Lenticular Re-Entry Vehicle [LRV] (1962)

RETIRED

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ABOUT THE DESIGN:    ABOUT THE MODEL:
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 lakebed.

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.

  • Scale: 1:72
  • Material: Resin
  • Number of Pieces: 22
  • Decals by Microscale
  • Master by Scott Lowther
  • Casting by BLAP! Models

 

What You Get

 

 

Onboard Shuttlepod

Missile Bay Interior

 

Popular Science Story Illustration (November 2000)

To see a complete album of Scott Lowther's master pattern progress photos, CLICK HERE.

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