Eduard 1/48 R-27R/R1 (AA-10 Alamo A) First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

Eduard from the Czech Republic is easily the most prolific producer of aftermarket details. Period. 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 photo-etched parts as well.

In this release, Eduard has produced the nicest set of AA-10 Alamo missiles I've ever seen in scale. This set provides four R-27R missile bodies cast in gray resin with integral forward vanes and rear fins. Five sets of guidance fins are provided separately along with safety covers for the fuse sensors provided on a color-printed photo-etched fret. Four APU-470 and AKU-470 missile rails are also included which allow you to mount these missiles on nearly any weapons station on the Su-27 or MiG-29. The set also includes an alternative set of radomes for the R-27R-1 variant which you can simply cut and replace those radomes from the missile bodies.

I'm sure that Eduard will produce the other variants of this missile. The R-27R is the radar-guided medium range missle (NATO Codenamed: AA-10 Archer A) and is recognized by its shorter airframe and pointed radome. The R-27T (Archer B) is the infrared guided variant with the same airframe as the R-27R but a rounded seeker head for the optical sensor. The MiG-29 and some of the updated MiG-23MLDs carryied the R-27R and R-27T. The Su-27 would also carry these missiles along with the longer-range R-27ER and R-27ET (Alamo C and Alamo D) which had the same seeker head options mounted on longer missile bodies for greater fuel capacity and range.

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! This set will add fidelity to your next MiG-29/Su-27 project and provide the same beautiful details that Zactomodels provides for the 1/32 scale kits.

Recommended for experienced modelers!

My sincere thanks to Eduard for this review sample!