, as well as complete country markings, including the swastikas for the Luftwaffe one.

The instructions are very well done, and thanks to the small number of parts, there is little that could go wrong. Overall, this looks like a fairly easy one to build, and the choices of markings will provide an interesting alternative to the regular Luftwaffe fare. With its photoetch and vacform canopy, it probably wouldn't be a good kit to start out on, but if you are looking for something mildly challenging, and different to boot, this could be the perfect kit for you.