Editor's note: Although the scale is unkown, the figure stands Rider: 5" approx, Horse 7-1/2"

Originally produced by Aurora Models in 1958/1959, this kit has been around awhile, although until recently only in the kit collectors realm. Moebius Models has chosen to rerelease this gem of yesterday, with the same box art and instruction sheet guaranteed to bring you back to your childhood days of saving your paper route money to buy one of these babies for about 3 whole dollars. The horse looked very familiar to you when you got it home and opened the box. But that’s only because this fella had been released twice before. The first time seating the mounted Gold Knight of Nice, part of the original Aurora Knight set. The second time around, an Apache Warrior was atop this fine steed’s back. The third time being the charm, here comes the trusty mount again, this time carrying a Confederate Raider!! Talk about some mileage!!!

I would like to express my sincere thanks to Revell for providing this kit to IPMS/USA and to them for allowing me to review it.

The Ford Skyliner was an innovative full-size car that came with a retractable hardtop and was built for only three years, 1957, 1958 and 1959. It had a very complex mechanism, which folded a section on the front part of the roof and then retracted it under the rear deck lid. It had three roof drive motors driving four lift jacks, four door lock motors, ten solenoids, four locking mechanisms for the roof, and a total of 610-ft. of wiring. It was the first retractable hardtop to be mass-produced. The standard engine was a 332 cu. in. or an optional 352 cu. in. was available. Transmissions available on the Skyliner were two manual transmissions, a three-speed and a three speed with overdrive as well as the 3-speed Ford-O-Matic automatic transmission.

So what’s better than a 37mm FlaK 43? How about twin FlaK 43s. And how about mounting them in an enclosed, armored turret and mounting them to an armored chassis? In 1943, the German military contractor Rheinmetall-Borsig started designing the Flakpanzer 341 to be just that, an armored, mobile twin 37mm air defense platform. Commonly referred to as the Coelian [Flakpanzer V], the vehicle mounted twin FlaK 43’s in a powered turret which featured the ability to fire near vertical. The turret found itself mounted to a Panther chassis that had been slightly modified. Although the Coelian never made it past a wooden mockup [on actual Panther chassis], several experts over the years have speculated that the design would not have been effective due to the enclosed turret. Many believe that the turret design did not properly allow for the exhaust gasses from the twin 37mm guns to vent.