Stealthy and otherworldly in appearance, the X-47B may just be the future of naval aviation. Designed by Northrop Grumman, the unmanned aerial vehicle is a demonstrator for the U.S. Navy’s UCAS (unmanned combat air system) program. It’s been flying since 2011 and underwent sea trials aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt in summer 2014.
Despite there being only two of them, the X-47B, like other drones, has been gettina attention from kit manufacturers. Platz released a 1/72 scale kit in 2012.
Now newcomer Freedom Model Kits hits the market with an ambitious 1/48 scale offering.
The gray plastic parts display recessed and raised detail. Panel lines on the body parts are crisp, but parts like door actuators and gear legs seem a tad soft. They also have slight mold seams that need cleanup.
The kit features great options, including folded wings, posable control surfaces, arrestor hook, and air brakes, as well as different nose gear for takeoff or taxiing.
Other features include full intake and exhaust trunking with fans, detailed gear bays and legs, and open bomb bays with GBU-32s.
A small photoetched-brass fret provides tie-downs for the landing gear, hinges for the wing-fold doors, pitots, and other small details.
There’s no cockpit, so assembly starts instead with the landing gear. It’s sturdy, and the locators are pretty positive, but all of the slots on arms and actuators need to be opened to fit over corresponding pegs.
However, the gear detail really stands out when a dark wash is applied over a coat of white paint.
The wings and the body fit better when the locator pins are removed, but the leading and trailing edges are sharp and scale thin. I wanted to pose one of the air brakes closed, but, in addition to removing raised detail in the bay, I had to sand the edges for a flush fit.
The engineering of the intake and exhaust is outstanding, with clean fits and perfect alignment in the airframe.
The main body fits pretty well but needs care and just a little filler.
I ran into problems with the inserts for the joins for the wings, both for the folded and deployed options. The plug and support (nos. D12 and D13) required sanding and frequent dry-fitting to ensure a flush fit along the join. The same proved true of the inserts for the folded wings (parts E11 and E12). I left the folded wing off for painting.
After spraying the wheel and weapon bays white, I masked and painted the airframe neutral gray darkened with a few drops of schwarzgrau. Then I masked a few panels and painted straight neutral gray to match photos of the real thing.
Even over a generous coat of Pledge FloorCare Multi-Surface Finish, the decals proved prone to silvering. I applied Solvaset to get them to settle.
Positioning the multiple actuators on the bay doors was challenging. But the alignment illustrations are a big help. (This is when I discovered I had misplaced one of the landing gear doors.) The folded wing requires support as the cement sets to ensure it sits right on the small arms.
The finished model matches photos of the real X-47B in appearance and stance. The only shape issue I see is a step at the wing fold.
Freedom’s UCAS is a neat model but requires some skill to get just right. I spent about 25 hours on the model and can recommend it to anyone with a few modern kits under their belts.
Note: A version of this review appeared in the January 2015 FineScale Modeler.