The Aircraft

The Heinkel 162 series was a last-ditch effort by the RLM to stop the destruction of Germany’s industries, transportation system and energy distribution by Allied bombing. The project began in September of 1944, with the prototypes first flown in December.

The He-162A versions were mostly wood construction, with the single turbojet engine. It ended up being the fastest jet fighter flown during WW2. The wood construction turned out to be highly problematical, as the glue used was not compatible with the wood, and the second prototype flight ended with one aileron coming apart, and the aircraft crashed, killing the pilot.

The He-162A also suffered from weakness in the horizontal and vertical stabilizers on the tail. The He-162D’s V tail was supposed to solve this problem.

There were also stability problems with the He-162A, which the forward-swept wings might have taken care of.

Plus Model was established in 1990 in The Czech Republic. Their product range is comprised primarily of 1/35th scale resin kits, conversion sets, and accessories which are vacuum cast from polyurethane plastic

• Square Topped Window
  • Item# 498
  • $17.30
• Round Topped Window
  • Item# 502
  • $17.30

They offer a superb line of quality dioramas made from a specially hardened gypsum, styrene sheets, of varying thickness for your own use and design, and other modeler accessories or tools. They also have a wide range of printed-paper 1/35^th scale accessories - scale posters, road signs, rations boxes, tents, etc.

The Kit

This is a replacement or upgrade for the Brengun He-162 kits. There are two canopies on the Vac-Form plastic. I didn’t look at this item until I was ready to install the canopy, and I now wish I had looked closer and sooner. One of the canopies is a direct replacement for the kit item. The other one is the AMS version. It’s a little longer, and there’s an area between the windscreen and canopy which can be cut out so you can build your He-162 with the canopy open.

Of course this will require quite a bit of interior detailing for the cockpit. The Brengun kit comes with a seat, a stick and a blank instrument panel. Obviously it would require seat belts, instruments, rudder pedals, a throttle, and the open canopy support rod. As I said, AMS version.

The Kfir entered service with the Israel Air Force in 1975, modeled after the Dassault Mirage 5. The Kfir is currently in service in Colombia, Ecuador, and Sri Lanka and was retired from the Israel Air Force in the 1990s. A total of roughly 220 were built over that time frame.

Like most kits, you have the ability to build 2 different squadrons, one from the first fighters squadron Kfir C2 #874 that has a mostly gray scale paint scheme, and one from The Arava Guardians Squadron Kfir C7 #555. Both options come with two different types of armament and the instructions are very easy to follow showing distinctions in the planes. The detail in the rest of the kit is extremely well done. The fuselage comes together very nicely and I only had to do some slight sanding on the top to get it to look like one piece. There were definitely a lot of decals to work with on this model, as I’ll get into later.

The Vehicle

Every armed force in World War II used civilian automobiles as transportation for “important” people. There were American Dodges, Buicks, and Fords. The British used Bentleys and Austin. The Germans used Opels and Horches. Brengun doesn’t specify which model of automobile this kit represents, but it’s obviously a “luxury” car, with a hard top and 4 doors. It’s definitely nicer than Hans-Joachim Marseille’s Kubelwagen.

The Kit

You get two resin staff cars in the kit. There is a PE fret an instruction sheet, and a small decal sheet with license plates for two cars.

Assembly

There really isn’t any assembly to this kit. I removed the pour block from the connectors at the bottom of the car, and then cut these connectors off of the bottom of the car.