1/72 Skunkmodels Mq-9 Reaper

[Mark S.]

Just a word about the Wolfpak MQ-9 decals. They were drawn using the 48th scale MQ-9 scaled down to 1/72nd along with corroboration via the Unicraft kit. There will be another set out this month for the MQ-9 along with a few other interesting subjects.

Mark

Wolfpak Decals

[JasonW]

47 and 48 represent the fuel tank caps on the aircraft. There are seven of these, one near the landing gear well and six above the wings and fuselage. Being painted red, these are so prominent and obvious that ignoring them would detract from the model, at least in my opinion. Take a look at the images here (Warning: humongously large images)

Photo 1

Photo 2

49 represents the FLIR secondary sensor windows. This is a single decal that wraps around the FLIR turret right above the main sensor window. This decal should make the FLIR turret look appropriately busy, the kit FLIR is fairly bare.

And finally, 50 represents the two small flight cameras in front of the Reaper, right underneath the pitot tube. The photo below should clarify both 49 and 50.

Photo 3

Note that I contacted Microscale and put the printing of the MQ-9 Reaper sheet on hold. As I mentioned, the folks who designed the kit decal sheet (CrossDelta) have chosen subjects that are interestingly similar to my decal sheet, so I will take this opportunity to add different options to the 1/72 MQ-9 Reaper sheet and make it a more viable & attractive product. Now if only the Italians get delivery of their Reapers and the RAF activates 13 Sqn..

Nice sheet so far Kursad, I will DEFINITELY be getting a set of these when you have them printed. I'm with you as well in hoping the Italians and RAF get their squadrons on line soon.

[Flyboyf18]

47 and 48 represent the fuel tank caps on the aircraft. There are seven of these, one near the landing gear well and six above the wings and fuselage. Being painted red, these are so prominent and obvious that ignoring them would detract from the model, at least in my opinion. Take a look at the images here (Warning: humongously large images)

Photo 1

Photo 2

49 represents the FLIR secondary sensor windows. This is a single decal that wraps around the FLIR turret right above the main sensor window. This decal should make the FLIR turret look appropriately busy, the kit FLIR is fairly bare.

And finally, 50 represents the two small flight cameras in front of the Reaper, right underneath the pitot tube. The photo below should clarify both 49 and 50.

Photo 3

Note that I contacted Microscale and put the printing of the MQ-9 Reaper sheet on hold. As I mentioned, the folks who designed the kit decal sheet (CrossDelta) have chosen subjects that are interestingly similar to my decal sheet, so I will take this opportunity to add different options to the 1/72 MQ-9 Reaper sheet and make it a more viable & attractive product. Now if only the Italians get delivery of their Reapers and the RAF activates 13 Sqn..

Great, thanks, that put things into perspective especially with those pics. I will put one of those on my wants list. You said you want to change things a bit, is there not another version of the Reaper from NASA besides the Ikhana??

[Rob West Sussex UK]

You said you want to change things a bit, is there not another version of the Reaper from NASA besides the Ikhana??

Yes there is, the Altair. Has a wingspan 20 feet greater than the standard Reaper.

[HowardM]

I think Moritz has put his finger on the issue.

1/72 is 2/3 of 1/48.

If you apply 2/3 again, you get 1/108, which is what the kit seems to measure at.

So my guess is that the CAD model got scaled twice.

It's not the first time.......

In the early days of standards for data exchange between CAD systems, a small metric machined aluminium test part was converted in Europe and sent to the US using the then-new IGES specification. The aim of the demonstration was to convert the part into a US CAD system and machine it with a view to comparing the results at a major conference in the US.

At the conference, a huge metal block was ceremonially wheeled into the auditorium, with the apology that the organisers had not been able to afford a large enough block of metal, and had to manufacture the object at quarter scale. The European project leader then produced the original part from his jacket pocket........much smaller than the block on the trolley in front of him. Of course, both of the systems had applied the inch-mm conversion factor, instead of just the receiving system, with the result that the object was 25.4 times larger than it should have been.

Howard

[Raymond Chung]

Dear ARCers,

The retooled 1/72 MQ-9 is here. Thank you very much for everyone here for support.

1/72 MQ-9

[Flyboyf18]

Thanks Raymond, that's ahead of schedule, by my calculations they should not have been ready until 09 Sept.!!! Super work to you and your staff!! Thanks a lot.

Any plans for those carrier decks to down scaled to 72nd?? Demanding bunch aren't we?!?!??

Now we need more decals, so KursadA, have your 72nd batch gone to the printers??