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The RUAG Ranger is a UAV used for military and civilian purposes by Switzerland and Finland. It has a wingspan of 5.7 meters, and is remarkably flexible and reliable. I chose to scratchbuild this UAV because it is similar to the RQ-7B Shadow I scratchbuilt before, but is a little more challenging. Most UAV's out there are curvy, which isn't in my ability.

The first step is to get a 3-view. I was able to find a 2-view, and because the structure is pretty easy I don't think I will need a front view to make it. As anyone who as depended on popular 3-views will know, they are almost always inconsistent, often so much so that they are useless for designing. So the first step is to check it out in a drawing program. The one I found was pretty good - it was all consistent except that the top view had shortened the fuselage behind the wing by 12 pixels, which doesn't sound like much but actually represents about 22 scale centimeters. I fixed up the image using Microsoft Paint and printed out a bunch of copies at the right size using a free image viewing program. As it says on the paper, the model is going to be 3.2 cm long.

rangeruav1paper.jpg

This, combined with every image I can find on the internet, is going to be my blueprint. The model has a flat bottom, so the first step for me is to make the base. I cut out parts from the paper and cut plastic to match the shape of the paper. I usually like making the wings a single piece, but these are complicated shape and I needed to make sure they are exactly the same so I made them separately then butt-joined them to the fuselage base. My later construction will make the structure stronger.

rangeruav2outline.jpg

Edited by spejic
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That is one little model.....do not lose it in the carpet!

Recently I've been working on 1/700 aircraft that came with some ship models - this feels gigantic.

I got a little more work done. I glued a piece that reinforces the wing connection and makes the wing thicker so I can sand it into an airfoil shape. The little notches are for the later installation of the tail booms. I created outer wing thickeners, and I will install them later when I figure out how to give the wings a little dihedral just at the point the center reinforcement ends. I also cut out the two sides the same way I did the wings, and then I cut them apart at the nose so I could install the forward part with a little angle in. Here are the parts laid out:

rangeruav3structure.jpg

And here they are installed, with a little internal ribbing to keep things straight.

rangeruav4fuselage.jpg

Those are tungsten weights I'm test fitting in the nose - this is a highly tail-heavy design. When I made the RQ-7B it made the fuselage out of solid plastic, and there was no place for weights. That's why I'm using a hollow fuselage design for this model. But it means it will be harder to shape the forward and rear curves - I think I will fill the nose and tail with epoxy putty so I can sand through the plastic into it to get the right shape.

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I finished the main construction of the fuselage and wings. For the wings, I put the model on a fairly soft surface and pressed down just beyond the central wing reinforcement with a chisel-blade X-acto knife. This gave a sharp bend without cutting the wing. I then glued in the upper part of the wing, causing the bend to be a permanent part of the wing. I sanded it down to an airfoil shape. I had to invent a little tool (sandpaper glued to a cut-down popsicle stick) to do the same on the inner sections of the wing - I should have done the sanding for that before adding the dihedral.

I also made the tail booms. I glued the blueprint of a boom to some .15 plastic and cut it out. That worked great. Then I tried it for the second one, and ended up with a handfull of failures. But eventually I got it. Beginners Luck is real.

I also created the horizontal tail using some .15 plastic sanded into an airfoil shape. I will have the inside part and separate parts for the outside - the tails are just too fragile to cut slots into.

rangeruav5major.jpg

Next I will add details to the fuselage and round off the corners. I'll only add the delicate tails once the main work on that is done.

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So, I've shaped the fuselage and added details to the top, bottom, nose, and engine. It's starting to look like what it's supposed to look like. Unfortunately, all my handling during this phase has upturned the wings a bit.

rangeruav6details.jpg

I made the hole for the sensor turret. I don't know what I will use for that. It's too big for me to craft a quality sphere myself, and the beads I have (which are the smallest plastic beads in the local craft store) are all too big. I will have to go shopping.

rangeruav7detailsu.jpg

Next I will add the tail booms and horizontal stabilizer, which I bet will be a pain to align. Then I will probably use a gray primer because it's hard to see flaws in white plastic, and I'm sure I've got some things that need fixing. I don't know yet if I'm going to engrave panel lines or not.

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Looks pretty good so far! Will you be building the launch rail (if there is any)?

I don't think I will build it because the UAV has landing gear (skids, not wheels) so it doesn't need it for display purposes. I also don't have a diagram of it, so it might be tricky to build. But that is how it is launched - here is a picture of the Swiss version:

800px-Drohne_ADS_95_D-118.jpg

The Finish version is different, and is truck based so I'd need a 1/144 Sisu E11, which doesn't seem likely.

