Me 262 & Fw 190 A-8
to D-9 Wheels

Signifer, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brad Fallen

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Signifer is a French company that, in addition to professional resin casting services, offers a range of multi-media kits and accessories.  The kits are highly regarded, with the 1/48 Grumman Goose a typical example.  I have Signifer’s beaching trolley for the Azur 1/48 Latecoere 298 B floatplane – it’s an impressive little resin kit that will make a world of difference when I display the model. 

At the simpler end of Signifer’s range are these 1/48 Fw 190 and Me 262 resin wheels.  They are applicable to any of the kits available of these subjects – and there are plenty – and as drop-fit replacements for the kit parts offer a painless way of adding more detail to your build.

The sets are cast in different shades of grey-green resin.  Production quality is high. What appears at first glance to a rough finish on part of the edge of each wheel is in fact the stub of the casting block, which has been carefully cut away with a razor saw.  This stub, and a small amount of surrounding flash, can be dealt with in minutes with some careful sanding. 

The centre hub of each wheel will need to be drilled out to accept the kit undercarriage leg.  Signifer has sensibly avoided pre-drilling these holes, given that the width of hole required will vary from kit to kit.  Just make sure you don’t drill right through and out the other side!

Each set is also good in terms of accuracy.  The Fw 190 wheels feature the ribbed tyres seen on late A-model and early D-model aircraft.  The level of detail is comparable to that of Eagle Editions’ thoroughly researched 1/32 Fw 190 wheels (with which I’m very familiar having just painted them for a build of the Hasegawa A-8).

The Me 262 wheels are also well done.  Two different styles of nosewheel are included – ribbed hub with untreaded tyre and smooth hub with treaded tyre.  The mainwheels have exquisite hub detail and subtly treaded tyres, both of which will look even better when painted, washed, and weathered.

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No instructions are included, or necessary.

Both of these sets allow you to easily add extra detail to your next 1/48 Fw 190 or Me 262 project – highly recommended.

References

• Richard A. Franks, ‘Messerschmitt Me 262 – A guide to the Luftwaffe’s First Jet Fighter’ (Valiant Wings Publishing, 2010)

• Richard A. Franks, ‘The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Radial-engine Versions’ (Valiant Wings Publishing, 2014)

Thanks to Signifer for the review sample.

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2017 by Brad Fallen
Page Created 18 September, 2017
Last updated 18 September, 2017

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