X-Planes & Prototypes

MBB Lampyridae (1987)

MBB Lampyridae - Unicraft - 1

Unicraft Models Logo

SCALE: 1/72

INITIAL RELEASE: 2005

MEDIUM: Resin

RARITY: (2)

 

MBB Lampyridae - Unicraft - 2

 

MBB Lampyridae - Unicraft - 3

MBB Lampyridae - Unicraft - 4

 

MBB Lampyridae - Unicraft - 5

 

MBB Lampyridae - Unicraft - 6

"Lampyridae" at 30,000 Feet

Click Here for Poster

ABOUT THE DESIGN

ABOUT THE KIT

In the 1980s, the German company Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm (MBB) developed a 3/4 testbed for a top-secret Medium Range Missile Fighter (MRMF) code named "Lampyridae" (Firefly).  Using a polyhedral airframe that eschewed right angles and curved surfaces to avoid radar detection, the "Lampyridae" completed several successful tethered test flights before the project was cancelled in 1987.  Eerily similar to the then top-secret American F-117 Stealth Fighter, the "Lampryridae" was considered by many to actually have superior radar-avoidance properties even though it had only half the number of facets of its American counterpart.

Although documentation on the Lampyridade is scarce, Unicraft managed to come up with a credible resin facsimilie, which it released in 2005.  There are few surface details -- such as panel lines  --and no pilot figure was included with the kit. 

This model was built from an original issue.

 

MBB Lampyridae - Unicraft - Box Art

 MBB Lampyridae Original  Box Art

 

X-Planes & Prototypes

1900-1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

Home   X-Planes   Concept Aircraft   Spacecraft & Missiles   Concept Spacecraft   Science Fiction   Grab Bag