This is the real deal, a Firebaby with balloon fuel tank and AJ engine ( I think- hard to tell).
This was taken back in mid Fifties, my Dad is holding it on the steps of a barracks in Post War Germany. He was in the Pennsylvania National Guard, and his unit was activated and sent to Germany to relieve a unit that then went to Korea. I love this picture - a man serving his country far from home- and holding a model airplane to keep a line a cross the ocean back to home life and good times.