1/32 Revell He 162 A2 Salamander

by Sean Carter

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This is my 1/32 Revell He 162.  This was my first foray into 1/32 scale, and I doubt I could have picked a better kit to start with.  The kit is very well engineered and cast, fit was great and assembly was a breeze.  This kit has the most detail of any I've built, but that may be saying more about my lack of experience than the virtues of the kit.  The 162 is a very compact plane, so the finished model is actually smaller than many other subjects in 1/48.  For the price (approx. $25 USD from several online retailers), this is a hard kit to beat!

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I only have a couple of construction notes.  First, you need a LOT of weight to get this one to sit on it's gear.  Because of the size and detail of the nose gear, there's not a lot of room in the front to add weight.  I wound up having to add several 1 oz. weights directly behind the cockpit to get the plane to balance.  Second, all three landing gear attach at several small contact points, making the whole affair a tad fragile.  This normally wouldn't be a problem, but with a half-pound of ballast in the front, you have to be careful when you move the finished piece as the gear tend to twist and would break if you nudge it the wrong way.  Everything else was straightforward and didn't present any problems.

I built the kit straight out of the box without any detailing or add-ons.  I washed all the sub-assemblies as I went to bring out as much of the kit detail as I could.  The cockpit, engine and landing gear/bays all have a lot of little bits to catch the eyes.  The fuselage and wings were airbrushed with MM Drab Green for the top and a mix of MM Light Grey and Testors Sky Blue for the bottom.  Various other colors were used for detailing.  I gave the entire model a sludge wash over a flat finish - this leaves some of the wash on the areas you wipe for some nice, easy weathering.  I also picked out some of the panel lines and leading edges with MM Aluminum to simulate chipping.  Decals look great and went on without any problems.  The whole thing was sealed with flat lacquer.  I hope you like it!

Sean

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Photos and text © by Sean Carter