The Luftwaffe’s fascinating Me 410A-1 is Airfix’s latest 1/72 kit, this surprise new tooling offering U2 and U4 armament formats. CHRIS CLIFFORD reveals all with exclusive images, video and more!
Well, who would have thought it… a brand-new Messerschmitt Me 410A-1 from Airfix. Echoing the firm’s 1/48 Sea King earlier this year, it’s a surprise release, packed with detail and useful options. Whether you’re a diehard Luftwaffe fan, or simply looking for something different from World War Two, the Me 410 (item A04066) is a finely rendered kit produced by LIDAR scanning the real example resident at the RAF Museum Midlands (Cosford)… but with its ‘errors’ fixed to portray a fully operational airframe.
The signature feature is that of optional Umrüst-Bausätze (factory conversion kit) armament for installation in the nose bay. For the U2 airframe you get twin 20mm MG 151 cannon inside a Waffenbehälter 151A weapons container, while the U4 sub-type can be portrayed thanks to the included 5cm Bordkanone, also housed in the nose bay.
Other alternative parts include open or closed leading-edge slats, neutral/drooped horizontal stabilisers, wheels can be posed up or down and radiator flaps open or closed. The cockpit is a busy area, with both crew stations being well equipped. There are separate rudder pedals, a control column, main and floor-mounted instrument panels with moulded features, a full radio transmitter/receiver array. Also provided is the Pfeil direction-finding unit and sighting device for the guns in the fuselage-side barbettes. Airfix’s clever engineering ensures that the barbettes can rotate, as can the propellers.
The 1/72 scale kit feature three-piece cockpit glazing is supplied purely for closed format, but there is separate rudder and aileron, plus optional underwing fuel tanks. Excellent decals for two Luftwaffe airframes are provide – both examples wear RLM 74/75 splinter pattern over RLM 76, but one machine also has heavy mottling on the fuselage sides and vertical stabiliser. The liveries are:
• Me 410A-1/U2, WkNr 140007/3U+AV, 11./ZG 26, Gardermoen, Norway, 1945
• Me 410A-1/U4, Stab II./ZG 26, Königsberg (now Kaliningrad), 1944
The presence of unused parts signifies further Me 410 variants will follow in time. For now, though, Airfix’s new-tool U2/U4 boxing should please many modellers interested in Luftwaffe aircraft… particularly due to the ‘boutique’ armament options. Look out for our exclusive full build at Key Model World in the week of November 13.
If you're attending IPMS(UK)'s Scale ModelWorld at Telford this weekend, you can get your hands on a free Airfix Me 410 by subscribing at the event to Airfix Model World... but numbers are limited so don't delay!
