MQ-8B Fire Scout
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Scot RThanks Ben. I should have substituted some parts on the rotor assembly. But otherwise it came together smoothly.
Album info
The Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout is an unmanned autonomous helicopter developed by Northrop Grumman for use by the United States Armed Forces. The Fire Scout is designed to provide reconnaissance, situational awareness, aerial fire support and precision targeting support for ground, air and sea forces. The MQ-8B was derived from the Schweizer 333 platform and as of February 2018, 23 MQ-8B variants were in service with the U.S. Navy.
This 1:48 scale Fire Scout was provided by Attack Squadron and purchased during a model show. The kit was old and had some flash damage (presumably why it was sold and not built) That was easy enough to repair with some evergreen and epoxy putty. The build went smoothly enough. I could have done more to weather, but most pictures show the aircraft in good condition, so I left it mostly clean with a semigloss finish.
I believe that the decals had aged badly. Attack Squadron prints them on excellent quality, very thin film ... so its VERY fragile. Further, they were so light that it blended completely with the base coat of my lightened ghost grey. So, after getting some excellent customer service in the form of a replacement decal sheet, I shot the model with a slightly grey white wash using my airbrush and reapplied. MUCH better.
Two mistakes, the main rotor shaft got installed backwards and I left off the cyclic control rods. Also, I should have drilled receiving holes for the pitot tubes and inserted them a few mm into the fuselage. On vanished soon after being installed, so you rivet counters will note that's missing.
Overall I'm very satisfied. Its a good model and my first fully resign kit. Can't wait to see what Brengun (who acquired Attack Squadron's molds and rights) will do with the line.
