Atlantis 1/40 Bendix Talos Missile

Talos was the end product of Operation Bumblebee, the Navy's 16-year surface-to-air missile development program for protection against guided anti-ship missiles like Henschel Hs 293 glide bombs, Fritz X, and kamikaze aircraft. The Talos was the primary effort behind the Bumblebee project but was not the first missile the program developed; the RIM-2 Terrier was the first to enter service. The Talos was originally designated SAM-N-6 and was redesignated RIM-8 in 1963. The airframe was manufactured by McDonnell Aircraft in St. Louis; final assembly was by Bendix Missile Systems in Mishawaka, Indiana. The first production versions of the missile cost about $155,000 in 1955 ($1,793,335 in 2022 dollars); however, the price would drop as Bendix increased production.

The initial SAM-N-6b/RIM-8A had an effective range of about 50 nmi and a conventional warhead. Several later variants added a nuclear warhead for use in the surface to surface version. The surface to air variant was used in Vietnam with four MiGs shot down by the USS Chicago and USS Long Beach. It was the first SAM victory fired from a ship. Thanks to its large size, it was limited regarding the ships that carried it. The last missiles were decommissioned in 1979. The missile had a solid propellant first stage with a ramjet second stage.  

Several years ago, Revell USA decided to sell off its non-car tooling. This included all the Monogram and Revell kits from the 50s and 60s. Revell AG bought all the more modern kits as they didn't want the odd scale classics. Atlantis made a bid for all those that Revell AG did not want and ended up with a lot of fairly old tooling. Many have been re-issued and Atlantis took the care to ensure the molds were in good shape. In other cases they updated the tooling, an example is the addition of clear parts to some of the older off scale car kits.

This kit was initially issued in 1955, and until this was re-issued last year, was a highly sought collectible as it was not something that had been re-released in the 70 years since its first go-around. Looking at the two sprues (one black and one white), the parts are remarkably free from flash and other glitches. Typical of the kits of that era, it includes a launcher, some test gear, and ground crewmen.

This is obviously a test setup as this was a ship-based missile. There is a well done tripod style launching platform with a launch rail that can be moved vertically. The missile has forward fins that can also be moved. The missile body is in three major sections. A nose cone, the second stage with most of the fins, and the booster stage. This is all slid onto the launch bar by a pair of guides on the missile body. Then it is a simple matter of painting the figures, placing them on their stands and putting them into your display.

Instructions are copies of the original from 1955. Each construction step has a written sequence. Generic color information is provided on each part as well as decal placement. The kit decals are well done and provide markings for one of the test missiles. There are images on the net if you want to do something a little different. Operational missiles were generally overall white.

CONSTRUCTION

It would probably be redundant for me to say this, but the general fit of the kit was not that good, so don't plan on slamming this one together. First step was to take a considerable amount of time to remove mold seams. The launcher was the worst culprit of this, but it is important to remove as much as you can as that really helps the look of the finished project.

While I was doing that, I got to work assembling the missile itself. Filler and sanding is the norm for the tubes of the fuselage on both the upper and lower sections. This was made somewhat a tricky situation as one has to install one pair of the upper fins when closing the fuselage halves. These fins are actually quite thin and while they are supposed to move, I found it much easier to glue them in place. Two of the lower fins on the upper stage are molded in place so one simply has to glue in the other two. Note that there is a sequence to the numbers on these items and since they are molded into the plastic, it is important to pay attention. The upper intake section was not only larger in diameter than the rest of the fuselage, but did not even try to fit. Some file work and plenty of cement was needed to get it to slide into place. Then I broke out the BAF (Big A** File) to get the circumference down to where it matched up with the rest of the upper fuselage.

The lower section was almost as bad. One thing some may notice is that the fins on this are huge compared to the production missiles. I have to assume that the prototypes had these large fins until it was realized that they did not have to be that large and that it would be impossible to store a decent number of them aboard ship. The lower section of this stage also was not fond of fitting well, but thankfully, its circumference matched. This stage is keyed to fit into the upper and it turned out to be an incredibly tight fit. In the end, I did not get it all the way in so the booster stage is a tad crooked.

Next was the launch section . Actually, it all fit fairly well without any of the drama of the missile. It is supposed to have the launch rail be able to move in axis and elevation. However, this was a fairly tricky situation due to the weight of the missile making it impossible to keep the launch rail up off the ground so it was glued in place. The axis part also had issues as the elevation piston would not have been able to rotate as the lower section was fixed in place. There are two large lugs on the missile that allows it to slide onto the launch bar. The attachment point is about half the size of the pegs on the lugs so those were trimmed down to fit. I did not use any of the three figures as they all had very large sink areas in them. 

COLORS & MARKINGS

Pretty easy to paint. First I painted the missile body matt white. Then the forward section was painted a nice yellow. The launch stands were painted with a dark grey. Some of the details were painted silver and black and shown in the instructions. The forward and aft sections of the missile were then given an overall gloss  clear coat in preparation for the decals.

One of the nice things about these Atlantis kits is that they come with very nice decals. They are thin and adhere well. Many of the missile markings are embossed on the parts so those were used to install the decals. It was interesting to note that the facing of the fin numbers on the booster are facing a different direction over the upper portion. The launching base had a goodly number of data markings to attach. In all, everything went very well. Once that was done, the missile was slid onto the launch bar and that was it.

Despite the fairly poor fit of some parts, the overall build was generally a lot of fun. Be prepared to do a fair amount of clean-up of mold seams along with some filling and sanding on the missile itself. It is nice to have this one added to my small collection of these vintage rocket/missile models and makes for a nice change of pace.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIM-8_Talos

4 September 2026