I had recently respond to a
thread on Britmodeller forum where the thread starter post a question on Triple Ejector Rack(TER) in 1/72.
I don't remember seeing articles which explore the availably of styrene TER in 1/72. This will be a good time to expand on the reply I posted on the above mention thread in Britmodeller forum.
Triple Ejector Rack (TER) is a weapon suspension unit which can carry up to 3 weapons.
Original version of TER, BRU-42 is in use with many american made aircrafts and able to carry wide variety of of bombs and systems with 14" suspension.
A specially designed TER, TER-9A is modified with better aerodynamic shape fairings for supersonic performance with F-16.
A brief description of both type of TER can be found on
www.fas.org.
It's always a problem finding enough TER for 1/72 aircraft as most kits do not have them in the box.
TER is a common sight on american made strike aircrafts especially those operating during Vietnam war as well as in Iraqi theater.
Hasegawa aircraft weapons II and VI as well as JASDF aircraft weapons I include TER(BRU-42). A pair is also included in Fujimi 1/72 A-4 and A-7 kits.
Both Fujimi kits and Hasegawa aircraft weapons II come with 2 TERs each while Hasegawa aircraft weapons VI and JASDF aircraft weapons I have 3 TERs. Other than Fujimi A-4 and A-7 kits, I also have an old unknown Korean brand F-4 kit which include 2 TERs molded under the wing pylons. I cannot be absolutely sure of the origin of this F-4 kit although I believe the original mold might be ESCI or MONOGRAM.
Comparison between different TER in the various sets.
Unknown brand F-4 pylon with TER.
The TERs in Hasegawa aircraft weapons VI and JASDF aircraft weapons I are identical and slightly more detailed as compare to the older aircraft weapons II set.
Fujimi TER is least detailed among all 3 examples but it's still worthy to purchase their A-4 or A-7 kits for it since each kit also include 2 Multiple Ejector Rack(MER).
Comparison of TER in Hasegawa aircraft weapons VI with
those in Hasegawa aircraft weapons II and Fujimi A-4/A-7 kits.
F-16 uses a slightly different type of TER which is known as TER-9A.
It featured a knife edge nose fairing and additional fairing on the top which conform it to the bottom of station 3 and 7 pylons of F-16.
A pair of 1/72 TER-9A can be found in all boxing of Hasegawa F-16 kits.
Comparison of 1/72 BRU-42 and TER-9A
In general, all TERs above are very decent in appearance and details, IMO good enough for 1/72 right out of the box.
Those preferring a bit more details can add missing firing lead cables to the two ejector release unit (ERU) on the side of BRU-42. All 3 firing lead cables on TER-9A are identical in appearance and position as those on BRU-42.
1 safety pin is inserted at the end of tail cone for both type of TER. In addition to the safety pin at tail cone, another 3 safety pin is also fitted to each ERU.
Do refer to references as I do come across examples with only 1 pin fitted to the tail cone. There's also 3 different holes on the ERU for the pin.
I'm sure there's other sources for the TERs which I do not know. I will try to expand on this article when I have more knowledge on them.
