1/72 ClearProp Bayraktar TB.2 “Cormorant”. Build with predilection

[dimaADA]

Greetings!

 

In this blog I will try to cover in detail all the assembly stages of the new ClearProp kit - Bayraktar TB.2 1/72 scale.

 

I have detailed photos of this drone and therefore I plan to make various modifications into the kit. Unfortunately, I can't show these photos publicly for security reasons, so you won't be able to compare the modifications against the original. Nevertheless, I think that this assembly will still be interesting for you.

 

Let me show you the kit in detail first.

 

Sprue A.

 

 

 

 

 

Sprues B and C.

 

 

 

 

 

Transparent parts.

 

 

Decal

 

 

I also plan to use ClearProp kit # CPA-72087 with photoetched parts and masks for this build.

 

 

I started the assembly with some modifications to the front landing gear niche.

 

The kit provides a schematic imitation of landing gear strut retraction mechanism. The niche itself is assembled from two kit elements - parts B25 and B34.

 

 

In fact, the top wall of the niche on the Bayraktar is structurally absent. If you look into the landing gear bay from below, you will see the inner surface of the top airframe skin. Therefore, I removed the top part of the niche, leaving only the area where the strut is attached.  Further, considering the photos I imitated various rods and mechanisms, wiring, blocks of equipment, which can be seen through the front door of the niche. It looks like this:

 

 

 

 

As for the weights, I’ve put 2 pieces of lead, approximately 0.4 grams. I can say it is more than enough for the stability of the model.

As you can see on the photo, I modified the attachment area of part B17 in such a way that the part B33 will be glued on the final stage of assembly. This way it will be much easier to assemble and install the "ball" of the hardware unit.

To be continued.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by dimaADA

[dimaADA]

Greetings!

I go on with the assembly.

The engine cowl is assembled from three parts and mounted on the upper fuselage area:

 

 

When assembling the two halves of the engine cowling (parts A4 and A6), I did not install B32 and B44 parts. The B32 part can be installed at the very end of the assembly, and I fixed the B44 part to the C1 part.

Before installing B28 part, you may bend it down a bit so that you can see the radiator better.

I cut all the engine’s flanges.

All joints on these parts should be sanded, there are no panel lines in these areas.

 

 

 

 

The last photo shows upper and lower halves of the fuselage glued together. The joints were sanded.

Next I installed the wing, pylons, and aileron and flap actuator fairings. Nothing special here. Please make sure that the fairings of aileron and flap drives are glued perpendicular to the wing, and the pylons are glued so that they look vertically downward. On the wingtip  it is necessary to:

 

 

1 - add a small square hatch

2 - remove the plastic imitation of the navigation light. Later it will be necessary to make an imitation of this light with transparent plastic.

Simultaneously I worked on the tail beam details. There it is necessary:

 

 

1 - to add the panel line

2 - make longitudinal cuts

3 - remove the plastic imitation of the navigation light. Later it will be necessary to make an imitation of this light with transparent plastic.

Then it is necessary to work on parts B22 and B23 to remove the gap between the mating parts on the rudders is removed:

 

 

Make holes on the front end of B22 and B23 parts. In reality, these holes are triangular, but I could not find a way to make them triangular because the size is too small. All I could do was to drill 0,2 mm hols.

Next, I glued the tail beams and sanded the joints.

 

 

 

 

 

I also worked on the propeller. I thinned the blade edges, and modified the sitting place so that the propeller could be rotated.

 

 

To be continued

Edited September 19, 2023 by dimaADA

[AdrianMF]

Looks like a nice kit and you are certainly doing it justice. The join between the nacelle sides and the top of the wing seems to be almost invisible - I'm not sure whether that's the kit being good or you being good!

 

I'm not familiar with drones and I forget how big they are.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[dimaADA]

Greetings!

 

Before painting, it was necessary to install a couple of little things:

 

 

I took a product from MiniWorld as the basis for the pitot tube, but I plan to add some details on it. Next was the painting. I mixed the base paint from two components:

Mr.Color 308 - 75%

Mr. Color 73 - 25%

Then I proceeded according to the standard scheme: glossy varnish, decals, glossy varnish, washing, finishing semi-matt varnish. There are no weather effects and other things on this drone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also assembled and painted some other elements:

 

 

 

To be continued

Edited September 19, 2023 by dimaADA

[dimaADA]

Greetings!

This post will focus on the main landing gear. The fact is that the thickness of these parts in the model is deliberately oversized in order to provide sufficient strength. But I decided to achieve an authentic thickness of the parts, and ground down the main landing gear by about 0.15 mm. In the photo below, the worn down part is compared to the original:

 

 

The thickness of the ground part is approximately 0.5 mm.

