I always wanted to model the
Predator in 1/48 scale. When Bronco released their version, I snapped up a copy
and build it almost immediately. The Kit can be built as the RQ-1 or the
Hellfire-armed MQ-1. I chose the latter. The model is built OOB as it is a very
close replica to the real thing. One could argue that the wheel wells are too
shallow, but this will only be an issue if the model is portrayed in flight.
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images below to see larger images
Everything went together without
a hitch. The front gear strut is overengineered and needs to be assembled with
care as the parts are small and fiddly. Where I took extra care was getting the
angles of the anhedral tailplanes right and installing the main gear. Because of
the length of the wings, any misalignment will result in a very obvious tilt.
I painted the
Predator with Light Ghost Gray lightened with white and ran a gray wash into the
panel lines. Reference pics showed that these aircraft were kept clean so the
weathering is very subtle. Decals were from the kit and went on without any
problems. Enjoy the pics.
Fernan de Gannes
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