French armed MQ-9 1/48 Kinetic

[arnobiz]

Hello,

 

I just received the new 1/48 Kinetic MQ-9, actually the original SkunkModelWorks with new decals. I will build it as one of the recently armed Reapers deployed by the French Armée de l'Air in Niger in support of Operation Barkhane. More specifically it will be 709-EH-132

 

 

 

Arnaud

[arnobiz]

While the kit seems to give a great rendition of the (very large!) Reaper, it suffers from three main issues:

• Poor main landing gear bay, totally open in its rear part so one can see the inner part of the model if left as is
• No engine intake/exhaust, with the same consequence: the inside remains fully visible if left as is
• Injection issues (sink marks) - a bit on the fuselage, a lot on the wings

For the landing gear bay, limited documentation is available and it's not so visible after assembly so I simply added plasticard:

 

 

 

For the inlet/exhaust, the geometry was too complex for my scratch-building skills so it was a perfect occasion to test my new 3D printer :)

 

 

 

Finally, the sink marks were simply filled and sanded 😉

 

 

 

Cheers,

 

Arnaud

 

Edited July 4, 2020 by arnobiz

[Rob Mignard]

Here are a  photo of the main landing gear bay. It's mostly dark gray carbon fiber. Let me know if you need more detail.

 

migflier@aol.com

 

Mig

[arnobiz]

Thank you Rob, soo useful. The kit's bay shape is quite wrong, something I overlooked at first but now I can't say I don't know 

 

As it comes in the box, note the sharp angles, as if the Reaper was a stealth fighter :)

 

After modification, the outline is much smoother

 

And I added the inner center beam

 

Next time I'll do this before I join the fuselage, this was a bit annoying at this late stage but well worth the effort, thanks Rob again for the input! 

 

Arnaud