Author Topic: 1/35 Ukrainian sea drone  (Read 948 times)

Offline Frank3k

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1/35 Ukrainian sea drone
« on: November 26, 2023, 11:23:11 AM »
This is my build of Ukraine's Maritime Drone (USV) by MikroMir in 1/35

There are few parts in this short run kit and the fit is OK -- about typical for MikroMir. There are some variations between drones and MikroMir seems to have picked this one:



The kit instructions show the support frame for the two cameras (small one at the bow and a larger one amidships) but the parts are not on the PE sheet nor on the sprues. It's not a big deal, but I'll leave them off until the end.
The hull is made up of a top, bottom, rear bulkhead and the two sides of the hull, which have a mediocre fit. The two fuses at the nose are complete, so you either have to cut one off and deal with any gap, or cut both in half. I went with the former and squeezed the bow until plastic oozed out and made the fuses roughly circular.

Before PE:


I was concerned with gaps or misalignment between the upper hull and the hull sides, so I sprayed the edges with black paint and fixed any issues. This is with the PE wave breaks (?) on:





The rear bulkhead has holes for the actuators but the parts don't have matching pins - just tabs - on both ends, so I carved a channel for the upper connections:



There are a couple of very small PE handles left to attach, but I'll wait until I'm ready for painting. They're probably going to get knocked off, anyway.

Offline Story

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Re: 1/35 Ukrainian sea drone
« Reply #1 on: November 26, 2023, 06:39:19 PM »

Offline Dr. YoKai

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Re: 1/35 Ukrainian sea drone
« Reply #2 on: November 26, 2023, 11:11:02 PM »
Looks like a fairly straightforward build. I admit, the frills on the upper hull are a bit of a puzzle. Given how quickly this kit appeared, MikroMir may have rushed production a bit...

Offline Story

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Re: 1/35 Ukrainian sea drone
« Reply #3 on: November 26, 2023, 11:50:30 PM »

Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: 1/35 Ukrainian sea drone
« Reply #4 on: November 27, 2023, 01:31:16 AM »
Looking good
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

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Offline Frank3k

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Re: 1/35 Ukrainian sea drone
« Reply #5 on: November 27, 2023, 06:25:46 AM »


That's close to the MikrMir kit. The white camera housing is completely differenty from the kit one (i prefer this one). Maybe they depend on the mission profile. The Starlink antenna looks a little higher, but that may just be the perspective.

I think the only whiff I'll add is a decal that says "Русский военный корабль, иди нахуй" on the front. Maybe a date code and maybe "Иди на хуй, Элмо" on the Starlink Antenna.

Offline Frank3k

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Re: 1/35 Ukrainian sea drone
« Reply #6 on: November 28, 2023, 08:26:22 AM »
This was a pretty quick and simple build. I'm calling it finished, except for fixing a silvering decal. The only whiffs are the decals, although some drone pictures show hand written numbers on the sides.

Hard to tell, but there are two tiny metal loops near the edges. Amazingly, they didn't fall off:



Side view. The two fuses on the nose are in steel and a grimy gray (which seems to match the color of my patio deck), The base is a generic PE base for a submarine that I got in a package from Jeff. The number is the year and month I finished the model:



Unfortunately, one of the decals silvered. I'll deal with that tomorrow. The steel access plates add some color.  The Starlink antenna is in a slightly lighter dark gray.



The decal in the middle says "Русский военный корабль, иди нахуй".  "Иди на хуй, Элмо" is on the Starlink Antenna... may not be a whiff, since it has some historical reasoning behind it.

Overall a fun little build, despite the PE and the fact that it's a short run kit.

Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: 1/35 Ukrainian sea drone
« Reply #7 on: November 29, 2023, 01:21:20 AM »
 :smiley:
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

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But you can make the Bastard work for it.

Offline Frank3k

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Re: 1/35 Ukrainian sea drone
« Reply #8 on: November 29, 2023, 01:20:40 PM »
I got rid of the silvering by using a decal setting solution and gently prodding the decal. Here's the drone with two guys for scale:



The setting solution wasn't completely dry when I took these pictures, but I wanted to get the last bit of sunlight for the day. The clear film eventually vanished:


Offline Old Wombat

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Re: 1/35 Ukrainian sea drone
« Reply #9 on: November 29, 2023, 04:43:19 PM »
 :smiley: :smiley: 8)
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our engine sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Offline raafif

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Re: 1/35 Ukrainian sea drone
« Reply #10 on: November 30, 2023, 07:45:21 AM »
Would make a good coffin for the remake of Star Trek's "Spock's last voyage" .... or a good drug-runner's boat - maybe a jet engine attached ?

Offline Frank3k

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Re: 1/35 Ukrainian sea drone
« Reply #11 on: November 30, 2023, 12:23:04 PM »
They're using jet ski water pump engines, so they can go very fast when they want to.