IPMS Kit Review: Bronco Models 1/35 German V-1 Fieseler Fi103 A-1 Flying Bomb

Bronco Models

1/35 German V-1 Fieseler Fi103 A-1 Flying Bomb

Kit Number: CB35058

Reviewed by Chad Richmond, IPMS# 10346

MSRP: $34.99
Distributed by Stevens International: www.stevenshobby.com

Before I even start the kit review, I would like to say that all V-1 experts, self-appointed and otherwise, will probably find something wrong with this kit, but I have to say that it looks like a V-1, goes together like a V-1 and is a fun kit to build. In addition to using all of my written references, numerous sites on the internet and the pictures I have taken at six different museums in four different countries, I have found that there are many different shapes, different rivet patterns and different colors for nearly every inch of the V-1. I’m not really sure any two were alike. I guess someone will find numerous problems with this kit, but so be it. It seems like everyone’s main gripe is the forward engine pylon, and this appears to be what is correct among the majority of "experts."

When you first look at the box, it is gigantic! It’s sturdy enough to handle a lot of abuse, without a scratch. Inside are three sprues. One has the four parts for the wings, one has twelve parts for the rocket and the third has 21 parts just for the cart. When you first look at the cart parts, you really get excited, because it looks like a fully articulated, steerable cart…more to follow on that. That’s thirty-seven parts for $35.00.

There is a very nice, though extremely small, Cartograf decal sheet with makings for one V-1, with a choice of two buzz numbers. The sheet is half the size of Tamiya’s 1/48 sheet, with the same amount of decals. The instruction sheet is an eight-page document. Paint reference numbers are given for Gunze Sanyo, Hobby Color, Tamiya and Humbrol. There is very little confusion with the instruction sheet until you get to the decal placement guide where you are kinda on your own.

The construction of this kit is very much like the construction of the real thing. The warhead is one section, the nose cap and propeller another and the body and rocket motor makes up the last of the fuselage. The sprues are all a medium gray, somewhat soft plastic, with excellent scribing and crisp moldings. One of the unique things about the construction of all of the fuselage assembly is that it is actually a snap-tite type assembly. They have molded lock-and-key type fasteners, as well as peg-and-slot type fasteners instead of alignment pins. I tried the fit and it was really quite good. There were several areas, however, that the seam just would not close completely, so I cut them off and very carefully glued the halves an inch at a time until complete. The fuselage halves are left and right, but the warhead section is a top and bottom assembly with the join along a very neat and precise weld bead, as actually exists on the real thing. I used rubber bands to hold the halves together and then touched the seam with Tamiya liquid glue, and it was a perfect join. The warhead also has a lock-and-key type fastener to mate it to the fuselage. The molded weld bead on the rocket engine is also a fantastic representation of a fine bead weld. Some of the armor kit manufacturers could take a lesson from Bronco on this molding. The nose cap has two sockets for two alignment pins. These sockets need to be enlarged, because the pins are just too tight to get it on without breaking something, namely the very fine, rotating prop blades that are almost impossible to handle without breaking. Concerning the bead on the warhead, I studied probably more than one hundred photos and couldn’t come to a hard fast rule that the weld went the full length of both warhead sections. I saw some pictures where it went all the way, and some where it went half way. It was such a nice weld, that I left it as it was.

The rudder was another area that made me dig through many photos. It has four rows of very prominent rivets that appear in some pictures and don’t in others. I tried to tone them down with some Mr. Surfacer 500, and could have used more, but I do have some pictures to vouch for the end product. The wing halves are a perfect fit with stove bolt rivets on the tip caps, which I left. The wings are keyed exactly the same as Tamiya’s 1/48 kits, but the fit of the wings on this kit is so tight that no glue is necessary. The rocket assembly can be assembled in a very, very short time. If you’re a stickler for the seam inside the rocket motor tube, then that’s another story. I spent more time cleaning up that seam than I did building the whole model. The locating peg on the engine fuel jets grill insert is too long, however. After many dry fittings, I finally cut it completely off and glued the grillwork into the inlet cowl. Everything fit then.

Now for the cart, or as they call it "dolly". It’s a real gem, but after you look at it for a while, you realize that it is not steerable, but only looks that way. Each one of the four wheels is capable of rotating, but when the tow bar assembly is assembled and attached, it becomes non-steerable. It still looks really nice. The entire frame and upright supports are cast as one piece, and this is the only place on the model that I had to contend with sink marks. There are two big ones on each side of the two supports which I filled with Tamiya putty and sealed with thin superglue. There were also some small sink marks on each of the wheel assemblies, which consist of left and right halves and a one piece wheel. These wheel supports were the only part of the kit where there were any fit problems -- and they were minor.

I painted the finished model using the Gunze Sanyo callouts for light blue and dark green. The light blue is RLM 65 and the dark green is pretty close to RLM 71. It is much darker that the color depicted in the box art and painting guide, but I decided to use it anyway. I think if I had to do it over, I would use a lighter green, but it looks okay to me. I have pictures of many different shades of green. I gloss coated the rocket with Tamiya’s Clear Gloss to prep it for the decals. The decal placement guide is vague at best, so you have to look back and forth at it and the decal & color guide to be sure what goes where, and which ones go on both sides. This is particularly important where the placement guide is really vague. The decals come off of the backing almost instantly after being dipped in warm water and are very thin. You really have to use a lot of water to move them around. If one doubles back on itself, you are in real trouble. I had that happen on one of the vertical fin decals. I put the decals on with a small puddle of Micro Set, which seemed to have little effect on the decal. And, on the green, you could really see the matte film of the decal. It pretty well disappeared on the RLM 65, but stuck out on the green. Once all the decals were on, I only had one with any silvering problems and one with a panel line cutting through it. Out came the Solvaset! The only way it had any effect was to daub the decal with a Q-Tip moistened with Solvaset. It worked okay. After the decals had dried overnight, I checked them out and the matte film was still there. I experimented with putting the Bronco logo from the decal sheet on a piece of glass, and it was matte on the glass, too. I figured I’d just have to live with it. I sealed the decals with some more Tamiya clear and then started spraying Dullcote on for the final finish. The more Dullcote I put on, the more the matte film blended in and finally disappeared! That made me a whole lot happier.

This was a fun kit to build, and has given me incentive to build one of the Dragon 1/35 V-2’s that is sitting in my stash. They would look pretty good displayed together.

Thanks to Stevens International for the review kit and to IPMS/USA for some therapy.

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