Messerchmitt Me 163 B-1

Messerchmitt Me 163 was the only operational rocket fighter (there were some other prototypes) and the first aircraft, that exceeded 1000km/h in level flight. The beginning of the programme goes back to the famous aeronautical engineer Alexander Lippisch, who was known for his work with delta-winged aircraft. In 1937, he started developing the aircraft that would eventually become Me 163. He and his team were assigned to Messerschmitt in 1939 and the prototype 163 first took to the air in 1941, immediately proving extraordinary capabilities. Due to its short range (7.5min of powered flight), the plan was to have 163s placed all over the Germany as point-defense fighters.

In July 1944, test pilot Heini Dittmar reached the speed of 1130km/h, which was an unofficial record, and was broken by jet-powered aircraft only in 1953. Soon after, in 1944, Me 163B became operational and started combat missions, mainly against allied bomber formations over Germany. Around 370 aircraft were built during the war and its pilots achieved between 9 and 18 kills and 10 aircraft were lost in combat. Many aircraft and pilots were lost in non combat accidents as a result of unproven technology, corrosive chemicals for rocket propellant and similar causes.

The model represents White 14 of I./JG 400 in late 1944. This option was chosen because of an interesting mottling pattern all over the upper fuselage and leaking into the lower at the front and back. Some sources claim mottling was done with RLM82 only but there is no real evidence of that.

The kit

GasPatch created an excellent little kit downscaling their 1:48 kit and recreating it as a 3D printed model. This gives excellent detail throughout and generally a very good fit, but it is harder to build, since you have to use CA glue and extreme care must be taken, as the resin is quite brittle and it is not hard to break parts.

The good:
– excellent details inside and out
– excellent surface details
– nice quality printed decal sheet
– many options on the final look (types of tail wheel, open/closed gun doors, canopy,…)
– excellent colour instructions

The bad:
– some very little parts hard to separate from supporting struts
– brittle resin, causing parts to break if not careful

Link to the in-progress article: https://vvsmodelling.com/2025/03/13/gaspatch-172-messerschmitt-me-163-b1-build-article/

Model Data
Company: GasPatch Models / 23-72317
Scale: 1:72
Aftermarket: /

Decals: kit decals

Paints used: Mr.Paint
Camouflage: MRP-059 RLM66, MRP-066 RLM76, MRP-070 RLM81, MRP-071 RLM82
Metallics: MRP-147 Burnt Iron

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13 additional images. Click to enlarge.