During the last years of the war, the German army was hard atwork trying to develop a long range ballistic missile. They wanted somethingthat could carry a sizeable warhead several hundred miles. This was what theGermans called the A4 rocket and the British the V-2. The benefit of a weaponlike this is that those in the target area wouldn't hear it until it hit andwouldn't be able to intercept it. Basically, it was a terror weapon. The actualtarget had to be rather large, like a city, as guidance systems just were notsophisticated enough. Heck, it was the first one!

Though not the real success that the army had hoped, it wasenough to cause a great deal of concern amongst the enemy. What made the weapontruly a difficult one to find is that it was designed to be mobile. The trailerwas designed to act as a launching gantry and to lift the V-2 onto its mobilelaunching platform. It would then be fueled and ready to launch in a very shorttime.  The amount of space required for the V-2 was minimal and it couldeasily be hidden in a stand of trees. Once on its way, the trailer would behauled back to the supply depot to pick up another missile.

Planet Models has been doing resin kits for a number of years.Most of them have been project aircraft or very low production types. In thelast year or so, they have ventured off into the realm of doing 1/72 militaryvehicles and have done some interesting ones, including this particular one.

The kit itself is comprised of beautifully molded resin partsand a fret of photo etched metal, most of which is for the hand rails on theside of the launcher. There is some flash on the parts as well as a resin blockthat has to be removed, but that is normal for a resin kit. I saw NO air bubbleson any of the parts. The parts are in four separate bags to keep damage down toa minimum during shipment. It is helped by having a nice, sturdy box. The boxart is a simple black and white drawing. Frankly, I have no problem with kitsbeing produced with this type of box art. As the hobby becomes more and moreenthusiast oriented, it just makes sense to have a simple drawing rather thanspending the money on expensive artwork.

Instructions for the kit are simplicity in itself. There are 12construction steps with each part numbered according to the parts placementdiagram on the inside cover. painting this beast is equally as simple with itbeing an overall dark yellow. While there is no book that I know of thatspecifically covers the trailer, the Monogram Publications book on V weapons hasa number of photos of the meiler wagen; some in color. 

As to where to get a V-2 and something to pull the trailer; Condor does a 1/72 V-2 and Planet Models does make a hauler for this.

This is a major improvement over the only other Meiler Wagen,that being the very old 1/69 scale Revell offering.

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