1/72 MQ-9 Reaper WIP

[venom1]

K,

Seeing as I've broken the ice with my MiG, time for another WIP. This one will be fairly slow updates as I am doing a mini GB with a mate at my club, so we are setting a pace that both of us can get to a certain level by a certain date. So onward and upward!

The kit in question is the Skunkmodels Workshop 1/72 MQ-9 Reaper. For those of you who have no idea what that is, this be he!......



This kit cost me $40 at WASMEx (Western Australian Scale Model Expo, our local state championships), and while that might seem like a fair bit of coin, you actually get two complete kits in the box, so bang for your buck is pretty good!

Generally, the model is a peach, going together without any dramas, and with no cockpit to worry about, it doesn't take long before you have a complete airframe in front of you! There are a couple of minor "weirdnesses" like the tab for the vertical stabiliser being too big for the slot it goes into and the poor fit of the prop backing plate and the spinner/blades, strange considering the excellent fit of the rest of the kit. Still, it was all and easy fix, so no real complaints.

I guess the only real disappointment was the distinct lack of definition of the sensor windows. Still, not to worry, I ordered the Caracal decal sheet from Sprue Bros, and that comes with decals for the sensor windows. Sweet!

Anyhoo, this is where we are at thus far. Both airframes complete and ready to go to the paint shop....









It may look like a bit of a gap around the engine cowl, but trust me, their ain't one! This kit is a pretty sweet fit all round! If you are going to build one of these, I would advise you to blank off the intake and exhaust, as you can see right through otherwise. Also paint as much of the inside black as you can. The wheel wells are open (the real thing you can see from one side through to the other) so any grey plastic on the inside will be obvious.

So, Sam, what happens now? I hear you ask. Thanks for asking. My bud and I are planning on having both our Reapers painted and ready for decals by end of November(!) so we can decal together at our Saturday club meet. I know, that's a long time away! My bud has family coming over for a few weeks so his modelling time will be limited (more than usual!) and he didn't want to have to rush. End of November for paint it is. Plus, it's not like I've got nothing else to build...

My aim for these two? One will be painted as a serving RAF drone as per the Caracal decal sheet. The other, a bit of fun, will be an Australian Army WHIF. I have a nice decal sheet for a bunch of Aussie choppers, so I will pinch some of those and do a nice green/tan jobbie! Should be fun!! ;D

Anyway, as I said, updates will be slow, but I will post here again as I get paint on the birds.....

Cheers,

Sam

[eastrock]

Looks great, Sam!!! actually we had also a member here that is diehard with drones eh even had a meter wide wing, dunno if they call it a raptor or predator

[venom1]

Thanks eastrock!

Would probably have been the Predator, as far as I know there is no drone called the Raptor.

Cheers,

Sam

[eastrock]

that may be it!!! the wings needed support

ER

[bbd468]

Cool little wingy Sam!!!

Gary

[venom1]

Thanks Gary!

Hope to get some paint on at least one of them in the next couple of weeks. Will post here as soon as I do!

Cheers,

Sam

[venom1]

Well, just to prove I have actually been doing some modelling, I have an update (finally!!)

Here are a couple of in progress pix of the painting process, including the weapons. One is painted to represent an RAF bird, the other is a What-if, but not Aussie Army as originally intended but in Israeli colours instead.















And this is where they stand as of today. The majority of the decal work is done, only the yellow stripes for the Hellfires remain. Still need to flat coat both birds to get rid of the shiny Future. Have yet to paint the yellow warning stripes on the props and last thing to do will be the nav lights on bot sets of wingtips.

Will also probably do a light wash of Paynes Grey or something similar through the panel lines just to pop them out a bit. Will have to keep it subtle as the real birds are pretty pristine, even in service.

Not shown are the weapons pylons and main gears, though they too are complete. The astute observers among you will notice the pitot missing off the RAF bird! This broke off in the first week and I'm actually surprised that the Israeli one is still alive! The poor design of this part means it has to be installed early on, and cannot be left off until the end! Oh well, final repair job once it is complete. I've had worse!

Anyway, we are nearly done! Hopefully I will have a MoM entry for Jan, we will see how we go! Enjoy, I will post again when they are complete......







Cheers,

Sam

[ogrejohn]

Those look great Sam! Nice camo on the Israeli bird!

[venom1]

Ogrejohn - Thanks mate, yeah I've always been a big fan of the Israeli camo pattern, and have been looking for a What if to do in their colours for ages, so here it is!

Dicky - Thanks for the compliment mate! As I said to John, big fan of the Israeli camo, so here we are! The Israeli markings were taken from an old 1/72 ESCI F-4E Phantom, a bit old and a bit thick (like me!) but they went on ok, and they look the bees knees (also like me!! ).

