Zeppelin Rammer

Brengun, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Mark Davies

Sword's 1/72 scale Ki 44 Shoki is available online from Squadron.com

The Zeppelin Rammer (German: Rammjäger) was a project for a German 'secret weapon' by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin designed to use the technique of aerial ramming against the allied bomber fleets reigning supreme over Nazi Germany in the last years of World War II.

A relatively conventional miniature aircraft with straight, constant-chord wings, the plane was to be towed or carried aloft by a mother plane, then released upon contact with an enemy bomber fleet. Igniting a Schmidding 533 solid-fuel rocket engine, it was to make a first attacking pass, firing its 14 nose-cone mounted R4M 55 mm diameter-apiece rockets before the attacking the enemy bomber's wings and tails directly with a ramming attack. The little plane was expected to survive the ramming of the bomber owing to its armored wings, after which it would glide unpowered to safety and land on a retractable skid.

Owing to the high risks for the pilot inherent in its operation this aircraft is sometimes referred to as a suicide weapon; however it was originally not intended as such. Its wings, the main weapons of its ramming attack, were to be strongly reinforced with steel leading edges and metal tubing, and it was expected that the pilot would be able to survive the attack to land in any convenient field for the airplane to be reused later. After January 1945 an order of sixteen prototypes was placed but the Zeppelin factory was destroyed by bombers, terminating all work on the project.

Source: Wikepedia

Some plans and cutaway drawings of the Rammer layout can be viewed by clicking here.

Previous 1/72-Scale Zeppelin Rammer Kits

I am aware of two previous Rammer kits, both resin, from A+V Models and Planet Models.

A build review in SAMI, June 1997 mentioned the A+V kit having seven parts and needing a fair amount of filler for the wing joins. If it is anything like an A+V Ba 349 I once owned, I would say pretty crude sums the brand up.

I have not seen the Planet kit, nor read reviews of it. Planet kits can vary depending on when they date from, but even their earlier products are I think quite a step up from A+V.

Now that Brengun is offering a reasonably priced injected kits I would say few will seek out these older and more expensive resin kits.

Contents

The kit comes in a small end-opening box with artwork showing a Rammjager that has just clipped a B-17’s tail-fin. The colours and marking guide is on the box’s rear face, and this is printed in color using RLM codes for colour call-outs.

The box has two identical sprues of light-brown plastic, each with 16 parts to build one rammer airframe, all contained in a re-sealable cellophane plastic bag.

There is also a further small cellophane bag enclosing two clear styrene parts, a decal sheet, and a small PE fret. These items all appear to be of good quality too.

The parts are limited-run, but unlike some Brengun kits, this one had no noticeable flash; the parts all appear very clean and crisply moulded.

The Kit

Although two kits are included I shall just refer use the singular kit in the description that follows.

This kit is simplicity itself, with four of its seventeen styrene parts forming a stand to sit the finished model on.  
The cockpit consists of a seat-squab-cum-floor, seat back and headrest, rudder bar, control column, and instrument panel. There is also some simple structural detail moulded integrally with the fuselage halves. Some of the detail parts are very fine, but I doubt that much will be visible through the small canopy once assembled.

The airframe consists of two fuselage halves, two wings, a one-piece tailplane, tail-fin, and the bulbous nose containing the rocket battery. A small one-piece canopy caps this off, and is moulded crisp and clear.
The PE fret provides some dainty details covering wing-tip skids, control surface actuators, a rocket sight, and DF loop. 

Marking Options

Three machine are provided for as the colours and markings illustration from the box show.

This twin-pack kit is just the thing to accompany models of other mad concepts like the Ba 349 Natter*, BV 40*, and manned Fi 103; or alternatively, as an ideal cure for “Modeller’s Block” or a break from more complex projects.
Whatever your motivation, Brengun have provided us with a simple, good quality, and affordable Zeppelin Rammer in The One True Scale.

Buy one and share with a friend; I recommend it!

* Also kitted by Brengun and reviewed on HyperScale, click on these links to view: Ba 349 & BV 40

Thanks to Brengun for the review sample.

Review Text & Blue Background Images Copyright © 2015 by Mark Davies
Page Created 26 February, 2015
Last updated 26 February, 2015

Back to HyperScale Main Page