Introduction

During World War Two when German industry was being bombed by the Americans during the day and the Royal Air Force at night the Germans looked to missile technology to tackle the Allied bombers. The Germans produced a series of remotely guided missiles to tackle the Allied Bomber numbers. The series of missiles produced had no real effect on the Allied bomber raids due mostly to the limited numbers produced and fired, but these can be considered the cruise missiles of their day. Bronco Models is steadily producing 1/35th scale model offerings of this early missile technology, this being the second offering from them.

Contents

This offering from Bronco Models is packaged in the typical cardboard tray and separate card lid. On the lid there is a period photograph of the missile and this does raise questions reference the finishing guide; more on that later. The sprues are packed individually in plastic bags for the most part and the all of this has resulted in a model that has survived transport from China to the UK very well. The contents break down as follows:
10 grey sprues
2 photo etched frets
A decal sheet
An instruction booklet
Full colour painting guide

Review

In this review I will be concentrating on the missile; the reason for this is that the launcher has been covered very well by Carlos Martin in a build review of the previous release, a link to that review can be found at the end of this review. The missile is an area that I can cover via the use of photographs of the example of the missile on display at RAF Museum Cosford.

Despite most of the sprues in this offering being repeated from the previous offering by Bronco Models, all mouldings look to me to be in very good shape. Care has been taken to avoid ejector pin marks on areas that can be seen. The sprue gates are small in size and in many cases have well considered placement. I am also pleased to see that Bronco Models has not gone overboard on photo etched parts for the model, restricting it to fine detail.

The missile body is split into three main components; each section is then split into two halves. This approach will obviously leave seams that will need to be filled and sanded and so where possible Bronco Models looks to have given this consideration; particularly where the middle set of fins connects as that could have been a difficult area to clean up.

The nose cone with its steerable fins looks to be a great replication of the real thing, but there is a bolt missing from each of the fins as indicated in the photographs I have provided. Shape and form does appear correct to my eye.

The centre section of the missile, or if you prefer the second stage looks good. The photo etched parts in the form of riveted strips as a nice detail. The section that locks onto the launch rail does not appear to be replicated on the missile; there is a connector provided for attachment to the rail, but I believe this to be incorrectly detailed. With that said it is in an area that cannot be easily seen on the model. The exhaust jets on this section have been slide moulded and so very well represented.

The first stage of the solid fuel rocket has again been well represented and with only a couple of issues that I am aware of. The tail fins are mounted on a collar that is secured via a bolted flange, the example at Cosford has had this collar loosened and slid up the body of the missile and so is incorrectly represented in the photographs, that said the locking flange is clearly visible and this detail is missing from the model.

Bronco Models has provided some photo etched pieces that go between the fins of the first stage of the missile and this detail is not present on the example I have photographed, but there are indications of attachment points visible, however these points do not match with the indicated locations in the instructions. There are two wooden braces supplied for the models first stage fins, but I am not able to verify if these are a part of the rocket or to prevent damage during transport and mounting on the launcher.

As you can see from the photographs the fins are made of varnished wood and unpainted, every example I have been able to find are the same. The rocket bodies are a mix of colours and certainly not a single colour as indicated in the instructions; as such you can pick and choose your finishing choices or I advise you use finishing option one. Bronco has provided parts to enable the launcher and missile to be added to their Versuchsflakwagon 8.8cm Flak. 41Auf Sonderfahrgestell (Pz.Sf1.IVc).

Conclusions

I am impressed with this offering from Bronco Models of the Rheinmetall ‘Rheintochter’ R2 anti-aircraft missile and launcher. Detail generally appears to be good and a reasonable match to available reference material with a few minor omissions. If early missiles interest you then this is a nice addition to the range available.

Links

Building Bronco Models Long Range Rocket Rheinbote