The piloted version of the Fi-103 was probably one of the worst ideas to come out of the end of WWII. The pilot would point the missile  at a target lock the controls and jump out. Cutting the fuel to the pulse jet engine would be necessary but if you had a fanatic person on the control he may just guide it all the way himself.

There is a substantial amount of history that is well translated on the front and back of the instruction sheet. If you look up V1 on the web you will find a large number  of pictures of them during the war and pictures of some survivors in museums. There is a web site that is for computer flight simulator that has an interior picture that shows how the canopy functions and the fuel cutoff and instrument layout. This is an actual picture and not computer generated. But tactics and reasons aside Mac has come out with a series of the V1 Buzz Bomb kits.

THE KIT

Please visit the preview for a look at what comes in the box.

 

CONSTRUCTION

I set about to build the manned version and its a nice kit to put together. My first comment  would be to wash all the plastic parts with a good cleaning solution. I used dish soap and water. The liquid cement and superglue I used pulled loose on a
wing and fuselage seam so the cleanup is needed.

There are two sets of photo etched cockpit parts for use with this and the two seat trainer version of this kit so you have one set to mess up and not have to worry, or as in my case lose on the carpet. The interior of this kit is very sparse but it should be as the real item was equipped with just the rudimentary instruments.

The parts fit very well and this was a good weekend kit to build. Very little cleanup was needed no putty since its all butt jointed parts, in fact the kit probably fits better than the real V1s did. I used Gunze paints to paint the model with one of the supplied paint schemes of RLM 02 and RLM 75 I didn't weather my kit at all since it was a one time use machine, also the were made from low grade steel and wood. Hitler refused to let them paint any markings on the piloted or standard buzz bombs since the were pretty much a terror/suicide missile.

You can find this kit and many others at