1/35 High speed, multi-purpose drone

[frank2056]

I'm trying to come up with a stealthy, jet powered drone similar to the "Hopeless Diamond" (and other variations) - since I was in a drone state of mind and all I have so far is in my CAD software, I wanted something I could start putting together now.

The Ukrainians have had amazing success with low cost drones, drone swarms as well as high speed drones to take out Shahed and similar drones. They've even taken out a Shahed with the STING drone at a 500km range. Here are some of their drones:



I noticed that the drones on the left side look familiar.... The old (1958 issue) Revell Tactical Missile set has a Little John rocket as well as four Dart anti-tank missiles:



https://www.scalemates.com/kits/revell-h1812-us-army-tactical-missiles-set--1518087

Atlantis has released many of these old 1/40 scale Revell kits, and I had this one in the stash. With the help of the plastic propellers from a Trumpeter 1/350 flying boat, I rescaled one of the Darts into this:



The "periscope" is a piece of clear sprue to be used as a recon camera:



Even rescaled to 1/35, it's a decent sized drone. Here Steve admires it, cautiously:



I still need to add some thin legs and an antenna - this one would be reusable.

The rest of the Tactical Missile kit has some of the issues you'd expect in a 68 year old kit (even if it's a reissue) but it still holds up well and most of its sins can be fixed with some sanding and putty:

[kerick]

That kit is older than me!
Nice repurpose of the dart missile!

[perttime]

The more pencil-looking missile might make a small cruise missile or very fast drone with the addition of wings. More manoeuvrable too.

[NARSES2]

Looking good 

[Dizzyfugu]

That's cool! 

[frank2056]

I like adding wings to the Little John and props or a jet engine intake.

[frank2056]

The first drone is almost done. This is the second set of props - I fumbled it while picking up the forward section. The Trumpeter clear styrene is very brittle, so I managed to break off at least one blade from all the props and knocked off all four from one. I tried repairing it, but two of the blades flew off into another dimension. Luckily, I had another set.

A couple of the legs need straightening and I need to add decals and some general cleanup:



On it's legs, it comes up to Steve's shoulders, so that would make it about 1.5m/5' tall:

[Rick Lowe]

  

Nice repurposing.

[su27rules]

          Nice !!

[frank2056]

I liked Perttime's idea for the Little John, so I added wings (also to make up for the lack of wings on the Hopeless Diamond. Now maybe Kit will forgive my transgression) and scratchbuilt an intake for a jet engine. I used the exhaust from a 1/144 jet to cover the huge hole at the rear.

The original nosecone seemed short, so I made a quick draft print in PLA and added a camera fairing as well:



Some sanding, CA filler and more sanding and I got this:



Next is painting and decals.

[su27rules]

    

[Rick Lowe]

 

[DeeBob]

Looks sleek, and exceedingly plausible!

[frank2056]

Thanks, guys. I have the winged Little John mostly done. It may get a touch of weathering:



This is a pretty nice kit overall, despite the ancient molds. One of the most enjoyable parts has been the launch rail for the Little John. There are other equipment bits in the kit, but this is the one I've spent the most time on. I decided to close off the notch at the end. I added a couple of tanks with thin solder pipes coming out of them. I also added solder control lines to the two main electronic boxes):



I added many Meng bolts as well, especially where the ejection pin marks were inconveniently placed:



It's easy to get carried away detailing the launch rail/base. I may still add a control box, plus some detail painting.

[Old Wombat]