Pegasus Hobbies 1/48
V-2

Background

The V-2 rocket was one of the greatly feared “Vengeance” weapons of WWII that Hitler had developed to try and turn the tide of war back in favor of the Third Reich. About 3,500 of them were actually fired at the Allies in the later stages of the war. Over 6,000 of them were made however, and many were taken back to the U.S.A. and Russia at the end of the war and studied for what could be learned from them. The Redstone rocket, which carried America’s first man into space was largely based on the V-2.

Militarily, the weapon was not too much of a success. Several hundred of the 3,500 fired at the Allies either blew up in mid-air, or never reached their targets. The rocket was only able to be aimed at a large area, so specific factories or buildings were unable to be targeted. It simply was pure luck that determined exactly what got hit by them. What it did do well was to keep Britain in fear…as there was no warning when the V-2 reached its target. The V-1 “Buzz Bomb” could be heard approaching, so there was time to get into an air raid shelter, but not so with the V-2 with it’s supersonic speed dropping out of the stratosphere. The V-2 held great promise, as it was the world’s first ICBM (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile).

The Kit

This new kit is part of the range of E-Z Snapz (snap together) type kits from Pegasus Hobbies. I was unaware of this brand before visiting my local hobby shop to see what came in new. The box says that Pegasus is based in Montclair, California and has their kits molded in China. The UK distributer for the brand is said to be Pocketbound Ltd.

Pegasus says that they designed the kit to be put together by a first-time modeler of almost any age (the box recommends over 14 years of age). It is also molded with a level of detail that more advanced modelers will appreciate. I think, for a snap-together model, that is very true. The detail is engraved and very good. So, a kit for all ages regardless of what your skills are.

The kit comes in a tray and lid type box. The box art shows a V-2 taking off from it’s launch base from a clearing in a woods. It is in a 4 color splinter camouflage pattern of olive green, tan, and light sand and sits on a gunmetal colored base (base included in the kit). Markings on the side of the rocket consist of the number 37 inside a circle in white above white lettering: 11/W456. Inside the kit these markings are given on a small decal sheet along with being on a larger sheet of self adhesive stickers (for the younger kids). The other stickers on this sheet consist of a skull, sharkmouth, a white iron cross, the word “BOOM:”, the sentence “Special delivery for Winston Churchill” (in white) and the German word “Grossenslag!” (English=Large Lay).

Inside the box are 3 very dark green trees of parts in a sealed cello bag. The stickers and tiny decal sheet are in another unsealed cello. The instructions complete the kit’s contents.

The instructions consist of a single sheet folded in the center into 4 pages.

Page one begins with a black and white repeat of the box art, followed by the history of the V-2 in English.

Page two and three have 5 assembly step drawings. There are only 15 parts in the kit, so it will be a very fast build. Steps 1 to 3 are devoted to the rocket assembly. Step 4 is for assembly of the launch pad base. Step 5 just shows the rocket being set on the assembled base.

The fourth page is the painting and marking illustration and instructions.

Conclusion

This is a simple, but very nicely engraved detail kit. With that splinter paint job and the decals it should make up very presentable and please most modelers.

My kit is courtesy of my wallet at the local hobby shop. However, Greatmodels carries this kit too. Don’t pass it up because it is a snap-together. It is really very decent.

Highly recommended.