TinPaper Moon Tank Model

Messerschmitt ME-163 Komet Rocket

MODEL PHOTO REVIEW

Difficulty Level : 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Publisher: Fiddler's Green http://www.fiddlersgreen.net
Model Designer: Fiddler's Green ?
Model URL: http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/AC/aircraft/Messerschmitt-Me163/komet.php
Additional Information URL: http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/AC/aircraft/Messerschmitt-Me163/komet_info/komet_info.htm
Cost: $3.95 (US) for 2 sizes

The German Me 163 Komet was the only operational rocket-powered fighter aircraft during the Second World War. Although revolutionary and capable of performance unrivalled at the time, it proved dangerous to operate and resulted in the destruction of very few Allied aircraft.

The performance of the Me 163 far exceeded that of contemporary piston engine fighters. After take-off from a dolly, it would be traveling over 200mph (320 km/h) at the end of the runway, at which point it would pull up into an 80-degree angle of climb all the way to the bombers' altitude. It could go even higher if need be, reaching 40,000 ft (12,000 m) in an unheard-of three minutes. Once there, it would level off and quickly accelerate to speeds around 550 mph (880 km/h) or faster, which no Allied plane could hope to match.

Operations began in 1944. As expected, the plane was extremely fast, and for a time the Allied fighters were at a complete loss as what to do about it. The plane often climbed to the bombers faster than the opposing fighters could dive in an attempt to intercept it. A typical Me 163 tactic was to zoom through the bomber formations at 30,000 ft (9,000 m), up to an altitude of 35,000–40,000 ft (10,700–12,000 m), then dive down through the formation again. With luck, this would afford the pilot two brief chances to fire off a few rounds from his cannons before he had to glide back to his airfield.

The Allied pilots quickly noted the short lifetime of the powered flight. They would wait it out, and as soon as the engine went off they would hunt them down. They also quickly identified the fields the planes operated from and started strafing them after the Me 163s landed. More of the planes were being lost than pilots could be trained on them, and it was clear that the original plan for a huge network of Me 163 bases was never going to happen.

In any operational sense the Komet was a failure. More were lost to landing accidents than they ever accounted for in bomber kills, which stand at only 16. At the same time the Komet was a successful design in pointing the way to the future. It was one more piece of strong evidence that the day of the propeller fighter was near the end.

ABOVE INFORMATION EDITED FROM: "Messerschmitt Me 163." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 13 Feb 2007, 14:32 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 14 Feb 2007 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Messerschmitt_Me_163&oldid=107820308.

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In January, 2007 I had the opportunity to visit the Mighty 8th Air Force Museum in Pooler GA (just outside Savannah, GA). It's a great museum with a huge array of historical memorabilia, aircraft and diorama displays and extensive library. It does not have many aircraft on display but is a very worthwhile place to visit, as I will do again. One of the real aircraft it does have is an Me-163 that has been on loan to it since the museum opened. When I came around a corner and saw this I was thrilled and knew when I returned home I just had to model it. I've read about these aircraft but actually seeing one it really struck home how primitive it was-like a Buck Rogers invention.

I purchased these files from Fiddler's Green many years ago but never built the model. It definitely is representative of the older offerings from FG. the colorationand drawing is much more "illustrative" than scale. The panel lines are very heavy and this is exacerbated by my scaling to 1:32. This is not to say it will not make a fine model. It is to note that it is unlike their more recent offerings such as the Ju88, B-24 Liberator, Focke-Achgelis Fa-61, Piasecki Shawnee H-21 Helicopter, to name a few.

The model comes in two sizes (regular and large) that are full color. The instructions sheet is very basic and details are sparse. There is enough to build the aircraft (with some guesswork) and that's abou t it. There is a fair amount of information about the aircraft but needs to be balanced with more instruction.

PRINTING / BUILDING

Before printing I opened the model page by page in Adobe Photoshop and adjusted the colors. They appeared to be a little to bright. The saturation was toned down a little and the color was shifted slightly.

After the color adjustment, the pages were brought into Adobe Illustrator and scaled so the model is approximately 1:32 scale. The actual aircraft is not large to begin with. The scale-up made for a nice display and build size. Because of the re-scaling, the pages were duplicated and masked to achieve the most efficient parts printout using the least number of pages.

The model was printed on International Paper Hammermill Card Stock, 8.5" x 11", 110 Lb. Index (199 g/m2) using an Epson Stylus C88 inkjet printer.

FUSILAGE SECTIONS

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I wanted to butt-fit the fuselage pieces together for the smoothest look. I trimmed the pieces out and carefully cut away the built-in tab strips. The built in tabs are long and clunky. Even if the model was built as drawn the tabs should be split a few times for a smoother curve. These I turned over and glued to the insides of the fuselage pieces where needed. Then the strips were cut in a rather fine saw-tooth so the curving of the parts would be smooth at the joints.