Unfortunately, the worn part was not strong enough. So I had to make new metal parts. Here they are:

 

 

Photos during the installation of the main landing gear, to check the symmetry and angles:

 

 

After installation, I covered the main landing gear with a semi-gloss varnish (the same as the finishing varnish on the model) to prevent contact of metal parts with air. Here is the final result:

 

 

 

My final advice: if you are not ready to make metal landing gear, do not touch the thickness of the original parts in this model.

To be continued...

 

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by dimaADA

[Fred piket]

I love your progress to a livelike Bayraktar..

[SarmaT]

Cool result! Enjoy your narration.

On 25/08/2023 at 12:38, dimaADA said:

I had to make new metal parts

What kind of metal did you use? Was it a beer can?

[dimaADA]

2 hours ago, SarmaT said:

What kind of metal did you use? Was it a beer can?

Thank you!

I don't know exactly what kind of metal I used. Most likely it is the usual iron. I just found a suitable piece of metal plate with the right thickness of 0.5 mm.

[dimaADA]

Greetings!

I continue my build with predilection.

I added details to the visible part of the engine, painted the propeller, put everything together:

 

 

 

Made new fins on the bombs:

 

 

Worked with the front landing gear. The base of the landing gear was left from the stock set. Added PE, needle stem, and other elements from various improvised materials:

 

 

All major modifications to the model have been made. I'm going to the finish line.

Edited September 19, 2023 by dimaADA

[GrzeM]

That's impressive build and great inspiration for my own build!

 

I was able to find some openly-available photos of this drone, may be useful as reference for us here.

 

 

 

Photos come from this article:
https://en.defence-ua.com/news/ukrainian_navy_has_received_first_unit_of_turkish_produced_bayraktar_tb2_ucav_system-1942.html

 

There is also one article here:

https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2021/08/black-sea-hunters-bayraktar-tb2s-in.html

 

Both articles come from 2021 so the Bayraktars are in the configuration as delivered from Turkey. Maybe these were later modified or upgraded?

 

Best!

Edited September 5, 2023 by GrzeM

[dimaADA]

6 hours ago, GrzeM said:

Maybe these were later modified or upgraded?

Greetings! Thanks for the feedback and photos. I found something new for me.

About the modification. As far as I know, no modifications of these drones have been carried out to date. I use photos taken recently. In these photos there are no differences from what it was in 2021. Unfortunately, I can't post these photos. Sorry.

[dimaADA]

Greetings!

 

I installed the front landing gear and the corresponding rods. Installed the propeller, suspension equipment, main wheels, antennas, and other detailing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The final is coming soon.

Edited September 19, 2023 by dimaADA

[SebTartar]

Very nicely built and detailed!

Are adjustments very good or did you to do a lot of dry fitting and sanding to avoid using filler?

[Dmitriy1967]

I didn't know that such interesting drawings were applied to these drones. I thought they were treated like expendable ammunition. Interesting. Thanks!

The model looks very good!

[dimaADA]

1 hour ago, SebTartar said:

Are adjustments very good or did you to do a lot of dry fitting and sanding to avoid using filler?

Assembling the plastic out of the box does not cause any problems. Everything fits together very well. I didn't use putty.

 

 

1 hour ago, Dmitriy1967 said:

I didn't know that such interesting drawings were applied to these drones. I thought they were treated like expendable ammunition. Interesting. Thanks!

The model looks very good!

 

This pattern is applied to 6 drones. Board numbers 71-76. In fact, this is not a drawing. This is actually a stamp on an orocal. I was very surprised when I found out about this.

[dimaADA]

...

Edited September 8, 2023 by dimaADA
double message

[dimaADA]

Greetings.

I continue and finish.

 

I installed the landing gear niche flaps and their closing mechanism.

 

 

I painted and installed decals on MAM-L bombs, made an imitation of laser guidance heads, and installed it all on the model. I also added bomb racks on the pylons:

 

 

 

 

 

Installed various elements:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At this point I finished working with the model. A couple of final quick photos:

 

 

 

In the near future I plan to do a full-fledged photo shoot of a model.

Edited September 19, 2023 by dimaADA

[GrzeM]

Superb build! Excellent model of very important aeroplane! Congratulations!

 

[AdrianMF]

Smashing result! Thanks for sharing the build with us.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Johnson]

Great modelling and impressive detailing. 

[Supertom]

That looks amazing. Thanks for sharing your build and stay safe.