This set is designed to fit Revell’s series of 1/72 Me 262 kits. The kit was originally released back in 1997 and has been re-released periodically since then. I installed the set on the Me 262 A-1a/U3 photo reconnaissance variant of the kit.

The set consists of 6 parts, a nose gear strut with retraction strut, two main gear legs, two main gear retraction struts and a metal nose gear bay. The castings are nicely done, however, as the kit parts are showing their age – mold seams, etc. – these defects are repeated on the cast parts and you will need to take some time scraping off the mold seams. I used a brass wire wheel in my battery operated Dremel tool at slow speed to polish up the struts and finish removing the mold seams.

The inclusion of the metal nose gear bay is a great idea as in my experience Me 262 kits tend to be bad tail sitters. I did add a little extra weight around the nose gear bay just to be sure. I primed the struts with Tamiya grey primer and painted them with a Tamiya RLM grey (XF-22), with the oleo sections picked out with chrome silver. Be careful when you install the nose strut as the oleo section of the retraction strut is easily bent or distorted due to its thin diameter. As the main landing gear legs are copies of the kit parts, the attachment points are square and slot nicely into the square receptacles in the gear bays to ensure correct alignment of the struts. The main gear retraction struts seem to be a little shorter than the kit parts (or I may have trimmed them a little too much), as when I test fit them, they seemed a little short, so I used the kit retraction struts instead.

The set paints up really well and even though a little clean-up is needed, it adds a nice touch of detail (and some needed weight) to Revell’s old Me 262 kit.

Recommended. Thank you to Scale Aircraft Conversions and IPMS-USA for the review sample.