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Sidewinder acquisition rounds?


Simon

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Hi all

I took these photos at RAF Leeming a couple of years ago. They are of a 100 Sqn Hawk carrying Sidewinder acquisition rounds. My question is: why are there two different styles?

SW1.jpg

SW2.jpg

Is the first one a 'live' one and the second one just a dummy? Or is the second one used for something else?

MTIA

Simon

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It looks like the top one has a live seeker head dummy motor whereas the lower pic looks like just a dummy round. They look very similar to the ones we fitted to SHAR's

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The top one is a straight Acqui AIM9, the bottom one is, I believe, a RAIDS pod. It allows crews to carry out ACM and collect all the data on board the aircraft. It saves having a massive instrumented range and also means you can train anywhere, rather than having to go to a specific area.

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The top one is a straight Acqui AIM9, the bottom one is, I believe, a RAIDS pod. It allows crews to carry out ACM and collect all the data on board the aircraft. It saves having a massive instrumented range and also means you can train anywhere, rather than having to go to a specific area.

Yes, that's right.

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Didn't realise the bottom one was an actual aqui pod. Cool, always ready to be corrected. You certainly learn lots on this site.

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The RAIDS (Rangeless Airborne Instrumented Debriefing System) pod, is a common sight on RAF and NATO aircraft. If you check photo's of RAF Typhoons you will notise the pods being carried on the outer Missile rail but these have larger bulges/rings on them than the ones used on the Hawks.

Typhoon RAIDS pods

1/32nd pods are future releases from Two mikes, but would be quite easy to make yourself in small 1/72nd scale.

ACMI pods

Shaun.

Edited by Shaun
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Thanks for all the replies everyone - much appreciated.

I guess training rounds aren't as 'sexy' as full-on Sidewinders, so the mainstream kit makers won't be bothering with including them in their kits. Hopefully the after-market boys can fill in the gap...in 1/48 as well please Two Mikes!

Cheers

Simon

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In 48th both are dead easy to make using Evergreen plastic rod and 5 thou for the 'straps' / mounting points - I've done this on umpteen Shar FA2s. Compared to rectifying the 'age' issues with the Airfix FA2 kit, they are EASY! Use a kit or good aftermarket AIM9 (Hase?) to get the length (or google AIM9 dimensions), from there the rest is easy

Go on, be bold, have a go!

Nick

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  • 8 years later...

Thread back from the dead! I'm going to put one on my Phantom. Rather than use some plastic rod though, surely it's simpler just to cut the fins off an AIM-9 from the spares box?

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14 hours ago, Lord Riot said:

Thread back from the dead! I'm going to put one on my Phantom. Rather than use some plastic rod though, surely it's simpler just to cut the fins off an AIM-9 from the spares box?

Yup. That's all you need to do. Easy job. If you want to be a rivet counter, the rear of the body tube needs drilling out. The real aqui body was hollow for some of its length.

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  • 1 year later...

Hi all

please can you tell me what the colours are for the acqui rounds? Is it Deep Saxe Blue for the body, and a dark grey for the nose?

also I was wondering if it’s legit for the RAIDS pod to cut the fins off an ASRAAM?

 

I don’t know why manufacturers don’t include them in the kits, it’d make more sense than a black RAF Hawk with drop tanks and SNEB pods!

 Cheers

Tony

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6 hours ago, Tony Deaf said:

Hi all

please can you tell me what the colours are for the acqui rounds? Is it Deep Saxe Blue for the body, and a dark grey for the nose?

also I was wondering if it’s legit for the RAIDS pod to cut the fins off an ASRAAM?

 

I don’t know why manufacturers don’t include them in the kits, it’d make more sense than a black RAF Hawk with drop tanks and SNEB pods!

 Cheers

Tony

Body light aircraft grey, roundel pink bands with ACQN in 2" letters stencilled in black. Seeker head  is metallic greeny grey adonised, Don't drill out the tube  rear end it was blanked off.  If you cut the wings of a sidewinder make sure you sand off all the coupling bands on the body Aqui rounds were a solid tube with no bands.

 

 

Selwyn

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On 6/5/2010 at 10:48 AM, Shar2 said:

Didn't realise the bottom one was an actual aqui pod. Cool, always ready to be corrected. You certainly learn lots on this site.

The bottom one is the Raids pod.

 

Selwyn

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The ACQN rounds carried by Sea Harrier FRS1s and FA2s still had the bands around their bodies, unlike the 'smooth' ones shown on the Hawk above; two examples can be found here:

https://www.airliners.net/photo/UK-Navy/British-Aerospace-Sea-Harrier-FA2/2099782/L

https://www.airliners.net/photo/UK-Navy/British-Aerospace-Sea-Harrier-FA2/689897/L

 

Hope that helps if it's a SHAR anyone is hanging these from.

 

Cheers

 

Nick

 

 

Edited by NG899
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On 3/2/2021 at 4:27 PM, Tony Deaf said:

also I was wondering if it’s legit for the RAIDS pod to cut the fins off an ASRAAM?

Researched this for an article back in 2015 at which point neither the RAF nor MBDA were forthcoming about the dimensions although the dimensions for ASRAAM are readily available but by doing some photographic comparison both seem to be very close in size.

 

Pick an ASRAAM in the scale you are working in , remove the fins as you suggest and fill any mounting slots , add the suspension straps using your preferred strips of tape, thin plastic card or thick decal and if possible scale down a photograph of the real thing to the scale size of your ASRAAM to get the spacings,   For an RAF Typhoon build up the weight blocks from plastic card and sand to shape.

 

Colour was and as far as I know still is satin white overall , some pods have a matt grey coating over the tapered area of nosecone , tip of the nosecone is usually black , there is a medium grey aerial window on the upper surface displaced to the right behind the nosecone and the memory card slot in the rear face is black.     Early service Typhoon weight blocks were natural metal but later in the same white as the pod.    Stencilling sourced from spares.

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