Meng 1/32nd Komet

[Dazzled]

So, I did get one.

And at a knock down price

And I've been itching to build it, so here goes.

Let's have a look in the (rather funky) box.

The main parts are on six sprues, five in grey plastic and one smaller black sprue which holds the undercarriage parts.







Moulded in detail is everything you'd expect from a modern kit in this scale. Absolutely exquisite.







There's another sprue of clear parts and two small sheets of etched parts. The kit includes rubber tyres although the tread pattern on the main wheels is incorrect.
The instructions are in a very comprehensive booklet with notes on the aircraft.



Because of the tyre pattern issue, I obtained some resin replacement wheels from Barracuda Studios in the states.



The decal sheet looks great. Separate instrument dial decals are included and Meng have neatly side stepped the swastika issue by producing them as two part decals.

There are three marking options included.




A standard splinter camouflaged aircraft of JG400 based at Brandis, the rather garish all red Komet of Wolfgang Spate and....



....a post war captured Komet as flown by Eric "winkle" Brown in July 1945.

I have debated over which one to build. The red one is definitely out. I want something more representative of an in service machine and, while I did consider the attractive and unususal colours of the captured machine (and Eric Brown is something of a hero of mine), I'm going for the Komet on the box; the JG400 version, fully opened up of course.

Paint call outs are for Vallejo colours. I already have my suspicions that the cockpit colour is incorrect. The instructions call for RLM66 but my reference book, "Cockpit" by Donald Nijboer, shows a Komet cockpit that looks much more like RLM02. Either way, I'll be painting mainly with Tamiya and Xtracolor paints.

Time to get stuck in.

My next update on this build will begin "Construction starts with the cockpit......"

Darryl

[jssel]

Alrightey then. A Flying Flea. Will be watching this one.

[AndrewR]

Good walkaround photos here

http://www.aircraftwalkarounds.be/Image ... index.html;

That looks like a nice kit.

Cheers

Andrew

[bigfiver69]

There is a Komet in the air museum in Ottawa (I think they have two!) and when they took the airframe out of storage many years ago, the found a message on the inside of the wing that has been written by a French forced laborer who had been forced to work on it. The message read 'My hands do the work, but my heart is not in it.'

Up close, it's amazing how tiny those aircraft were!!

[Chris]

A lot of people have been waiting for that kit, interesting to see how it goes.

[BlohmWolf]

Now THIS, I'm looking forward to. Hopefully when I get my kit of this, I can learn a bit more from this build.


(Also, as much as I liked Spate's red Komet, I also would have probably gone for the normal camo.

[mattbacon]

I think it's probably a FAST-flying-Flea..!

and while I appreciate Meng's skills, I've never understood the interest in this technological dead-end...

But that's just me...

bestest,
M.

[Chris]

I always thought it looked goofy myself Matt.

[AndrewR]

There is a Komet in the air museum in Ottawa (I think they have two!) and when they took the airframe out of storage many years ago, the found a message on the inside of the wing that has been written by a French forced laborer who had been forced to work on it. The message read 'My hands do the work, but my heart is not in it.'

Up close, it's amazing how tiny those aircraft were!!

They also found that the workers had diluted the glue used to hold various parts together, so it would have probably fallen apart if flown. In addition an object had been added to puncture the fuel tank...


http://www.aviation.technomuses.ca/coll ... tt_me_163/;

The bravery of those forced labourers was quite something.

Cheers

Andrew

[BlohmWolf]

I can guess we will C-stoff on this build?

[Simbo]

Where did you get it from mr Dazzled ? Not in Ponty I guess !!

[Dazzled]

Construction starts with the cockpit

Actually, prior to construction there has been a fair bit of research and decision making. Firstly about colours as there seems to be some ambiguity over correct interior colours for Komets. I think, however, that I now have it sussed out.

The other thing to decide was which option to take on assembling the instrument panel. Meng give the builder two options.



One option is the single piece panel on the left and the other is to use the backing panel and apply etched brass facing panels. Both can be finished with instrument dial decals provided with the kit. I'm going to use the etched parts and keep the one piece as a back up in case it all goes horribly wrong

Unfortunately my model time has been limited over the last couple of days. I'm still struggling with my shoulder injury and a combination of lack of sleep and painkillers that, with cumulative effect over the past seven weeks, don't appear to be agreeing with me, are making life a bit difficult at the moment.

The little I have done has concentrated on parts removal and clean up ready for paint.



To add insult to injury I've lost the trim wheel from the cockpit wall. There I was happily putting it in a pair of tweezers ready to join it's fellow bits ready for a quick blast of black paint and it pinged off. I heard it hit the floor but it seems to have become a meal for the laminate floor goblin or, of course, it's dropped through that interdimensional wormhole that exists in the Den.

So tomorrow I'll be emptying the den from the floor up. If I don't find it I'll no doubt spend a fun hour or so rooting through my spares and salvage boxes looking for a suitable replacement

If I could make one observation of the kit so far though, it is that it appears to be made of quite hard styrene. Very similar to that used by HobbyBoss in my experience of their kits. It'll be something to consider when joining the fuselage, particularly if any filling is required.

More updates soon guys. As soon as I've finished digging

Darryl

[Dazzled]

Where did you get it from mr Dazzled ? Not in Ponty I guess !!

Hi Simbo and welcome to the forum. No, the kit didn't come from Ponty. Somewhere similar though....Beijing. The only difference is that there aren't as many Chinese take-aways in Beijing

It was considerably cheaper to buy it this way too. I'd originally seen this in a shop in Belgium for 84 Euros! I wanted one but not badly enough to pay so much. It wasn't available in the UK at the time so I went online and picked one up from Ebay for £32.80, including £10 for postage.

I was quite pleased with that

BTW, I see that you live in Tonyrefail. I'm not too far away, in Llanharan.

Regards

Darryl

[BlohmWolf]

I always thought it looked goofy myself Matt.

(Attempting to calm myself down)

Where did you get it from mr Dazzled ? Not in Ponty I guess !!

Hi Simbo and welcome to the forum. No, the kit didn't come from Ponty. Somewhere similar though....Beijing. The only difference is that there aren't as many Chinese take-aways in Beijing

It was considerably cheaper to buy it this way too. I'd originally seen this in a shop in Belgium for 84 Euros! I wanted one but not badly enough to pay so much. It wasn't available in the UK at the time so I went online and picked one up from Ebay for £32.80, including £10 for postage.

I was quite pleased with that

BTW, I see that you live in Tonyrefail. I'm not too far away, in Llanharan.

Regards

Darryl

You paid £32.80? Ouch, because, there was another person who listed the Meng model kit just shortly after.....

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/181236244183 ... 1423.l2649;


Hate it when that happens, paying some amount for something, then finding out shortly after, the price on the same item is down dramatically. Never mind though, keep on modelling!

[TobyC]

I hope you find your missing part. I know what it feels like but perhaps it will turn up like mine did