The old adage Things get better with age may old true to a number of items but this is definitely not one of them. This kit started life way back in the old days! It was part of the Max Peerless line and was hitched to their 15CWT and released as kit 3508. Then, Italeri released the gun as a 6 lb. Gun M-1, kit 323. That version included a nice base with fence and ammunition and ammunition crates. Testors added their name to the box and titled it Anti-tank Gun M-1 and changed the kit number to 781. This latest incarnation by Zvezda is nothing new, neat, or improved. It is just the gun. It has suffered from time, as the kit has never had the molds touched up or maybe even redesigned. The parts are riddled with ejector pin sink holes and raised bumps, as well. Some are located on parts that the builder will damage trying to remove them. The most noticeable of these are located on the outside portions of the trailing arms and the outside faces of the gun shield.

The Messerschmitt Me-410 was a German heavy fighter used by the Luftwaffe during WWII. The Me-410B-2/U4 was used as a bomber-killer. It was armed with a 50 mm BK5 cannon and employed to combat heavy bombers. Though powerful, the BK5 cannon was found not practical in actual combat operations.

Meng has chosen to offer the Messerschmitt Me-410 as its first kit in 1/48 scale, and it is a welcome choice. The parts are molded in grey styrene, with no flash and exquisite surface detail. Also included is a small PE fret with a few details like seatbelts, radiator grille faces, and gun sight supports. Given the sprue breakdown and some indentation in the bottom wings (to open holes), it’s suggestive that there are plans to release different versions of the Me-410 in the future.

My first impression upon opening the box was that this is a quality kit. My impression after having built it, is that is it a very high quality kit that deserves to be treated with proper respect.

History

There was considerable industrial collaboration between Germany and Japan before and during World War II, and the fact that the Germans were able to send complete aircraft to Japan after Pearl Harbor was surprising, especially since they almost had to be sent by submarine. During 1941, the Japanese Army received 5 Bf-109E-7’s, and these were thoroughly tested by the Army, who did not select the type for production, but they did use the DB-601 engine in its Kawasaki Ki-61 “Hein” (Tony) fighter of 1942. These aircraft were delivered in standard Luftwaffe camouflage, were marked with standard Japanese Hinomarus, and lacked at least wing armament and pilot armor. From available photos, it is not possible to tell whether the aircraft retained their fuselage-mounted machine guns. However, the spinners were the type which equipped engine-mounted cannon-armed fighters, so the question of cowl machine guns is not possible to determine.