As far as the RAF markings, the decal sheet that comes in the kit does have the markings to do an RAF bird, but my version is from the Caracal sheet, which has a couple of RAF and a couple of USAF sets of markings. The Caracal sheet also has the red fuel filler caps (red dots on top of the fuselage and wings) which the kit decals do not include. Another big win with the Caracal sheet is that it has decals for the smaller sensor windows on the turret, which again the kit decals do not include. This would be a real pain to do without the decals, especially as the windows are either vague or non-existent on the kit part itself! It is an especially useful sheet as it supplies two lots of fuel filler caps and sensor windows, which is perfect as there are two kits in the box!

In all, a great investment for this kit, I would highly recommend it to anyone who was thinking of building these!

Cheers,

Sam

[deafpanzer]

Holy smokes! Dig the camo job! I won't be surprised if there is one flying above my head right now...

[venom1]

Maybe there is.....

[TRM]

Some marvelous paint work there Sam!!!

Happy New Year!!!

[fightnjoe]

they look very good. got to say, never seen one built up before. very nice.



joe

[venom1]

Well fellas, drum-roll please..............

fdrdrdrdrdrdrdrdrdrdrd......pa-chhhhhh! (or sumpthin' like that! )

Paint me yella and call me Homer, we are done!! Finally, the Reaper is complete, and not one but two!! I actually had them both finished a week or two ago, but it's taken this long for me to get a half decent photography setup sorted, take the photos, and load them up to (frustrating!) Photobucket.

Anyway, enough jibber jabber, "show me the planes!" I hear you say, so who am I to disappoint?? On with the show....

First up, some "finishing off" before the final pics. Below is an in progress shot of the Hellfires in the decal stage. This was a right royal pain in the @r$e, and I am kinda glad I left it until last, as it may have been a bit of a mojo killer! As you can see, there are individual stripes between the fins. They needed to be placed to appear as though they were a single continuous stripe going all the way round, and you needed to make sure they were all perfectly level and aligned so that the last stripe you placed lined up with the first. As you can imagine, it was rather painful, especially in Braille scale! You had to do this 8 times on each missile! Sheesh....

While we are on the subject of decals, the kit ones were a bit of a hit and miss affair, and I think they really dropped the ball with the weapon markings. Most obviously, there should be an additional yellow stripe around the mid section of the missiles (not shown in this first photo), and this was not given on the decal sheet. Luckily I was able to raid my spares and found some yellow decal which I could trim to size which fit the bill. No harm done in the end, and an easy fix, but a pain nonetheless....



All decalled up...





Next up the figures. Suffice to say, it has been many years since I have painted a figure (that required flesh tones at least) and my figure paining skills were hardly awe inspiring at the best of times! Still, can't keep sweeping shoddy skills under the carpet forever! You guys have inspired me to have a crack at things I ain't so good at, so here they are. They can only improve as time goes by! Remember they are only Braille scale, and hard to paint, so be kind!!







I have never had any luck with oils, so the flesh tones are all done with enamels. Thought I would try mixing it up and trying out a few things with the uniforms, so the uniforms for the RAF ground crew are done with enamels, and the Israeli security guard uniform is done with acrylics. Not sure which one I prefer yet, I'm sure a preference will rear its head in time. What do you guys think? They are OK for a first go I guess, but I could really use some constructive criticism from you fellas.....

Finally, needed some wheel chocks for the RAF bird, so out with the white stuff. Look Dicky! Chopped up some angle, sanded down to right height, added "rope" and painted yeller! Last pic shows 'em in place. Looks OK to me!










OK, enough with the pre-show entertainment, onto the main event! Here they are! The first one is the RAF bird. Kit OOB, decals a mix of the kit ones and the Caracal aftermarket sheet. Figures are from the Hasegawa 1/72 USAF Pilot and Ground Crew set. Tarmac is a high resolution print I got (one of many) off the internets a couple of years ago. Some guy made up a whole bunch in Photoshop, and I find they are invaluable if you are a lazy modeller like me!



















And here is my Israeli "What-if" version! It may not be based on a "real" aircraft, but it has certainly garnered the most attention down at my local club! Details same as the RAF bird, except that the decals were taken from the spares box and were actually for an ESCI F-4 Phantom! Enjoy......

















So there you go go folks, hope they were worth the wait!!

Now all I have to do is decide which one I want to enter in MoM!! Wadda you'se reckon??

Cheers,

Sam

[bish]

I hadn't seen this thread before. O my, what a lovely pair you have there.

Those are stunning. Great work on the bases as well. I am surprised the Israeli's don't have these.

As a Brit, i have to say the RAF one for MoM.

[Leon]

Sam they look sweet.Nice work on the painting and decs.Go with the Israeli version.

[deafpanzer]

They BOTH look awesome! Still really dig the camo!

[Mence]

Well done, fantastic job.

[fightnjoe]

simply outstanding.




joe

[wbill76]

Nice work on the pair for sure. It's cool to see these get built considering how large a role they play in things these days around the globe. The Israeli camo is really well done as is the decal work on the RAF bird!

[Deleted]

I know these drones are hard to see but I missed this thread totally! 

Superb results on both airframes Sam, I like what-if IDF scheme for colour, on the other hand, the RAF bird dio has the edge.. On the other hand....