Does any manufacturer make an AIM 9 weapons set? I tried squadron and they didn’t have any thing. I’m making an F3N Demon & need the weapons for the aircraft. The scale is 1/48.
Note, I have knocked around the idea of getting a Monogram F-4 from ebay and tearing it apart for the missiles. But Monogram only made “half” missiles and they are far to deformed to be of any use.
Hasegawa weapons set C. Got about every 9 made and 4 7’S:
Cheers, Mac
The Demon needs AIM-9B Sidewinders at the latest. Those come in the Hasegawa set. The earliest Sparrows (AIM-7A/B) carried by Demons had a different shape, and don’t come in any of the Hasegawa sets.
Sir,
I worked as an USAF weapons tech for over 4 years and never heard of a AIM-7 A/B. I have heard of the AIM-7 I and AIM-7 III. The Demon carried an early verion of the AIM-7 III but the only aircraft I’ve ever seen that carried the AIM-7 I in regular service with the rather “interesting” performing Vought Cutlass.
But I could be wrong.
And thanks for the Hasegawa info. Perhaps squadron has a set.
I was using designations that I read online looking up about the Sparrow for my reply. The Sparrow I was redesginated AIM-7A, and the Sparrow II AIM-7B. But according to what I read, this was after both were retired/replaced by Sparrow III series missiles. Yourself having been a weapons tech in the AF I am sure your firsthand knowledge of those things is greater than my read knowledge. The only missiles I have firsthand knowledge of are Army ATGWs Dragon and TOW.
And you ought to have no problem finding those Hasegawa weapons sets.[;)]
You are correct. The first generation AIM-7A/B had pointed nose cones. The second generation AIM-7 nose cone was less pointed, more rounded and had different shaped forward wings.
Actually your web research was more accurate than my memory. I have not turned a wrench on an AIM-7 system since 1982.
The Sparrow I (AIM-7A) was used on the Vought Cutlass. The the jet the missile never amounted to much. Both the AIM-7A (Sparrow I) and AIM-7B (Sparrow II) never made it past the 1950s. The first Generation Sparrow III (AIM-7C) were used on aircraft like the F3N Demon. That was a “rail launched” system. I don’t know the particulars of AIM-7D I do know the F-4 carried the AIM-7E and that saw service until the 1990s That missile could be launched from a rack. The AIM-7F was used by the F-15, had a different launch lug set up and the radar assembly was different but was basically identical to the AIM-7E in performance.
BTW, in 83 joined the Army Reserve Artillery and became an officer in '86. So, I had lots of chances to learn about the TOW and Dragon. TOW is a good system and could blow away any tank in the world. I always thought Dragon was junk and thought the soldiers would have been better off with our own version of the RPG. A fellow officer friend, who was of the 82nd Airborne, said the only good thing about the Dragon tube is it was a great store for the platoon’s toilet paper in the field. They never carried a real round in training.
Anyway, I ordered the weapons set from Mega-hobbies out of Long Island, NY.
When the F-4 first deployed to South East Asia they were armed with the AIM-9B and AIM-7D. It was found the AIM-7D was not very effective against a fast maneuvering target so that is where the fire two missiles originated. When the aircraft turned to avoid the first it was hoped the second would get him. We started getting our first AIM-7E’s in late '68. It still wasn’t very effective against a maneuvering target but was much better than the old AIM-7D. Crews still fired two missiles against a single target. It was also in late '68 when the F-4 started flying with the AIM-9E. It was a very effective Mig killer.
When Linebacker kicked off the missiles carried by the F-4 were the AIM-7E and AIM-9E. Our unit from Eglin AFB, the 58th TFS, deployed to SEA for Linebacker. We were the first and only unit to be equiped with the new AIM-7F and AIM-9J. In order to carry these two missiles involved a modification of the AIM-9 launch rails and inboard pylons. For the AIM-7F the ACRP was modified with two new relays and a CW cool switch on the weapons control panel. That way the missile could be tuned with the centerline loaded but a stepping relay in the ACRP prevented the forward stations from firing unless the centerline was empty. The AIM-7F could be identified by a vertical stripe on the forward wings. It was like a small 7 and located on the trailing edge of the wings. You could not mix a load of AIM-7E’s and AIM-7F’s. They had to carry one or the other. We flew several missions with the AIM-7F but due to a shortage of the missiles, none were fired. All of the kills were made with the AIM-7E. I know of one Mig that was destroyed with the AIM-9J, but again most Sidewinders kills were made with the AIM-9E.
We were in the process of trading in our old '66 and '67 models for new '69 models. All of the '69 models were modified but none of the older '66 and '67 were. We had a mixture of '66, ‘67’ and '69 models when we deployed for Linebacker.
Between 1968 and 1979 the AIM-9 went from the AIM-9J to the AIM-9L and the excellent AIM-9M. I call the “M” the first generation “great” missiles. The British government used the AIM-9M to butcher the AAF Mirage, Neshers, and A-4s in the Falkland’s war. That missile had an argon bottle that had to be swapped out to cool the seeker head. Most impressive.
The AIM-7 on the F-15s was never that good and didn’t perform too well in the Gulf War of 1991. I was at Luke AFB when were were shown the prototype of the AIM-120 AMRAAM.
Well, that was all a long time past. By 1984 I was “humping a ruck” and going through infantry training. It was always a little weird seeing Army weapons, the the Sidewinder, which was just an AIM-9 with a slightly larger motor on a track system. Then the Army had the Vulcan on top of the M-113. The long gone Hawk was basically a heavy version of the AIM-7.
It was all an interesting experence but would never do it again.
The Air Force went from the AIM-9J to the AIM-9P and then the AIM-9P3. The -P and -P3 had a shorter GCU and improved guidance systems and larger rocket motor. When the AIM-9J entered service the shooter no longer had to be at the 6 o’clock position to shoot. The launch envelope was a cone at the 5 o’clock to 7 o’clock position. The AIM-9J, P and P3 were the last of the “Small Wing Sidewinders”. The USAF continued to use the AIM-9P3 on the F-4 until the mid 1980’s when they went to the AIM-9L.