1:48 AIM-4 Falcon missiles (4 pcs)

The Falcon, a pioneer among air-to-air guided missiles

The set offers a slender missile with a pronounced cruciform arrangement of forward and rear surfaces, as the early form of the Falcon family had it. The count (4 pcs) is given by the name of the item. 1:48 is a rewarding scale for armament of this kind, because the crisp edges of the control surfaces can still be held in it and the surface divisions are already visible.

The real subject and its time

The Falcon entered service in the mid-1950s as the very first series-produced guided missile in American service for air combat. It was carried by interceptors that kept their weapons hidden in an internal weapons bay: the twin-engine F-89 Scorpion and the delta F-102 Delta Dagger, where the missiles were swung out on short trapezes. It is precisely this mechanism that makes Falcons an interesting subject for an open bay.

Advice on fitting them to a model

Before gluing, check that all four missiles have the same angular position of their surfaces, otherwise asymmetry is conspicuous on a finished bay. A metallic gray casing with colored bands will take a light polish, so that it looks smooth rather than flat.

Who the four are for

• builders of American interceptors of the 1950s
• builds with an open weapons bay and the armament extended
• modelers who find plastic parts lacking crisp edges
• collections of historic aircraft armament in a constant scale

This is an armament accessory that is fitted to a finished model; the machine itself is not contained in the package.