Yes, WAAAAYYYY too late, I have finished my entry...the M730. I did quite a bit of extra work on this since I had already passed the time-limit.

I decided to do something different and paint the missiles as training pieces rather than live rounds. I left it in desert storm markings though. I figure the story is crews training in the desert. Probably the hardest part was the "remove before flight" tags...just decals trimmed and folded on themselves. It was harder than it sounds. I also added the nosecone covers, which I scratchbuilt from styrene rod and strip. I based the look of th emissiles off of pics I had of NAVY show aircraft with them loaded. What I liked about those pics was the fact that they had two tones of blue on the missile body, they had yellow nosecone covers, AND those red tags. It adds a LOT of color to a very bland vehicle.

There is, however, a smudge/scratch on the inside of the gunners window, which I cannot reach now. Sigh.

The pics, comments welcome:

Very nice work.
Your weathering is right on, I think.
Great looking model.
Chuck

Better late than never. Looks good.

Paul

It looks really great, especially delicate weathering. Good work!!

Very good weathering. About the "remove before flight" tags... that means they must be removed before the M730 takes off ?
I'd ever seen some M730 pictures with some tags on the Chapparal missile but I could not read these warning tags, could anyone help ?

Thanks for the complements.

As for the RBF tags...I am not sure if they are correct, but they did come with the kit. I would assume that the army, taking use of a primarily Air Farce missile, would use their tags, but then again...

I do believe that the tage is attached to a pin that prevents the motor from firing until it is removed...or to keep the missile from falling off the rack? Basically, it is a safety feature and as I said above, it was on the training/display missile I was using as reference.

Also, with all that wonderfull red color, yellow nosecaps, and blue bodies, the missiles really "liven up the joint!"

A very impressive build there Jacques. What did you use for that tarp?

Hey Alex,

The tarp is just white-glue soaked tissue paper. I then painted and shadowed and highlighted it to make it look more worn. Also, my technique is to use tissue paper/glue I have already prepard...I make a full "sheet" of tissue paper/glue, and when it is dry, I cut out what I need, rewet it, and it works like a charm.