Drones, The New Generation

[NARSES2]

Wonderfull 

[MichelC]

Thank you, my friend! 

M

[MichelC]

OK folks, let's take this adventure to the finish line!

Hellfire missiles. They have a transparent nose where the evil eyes sits and stares straight at you before it blows you to bits.

A piece of transparent sprue was glued with cyano glue to the sawed off front end of the missile body.



This was then ground, sanded and polished while the exhaust was drilled out.



Some sessions of painting, decaling, etc. later:



Lastly, attaching the antennas.



The big one is not problem. For the tiny ones (made of pieces of soda can, I remind you) here is my method, for what it's worth:

1.   Daub a micro-bead of white glue onto the bottom of the antenna.

2.   Put the antenna in place. The slow curing time of white glue affords plenty of time to position the part and you can mess up as many times as you want, just wipe away the white glue and start anew.

3.   Once you're satisfied that with how the part sits right bond with liquid cyano. The more liquid the better. I dip the end of a length of copper wire (the very thin kind that makes up multi-strand electric wire) in the glue, touch it to the joint and let capillarity do the rest.

4.   Handle any shiny spots from cyano residue, if any, by applying some Vallejo matt varnish with a brush.

This method has a more than satisfactory end result and doesn't drive you nuts.



That's it, the last bit is attached!

Time for making a display base.

I used a round Gunze display base and sandpaper for the tarmac.



This is 240 grit sandpaper, which is about right to replicate the rough concrete surface.

The disc is cut into square parts and glued to the base with white glue.



It was then shot with enamels (a good way to dispose of my old stock of Humbrol paints). Some pre/post-shading was done to add depth.



The joint was filled with acrylic paint thickened with "Modeler's paste". The paste was applied with a paintbrush, which is kind of a lengthy process but you don't have to be overly careful when you do it: the guys who do it in real life aren't either. lol

After final weathering with pigments, pastels and oils:



And voila! It's all done!



I'll post more final pics shortly.  

M

[philp]

Another nice build all around.

[MichelC]

Thank you, Philp!

Here're the final pics. Enjoy!



























That's it for now but there'll be a whatif follow-up on this one, as I already hinted at earlier. So stay tuned!

M

[NARSES2]

Absolutely superb 

[Old Wombat]

That is very, very nice!



Guy

[MichelC]

Thank you, guys! 

M

[Jkob]

Really awesome job, I have some Italeri Predators and I know how small are those parts, congratulations! 

[Captain Canada]

Awesome ! Great job all around....details like that really bring a model to life. And your weathering is awesome. Always liked the shape of that 'thing' too.

[Mossie]

Great work!  Really ought to break mine out, lovely little kit.

Always liked the shape of that 'thing' too.

Always thought it's 'head' looks like the Alien.  Needs a 'Shark Mouth' and a jaws cover for the probe!

[MichelC]

Thank you all!

Mossie, no you got it wrong! This is Predator, not Alien! lol

M

[PR19_Kit]

What an amazing build Michel, superbly done. 

How does the real thing take-off though? The tailplane tips are almost touching the ground as it is so there's no way it will rotate. Perhaps it goes straight and level until the Earth curves away underneath it..............? 

[MichelC]

Dunno. "Three-point take-off". Computers do stuff like that. lol

Thanks, Kit. Glad you like it.

M

[Captain Canada]

Mossie, no you got it wrong! This is Predator, not Alien! lol

LOL....good one ! But now that you mention it Mossie, I can sure see it !