This is the second kit I built in order to take part on the 2nd Online Contest Campaign “Plastic model kits at any scale!”, organised by “The Modelers Band” Facebook group.
It is a small kit but it is nicely detailed, even providing the option to show the jet engine, either on the plane or on a separate rig. It is a typical Tamiya kit and this means that the the parts go together effortlessly, with no fitting issues. It even includes a metal ball to be used as ballast so that the nose will will stay down!
I built it almost straight out-of-the-box (except for a set of gun barrels and pitot tube from Master Model).
As usually, I added hydraulic lines on the landing gear using 0.2mm solder wire. Then, I enhanced the ejection seat by adding side braces using 0.5mm solder wire. I added seatbelts using thick aluminum foil and 0.2mm solder wire. I used the PE seatbelts of the Me 163B Komet as a guide to shape the seatbelts.
Finally, my attention focused on the jet engine. Using photos of the real thing as a guide, I added wires and tubes, using 0.2mm and 0.5mm solder wire.
I built the wings separately intending to glue them after everything was finished (as I said, the designers at Tamiya did a great job). However I was not careful enough with aligning the decals on the wings. This was made obvious only after the kit was almost complete. I could not leave it like this, so I wiped the color (and the decals) with Isopropanol and paint them again. This time I did not use decals. Instead, I ordered masks from Montex and painted them on.
After everything was finished, used the display base by Uschi van der Rosten to display the plane together with the Messerschmitt Me 163B Komet.
In the end, the Spatz managed to take the second place in the aviation category in the 2nd Online Contest Campaign “Plastic model kits at any scale!”, sharing it with the Messerschmitt Me 163B Komet that I also submitted!
The work in progress
The finished model
Products Used
| Kit | Box | Scale | Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tamiya Heinkel He162A-2 Salamander |  | 1/48 | 03943 |
| Master Model He-162 Salamander – armament and detail set |  | 1/48 | AM-48-051 |
| Montex MM48069 He-162 |  | 1/48 | MT-MM48069 |
| Uschi van der Rosten Rasensteine 48th rectangular |  | 1/48 | 3049 |
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