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Lenticular ReEntry Vehicle (LRV)


Roktman

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This is another throw back kit from Fantastic Plastic that I dug deep into my stash to pull out. The date on the instructions says 2008!  It's been out of production since 2011, but if you pay attention to the site, older models can come back for a brief engagement at any time. 

The LRV from FP's site:

Quote

In the early 1960s, the U.S. Air Force purportedly began development of a modified flying saucer-like airframe for use as a spaceborne nuclear weapons platform.  Dubbed the "Lenticular Re-Entry Vehicle" (LRV).  To be launched atop either a Saturn-like multi-stage rocket or one of the nuclear-powered rockets then under development, the LRV with its crew of four was to be launched into a 300-nautical-mile-high orbit where it would wait in "Fail Safe" mode for several weeks before either launching its nuclear weapons at the Soviet Union/China/North Korea or returning to earth.  Landing would be via controlled re-entry and a glide landing on a dry lake bed.

Although this "Black Budget" project may never have gotten beyond the design stage, there is some physical evidence that prototype vehicles were indeed test-flown in the 1960s.  One such intriguing piece of evidence is a strange "honeycomb" cross-section of an exploded disc recovered near Brisbane, Australia in 1966.

For a simple kit this one fought me every step of the way. The worst being the painting gods were tricksters watching me paint this, despite it just being black and white. Painting the black, I left it to dry, then turning it over to paint the white, I discovered a nic on the black. Let it all dry then going back to the black I see a scratch on the white... Grrr. There has to be at least 1000 😉 layers of paint on this thing. But in the end I came to a happy medium between it looking good and having some "wear."   Thanks for looking.

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The model still looks great, despite the painting challenges!  Interesting concept spacecraft.  
 

Some of those 1000 layers of paint will burn off during reentry

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Wow that is sensational! I know all about your issues with the white. It always gets a nick, scratch or smudge that doesn't come out whenever I try to paint it. I've never been able to get the kind of white coat you did on this model.

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