1/48 ICM BQM-34A Firebee
A nice simple model of an important drone. The Ryan BQM-34A was the first in a series of drones used for military purposes. They were used for target emulation, high and low altitude recon, ECM, E-LINT missions and defense/radar suppression during the beginning of the Cold War to the hot wars of Vietnam and Iraq.
The ICM kit also comes with a trolly.
From what I recall, the ICM kit was pretty easy to build. I used Tamiya Extra Thin cement on the interior seams and the various external bits while I used CA glue on the exterior seams to eliminate the dreaded phantom seam. As long as you follow the instructions, nothing bad is going to happen. However, I found the trolley to be a pain in the butt to assemble.
Painting the Firebee was a little more difficult as I had to spray the black areas first, then mask those off so that I could spray on white. ICM provides decals for the various sections but I preferred to paint them on instead. Next the yellow areas were painted and once dry masked again. I then sprayed on Vallejo Day Glo Orange but the coverage was terrible. Instead of being patient and spraying on more thin coats till I got good Day Glo coverage (I thought I only needed 2-3 coats, but based on later experience it would turn out I needed about 7) I got rather fed up and sprayed on MM international orange instead.
Once the paint was dry, I sprayed on Vallejo Gloss coat and put on the ICM decals. I had an issue with the mission markings which is why the model only has half the number of missions as it is supposed to have.
I used Tamiya black panel line accent to highlight the seams and add some weathering to an otherwise pristine model.
Something different, and pretty cool looking! Nice build, Dan.
Thanks. I like that ICM produces some esoteric kits along with their usual military stuff. This is the grandaddy of all the drones we see today.
Very unique subject. It turned out quite nicely.
Yes, I was surprised ICM made these. Thanks.
Interesting subject. Great result. @dbdlee
Thanks
Cool drone model, nice work. Great background on the Firebee too. I didn't realize they they were in service for so long.
Some of them are still around.
Thanks
Fantastic job, Dan! Excellent painting!
Thanks. Those colorful schemes are a challenge, but this is why I like to paint colorful schemes when I get the chance.
Great build, Dan @dbdlee
Likely no one will notice it only has half of the missions present.
Beautiful paintwork.
As much as I fretted over the broken decal you're right, no one will notice. And so far no one has.
Thanks.
Cool little drone, Dan, I guess we’re going to see more of these in the future.
Maybe. I like building some strange things. I've seen stranger kittings of real life things like the doomed/poorly designed/badly engineered Titan Submersible (but I'll pass on building one.)
Great job, Dan (@dbdlee). Painting and checkerboard are very nice.
Thanks. It almost didn't turn out that way.
A very nice unusual subject