Eduard RS-2U Missile (648593) 1:48

[Mike]

RS-2U Missile (648593)

1:48 Eduard Brassin

 

 

The Kaliningrad K-5 or AA-1 Alkali if you follow the NATO codes, was an early Soviet guided missile that began development in the early 1950s and reached service as the RS-2U with Soviet fighters and interceptors in '57.  It wasn’t particularly effective due to its guidance method, but still lingered in service well into the '70s, mainly due to the aircraft it was designed for having the same fate.  It was supplanted by the more capable R-55 that eschewed the beam-riding targeting for semi-active radar, then by the AA-2 Atoll that was reversed engineered from a Sidewinder brought home buried in a Mig after combat near Taiwan.

 

 

As is now usual with Eduard's smaller resin sets, they arrive in the new shallow Brassin cardboard box, with the resin parts safely cocooned in bags, and the instructions folded around acting as padding.  The box contains twelve main resin parts and 32 smaller parts in the same colour, plus the instructions and a small sheet of stencil decals.  The missile body has the wafer-thin main fins moulded in, and is attached to the pouring block at the rear.  The block is cut off, and covered by the domed rear-end, which is removed from its block at the front, both of which would benefit from dishing with a motor tool a little to improve the fit.  The four steering vanes attach near the forward taper, and at the trailing edge of the main fins four tiny tubes are glued into small recesses in the tips.  Some of these were loose in the bag on my example, so make sure you check for escapees before you toss the bag in the bin.  An adapter rail runs along the top of the missile, glued on two lugs that fit into recesses in the missile body.

 

The painting guide is on the front of the instruction sheet, using Gunze codes as usual and showing the location of the stencils on the small sheet.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of