COBI Messerschmitt Me 262A-1a Schwalbe Set 5776

COBI's Messerschmitt Me 262A-1a Schwalbe is a 1:32 model built from 505 blocks, with a pilot figure. The canopy lifts off, the undercarriage retracts, and a display stand and plaque are included. All markings are printed onto the blocks rather than applied as stickers.

A new nose, eight years late

This one is worth knowing if you have built a COBI Me 262 before.

Every previous version — and there have been several since 2018 — used the same nose part that COBI makes for the P-38 Lightning. It was the closest thing in the parts bin, but the Lightning's nose is a much heavier shape, and on the Me 262 it gave the jet a blunt face it never had. Builders have complained about it for years.

For this release COBI tooled a new part specifically for the aircraft: slimmer, more sharply tapered, and the fuselage around it was redesigned to suit. That is the difference between set 5776 and the versions that came before it, and it is a real one — the nose is the part of the Me 262 everyone looks at first.

The real aircraft was the first jet fighter to fly in combat, and the shape of that nose was dictated by what was not in it: with the engines slung under the wings, the space ahead of the cockpit held four 30 mm cannon and nothing else.

In the COBI range

Set 5773 is the F4U-1 Corsair at the same scale, and 5774 the B-29 Superfortress.

Specifications

Pieces: 505 · Figures: 1 pilot · Scale: 1:32 · New nose part · No stickers