Brengun 1/144th Heinkel He 162
A very nice little limited run kit from Brengun. I also used their etched set and vacuformed canopy. At only 2 1/2 inches long with a 2 inch wingspan, this one will surely tax your eyesight and patience, but it does turn out well.
Paint is Model Master enamel RLM 83 Lichtgrun, RLM 81 Braunviolett and RLM 78 Hellblau with RLM 66 Schwartzgrau in the wheel wells and cockpit. Landing gear legs and wheel hubs are RLM 02 Grau. The nose was sprayed in Tamiya Flat White but it was well nigh impossible to mask for the red area so this was handpainted in Humbrol 60 Matt Red. The black stripe is a decal. Kit decals were used and these went on very nicely. I also used a Master turned brass pitot probe and stainless steel tubing for the cannons.
I crammed as many 1mm lead weights in the nose as I could with a few more behind the engine fan and this was sufficient to prevent a tail-sitter.
Cockpit under construction. The etched seat and nose gear well are an improvement on the moulded kit parts, but nerve-wrackingly tiny to deal with.
Somehow I lost one of the main wheels and despite an extensive ground, sea and air search, it was never found. I duplicated it with superglue in a mould made from plasticine which worked surprisingly well. The red colour of the duplicate casting comes from the plasticine.
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