One of two kits received at Christmas the AZ Model He 162 B-6 actually has parts in the box for a B-1 through to the B-6, see photo of variants, and also has the fuselage parts for the 162 S trainer/fighter. This means I can build the latter needing to find/make just the fixed undercarriage for the unpowered trainer and more difficultly the long canopy.
The kit consists of 72 grey plastic parts and two clear with a four page instruction booklet, a decal sheet which includes seatbelts, the camoflague options being on the reverse of the box but as this is a Luft 46 'What If' we'll see what I decide to do at that time.
Now for the conundrum. The variants shown on the booklet give a B-6 as a single Argus As 014 where it should be double, plus the single Argus' should be the As 044 which has a bigger diameter body. Further to this a Polish Profile I have, No. 49 The Heinkel He 162 'Volksjager', calls both single and double versions the A-11. William Green's 'Warplanes of the Third Reich' just calls both single and twin Argus' 'B's and it also shows both the 'C' variant with a BMW engine and swept back wings and the 'D' variant with the forward swept wings. If you want a cupboard full of 'Salamanders' then AZ Model make kits of all the above mentioned, and then some, excluding the S unpowered trainer.
Hi Chris,
You certainly like the weird and wonderful.
Watching with interest.
Kevin
No Kev you have it wrong - weird is wonderful
Quote from: MSea on January 16, 2024, 09:03:28 PM
No Kev you have it wrong - weird is wonderful
Can't argue with that.........Look at me!
Another interesting one Chris.
With it being a short run kit there was lots of tiding up of parts to do before any work could commence. All the internal partes were primed with Vallejo Bronze Green, also labelled as a primer, before Humbrol RLM 02 was applied to the cockpit parts, with some parts painted Tamiya RLM 66. Parts for the main undercarriage bay were finished in Vallejo Aluminium. Now we get to the interesting/annoying/frustrating part. As the kit is a 'one size fits all' some of the parts are generic, such as the seat. There are two in the kit but they are for the two-seater model and are nothing like the one required for the single seater. Looking around the sprue trees I found a couple of parts that aren't labelled for the single seater so used these to upgrade the seat. Moving on to the main undercarriage well it appears that AZ have taken a leaf out of IBGs book a la 'why use 3 pieces when 5 will do? I say 3 as that's what Revell have used in their build and that all goes together nicely. Consequently despite trying to be careful aligning everything once you try and fit the bay onto the guides in the fuselage it doesn't sit on them correctly. I've managed to line everything up so it's correct for when the fuselage halves are joined at the bottom but the parts are too wide to allow closure at the top despite some sanding. This means I'll have to put a fillet along the spine and the plane will be slightly 'fat bodied'. I could say it's to provide more fuel for the pulse jets which were built whilst waiting for other parts to dry/set.
Plan B. A test fit of the canopy showed it wouldn't fit correctly if I went down the road of filleting so it was 'take the bay apart' and out with the knife and sanding pads. This produced a far better fit and then it was on with filling the nose with Blue Tack and the same plus ball bearings behind the cockpit to hopefully prevent tailsitting. The instructions say 10gms in the nose but I don't think that's anywhere near enough. After that the body was closed up with an elastic band and tape being used to hold it together.
A tail-sitter?
With the body cleaned up and the undercarriage fitted, after several attempts to get it to sit correctly. The tail setup was added again some sanding was required as a hump showed where the part joined the top of the fuselage. The wings have miniscule tabs to attach them to the fuselage and the plan/paint guide show slightly different positions for thre trailing edge so I cross referenced with books and photos to arrive at the position they've been attached at. Revell Contacta, Superglue Gel and Plastic Weld were all used in the process. The resulting gaps have being filled. Checking the wings they are 2mm out of true with each other and this is probably due to a mixture of the undercarriage issues and wing root profiles. It doesn't stand out, but I know it's there. At the moment the a/c doesn't tail sit but we'll see once the pulse jets and rudders are attached.
Looking great and very wierd - hohhoho
Wierd definitely.
It is going look decidedly unusual on the club table.
A very interesting project.
Kevin
I'm surprised that Martin hasn't mentioned the wings!
Quote from: zak on February 06, 2024, 08:38:10 AM
I'm surprised that Martin hasn't mentioned the wings!
I think that Martin being the ship shape man, hasn't noticed an aeroplane with forward facing wings. hohohoho
No doubt retribution will follow............
Kevin
Correct - >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(
Slow progress on this build due to concentrating on the M19. Positioning of the front pulsejet supports is very vague in the instructions so I went with the position shown in the markings on the reverse of the box which matches near enough that in the Polish book. They have angled faces which helps a little in the positioning. The aft supports aren't shown at all in the instructions and it was only by checking the sprue trees again that I found them, again fitted as above. I was all set for a rummage through the spares box or having to make them.
You're getting there.
Keep battling on Chris!
You're winning, though it seems to be fighting you at every opportunity.
Kevin
Yes this definitely isn't a 'shake and bake kit' so it's making me a modeller not a kit builder. Gonna have to dig into the stash to find one of those as some therapy, lol!!!!
Funny enough, I say that to myself all the time.
Kevin
Another weird machine from you, but it's coming along.
