Ma.K Falke Part 2--Take A Seat!

The Falke's seat looks nothing like an ejection seat although the kit includes "Danger--Ejection Seat" decals. Why that is, I don't know but I do like the seat's retro, diesel-punk look!

I wanted a beat-up, chipped look and used the sponge/masking liquid method in a two-step method: down to the primer and down to the metal chipping.

The next step was to equip the seat with proper seat belts. I opted for the WW II Luftwaffe belts in 1/24 from RB Productions.

The the kit is in 1/20 scale and the belts are 1/24 but the discrepancy can hardly be noticed. Plus I have a soft-spot for Luftwaffe belts. And the only other viable option would have been Tamiya Formula 1 belts in 1/20. Way too flashy!








The RB belts are of very high quality, made of paper threaded through real photoetch buckles.

The belt's assembly took several sessions but the result is impressive and well worth the effort! 

The belts were given a dark wash to give them a weathered look consistent with the seat.

Ma.K Falke Part 1--Ma.K In The Box

This is my current build: Pfk.85 Antigravity Armored Raider 'Falke' from the Maschinen Krieger universe or Ma.K for short.

More background info about Ma.K here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maschinen_Krieger_ZbV_3000

Brainchild of modeler and artist Kow Yokoyama, celebrated in Japan but still a little on the dark side in the west, Ma.K has a steadily increasing number of fans so that even big companies like Hasegawa have jumped onto the bandwagon. Which suits me just fine! 

The box:

What's inside













There are 2 sprues with the main body parts:

3 sprues of additional parts:

1 sprue for the pilot figures:













A Haseg-quality instruction sheet (with a MaK flavor):













Decal sheet:













And a card with the variants proposed, 2 on each side:













It is interesting to note the the card is the 'card file' type with a tab on the edge that goes to make up a file together with other such cards from other Haseg kits.











Details are a bit of a letdown, especially for that scale. Nothing that the dedicated detailer can't remedy, however, but for sure he's got his work cut out for him. But hey, I love detailing so no problem and this is a great kit anyway! And yes, this is a P-38 supercharger! I don't know how many kits Yokoyama cannibalized to kitbash the first Falke but the P-38 was used big time for the booms and other areas of the kit.

General Atomics MQ-1 Predator

This is the Italeri Kit in 1/72 scale. Besides some wing warping the kit presented no particular difficulty. With lines that are straightforward, the absence of a cockpit and a monotone gray camo the model is a rather simple affair. No weathering to amount to anything either. To make the model interesting nevertheless I tried to put emphasis on the detail: sensor turret, Hellfire missiles, pitot, nav lights, etc.

It was a fun build and I'm looking forward to building more drones.

Antigravity Drone Gunship

The Antigrav drone model was done as a side-kick to the 1/72 Italeri Predator. I used the recce version of the same kit and scratchbuilt the mods. Inspiration came from the Maschinen Krieger universe.

 

 

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Drones, The New Generation

(An article published in the April issue of Jane's Defense Weekly)

 

"During the nineties, while fielding their MQ-1 Predator, General Atomics initiated work, under a cloak of utter secrecy, on a much more advanced UCAV design. After close to twenty years in development, the prototype was unveiled two days ago, stunning observers and shocking the competition. Integrating such advanced technologies as anti-gravity lift and ion propulsion with a sophisticated flight control system using thrust vectoring, differential lift and air-brakes, the UCAV is a highly maneuverable, fully autonomous gun platform with full hover and extreme skid capability. The company claims that the drone can fire not only the turret gun but also its fixed cannon at virtually any angle to the line of flight and hit targets with computer-controlled precision while itself remaining extremely hard to hit, making it, in the words of the spokesperson "the ultimate gunship." Standing in sharp contrast with these technical innovations, its armament is comprised of two of the oldest items in the US arsenal: the M61 Vulcan and the M2 Browning, which could almost be qualified as an anachronism. However, judging from the absence of a cartridge ejection port for the Vulcan and other hints, there is good reason to believe that the cannon is a dummy installed for demonstration purposes only and that the production series will come with weaponry of a much more exotic nature, perhaps still in development, such as excimer laser cannon. But even as is the drone unquestionably sets a new standard for the industry. Comparing it to its ancestor the MQ-1, with whom it shares a common airframe but little else, makes the latter at once seem antiquated. But then its very name 'Predator,' with its double meaning only now becoming apparent, points to the fact that it wasn't ever meant to be anything else than a stepping stone in the developmental line, predating the attainment of what had been the company's true objective from the very beginning!"

 

 

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