Me 163 kits and accessories

Mike Good wrote an extensive review on Hyperscale of the A/R Modellbau C/T-Stoff truck. A compilation of the article is shown here. Photos and article are copyrighted by Mike Good.

A/R Modellbau of Hannover, Germany do a number of different kits in 1/48 scale, designed for use in aircraft dioramas. The quality of the castings is very good, and A/R have managed to avoid the extensive cleanup required by the large molding sprues used in most resin kits. The best feature of this kit is the excellent engineering: all parts fit positively with one another.

The chassis depicts the Opel Blitz 3 ton "A" (allrad, or all wheel drive) chassis. The few photos I have found of these vehicles showed it mounted on a standard "S" type, 2 wheel drive chassis. I cannot say whether or not any T/C stoff trucks used the type "A" chassis. The rear compartment has separate doors that reveal a convincing fuel pump assembly.

I only encountered two problems in assembling this kit:

• The first is that the front driveshaft was too short to fit between the differential and the transfer case. It should also be noted that the instructions show both front and rear differentials upside down.
• The second problem was a little more difficult. The fuel tank assembly is broken into three separate parts, with a separate "frame" that these parts mount onto. The problem is that the heavy, solidly cast tank pieces suffer from more shrinkage than the frame. When the tank parts are glued together, the frame is too long to accept them. The frame part needed to be shortened and the chassis tweaked (bent down slightly) to get everything together and lined up properly.

The kit does not include windows, windshield wipers or a mirror. I carefully made a template for the windshield out of sheet plastic. It was shaped by trial and error until it fit neatly and flush. This was then used as a pattern for cutting the window out of clear sheet plastic and glued in after everything was painted and weathered. Thin plastic was used and effort was made to insure that the window remained flat after gluing. This is critical to a realistic appearance.

Beyond this, everything went together smoothly and effortlessly. I felt that the model could use a little extra detailing though, so I added some bits here and there:

• My kit was an early production sample. It contained wheels based on those in the old Bandai Opel Maultier kit. The spare was of a different pattern, and much more accurate. I understand that A/R now includes wheels similar to mine in all of the Opel Blitz kits. I added bolt and hub detail (inside and out) to this wheel and then made castings to get a complete set.
• I also made up a set of brake backing plates. These are not included in the kit and the "see through" wheels are very apparent on the finished model.
• I also added steering gear to the front end. This can be glimpsed from the outside of the model and I think it looks "unfinished" without it. I used an Italeri 1/24 Opel Blitz kit for help with details and found it an invaluable reference source.
• The kit spare wheel hangs beyond the back of the chassis. This is not accurate and the mount needed to be cut off and the springs trimmed a bit to fit it in the correct (forward) position. I also added a mount and locking bar, after the wheel was glued in place. The "Wings and Wheels" book , "Opel Blitz in Detail" was excellent for this and other details.
• The mirror was punched out of a silver sequin, using a Waldron punch set. The mount on the door is made from stretched plastic tubing. This is glued in place, then the wire mirror mount was glued into this as a final step.
• The windshield wipers and Opel Blitz logo on the grille were swiped out of an FM Models Opel Blitz kit.

The model was painted with Tamiya paints. The basic paint job was followed by a wash of Humbrol flat black. I then drybrushed progressively lighter tones of the base colors, yellow over yellow and green over green. Finally, the whole model was lightly drybrushed with dirt colors.

This is a really nice kit, and I enjoyed building it immensely. Except for the glitches mentioned, it was a very straightforward build. For those interested in this kit, A/R Modellbau can be contacted at:

Pictures of real C and T-Stoff tankers are quite rare. This one was published in "Le Fana de l'Aviation", February 1997 issue, showing the tank procedures of the Komet. It shows an older type C-Stoff truck, rather different from the one portrayed by A/R Modellbau. Its dark grey color suggests a 1943 vintage. The picture itself must have been taken in the spring of 1944.