Bronco 1/35 "Rheinbote" Missile

[Mike999]

Sprue Bros. had a sale over the weekend and I picked up a few military kits.  I've had my eye on this one for a while:  the Rhinemetall "Rheinbote" (Rhine Messenger) 4-stage rocket, also known as the V4.  It was the only long-range ballistic missile used in WWII. 

The Germans fired over 200 of them into Antwerp, Belgium during the winter of 1944-45, causing minimal damage. No wonder - the Rheinbote had no guidance system, so the missile was just manually aimed toward the general direction of the target.

If that mount looks familiar...it was adapted from the base of the famous 88-mm gun.  From my (little bit of) reading, that's possible. But Rheinbotes were usually fired from the same "Meillerwagen" trailers used to transport V-2 missiles. 

Like most Bronco kits, it's very well detailed with lots of tiny, fiddly parts.  Including 2 sheets of photo-etched metal parts.