Eduard BigSin 1/48 MiG-21MF Weapons 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 set of MiG-21MF weapons. While the title says 'weapons set', they mean air-to-air weapons set.

This set includes four R-3/K-13 (AA-2 Atoll) missiles cast in gray resin and consisting of four missile airframes, four sets of forward guidance fins, four clear seeker heads, four gray seeker heads/covers, and four missile rails. All are beautifully cast. The set also includes a set of photo-etched parts (below) and a set of decals for stencils.

This set also includes four R-60 (AA-8 Aphid) missiles cast in gray resin and consisting of four missile airframes, four sets of forward guidance fins, four gray seeker heads, four APU-60-1 missile rails and two APU-60-2 missile rails. The set also includes two sets of photo-etched parts (below) and a set of decals for stencils. On the MiG-21MF, the APU-60-1 rails mount to the four underwing pylons, but when external tanks are carried, only the inboard pylons can carry weapons. That is where the APU-60-2 pylons are used as each will carry two missiles (one under and one outboard).

This is a nice set of weapons which not only work for the MiG-21MF, but can be applied to a wide range of Soviet fighters (check your references for which missiles and rail systems apply). If you want to take your MiG-21MF to the next level (or two), this set will provide beautifull weapons to match the beautiful Eduard 1/48 MiG-21MF kits.

My sincere thanks to Eduard for this review sample!