When we heard there was a new Revell kit of the 1/32 scale
Heinkel He 162 A-2 kit we were pretty eager to know whether this was a new or
re-released boxing of this interesting aircraft. We have since found out that
it is a re-release but that is no reason to think that this isn’t a good kit –
we will investigate this model to see if it stands up to Revell’s recent
releases and indeed the rest of the market…
Scale: 1/32
Sprues: Four in grey
+ 1 transparent sprue
No. of parts: 93
Wingspan: 222mm (8-3/4")
Length: 302mm (11-7/8")
Decal versions for 2
aircraft.
Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model
retailers. For further information visit
www.revell.eu
The fact that this kit is a re-issue is still good news for us – when it came out in 2004 this kit number 04723 was a breakthrough kit from Revell – Not many “modern” kits were out in 1/32 at that time – and to an extent this scale was still seen as a larger or toy like scale back then – a lot has changed – and now as the audience has gotten older and grown up and gotten back into modelling this scale has become a fast riser with lots of opportunities for making a unique kit and therefore selling more units.
This is the same kit
– even bearing the same item number. Back a few years ago this kit ceased production
and a lot were sold pretty cheaply – maybe familiarity had bread contempt? A
new breed of large scale kits from Hasegawa and Trumpeter had entered the
market and this kit had it’s thunder stolen to a certain degree by more modern
and complex kits hitting the market. This kit however was inexpensive, easy to
assemble and was excellently engineered and detailed – so I am really glad
Revell have dipped back into the well and re-released this gem – let’s look at
the kit in detail for those who may be coming across it for the first time.
The Heinkel He 162 Volksjäger or "People's
Fighter", (also called the Salamander and the “Spatz” by Heinkel
themselves) was a single-engine, jet-powered fighter aircraft used by the
German Luftwaffe in World War II. It was constructed by using some aircraft alloy but
mainly a lot of wood to keep the use of metals for other more “important”
projects. The '162 was designed as a cheap and easy to build but high performance
fighter that younger and inexperienced pilots would be able to fly and be successful with
in combat in great numbers. None of these conditions eventuated and only one unit used this fighter – it has two aircraft depicted here
on the decal sheet (which is all new) but being such an advanced and futuristic
looking fighter modellers have loved it.
This kit however, is even simpler than the real thing – as
you slide the kit out of the end opening blue box and limited plastic bag
packing which Revell is known for you realize although it isn’t a tiny kit there
are only a few sprues there. All in light grey, these sprues are well detailed
and surprisingly sharp in it’s features.
My kit came pretty undamaged even though
there was only one bag holding it all in, but the box and the tightness of the
wrapping seemed to work this time. The one transparent sprue hadn’t a flaw on
it as it was inside it’s own bag – so no foul here – but I wonder if the kit
was a little older and moved from place to place, shop to shop if the kit would
life such an unscarred life. I hope we get more plastic bags for their kits in
the future.
The surface detail is not at all over or under done but it
is there where you need it. What I mean by this is there want surface detail to
be had on all areas of this kite. Certainly several areas of this aircraft were
made of wood and these would be sanded smooth and painted so the detail here
and other areas are just right. The fuselage was metallic while the wings,
rudders, ailerons, flaps, fuselage doors, & the nose are made of wood. This
wood work was done by several spread out shops in the vicinity of the factories
which were often underground to save them from the bombing attacks of the
allies. This means that the detail on the fuselage is ok to be riveted while it
is good that the wings and other parts remain smooth. It isn’t something Revell
missed.
The instruction sheet is the usual comic book style Revell
is known for, but the forty two steps of the construction are not jammed in
there too tight and so even on the complicated internal gear they are easy to
follow. Colours are there in Revell
shades and there is a multi-lingual intro and also a sprue layout to assist
you.
In fact reading through this build you are surprised how
very easy this plane is to make. The plastic on had isn’t scarred with the
constant need to pare down a seam down the centre of every part which is a
welcome change, especially on a kit that’s moulds have been around a little
while now. Surprisingly actually there wasn’t much flash to be seen –
especially on the parts themselves. (There is a little on the sprue trees but
surprisingly not much at all to be removed on the parts really)
While we are discussing plastic it must be said that where
there are internal braces displayed there are often some imperfections of sink
marks on the outside of the kit. Revell are pretty good at burying these in the
right places they will not be detected – but on the nose where there is
internal ribbing there is a repeated row of sink marks on the outside to match
– which is disappointing BUT for the fact that the marks are on the metal part
of the fuselage behind the wooden nose. I guess you could say this is
“stressing” of the metal. There is also the same thing on the engine bay covers
which have internal ribs. This is a shame but not at all a deal breaker as they
can be smoothed down pretty easily in these places.
I imagine someone with just a little
experience could tear through this build as you have the fuselage all sealed up
by stage fifteen of the fourty-two stages.
I found some of these pictures at this wonderful
site – they are restoring a Volksjaeger in France and the pictures are
amazing, and they have given us some great insight to the quality of the kit provided here by Revell.
