Eduard 1/48 R-73/AA-11 Archer Set First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

Eduard from the Czech Republic is easily the most prolific producer of aftermarket details. Period. Their series of photo-etched detail sets have brought additional fidelity to otherwise bland subjects, and have taken even the best-produced models and kicked them up a notch or two with details that cannot be produced with injection-molded plastic.

Many AMS modelers will collect the relevant Eduard photo-etch sets for a given project, but they'll also go out and gather specific resin enhancements as well. Eduard has stepped up with a new product line to complement their photo-etched detail series - Brassin. Brassin is a play on words with Brass and Resin, and in many sets in this series, the resin details also include a set of color photo-etch as well.

In this release, Eduard has produced the nicest R-73s you'll find in 1/48 scale. This set provides four missile bodys with rear fins in place, four sets of forward fins in resin, four sets of smaller vanes in photo-etch, four seeker head domes in clear resin, missile body fuse panels in photo-etch, four sets of thrust-vectoring rocket nozzles, four sets of missile rails, and eight sets of missile rail adaptors - four for the MiG-29, four for the Su-27.

This set is ideal for the Academy or Eduard releases of the 1/48 MiG-29 or Su-27 and will also enhance the recent Great Wall Hobbies 1/48 MiG-29 9-12 and the upcomign 9-13 kits. You should be able to find this detail set at your local hobby retailer or one of the many online hobby shops. Trust me, this is worthlooking for!

Recommended for experienced modelers!

My sincere thanks to Eduard for this review sample!