The Silbervogel (Silver Bird) was a 1940s proposal for a sub-orbital "Amerika Bomber". It was to have been launched off a sloped ramp some 2 miles long using a rocket boosted sled. Once airborne, it would use its own rocket engine to climb past the atmosphere and begin a series of shallow "skips" to extend range. After its payload was released it was to glide down to a friendly airfield for recovery and reuse.
That was the plan anyway, and needless to say the concept exceeded the state-of-the-art in materials, aerodynamics, controls, and navigation. Although the German brass were cool to the proposal, some prelimnary wind tunnel testing using a scale model was conducted. In hindsight, the idea was (eventually) technically feasible, and post-war the US Air Force developed a simialr project known as the X-20 Dynasoar. Although nothing came of the X-20, the Space Shuttle could be said to have been the direct descendant of these early proposals.
So back to the kit! I have known of the Silbervogel for many years now, and filed the idea of scratchbuilding one in the "to-do-someday" file. Sharkit made a 1/72 resin kit a while back, but after inspecting a friend's example I was less than impressed. So once again those crafty Ukrainians have somehow siphoned off my dreams while I sleep and produced yet another irresistable injected kit.
To be honest and up-front about it, this is a low pressure limited run kit. Flash is heavy in places, and I do not expect anything to fit perfectly without some adjutment. Some kit engineering is questionable as well - the nose assembly and stabilizers are butt joined to the fuselage. The stabilizers concern me, as I feel it will be necessary to engineer a spar to keep them from being easily knocked off.
On the positive side, the entire upper nose is molded as a single part in clear plastic. Combined with the included die cut masks, making tidy looking windows should be relatively simple. 3-D printed cockpit instrument console decals are provided, which is the latest rage in the modelng world. The regular decal sheet has some nice "Silbervogel" emblems which I will definitely use.
AMP/Mikro Mir's Silbervogel will require a bit more effort to build than a mainstream kit, but the oddball subject calls to me. They have been at it again with their Dream Siphon machine, as their latest announcement is a 1/72 Martin XB-51(!!!). I'm gonna need some caffeine pills to stay awake to build all this wonderful stuff!