Trimaster 1/48 Me 163 B V53
This kit was in my model storage closet for 30 plus years and after spending 3 months on the Blenheim i was looking for a less complex project so here it is. I used an Aires cockpit set and it actually fit fairly well. Paints are a combination of Lifecolor, Color of Eagles, and Polyscale water based acrylics. The model represents an aircraft of 1./JG 400 at Brandis, August 1944.
15 additional images. Click to enlarge.
Pedro L. Rocha said on May 7, 2020
Excellent work as usual Dale. Is the Aires set a real improvement over the plastic parts? Am asking because I have the reissue of this kit under Revell label and might look that up. White 9 is one of my favourite Komet, and yours captures the mottling spot on
dale travis said on May 7, 2020
Thanks for the positive comments. Yes, I think the Aires set is an improvement on the kit parts. I'm not a big fan of the Trimaster steel photoetched parts and the resin cockpit tub looks better than the kit plastic. The Aires photoetched parts for the control panel and seat belts are better and much easier to work with.
George Henderson said on May 7, 2020
Nifty little beastie. Another good one Dale
dale travis said on May 7, 2020
Thanks George, much appreciated!
Tom Cleaver said on May 7, 2020
Typical great work Dale. Nice result.
dale travis said on May 7, 2020
Thanks Tom. @tcinla Did you happen to see Modelsvit is following up it's XP-55 with an XPXP 54 Swoose Goose and an XP-56 Black Bullet?
Tom Cleaver said on May 7, 2020
Yes! Me want! Me want!
Louis Gardner said on May 7, 2020
This Komet of yours looks spectacular Dale. @dtravis
I especially like how your mottling turned out. Your choice of colors look spot on too.
This is such a cool little plane, but I wouldn't want to have flown (or even fueled one) because the "C" stoff and "T" stoff were so dangerous. I remember watching an episode of "WINGS" on TV about 25 years ago and they demonstrated how volatile the fuels were, and how they spontaneously ignited upon contact with each other . They even said the fuel would ignite when it made contact with anything organic... like human skin... so the pilots had to wear a rubberized flying suit and gloves. But even with all these problems, this little rocket plane was years ahead of anything else.
It had it's share of problems too like how the landing skid had to be released to it's un sprung state, or the resulting landing impact could actually break the pilot's back... or even worse if any fuel was left in the plane and it happened to slosh together... resulting in an explosion.
I built several of the ancient "Testors" kits about 20 years ago. They were so simple and basic, possibly a "Hawk" original re-boxed in a Testors box ? They didn't have much of anything that even resembled a cockpit going from memory.
Yours looks great my friend. "Liked"
dale travis said on May 7, 2020
Thank you Louis. @lgardner That Wings program was really excellent. I had all of them on a VHS cassette, loaned it out and somehow it never returned! I agree the pilots of these things had to have brass ones. More of them died landing than in combat!
Haslam Yeoman said on May 7, 2020
Really like that paint job.
dale travis said on May 7, 2020
Thanks Haslam.
Spiros Pendedekas said on May 7, 2020
That's a fantastic Comet, Dale! Excellent cockpit detail and painting.
All the best!
dale travis said on May 7, 2020
Than you Spiros and the best to you!
Tom Bebout said on May 7, 2020
Well done as usual Dale, and boy do I miss the Wing series. some really great informative shows.
dale travis said on May 7, 2020
Thanks Tom. Your last 2 builds are great!
Erik Gjørup said on May 7, 2020
And you can add me to the choir; Great build as usual from you Dale! You get a "like" from here too.
dale travis said on May 7, 2020
Your comments are appreciated!
Robert Royes said on May 7, 2020
Nicely done!
dale travis said on May 7, 2020
Glad you like it Robert!
Walt B said on May 7, 2020
Nice looking Komet, glad to hear the Aires kit fit. I love their resin, for detail but often find the fit almost more work than it is worth. Love the paint scheme and weathering.
dale travis said on May 7, 2020
Thanks Walt. You're right Aires sets are very hit or miss on fitting the kit it is made for. I used one on the Tamiya D-520 and making it fit was a real PIA.
Greg Kittinger said on May 7, 2020
Lovely job on this - the paint work looks great! Well done.
dale travis said on May 7, 2020
Thank you sir!
Stan Traas said on May 8, 2020
Very nice build & excellent paint execution. But, I have a question about the color scheme- Yours looks like 75/82... Is that documented? I would think 81/82, 81/8, or perhaps 81/83 more likely. Would like to hear your thoughts.
dale travis said on May 8, 2020
Jagdwaffe vol 5 sec. 4 has an illustration and photos of this plane. It has it in grey mottling so i went with 74/75 on the wings as some early 262's were also painted. Is it correct, who knows.