Heinkel He 162 B-6

[cph64]

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.

[Bigkev]

Hi Chris,
You certainly like the weird and wonderful.
Watching with interest.
Kevin

[MSea]

No Kev you have it wrong - weird is wonderful

[Bigkev]

No Kev you have it wrong - weird is wonderful

Can't argue with that.........Look at me!

[chriswil42]

Another interesting one Chris.

[cph64]

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.

[cph64]

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.

[chriswil42]

A tail-sitter?

[cph64]

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.

[MSea]

Looking great and very wierd - hohhoho

[chriswil42]

Wierd definitely.

[Bigkev]

It is going look decidedly unusual on the club table.
A very interesting project.
Kevin

[zak]

I'm surprised that Martin hasn't mentioned the wings!

[Bigkev]

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

[MSea]

Correct -