Revell 1/40 Dart Anti-Tank Missile

[Ron Bell]

This is the other half of the Revell Tactical Missile set, the Dart anti-tank missile. In the early 50's a replacement was sought for the aging WW II era Bazzooka. The French had developed the SS 10 wire guided missile and, of course, since it was not invented here (NIH in military parlance), we had to spend lots of money to try to reinvent the wheel so to speak. Enter the SSM-A-23 Dart. It had a troubled development and as can be seen in the photos, was not exactly easy to deploy due to its bulk. After much wrangling, adjustments and expenditure, the Army cancelled the project and adopted the French SS-10 and 11 missiles, which were smaller, easier to deploy, more accurate and more dependable. Your tax dollars at work once again. The Revell kit gives you four missiles, probably because they are so small in this scale, three on maintenance racks and one on a static launcher. There are three Frankensteinian figures provided (and poorly painted I might add by me), one seated at what is probably a part of the guidance system. Two of the figures have smooth bases as does the launcher, indicating they were on a paved surface while the guidance guy's base simulated undulating ground for some reason. Since the missile was never operational, it appeared in a whole host of color schemes depending on which round of testing it was being used for. I selected several from photos on the internet just to make it more interesting. It's a primitive kit with lots of flash, mold seams and iffy fit, but then it does date from 1958. Any decals used were from my spares as the kit ones were long gone. 

 

[PaulBradley]

Neat! Looks as if they are lined up at the start of a race...! "Gentlemen, start your rocket motors!"

[Jmarc]

That is super cool , Love the way you have display them !... Well done SIR and thank you for sharing it with us, it's quite appreciated ! 

[Mark Deliduka]

Those are fantastic Ron! You can see some of the influence of the Fritz-X bomb in those. It's always great to see some of the developmental timelines being completed with models like these! Way to go!