Eduard Brimstone w/AGML III Rack & BRU-57A Rack (648339 & 648358) 1:48

[Mike]

Brimstone w/AGML III Rack & BRU-57A Rack (648339 & 648358)

1:48 Eduard Brassin

 

 

As usual with Eduard's resin sets, they arrive in the familiar Brassin clamshell box, with the resin parts safely cocooned on dark grey foam inserts, and the instructions sandwiched between the two halves, doubling as the header card.

 

Brimstone w/AGML III Rack (648339)

The Brimstone missile was originally designed as an anti-armour missile with a fire & forget targeting system allowing the pilot to get on with thinning out the massed ranks of Soviet armour ploughing across Germany.  With the change of enemy, it has been used extensively as a bunker busting weapon against enemy strongholds in the Middle East, launched by Tornado GR.4s.  It is carried on a triple ejector rack, allowing many to be carried by one aircraft, and one Tornado launched 12 missiles on a sortie over Libya.  Future variants have been considered for the Apache replacement, and as of 2018 the Eurofighter Typhoon is scheduled to be able to carry up to six racks of three as replacement to the retiring Tornado.

 

 

 

The box contains parts for two racks with three missiles loaded on each one.  The resin parts comprise two racks, six missile bodies, adapter rails for the outer missiles (2 of each side), and clear seeker heads.  The includes Photo-Etch (PE) sheet supplies parts for the steering vanes, aft stabilisers, and exhaust ring for each missile body, with the vanes fitting into tiny grooves in the resin.  The decal sheet contains stencils for each missile and the racks, and everything is painted grey, which is Gunze H305 or C305.

 

 

 

BRU-57A Rack (648358)

The BRU-57A multiple carriage rack allows the F-16 to fit two 1,000lb JDAM munitions on a single pylon, which in an effort to minimise collateral damage means that an aircraft can tackle multiple targets with smaller yield smart weapons and loiter longer without returning to re-arm.

 

 

Containing resin parts for two racks, each one begins with the main rack body, the suspension mounts with sway-braces, supports for the umbilicals and the umbilicals themselves.  A sheet of PE supplies clips that hold the umbilicals to the weapon, and small pins on the mounts, both of which have a couple of spares each due to their size.  Gunze colour codes are used throughout, and a small sheet of stencils are included, with both shown on the same scrap diagram on the instructions.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of