Valier "Raketenschiff" (1929)

Sub-Orbital Airliner Concept

Scale: 1/288
Initial Release: 2019
Medium: Resin
Kit Rarity: 2

About the Design

Max Valier (1893-1930), born in Tyrol, Austria, was an acolyte of German rocketry pioneer Hermann Oberth and an early popularizer of rocketry for the general public. A founder of Germany's Verein fur Raumschiffahrt (Spaceflight Society), he penned many popular books on the potential of manned space flight, and worked with Fritz von Opel to develop a number of rocket-powered cars and aircraft.

His "Raketenschiff" (rocketship) remains his most popular spacecraft design. Designed to "evolve" from a Junkers civilian aircraft, it would eventually become a suborbital passenger carrier able to travel from Berlin to New York in one hour.

A model of an early version of Valier's Raketenschiff was displayed at the Great Soviet Space Exposition in Moscow in 1927 (right).

About the Kit

The Valier "Raketenschiff" was #6 in Fantastic Plastic's 1:288 "Classic Rocketship" series. The kit was designed in CAD by Scott Lowther and cast by Mana Studios of Orange, California. The kit was released in March 2019.