History

The Raytheon AIM-9L Sidewinder is the third generation of the Sidewinder with an all aspect infra-red homing and seeking head which gives the system dog fighting capability. The system uses a highly advanced active optical laser fuse and special fragmentation devices for proximity as well as contact detonation. In flight correction to the trajectory is carried out by electric actuators powering the notched delta fins just behind the aiming head, whilst the large fins aft are fixed.
The European version is made by a consortium of Germany, Norway, Italy and the United Kingdom and is led by Bodenseewerk Geratetechnik.

The Kit

This is another of Eduard’s growing ‘Brassin’ range. The kit comes in a clear plastic packet with the photo etch held in a flat section to the top and the resin in a pocket at the bottom with foam backing to give some protection. The parts count comes to thirty six resin and eighteen photo etched, of these parts some are optional and others are spare in case of damage / accidents and is a nice touch.
The resin parts account for four missile bodies with very thinly moulded aft fins attached, twenty forward fins which include four spare, of these eleven had come away from their moulding blocks in transit but none showed signs of damage. Next we have eight clear resin infrared seeker lens covers again there are four spares, one of which had come away from its moulding block but again no damage done, these lens covers are very small so will need careful handling, last of the resin parts are the optional seeker head covers of which you get four, these are hollow and just slip over the head of the missile. No air holes could be seen on any part although the head of one missile does not have the locating hole for its seeker head.
The photo etch consists of four burner covers and four small parts that allow the missiles to be made as AIM-9M’s, a nice touch are two templates for the alignment of the forward fins and lastly we get eight pre-painted ‘Remove before flight’ tags in red with four featuring the writing in white on one side only and the other four with the writing in black on both sides

The Instructions

These consist of one double sided sheet a little smaller than A4, on one side are a parts diagram and warning information together with other product information whilst the other side is the instructions proper. There is basically only one step but this could be broken down into three steps plus the details on making the AIM-9L or M version.

The Marking

Now this is the only area where I could find fault as no information is supplied on painting and no markings supplied but to be fair to Eduard if they where to supply all the marking and painting variants seen on AIM-9L/M’s used around the world I think the decal sheet and painting guide would be too large for the packaging.

In Conclusion

A marked improvement over those supplied in the kits and of considered use for those kits which do not include any weapon load.