Flashback 1/48 Me 163A Komet By Tom Cleaver

Flashback's latest is a limited-run injection molded kit of the first of Alexander Lippisch's rocket fighters, the Me-163A. Ten of these aircraft were produced following the prototypes, before moving on to the definitive Me-163B fighter.

The kit provides one sprue with the forward fuselage and wings divided horizontally, and aft fuselage vertically, with landing gear. A two piece resin cockpit and photo-etch brass detail sheet, injection one-piece canopy and Propagteam decals for four different aircraft complete the kit.

Both upper and lower halves of the forward fuselage feature distortion of the wing surfaces from the mold release pins on the inside. There is a set of R4M rockets to go under each wing, which I consider suspect unless one of the aircraft was used in testing these. There are no leading edge slots in the wings, which may be correct for the early aircraft, but is also suspect pending further research.

Overall, I would take this model and make the prototype which was the first aircraft to exceed 1,000 km/hr (600 m.p.h.), as this would be a significant airplane.