History

The MQ-9 Reaper is a medium-to-high altitude, long endurance remotely piloted aircraft system. The MQ-9's primary mission is to act as an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) asset, employing sensors to provide real-time data to commanders and intelligence specialists at all levels.

The MQ-9's complimentary mission is as a persistent hunter-killer against emerging targets to achieve joint force commander objectives. The MQ-9 is a larger and more capable aircraft than the earlier MQ-1 Predator, although it can be controlled by the same ground systems used to control MQ-1s. The MQ-9 has a 950-shaft-horsepower (712 kW) turboprop engine, far more powerful than the Predator's 115 hp (86 kW) piston engine.

The Kit

The kit arrives in a clear plastic bag which is reseal-able at the bottom, while the parts are contained in a zip lock bag and the decals in an open plastic sleeve. The kit consists of twenty six light grey coloured resin parts. The parts while quite nicely moulded do have a lot of flash and can be mistaken for pour stubs due to they’re size. Very fine panel lines are in evidence on the wings and fuselage and are not over done in this scale. On inspection a few pin holes could be seen along the wing trailing edge but none elsewhere. I believe that with care the parts should go together with out to much problem but great care will be needed as no holes or alignment marks are visible.

The Instructions

These consist of one single sided A4 sheet with a separate B5 size sheet giving details and general views of the finished kit but unpainted kit. The construction may be a bit of guess work as all writing is in Japanese only except for weapon names although most parts should locate with no problem. A problem that I can see is on one drawing which indicates two lines on the ‘V’ tail there is something written in Japanese about it but I cannot work it out from the drawing alone.
Painting and colours, well unless it’s in the Japanese writing then there is none.

Markings

Two marking options are provided but that is all I can tell you as no marking lay out or drawing is provided, the only way I can tell there are two options is due to the fact two different serials are provided.

In Conclusion

This I believe is an important addition to any modern 1/144 collection but you will need some good reference material before you start.

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