Fantastic Plastic 1/72 Rheinmetal-Borsig VTOL

Not really much to say about this one as I don't recall any of my various references having this particular vehicle mentioned, but it is a paper project and we know that there were a plethora of ideas tossed around in Germany during the war. This was especially the case in the last year or so when things started getting desperate. Of course, none of these designers had to worry about raw materials, manpower and where the things were to be built.

This particular design is one where it was realized that for a point interceptor, taking off on the vertical or near vertical would be a real bonus as no need for expensive runways when doing this. It was also realize that they'd like to reuse the airframe so in this case, a set of bicycle landing gear was fixed to the lower fuselage. Would make getting to the engine difficult, but it would allow the plane to be landed after a mission. No information on armament or additional power plants to get the thing in the air is known and I'm sure it was filed away as an interesting idea, but wholly impractical.

This is the 25th kit from Fantastic Plastic and the third that has been sent in to MM for review. Like the two others from last year, it is 1/72 scale and is produced by Anigrand Craftworks in Hong Kong. Anigrand is a known quality, which is to say that they produce good, basic kits. This is not bad as it means relatively quick construction and makes these kits something that first time resin kit builders can tackle with few problems.

As is the norm with Anigrand kits, there are some mold glitches that will have to be taken care of prior to assembly, but these are typical of the genre and learning how to deal with them is something one will have to learn anyway. The moldings for this kit show only the air pockets on the leading edge of the intake that will need to be fixed. This can be done either by plugging the hole with stretched sprue and then sanding/filling the area or one can plug the hole with superglue and then sand things down. Either method works well.

The kit itself has nicely done panel lines that may seem too deep, but will look just fine once the kit is painted. There is no need for nose weight on a kit like this as one can display it on its fins. The fuselage consists of a generic seat and control seat to fit into the pilot's compartment. An engine exhaust nozzle is provided as is an intake face. It would have been nice for this intake to have intake compressor blades on it, but then again, it is nothing that black paint can't cure. A nicely molded resin canopy is provided. It is somewhat distorted, as much due to its thickness as anything, however, there is little in the way of cockpit detail anyway.

The three large fins have pins to help align them to the holes in the fuselage. One pin was short shot, though this will not be a problem as one can simply drill out the hole and insert a section of plastic rod if one wishes. The nose canards and wheels seem to be easy to install, making for a rather quickly built kit.

Instructions are very well done with photo-realistic construction steps that one can actually see clearly. There are seven steps so one will not be missing any. A generic set of decals by Jbot is provided. This sheet has a single carrier over all the markings so one has to cut each one out. No indication if these are ALPS printed or not. If so, one has to take special care not to scratch them during handling. One thing for sure, you have the ability to paint it any way you want!

Overall, a most interesting Luft '46 kit that hasn't been kitted before and has to be one of the most unusual ones I've seen. A perfect kit for the beginner and those who want an interesting 'what if'.

December 2007

My thanks to Fantastic Plastic for the review kit. You can order yours direct from the link provided and get rapid delivery. The order link is on the bottom right of the main page in case you have trouble finding it.