Military Model Scene

An interesting new 1/72 kit from ModelCollect and one that includes 2 examples in the box.  The Rheintochter 1 was the first in a series of surface-to-air missiles developed by Rheinmetal-Borsig (Rheintochter = Rhinemaiden, from Richard Wagner's operas). It was a two-stage solid fuel missile with a 300lb warhead. It was radio guided and the four small fins at the nose were the moveable guidance vanes. The launch ramp was fitted to an existing AA gun mount, for the Flak 41. This was on a cruciform platform. None went into production, though apparently 82 examples of the Rheintochter 1 were test launched. I believe it failed to have an adequate range, hence leter versions were tried.

The kit has two sprues, and you get two copies of each, giving you the two complete kits in the one box. Each one is simple enough, and assembly is quick and easy. The instructions provide for 2 colour options, the difference being the mount in either Panzer Grey or Dunkelgelb.  As the Flak mount was a later war period piece I would expect to see it in Panzer Grey, so wouldn't go for that one.

There is an entry on Wikipedia for these missiles, and includes some pictures not only from archives, but also showing some surviving examples in museums, and these suggest some slightly different colours on elements of the missile body.

I bought mine via the UK importer, Tiger Hobbies.

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Robin