So, helping me get my mojo back is this little Tamiya 1/48 He-162A "Spatz". Spatz is the name given to this aeroplane by Heinkel and means Sparrow. It's of course a controversial build given that this aeroplane had a massively rushed development in the dying days of what was without doubt a evil regime. Construction of this aeroplane was taken over by the SS and slave labour used. Still, late war Luftwaffe holds a fascination with me and the tipping point to build this aeroplane came after reading Capt. Eric "Winkle" Brown's account of flying it. Brown actually liked flying it and said with development it would have been a effective fighter. It did have pretty sensitive controls, particularly the rudder. Over use of the rudder at low speed did often result in catastrophe for quite a few Spatz pilots. The 162 did get into squadron service with JG1 and went on some combat patrols in the dying last month of the war. One Tempest was apparently shot down, so all in all the program must be viewed as a failure. Yet, in three months Heinkel designed and flew the worlds first single engine fighter - quite a extraordinary achievement.
Anyhoo, here's my progress so far. The Tamiya kit is a delight to put together - very smart engineering. Detail is lacking in the cockpit and wheel wheel, but what is there is pretty right, so adding a small amount of scratch build and after market "bling" really spices things up. I will add a Yahu instrument panel because they are so so good and A/M seat belts (on their way from BNA!). Like many Tamiya kits, there is a "main spar" for the wings making fitting these a breeze. Ah, there's nothing like building a Tamiya kit after slogging through building a resin or special short run kit with heaps of issues - it's like desert modelling!
Test fit
Mine will eventually be "Red 1" which ended up going to USA for testing post war. Here it is being test flown by the legendary Bob Hoover - another major reason to build this particular bird. The Luftwaffe ground crew painted the word "Nevenklau" (nerve claw)on the left hand side of the cockpit as the pilot Lt. Gerhard Hanf had a motor bike that shattered the nerves of the ground crew when he fired it up every morning!