Below is the comparison of the landing gear showing the comparison
of the good but not amazing details of the kit. What we have here is a good set
of oleos as long as you add the lines associated with them. The detail in the internal wheel wells is pretty good, not as sharp as the many conversion sets which have been produced since to better this kit. But pretty good nonetheless.
The front nose gear is again pretty passable and you have the
choice of using this or the Aires set – I like what is on offer here – I think
that the more barriers you place for yourself in adding aftermarket the less
chance you will have of making the kit. So I would use the Revell gear without
a worry.
The BMW 003E-1 axial-flow turbojet was mounted in a pod
nacelle above the fuselage. This fuselage is housed by clamshell doors which
open or close with this kit. Like we mentioned earlier there are some easy to
fix sink marks on the outside of these, but this isn’t a big deal.
The engine itself is a good representation of the original,
you can either show it wand add some wiring and plumbing from the spares box
which will make this look pretty lovely – alternatively you could just seal it
all up! Both choices are as good and as many people will have the kit sealed up
as will show it all hanging out.
The twin vertical tailfins were mounted at the ends of
highly dihedral horizontal tailplanes to clear the jet exhaust. The angle as
you can see here is the same as on the kit in this mini construction we have
done.
You can see the shape of the tailplanes is pretty good as
well..
The wings come as four separate pieces which are as simple as you like to put together - the question is do you want to drop the flaps? If you do it is simple enough to do this with some cutting and some CMK flaps - options abound - but the kit parts are great and fit nicely ( albeit with some filler for the slight gap in the wing joint)
The wheels and tyres are a good representation of the real
thing, although not weighted, the originals weren’t that bulged at the bottom
either.
When it comes to the cockpit the instrument panel comes in
two flavours – either by using the kit part and paint it or by using the decal
provided and shaving off the raised kit detail – I do think if you are going to
open the cockpit you should use the raised plastic whereas if you want the
canopy closed you should use the decals. They are neat but they are also very
flat!
The side consoles are well detailed but you are never going
to get the quality of a small run resin side wall set with a large production
run injection moulded kit like this – so the choice is yours here – either do a
good job of adding wired and little bits or remove all of the detail and use
the replacement resin from a company like Aires who did a great job of their
kit. You will need some noseweight jammed right into the front of this kit to avoid the kit trying to tail sit - you can jam it in the very end of the nose as you can see in the picture below
The seat is a passable representation again of the Heinkel
ejection seat though not if you look too hard. You may (or may not) choose to remove the moulded in seatbelt
details that are on the seats already - aftermarket is available for the seat and I would replace the seatbelts if I wanted to jazz I up here as well.
The guns are a pretty crude representation of the real thing
and the holes for the exit of the shells will have to be either made by the
modeller or simply masked and painted open – this is the quicker option as long
as you can live with that. The gun bay however is excellent for a kit like this.
The canopy and transparency arrived in good order in it's own bag (phew) and the clear parts are thin and very transparent indeed - the profile shape and small rivet detail on the front of the canopy was particularly impressive to me.
Decal Choices:
Decal Choices:
He 162 A-2, Werke No.10018, "White 5", 1./JG1, Hptm. Heinz
Künnecke, Leck, May 1945
He 162 A-2, Werke No 120027, "White 1", 1./JG1, Lt. Rudolf
Schmitt, Leck, May 1945
From the book “Flugzeug
Profile No.35 Heinkel He 162” we can see in the following two pictures taken
on the 8th of May 1945 - Leck.Schmitt’s He 162 "white 1"
with an open cockpit, and also luckily for us ( and the guys who designed the
decals I think) the "white 5" of Hpt. Helmut Künnecke behind. It
seems there was only one stop to go to for these decal choices.
The decals themselves are thin and a matt texture, printed
in Italy by Cartograf they are really good down to a small detail as you can
see by some examples we have here. The printing is in register and the white is
not opaque.
The carrier film is little to non-existent as you can see by
this picture here; the only thing that I do not like about this decal is no
swastikas – but being Revell of GERMANY I suppose I can – this time - accept
this choice to omit them.
This kit – like most of Revell’s large scale aircraft – goes
for the ethos of large, well detailed and simple, but good platform for super
detailing. Something Ohh did I mention cheap as well? At £20 this is a kit you
could build very quickly or you could take your time with and detail up to the
hen’s teeth.
Taking into account all of the Luft '46 conversions for this and the great potential for a captured airfield diorama my hobby knife is getting twitchy now just thinking about it! This kit and the simplicity of construction make it incredibly hard NOT to build it.
Taking into account all of the Luft '46 conversions for this and the great potential for a captured airfield diorama my hobby knife is getting twitchy now just thinking about it! This kit and the simplicity of construction make it incredibly hard NOT to build it.
The perfect triangle then with this kit – Being the three points of a kit that
is equally detailed, easy to make and inexpensive – a great move to make this
available again to the public! Well done.
Adam Norenberg
Revell model kits are
available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit www.revell.eu