The sections were sized and formed individually, test fitting it to get a tight fit. Starting with the largest section, then working towards the front of the fuselage this worked well. The tail was formed last. None of the formed sections were joined at this time.

NOSE / COCKPIT

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I wanted to show an open cockpit, even if the accuracy was minimal. The model includes a pilot seat and a control panel but nothing else. A little web research provided useful photos, drawings and een nice illustrations from a site that is for a flight simulator.
Using the reference I drew out what I wanted in Adobe Illustrator, then imported into Adobe Photoshop to color.
After printing it was simple a matter to fold and fit into the nose pieces of the fuselage
I did not trim off as much as I should have from the top edges so the floor sits about 3/16" lower than it should. By the time the pilot seat (raised to correct), control panel, and a figure are in place this should not be too noticeable. My idea is to suggest a cockpit interior, not to model it exactly.
On some cockpit interior pieces, I did print out duplicates, trim out certain pieces and glue over the printed ones to add some edge depth. It's a small detail that seems to add a lot to the "feel".

FUSILAGE

The fuselage was assembled by attaching the tail section to the middle, then the two-part nose. The edges are much more noticeable in the photo than they are in person. I will tough them up later. The joints are smooth and secure.

KEEL

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The keel was next. As with most parts there are not specific directions for constructing it. That's generally not a problem. Would have like more direction for the actual front tip of it. I believe it should come together differently-but oh well.
After the keel was constructed, my first thought was "Oh yeah that's gonna be a tough fit." But, like other, similar, FG parts I've come across, looks are deceiving. A few test fits, a little glue applied all around the inside top edge and hold it down in position. Moulds very nicely to the fuselage

After the glued keel had dried, I opened up the cockpit well using a fresh cutting blade.

RUDDER

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As on most models, rounded toothpicks were used to give a stronger join. The bottom front of the rudder flares out a little to give a glue surface. I moistened this to help get a smooth flare.
The rudder should have been attached just about 1/16" forward of where I placed it, but it still looks good.

DORSAL HUMP

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The dorsal hump part of this model was an operation I had not looked forward to. Even after rolling, I didn't want to have to hold the edges down along the length until the glue set. The was easily solved by rolling the pieces around a dowel, as usual, then moistening them, and rolling around the dowel again.
This made a tighter roll than needed, but the advantage was the piece fit tightly simply by gently pressing down along the top.
So just putting light glue on the inside edges and putting in place with that gentle pressure made the work easy and offered more control. Before gluing the edges were flared slightly so the transition was smooth.

Even though my plan was to make a clear canopy for the cockpit, I built the paper canopy as sized wit the rest of the parts. It would fit pretty well if used but could be just a little longer and larger.

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The actual "where to place" was a little more work and many tests placements were done prior to the actual gluing.
The model has a white section along its back that would seem to indicate this is the area to be covered by the dorsal hump. If the hump is placed following this two things will happen - number 1 is the hump will be comically tall and not tra nsition smoothly into the fuselage Number 2 is the cockpit canopy will never, never, never fit properly (did I mention NEVER).
The problem is less towards the rear but gets worse at the front. By looking at a lot of reference photos and using best judgment it can be placed to produce a smooth transition with a "properly" sizes hump that will allow the fitting of the canopy.
How much the placement had to be adjusted can clearly be seen in the left-most and right-most photo immediately above.
My placement is slightly lower than I would do if building this model again, but I think it looks very good and will be almost unnoticeable when the canopy is eventually added.
The two things to watch out for are to not cover the cross insignia towards the rear and not come down so far as to interfere with wing placement at the front.

WINGS and FAIRINGS

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The wings were easy. That being said, I had to build them twice. A skill problem I have is forming the wings so they are not warped. They looked pretty good but from the side there was a serious warp that I just couldn't live with. Printed out another set-Oh the great thing about digital models!

Notice the blue tape on the edge of the wing. This is 3M blue painters tape. It is plenty strong to hold pieces together while the glue sets, but low enough tack so it can be removed without ruining the paper or finish.
Rounded toothpicks with the sharp end cut off, was glued inside the wings at the leading and trailing edges to add strength to the joint. The new wings were attached using the supplied tab for placement and the toothpicks were inserted into small holes made for them. This was a firm attachment and the wing fairing's add even more support.

