R-77/AA-12 Adder Missiles

Eduard BRASSIN, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Mick Drover

Eduard's 1/48 scale MiG-21R Interior is available online from Squadron.com

The Vympel NPO R-77 missile (NATO reporting name: AA-12 Adder) is a Russian medium range, air-to-air, active radar-guided missile system. It is also known by its export model designation RVV-AE. It is the Russian counterpart to the American AIM-120 AMRAAM missile

Work on the R-77 began in 1982. It represented Russia's first multi-purpose missile for both tactical and strategic aircraft for fire-and-forget use against a range of aircraft from hovering helicopters to high speed, low altitude aircraft. Gennadiy Sokolovski, general designer of the Vympel Design Bureau, said that the R-77 missile can be used against medium and long range air-to-air missiles such as the AIM-120 AMRAAM and AIM-54 Phoenix, as well as SAMs such as the Patriot. The weapon has a laser-triggered proximity fuze and an expanding rod warhead that can destroy variable sized targets. It can be used against cruise missiles and precision-guided munitions (PGMs). First seen in 1992 at the Moscow Airshow (MAKS) 1992, the R-77 was immediately nicknamed Amraamski by Western journalists. The basic R-77 is known as the izdeliye 170, while the export variant is known as the izdeliye 190, or RVV-AE. The R-77 and RVV-AE have a range of 80 km.

The R-77 can be used by upgraded Su-27, MiG-29 and MiG-31 variants in Russian Air Force service. Some variants of the Su-27 in China's PLAAF, including the domestically produced J-11 variants, can also employ the missile. The newer Su-30MKK has a N001 (Su-27 radar) with a digital bypass channel incorporating a mode allowing it to use R-77s. The radar-guided R-77 has been sold widely, with China and India placing significant orders for the weapon, as was the case for the R-73. The baseline R-77 was designed in the 1980s, with development complete by around 1994. India was the first export customer for the export variant, known as the RVV-AE, with the final batch delivered in 2002.

Source: Wikipedia

Packaged in their now standard blister pack, Eduard have added to their Brassin line of weapons, this excellent 1/48th scale facsimile of the Russian built R-77 air-to-air medium range missile.

The set provides four missiles comprised of dark grey resin body, guidance fins and launch rails and a small photo etch fret for the rear of the missile body. A set of stencil decals completes the missile components. The instructions are the usual exploded diagram of the kit components. Colour callouts are Gunze Aqueous and Mr Color. You can download a pdf version of the instruction sheet from the Eduard website here.

To be expected from Eduard, the quality of the casting is excellent. Consideration of the pour stub locations has been given to ensure minimal surface area to remove. My copy did however have one of the cruciform guidance wings snapped off the mounting base. I think that this is the only weakness in the kit. Due to the nature of the cruciform wing shape for the rear guidance fins, the strength of the join between the wing and mounting plate is very low and will suffer easily from breakage. It will be difficult to glue due to the very small gluing surface area. Perhaps mounting the fins on their side may have caused another problem as pulling the wings from the old would have also caused damage. If you have this set do take note before you open that package that none of the wings have separated because they’ll disappear quickly into the carpet monsters mouth. The pylons are also supplied as a one piece unit with stencils supplied for them too.

Once complete these R-77 missiles will look great on a modern 1/48 Russian jet. Instructions for the set can be viewed at the Eduard site here.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. It’s great to see Eduard producing a line of modern era 1/48 weapons and this set helps to grow that line nicely. I recommend getting them for your next 48th scale Russian jet.

Recommended.

Thanks to Eduard for the samples and images.

Review Text Copyright © 2015 by Mick Drover
Page Created 26 February, 2015
Last updated 26 February, 2015

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