AIM-4D & AIM-4G

Eduard BRASSIN, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Mark Davies

Eduard Brassin’s 1/72 scale F-4J Wheels are available online from Squadron.com

The Hughes AIM-49 Falcon was the USA’s first guided air-to air missile, entering service in 1956. A most informative and detailed history of this missile family can be found at www.ausairpower.net titled Arming America’s Interceptors: The Hughes Falcon Missile Family is well worth checking out.

There have been many variants of this missile, including license-produced versions, and it has been carried by a wider variety of aircraft than might at first be assumed. This said; the two versions covered by this first look appear to have a fairly limited number of launch platform and national users.

The AIM-4D was carried by the F-101B/F (Late), F-102, and F-4C/D/E/EJ; and fielded by the air forces of Canada, Greece, Iran, Japan Taiwan, Turkey & the USA. The AIM-4G seems limited to the F-106 and therefore the USAF. So many different nomenclatures are used within the Falcon family of missiles that my quick background reading may have led me to miss something from this list.

Eduard Brassin uses resin and photo-etched brass to provide us with four examples of either an AIM-4D or AIM-4G. Whilst both sets will be welcome to modellers of their applicable launch platforms, but I think that the package of four AIM-4G’s would have been better as a pair each of AIM-4F and AIM-4G, this mix being more typical F-106 combination.

It is difficult to accommodate a typical F-102 load within a four-missile package as six were carried. In the late-1950s three IR guided and three SARH guided Falcons were typical; and during Vietnam, one AIM-4A forward and one AIM-4D aft in each side bay, with one AIM-26B forward and one AIM-4D aft in the centreline bay. As a stand-alone package of four missiles, the AIM-4D pack is better suited to a model of an F-4C/D/E or a pair of F-101B/F (late).

Hopefully, Eduard Brassin will expand its range of Falcon family missiles.

The Missiles

The four missiles come attractively packaged in a blister pack with sponge cushioning.

Very clear instructions are included, with colour call-outs cross-referenced to the Gunze Aqueous and Mr Color paint ranges. A PDF copy of the instructions is downloadable from Eduard’s website, click on the link for AIM-4D or AIM-4G as applicable.

The same design sheet of decals provides markings for both missile types.

The quality of casting is excellent, with the pour subs attached to the tail fins. Six PE rings are included to represent the rocket motor exhausts, so two are spare.

Painted and decaled, these Falcons should be an excellent addition to any suitable model, and are sure to be a vast improvement over most injected kit items.

Eduard offers a similar 1/48 scale set of the AIM-4D as product #6468186, but have yet to offer the AIM-4G in this larger scale.

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Eduard Brassin’s AIM-4D & G Falcons are very nicely rendered. They offer an excellent detail refinement opportunity for models of their applicable launch platforms.

I feel a package containing a pair each of AIM-4F and AIM-4G missiles for use with an F-106 would have been a better option than packaging four AIM-4G’s together.

Despite my F-106 missile quibble, I definitely recommended both sets.

Thanks to Eduard for the samples and images.

Review Text & Black Background Images Copyright © 2016 by Mark Davies
Page Created 22 March, 2016
Last updated 22 March, 2016

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