Brand-new from Airfix and available now from the Key Model World Shop is this exciting 1/72 scale plastic kit for a Messerschmitt Me410A-1/U2 and U4. Buy today for £23.99.

Airfix has pulled the stops out for this brand-new 1/72 scale kit. The Me410A-1 launched on the Friday morning of the annual IPMS Scale Model World Show in Telford in November 2023 and we now have limited stocks available to order direct from the Key Model World Shop.

If you need extra guidance, we have a full news story and video about the model’s release, plus Editor at Large Chris Clifford has been busy behind the scenes putting together a full build guide for this new release. Read the full feature online at Key Model World.

The Messerschmitt Me410 was developed as a heavy fighter but went on to perform several roles such as night fighter, bomber destroyer and reconnaissance. Entering service two years later than scheduled in 1943 as a replacement for the Me210, the aircraft featured several distinctive features including the twin gun barbettes. 

The Me410 was essentially a development of the 210 featuring a lengthened fuselage, revised wings and more powerful engines. Although the Me410 performed well, it entered service too late to make an impact on the tide of war and was soon relegated to reconnaissance roles.

Today, just a single complete example of a Messerschmitt Me410 is to be found on display anywhere in the world, one of the prized aviation possessions maintained by the Royal Air Force Museum at their Midlands RAF Cosford site, the very aircraft Airfix scanned at the outset of this exciting new model tooling project.

Although an excellent and extremely heavily armed aircraft, the Me410 could not adequately defend itself against the latest Allied single engine fighters. No match for the latest Spitfires, Tempests, and P-51D Mustangs, once USAAF commanders freed their fighters from bomber protection duties and allowed then to go hunting the Luftwaffe, any advantage the heavily armed Me410s had were effectively negated and if caught in the gunsights of Allied fighters, they were unlikely to survive the encounter.

Production of the Messerschmitt Me410 ended during August 1944, when the manufacturing lines were switched to producing single engine Messerschmitt Bf 109G fighters for home defence duties, however by that stage in the war, things were already looking rather futile for the struggling Luftwaffe.

This highly-detailed new kit from Airfix is made entirely from plastic parts. It includes two sets of authentic markings and requires glue, paint and basic modelling tools to assemble it.

Check out the full build on Key Model World today to find out more.