Modern Soviet Aircraft Weapons Set 1: Air-to-Air Missiles
kit no. 2504
Review by Al Magnus - one72guy(at)gmail(dot)com

The kit

Inside the box there are 2 sprues of hard light grey injected plastic, each with 29 pieces.

Ten different missiles are available. They are:

 Missile   No. of 
Copies 		  No. of Parts 
per MIssile 		  Kit Part 
No.s 
 K-13/R-3 IR version (AA-2 Atoll)   4   1   1 
 SARH version (AA-2 Atoll)   4   1   2 
 R-23 IR version (AA-7 Apex)   2   1   4 
 R-23 SARH version (AA-7 Apex)   2   1   3 
 R-27 SARH version (AA-10 Alamo A)   2   3   7+11(x2) 
 R-27 IR version (AA-10 Alamo B)   2   3   8+11(x2) 
 R-27 SARH version (AA-10 Alamo C)   2   3   9+11(x2) 
 R-27 IR version (AA-10 Alamo D)   2   3   10+11(x2) 
 R-60 (AA-8 Aphid)   2   1   5 
 R-73 (AA-11 Archer)   4   1   12 
Wing mounts are included for the R-60 AA-8 Aphid missile only. Parts to make 4 drop tanks plus 2 pilot figures are also included.

The molding of the parts was slightly off, resulting in noticeable seams along the missile bodies. Removing them tended to flatten out the bodies and gave them more of an oval cross section than round. All of the AA-10 Alamo missiles have two of the forward control fins molded right to the missile body with the other two fins as separate pieces. The slots in the missile body are slightly larger than the tab on the fins which results in a small space to be filled around the fins once they are glued in place.

There are two decal sheets. All the markings on the sheet are black except for the red warning rings for the nose of the R-60 AA-8 Aphid missiles. The decal film is a bit thick but does respond to Microsol very well. The images are opaque, clear and well printed.

The instruction sheet contains colouring and marking information. Paint numbers are for Gunze Sangyo Aqueous and Gunze Sangyo Mr. Color enamel paints. United States FS numbers are included where applicable.



Conclusion

Even though it has been around since the early 1990s, it still remains reasonably accurate even today. Overall, this set was a bit of a disappointment due to the poorly aligned molds, but it's still a long ways better than its ICM counterpart.



Addendum: 12/April/2020

Parts of this set have now been eclipsed by many newer products that have come on the market since this set was first released, circa 30 years ago. It remains a decent value for those wishing to arm their model aircraft on a budget.

Review Last Updated: 12 April 2020

© AC Magnus 2006