Building the Czech Model Messerschmitt Me-263 V-1 1/48 scale English

Airplanes

Building the Czech Model Messerschmitt Me-263 V-1 1/48 scale

by Jaime Pastor © Modeler Site

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I bought this kit years ago but, as usual, it ended up in the shelves close to dozens of boxes. However, someday I found a photo in a book, and I remembered where the kit was stored. When I opened the box, I could not put it away again.

Afterwards, I started to search for documentation. I have to say that it has been the hardest research ever. Just a few pages on the Me-163 books, with small and confuse explanations, just some specifications via Internet and just five photos of the real aircraft. I was on the point of leaving the project, until reviewing the photos in a deep way I found interesting features to put on the model, such as scratches on the nose lower surfaces -due to a crash-, the camouflage mottles, the wool tufts on the left wing -for airflow observations-, or just the weight on the ground.

Once the information was compiled and the five photos were analysed I put all together in my mind. I started with the modifications, because the kit needed a lot of work, not only to build it but to create a model as much as similar to the real one.

About the aircraft itself, I can say that it suffered a lot of modifications because Germans performed a lot of tests with it, and they had to repair it several times. The model that I have represented is the only one built of this aircraft when Americans captured and found it in Dessau-Roßlau airfield, in April 1945. The most intriguing thing is… did it finally fly by itself? Nobody knows it for sure.

The kit

Firstly, this is not an easy kit, I mean, it is really hard to build. The surface was wrinkled, the panel lines almost invisible and not correct, no rivets, not really good fit, problems with the resin parts… but, in spite of all of these issues, I have to recommend it!
Let me explain it better, how many Me-263 have you ever seen before? This is the crux of the matter. I like it because it is different and it is the only way to create this interesting aircraft in 1/48 scale.