During the last year or so of WWII in Europe, the Germans came up with some pretty bizarre projects. One of them was for a piloted Fi-103 (V-1) missile. The theory was that the pilot would aim the aircraft at a target and then bail out just before impact. Well, OK in theory, but the actuality of bailing out of a speeding  aircraft and then not getting hit by the engine intake before plowing into a bomber or ground target really stretches the credence of most people.  Why do all this? Well, the V-1 wasn't exactly the most accurate missile around. By adding a pilot, greater accuracy would be assured.

As crackpot as the idea sounds it had a number of backers, including the superb pilot,  Hanna Reitsch. Hanna was one of these people who could fly anything and she was one of the  few to actually fly the incredibly dangerous Reichenberg IV. Thankfully, the project never reached fruition, even though several other variants of the Reichenberg were built and flown.

As with the previous V-1 kit, this one is very well molded in a light brown plastic. Again, you'll notice a missing section on the sprue for the nose of the Reichenberg III that will be previewed a bit later. Just a few bits are not used on the Reichenberg IV version. You'll notice that the kit designers have properly done the wider wings with ailerons on them as well as the blunter nose and cockpit.

Two vac canopies are provided (not shown), which is a real benefit for those of us who are a bit klutzy with vac canopies. The etched fret is a bit larger on this one since there are interior bits required for this variant. However, the decal sheet is exactly the same. Again, a ground handling trolley, exactly the same as what is with the V-1 kit, is provided for display. The Reichenberg IV was to be launched from an He-111, so if you have one of those around, you could probably cobble up a set of racks to hold this missile.

The instruction sheet gives color schemes for four different Reichenberg IV's. First is RLM 74 over RLM 76 with lots of mottling. Next is an unmottled RLM 71 over RLM 65. Third is a real mix-up of colors as would befit an aircraft made from a mixture of component parts. The fourth is RLM 75 over RLM02 with lots of mottling on the fuselage sections.

The only other Reichenberg IV done in 1/72 is the Heller kit. I'm not really sure just how this one compares to it, but it should be an improvement. No matter how you look at it, this one looks to be a pretty straight-forward kit and one that should not be a problem to build.

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