The Ryan Firebee is a series of target drones developed by the Ryan Aeronautical Company beginning in 1951. It was one of the first jet-propelled drones, and remains one of the most widely used target drones ever built.

The Firebee I was the result of a 1948 U.S. Air Force request and contract to Ryan for a jet-powered gunnery target. The first flight of the XQ-2 Firebee prototype took place in early 1951. The drone featured swept flight surfaces and a circular nose inlet. The initial models had distinctive "arrowhead" shaped end plates on the tailplane. The Firebee could be air-launched from a specially modified launch aircraft (Douglas A-26 Invader was first to be used for this), or ground-launched with a single RATO booster.

This kit is a collaboration between Das Werks and Customscale and what a great little kit. The subject matter is a Rheinmetall experimental Flak Weapon with 8 barrels. There is one one example still around which is in a Moscow Museum. There is not official records or documents around anymore on this subject. The only reference I could find was an old “Nuts and Bolts” publication with a photo walkaround of the one on Moscow.

The kit contains

• 4 sprues molded in light grey styrene
• 1 Photo Etch sheet
• 1 instruction booklet.

Construction

The instruction booklet is great and very detailed to assist in the build. There were a couple of minor errors that I list below that I found during the build.

Section 1 is the Base Assembly made up of 5 simple sub sections. These all went together very easily and with no issues.

Talk about a modeler’s reference. This slim, 40-page volume consists of little more than profiles of vehicles used on the Eastern Front during World War 2. What writing there is (in both Polish and English) is used mainly to provide a little information on the vehicles shown. A decal sheet – not surprisingly heavy on the Polish markings - is also included to make it easier to duplicate a number of the vehicles shown.

For the modeler, this is a straight-forward, no-nonsense guide to equipment of all the major belligerents involved in this particular historic unpleasantness. The profiles are quite well done and offer a range of subjects and markings. Both Germans and Soviets are adequately covered, and there are even a few lend-lease pieces on the Soviet side.