Me262 A-1a SCHWALBE

Messerschmitt 262 A-1a flown by Unteroffizier Eduard Schallmoser, JV 44, München-Riem, Germany, April 20, 1945. Schallmoser was flying this aircraft when he accidentally rammed a P-38 Lightning, slicing its complete tail assembly off with the jet’s starboard wing. Sustaining only light damage, Schallmoser was able to return to base and land safely but I’m not sure whether this aircraft ever flew again.

The seat’s leather cushion was first sprayed matt orange and then carefully shaded with a thin mix of red brown. The deeper creases were then shaded with my black/brown mix. Cracks and scratches were brush painted using straight black and a lighter shade of the original orange. Once dry the cushion was rubbed with my greasy fingertip to give it the leathery sheen. Small wire loops were added to the top of the seat back as attachment points for the safety harness.

Cockpit interior waiting for the addition of instrument panel and safety harness.

Toe straps were added to the rudder pedals. These were made using thin strips of lead foil.

Lots of wiring was added to the back of the instrument panel using various gauges of lead wire.

As I was not sure how much of the wiring was going to be visible it only received a rough coat of yellow. Each separate instrument dial was cut from various decal sheets and added to the individual bezels after the complete panel had been painted.

HGW’s Micro fabric seatbelts and P/E buckles assembled and weathered.

Cockpit tub ready for instillation.

Underneath the cockpit tub with lots of wiring detail added. This area will be visible through the landing gear openings.

The kit’s ring pull handles in the tip of the bullet-shaped Riedel starter engine fairings were removed and replaced with finer scratch-built items.

A push rod was added to the rudder’s offset trim tab using fine brass wire.

If you do not want to build your model with open gun bay and engine cowlings then a fair bit of filling and sanding will be necessary because of the rather poor fit of these parts. Also I was not happy with the uneven contours around the front end of the nose and, again, a lot of filling and sanding was required to make this area look right. The tips of the cannons’ blast tubes were also added.

The emergency canopy release handle was added. This was made from Evergreen plastic strip that was cut and bent to shape.

Initial application of camouflage complete. The colours look very bright in these shots but once matted down and weathered the vibrance was reduced considerably. Also visible in this and the next couple of shots are rows of rivets that were added to the fuselage. I didn’t do any on the wings due to a severe lack of motivation.

Gloss coated with decals applied. The W.Nr. on the vertical tail was made using individual numbers cut from several different decal sheets.

I could not find a decal to match my reference for the tactical number ‘5’ so I drew it free-hand and scanned it into the computer and printed it to the correct size onto self adhesive paper. Using a new very sharp scalpel blade, masks were carefully cut out and the number was sprayed on both sides of the fuselage.

Cockpit interior complete.

In this shot you can see the tiny brass wire hook holding the radio antenna wire, the safety wire holding the open canopy, the locking handle on the inside of the port canopy frame and the grab handle on the inside of the canopy centre frame.

All the dangly bits ready for installation. Lots of detail added to these parts including hydraulic and pneumatic lines, a new DF loop made from scrap P/E bent to shape, and the brass wire end on the FuG-16ZY antenna mast which is lying on top of the new pitot tube made out of telescoping brass tube. Also note the authentically hand-painted No.5 on the front nose gear door.

Gallery