Bob c
Finally got to the paint stage. Underneath is Xtracrylic RLM 76 v2 Lichtblau, upper surfaces are Xtracrylic RLM 82(83?, see previous builds for discussion on this numbering) Dunkelgrun and Vallejo RLM 81 Braunviolett. The tail area is all Tamiya Sky with stripes of the previous two colours. The pulsejets are RLM 76 and 82/3 with patches of Xtracrylic RLM 70 Schwarzgrun. A coat of Klear was applied followed by the kit decals except for the wavy line for III Gruppen Kommandeur which came from spares (thanks Kev). Despite the use of Klear and Set and Sol the carrier film is still visible in places.
The finish line is in sight!
Sometimes if I have silvering problems, I overpaint the silvering with a fine brush of the colour in question, the then once dry give it a coat of kleer, or varnish of your choice to blend in.
Kevin
Thanks Kev I'll give it a go.
Ready for the next meeting Chris?
It is Chris. The seat, joystick and console. with combing, have been fitted. The Revi sight was missing on the clear sprue so I've made something from spare. The canopy was fitted as the last part of the build. The pulsejets and rato jets were fiddly to fit to say the least as the location points are minimal. With the wheels and doors fitted and just a little more Blue Tack into the cockpit and front wheel well I was happy to see that this wasn't a tail sitter.
As I said before this isn't the easiest of kits to build but the finished result does look impressive so full marks to AZ Models for producing another intersting 'What If' kit.
Looks good.
Very nice. The camouflage effect looks good.
Nice work Chris,
Did you try the painting out tip on the silvering?
Kevin
With enough basic spare parts for a two-seater left over from this build I decided to make that inbetween working on the Blenheim. The cockpit tub and various other bits are from the Me 262 spares box with other parts from spares. Being powered this is another 'What-if' as the only two-seater produced was a glider and there is some debate as to it's manufacturer listing. Some sites list it as He 162S, also given but not confirmed to the glider, whilst others refer to it as a He 162 D-9, which has also been discussed as a single seater with swept wings. So it could be anything but the only definite thing is it's a 'What-if'.
Nice to see a use for those old button batteries as nose weight.
A two seat 162, whatever next.........
The fuselage has been closed up and the canopy applied, masked and RLM 66 applied for the frame interiors. A Junkers Jumo 004 engine was sourced from spares and sanded to an approximate fit, the intake was then painted red and masked. Evergreen strip as applied to the back of fuselage to act as support for the engine which was glued in place followed by filler which will be smoothed to bled it into the fuselage.
Looking good Chris.
Quote from: cph64 on December 09, 2025, 02:09:18 PMThe fuselage has been closed up and the canopy applied, masked and RLM 66 applied for the frame interiors. A Junkers Jumo 004 engine was sourced from spares and sanded to an approximate fit, the intake was then painted red and masked. Evergreen strip as applied to the back of fuselage to act as support for the engine which was glued in place followed by filler which will be smoothed to bled it into the fuselage.
Will the wings be forward facing? All that weight up front must have changed to C of G quite a lot, and the tail doesn't seem to be longer to compensate for it either.
As discussed at the meeting Kev the only wings I have are the straight ones with the dipped ends. Work has been done to smooth the filler under the engine and this will be finalised once the wings are on as there will be more filler needed there. The locating stubs for the wings are minimal to say the least so they were removed and holes drilled in the wings and the fuselage with brass rod fitted to help hold the wings in place. Whether I went with the 'normal' or 'butterfly' tail, I'm going with the latter, I would have to do some work on the fuselage and once all is dry it will be carved and sanded to shape.
Quite a bit of real modelling going on with this one.
Soon be at the painting stage I reckon.
Wings fitted and gaps filled with PPP. The 'butterfly' tailplanes required filing to get them something like, they were fixed initially with Superglue Gel and this was followed by running Plastic Weld into the gaps to hopefully give a secure joint as once again it's a case of butt joints. A short piece of Platistrut has been cut to represent the wheel bay divider.
Looking good.
THe nosewheel is a resin spare and the bay door was cut down from another spare. The main undercarriage legs are white metal for Bf 109s and as such follow the real thing with the good news the plane's not a tailsitter. The doors for this area had to be made from plastic sheet and bent to shape. Now primed and ready for paint.
Good progress Chris.
Sitting pretty.
Have you ever built a kit which is straight forward Chris 😂?
I hope all the ballast works. Personally I CBA with all that and because I always put my finished kits on a base in some sort of setting, my solution is to drill a hole in the nose wheel, glue a pin into it at a slight angle which fits into a corresponding hole in the base. My ballbearings end up in my paint to help mix it 😊
The models are straight forward Wizzel, it's me that has the problems, lol!!!
The undersurfaces have been sprayed with Vallejo Model Air RLM 84 v1 Graublau and once this had dried Masking Putty and Tamiya tape were applied before Vallejo RLM 82 Hellgrun was applied onto the upper surfaces.
Looking pretty good Chris.
The darker version of RLM 82 followed and once dry the disruptive camoflague was applied using RLM 02 Grau and RLM 76 Lichtblau AK pens, with the 02 being used for the undecarriage and wheel wells/doors also. With the wheels fitted it was off to my new spray booth for a coat of satin varnish. The aircraft is marked as 'Rot 13' from IV/ZG26 with the underwing armament of MG 151/20 20mm cannons in pods and decals coming from spares.
Certainly a very different He162. Interesting camouflage scheme.
Another Luftwaffe '46 to add to the collection.
Nice work.
Thanks, I need to get a seperate storage box for the 162 collection now.
Looking very nice Chris.