Not trusting Russia would stay in her new borders after Germany had been divided at the end of WW2, the Western Allies decided to counter the Soviets by rebuilding the German armed forces, this time under a strict denazification program. This program for the Luftwaffe included: Replacement of the straight edged balkenkreuzes for a design akin to the ones used in WW1, and the replacment of the swastika on the empennage with the German Republic flag.

The aircraft pressed into service on the new Luftwaffe were the Me 262 and the Ta 152. The first unit to operate the bomber version of the 262 in the new Bundesluftwaffe was JaboG 34, based at Memmingen, and activated in 1948.

The story of the Me 262 goes back to the 30s, when the first iteration of this revolutionary aircraft first took to the skies with a Jumo 210 piston engine. Fast forward to 1944, the Me 262 was pressed into service, both in bomber and fighter configuration. The aircraft could carry two SC250 bombs under the nose with the elimination of two of its four 30mm MK108 cannons. The regular fighter version carried the standard 4x30mm MK108s in the nose, and could also carry two air to air rockets under the nose (the best documented aircraft with this armament being Rudolf Sinner's), or 24 R4M Orkan air to air rockets under hardpoints under the wings (Hans Guido Mutke's aircraft is another very well researched aircraft, maybe because it landed at Dübendorf in Switzerland near the end of WW2).

THE KIT

Tamiya released their bomber 262 in 2002, followed shortly after by the normal fighter version. In 2003 a clear plastic A-1a was released, with the normal plastic A-1a kept being re-released in detriment to the bomber aircraft. Tamiya decided, in 2002, to re-release the A-2a with their new black labelled box in 2023, the contents being the same as the ones in the original 2002 production model.

The model is molded in a hard dark grey plastic, with no flash, great decals with three options, and a white metal nose weight to avoid tail sitting. Control surfaces are molded in the neutral position, but this can be modified with the miriad of aftermarkets that are available out there, who knows, maybe Eduard with see fit to produce a 262 with extended surfaces in the future.

CONSTRUCTION

As you may have guessed from the history paragraph, I decided to paint this model as a Bundesluftwaffe aircraft, akin to the colours of the F-86s and F-84s that the Luftwaffe used post-war.

Parts were painted on the sprues prior to removing them from them. Cockpit parts were painted Revell Aqua 78 Tank Grey (RLM 66), landing gear struts were painted in Silver (Revell 90 Silver). At this point I also painted the gear doors in Medium Grey (Revell 57 Grey) with their inner parts in Revell 90. Inner sides of the fuselage were also painted in 90 Silver.

Once the cockpit paint had cured, I glued them all and placed the cockpit inside the fuselage. The guns were built and glued on top of the metal nose weight with some epoxy, it being glued next to the same fuselage half the cockpit was on. The other half was glued when the glue had cured.

Engines were assembled next, with the intake and exhaust onions being painted in Revell 90, and then glued together.

Wings are a top and bottom thing, they were glued without issues, and when these were dry, I glued the engines to their respective nacelles.

At this point, I put together the entire airframe and left it to dry overnight.

Next day i puttied every gap I could find, not many, since this a Tamiya kit.

COLORS & MARKINGS

I used Revell Aqua 68 RAF Dark Green and 79 Grey Blue for the top surfaces, with 57 Grey marking a reappearance for the bottom of the aircraft. The model was the varnished with an EQ Arte gloss varnish, and the excellent decals from Cartograf were added (these came from the Kinetic F-84F in 1/48). When the decals were definitely dry, I applied EQ Arte´s matt varnish, with doesn't matt the surface at all and is left with a heavy sheen.

Wheels were painted and glued to the gear struts, these being added shortly after. Gear doors were also glued. Bombers were added too, and the last ones to be glued were the clear parts.

CONCLUSIONS

Tamiya kits always deliver quality, and this one was no difference. I know some may be tired of my what ifs, but I find it fun to go out of the norm with these aircraft. Whif post-war Luftwaffe is a fertile ground for creativity.