The Wing fairings were formed before sliding onto the the wings. The trailing edge was glued just on the outer edge so it could be flared. I moistened the inside edge of the fairing's to bend them out a little. this made for a nice transition into the main fuselage Without any glue I slid the fairing on to the wing to test fit. When happy with the placement I used a pencil to lightly trace a line just inside of here the outer edge of the fairing would attach.
The fairing was slid off the wing, glue was added around the inside edge of the fairing where it would attach to the fuselage, and a line of glue was place around the wing along the pencil line. The fairing was the carefully slid onto the wing and worked back ito position. adjusting as needed for the best final fit.

The last bit about the wing fairing's is where they taper back into the fuselage I noticed during test fitting that there was a gap no matter what I did. I trimmed a little of the fairing's to minimize the gap before attaching them. After the glue had set, I cut away the trailing edge where it was not attached, trimmed and re-attached so it tapered in smoothly and touched up with craft paint as needed.

COCKPIT and DETAILS

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At this point I removed the curved front panel of the cockpit and glued a flat panel in place. The center angled brace was also added behind where the pilot seat will be placed. Using craft paint, the panel and the area behind the pilot seat was painted black. I have seen this as other colors also (white, soft green). I used black as this was the color inside the unit in the museum.

ENGINE

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The aft end of the model where the rocket engine would exit is very plain. The size of the opening is also larger than it should be. With no inner reinforcement the shape tends to be weak. I rolled a couple of layers of stock to fit , painted a thin black using craft paint and inserted it into the opening. While the glue was setting I kept an appropriately sized pen cap inside the tube to hold the shape. Big improvement.

TAIL WHEEL

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The directions offer nothing to help with the construction of the aft end of the keel or the placement of the tail wheel.
Reference photos from the 'net filled the information gap.
the wheel supplied with the model is very rudimentary. since I was building up-scale size, an improved version was constructed. The wheel is made of 3 layers of cardboard (from the back of a notepad) glued together, trimmed and sanded to shape. The gear is made from a rounded toothpick and card stock. I used my discretion and reference photos to place the finished wheel. It is in the retracted position as the finished model will be displayed in flight.

SPINNER

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The little nose spinner (that ran a generator) needed help. First, the nose of the fuselage is drawn using "feathered" ends to achieve a smooth look. however there are not enough feathers and they are not long enough to form and come to a proper point. Secondly, the actual supplied prop just doesn't look right at 1:32 scale.
A new spinner was constructed to HELP (it does not completely correct) the problem of the nose shape. Wound/glued card stock around a toothpick, then trimmed and sanded down to shape. Using photos for reference, small propeller blades were cut and attached. This was a tedious piece of work that I returned to many times to reshape eve after I thought I was done with it. For me, the results were very much worth the effort. When in place it visually helps bring the nose to a point.

COCKPIT CANOPY

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The canopy art in the model file does form into a nice shape considering the compound curves of the final canopy.The frame seems a little thick/wide.
I want to show the cockpit interior so that means making a clear canopy. The canopy shown in these photos is temporary-it is a little too large and needs to be neatened up. Using a thin clear sheet taken from a building structure plastic model that was on hand, it worked out well. The canopy frame was trimmed out and mounted to the clear plastic using a permanent double sided adhesive sheet. That was then trimmed out, including the cut-outs to curve the piece. The splits are held together on the insides with small tabs.
I will replace his with a new one before the model goes into a shadow box for display.

FINAL BITS

There are just a few things left to do to fully complete the model.
1 - New canopy
2 -Add the half-circle aiming/range finding device on the cockpit dashboard
3 - Add the small antenna just above and to the rear of the cockpit canopy
4 - OPTIONAL add a small circular antenna just in front of the standard antenna
5 - Seal the entire model (except the clear canopy) using a matt/silk finish clear craft varnish

CONCLUSIONS

As with almost all of the Fiddler's Green models this is a great buy. Despite the myriad of compound curves on this Buck Rogers looking jet, the design of the parts builds up very nicely and without any real problems. As I've written about other FG models, this will satisfy builders from novice to experienced.
It scales up nicely and there is plenty of room in the model and plenty of reference available to really detail it. I think just the casual details I've added really add to the final look.
The building directions are sparse, noticeably in the area concerning the keel.
The biggest note on this model is that it's one of the older FG offerings. This means the drawing is much more illustrative than accurate. Panel lines are very thick and some of the parts are only suggestive of the real-life counterparts. The shapes of the parts themselves are fine, but an updated redraw of this, simply cleaning up the panel lines, adjusting the paint scheme, and the addition of only a few small parts would really snap this up to a whole new level.
What else can I say - buy, Buy, BUY - build, Build, BUILD.
Well, I've posted 3 build/reviews in a row of some great Fiddler's green models. Next I'm going to move on to two other models by different publishers before people start thinking I work for Fiddler's!

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