I don't know if I'm going to make the Swiss or Finish version. I made decals for both.

rangeruav8decal.jpg

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I am shocked at how good this looks. I was sure I would have messed this up way before now.

rangeruav9whole.jpg

I'm starting on the landing gear, which are those bent things to the left. I can't seem to find a spherical object small enough for the model - even 11/0 glass beads are a little too big. But looking at that picture again, maybe my hole is too small...

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I'm starting on the landing gear, which are those bent things to the left. I can't seem to find a spherical object small enough for the model - even 11/0 glass beads are a little too big. But looking at that picture again, maybe my hole is too small...

I would just cut off the end of a styrene rod that is the right diameter. Just a suggestion....not sure how spherical you need it to be.

Edited by drhornii
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I added the landing gear, and the nose weighting worked out great. I put the gear in the "parked" position because that makes a much stronger physical structure than the "extended" version you would see on a landing Ranger. I did find a sphere that is the right size - the ball chain on my fingernail clippers is now one ball shorter. I also did the propeller.

rangeruav10geartop.jpg

rangeruav11gearbtm.jpg

The only remaining part is the one antenna that sticks out the top, and I will only add that after everything else is done. Painting is next.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've been doing some painting. The first step was to paint it with a gray primer to help me find flaws and fix them. I used Armory primer and was reminded again why I hate the stuff. After filling and sanding down the rough spots from the primer, I painted the bottom with multiple coats of Tamiya White Primer, my preferred white paint. I then masked the bottom with tape and painted the whole thing Tamiya Dark Tan.

Then I put poster tack on the places I wanted it to stay tan and I sprayed with Model Master Dark Green. I repeated the process with Tamiya NATO Brown. This is what it looked like after all that:

rangeruav12mask.jpg

Then I stripped off the top mask, and it now looks like this:

rangeruav13camo.jpg

I don't know the actual colors of the UAV, but these look spot on. I need to touch up the paint here and there and then paint the florescent orange parts so I didn't remove the bottom mask yet.

Edited by spejic
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Looks like claymation at it's finest :woot.gif:

Yeah, it looks pretty ugly but it works pretty well. Except I think I put it on the green paint before it cured totally, because the tack got stuck in a few places, and I damaged the paint picking it off those places.

I painted the orange. I carefully masked everything except the nose. Somehow I still end up with overspray on the nose which is far from anything, and I still get paint from invisible gaps near the landing gear. More touchups to come. After that, I still have another round of masking for the gray panels on the top and the gray sensor ball on the bottom.

I printed out those decals that need to go on white decal paper. The Finish roundels end up around 2mm wide. I have no idea how I am going to cut them out. I better break out the bright light and the small scissors.

rangeruav14orange.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

I did the detail painting, the gloss coat, and the decals. I used Tamiya gloss clear. It's the first time I used it - maybe I didn't thin it enough because it didn't flatten out as much as I expected, but it seems good enough for decal work. I only have Testors decal paper, which is a little thick, but I used lots of Future on the decals and hopefully it won't show too much when I put on the flat. It was a major pain to cut out the roundels and they aren't really round, but close enough I hope. I learned that when you print out small decals, don't just make 50% extra - make 200% extra.

I put on the antenna and propeller. Unfortunately, I made the hole smaller than the prop shaft, and I stupidly tried to force it instead of just drilling the hole bigger. I snapped off the tail booms right behind the wing. It's glued on, and it's hard to tell unless you take a detailed macro photograph, like this:

rangeruav15gloss.jpg

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Thanks for posting the in work progress, After reading through your build and seeing the final end result, I am starting to think that scratchbuilding a full aircraft is not so intimidating and one can get a really great result!

Thank you for your comments. I really was hoping to be educational. I think boxy UAV's (like the RQ-2 Pioneer or the RQ-7B Shadow) are easy enough that most modelers who have experience adding scratchbuilt parts to kit models can do them.

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The model is now finished. You may also note it has been Finnished. Hahahaha... ok, on to the model.

I used Testors Acryl dull cote, which I like a lot. The only problem is that when you spray it on any acrylic, it will soften it until it dries, so you have to be really careful in handling the model.

I can't pose this upside down because the top antenna is so delicate. I also want the hide the place the paint got damaged from being touched after being sprayed by Testors Acryl dull cote.

rangeruav16endfront2.jpg

rangeruav17endaft2.jpg

rangeruav18endside3.jpg

Here it is by a US quarter to show how big it is.

rangeruav19endquarter.jpg

This was a weird build. In many ways it's the best thing I've built, and yet I've done so many stupid things to it. Hopefully I will learn from the experience.

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