Eduard 1/48 Russian Modern Aircraft Missiles BigSin 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.

If you've been using Eduard's detail sets for a while, you'll know that for the AMS modeler, they combined all of the photo-etched details for a particular subject into a single package in their BIG ED series. Buying the BIG ED sets can give you some sticker shock, but if you add up the prices of the individual detail sets and masks included in each BIG ED set, you'll see you're saving some good money in that combined package.

Following that same business model, Eduard has released their latest savings package for the AMS modeler - BIG SIN for a nice selection of Russian Modern Aircraft Missiles. If you look at the list on the box, here are the specific sets included in this release:

• 648094 R-27ER/AA-10 Alamo C
• 648101 R-27ET/AA-10 Alamo D
• 648082 R-60/AA-8 Aphid
• 648071 R-73/AA-11 Archer
• 648143 R-77/AA-12 Adder

These missiles are typical loadout on modern Sukhoi and MiG fighters and each of these sets build up four detailed scale models of each missile type. If you're not careful, your weapons might look better than the aircraft you built to carry them! If you're building up an Su-27/Su-30/Su-33 Flanker, all of these weapons are used in typical loadouts and the set provides appropriate missile rails as well. For the MiG-29, you'll find a few limitations - the early MiG-29 (Fulcrum A) was developed to carry the R-27R/T (Alamo A/B), R-73 Archer, and of course the R-60 (Aphid). The MiG-29UB (Fulcrum B) doesn't have a radar, so it is limited to infrared guided missiles only (R-27T, R-73, and R-60). The MiG-29S (Fulcrum C) and later variants could carry these plus the R-27ER/ET and R-77 missiles (amongst others).

In addition to the missile parts nicely cast in dark gray resin, the set also includes the appropriate photo-etched parts and decal stencils as provided in the individual releases. The sets provide the missiles, the clear seeker heads (where appropriate), as well as MiG-29 and Su-27 missile rails. The R-60 set includes your choice of four single rails or two twin-rail units.

If you buy these sets individually, they run around $15 USD suggested price (street prices may be lower) while this BigSin set is priced at $53 USD or a savings of $22 USD. Not bad. 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 worth looking for!

My sincere thanks to Eduard for this review sample!