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.

All of these improvements were a moot point, as the He-162D never got into production.

The Kit

This kit contains all the parts for one He-162D, with decals for three different aircraft. There’s no resin or PE in the kit. There is a cockpit with seat and instrument panel, wheel wells with some detail, and separate parts for the jet engine intake and exhaust.

Construction

Construction begins with painting the cockpit and wheel wells and installing the detail parts. This includes the nose wheel well, the main wheel well, the jet engine intake and exhaust and the back bulkhead for the cockpit. It’s a LOT easier to install these parts if you follow the instructions. The reason for this is that there are positioning lines on the RIGHT fuselage half for most of these parts, which aren’t there on the left half. Ask me how I learned this. I also painted the wheels, and landing gear legs at this time, to save time later.

I held off installing the jet engine intake ring, seat and instrument panel to make painting easier. So I now installed the wings and V tail. The tail went in pretty easily, but I had a problem getting the wings on at the correct dihedral.

If the wing roots and fuselage are butted together at the angle of the wing inner root, the plane winds up with WAY too much dihedral. I had to glue the wings on with a large (well large for 1/144) gap at the top of each wing root.

This was then pretty easy to fix with putty. Another voice of experience says at this point, if you’re going to fill that gap, use gap filling super glue. Putty doesn’t have the necessary strength to hold the wings on during later construction steps and painting.

I also put on the part on the bottom of the fuselage, between the landing gear, as it required a bit of sanding and putty, and it needed to be done before painting.

Painting

I chose a scheme which might have been used by JG1, with the red arrow on the nose. I used Model Master 76, 80 and 81 with my airbrush for the main paint job. I also painted the gear doors at this time. When the main colors were on, I painted the jet intake yellow and installed it. I also hand brushed the black area behind the exhaust. I put Future on for the decals.

Decals

The decals were very good. I had no problems getting the decals off the paper. When I’m applying decals, I put a tiny spot of white glue where the decal goes, then wet the area to thin the glue. This allows me to have a wet spot so I can move the decal to align it. Once it’s in place, a dab with a tissue removed the extra liquid, and the decal stays nicely.

I had no problem with these decals as far as keeping them in one piece or getting them to move. They are top notch.

I made a decal for the black/yellow stripe on the rear fuselage.

Finishing Touches

Once the decals had set overnight, I put on a coat of Testors clear flat acrylic to dull down the finish and protect the decals. It was also now time to put the landing gear on, add the gear doors and put on the canopy. I used one of the Brengun after-market canopies, which I did a separate review. The kit canopy would have worked fine too.

Overall Evaluation

Recommended, particularly if you’re interested in those desperate last days of the Third Reich. The kit has reasonable fit, as expected for a limited run item. The decals are super. I’m sure it’ll cause some comment at the next IPMS Chapter meeting.

Many thanks to Brengun for this excellent kit, and to IPMS/USA for the chance to build it.