Completed 11/26/16 Trumpeter 1/32 AV-8B Night Attack Harrier II

Here is the IP.

Toshi

That instrument panel looks awesome, man! Is the blue screen aftermarket or ot came with the kit?

Thank you Griffin25.  The blue screens are aftermarket Eduard PE.  The only thing of the IP that's part of the kit is the IP's base.  Everything else you see is from the Eduard PE set #32673.  Thank you so much for the visit!

Toshi

Here is the start of the engine.  I assumed that the engine would be large especially in 1/32.  What I didn't expect was how large.  LOL!  

Toshi,

That IP and cockpit look brilliant!

But more than that, i'm really happy to see you back here and posting. I'm glad you've been able to keep up the hobby despite the recent move.

I look forward to seeing more of your builds.

I, too, am glad to see you still posting, Toshi. 

I love the Harrier. I have the Hasegawa 1/48 waiting in my stash, but I won't get to it for a while. Yours is looking great so far! That cockpit is very impressive!

--Chris

cml

Toshi,

That IP and cockpit look brilliant!

But more than that, i'm really happy to see you back here and posting. I'm glad you've been able to keep up the hobby despite the recent move.

I look forward to seeing more of your builds.

 

 

Toshi

dirkpitt77

I, too, am glad to see you still posting, Toshi. 

I love the Harrier. I have the Hasegawa 1/48 waiting in my stash, but I won't get to it for a while. Yours is looking great so far! That cockpit is very impressive!

--Chris

 

Toshi

Toshi

 

 

dirkpitt77

I, too, am glad to see you still posting, Toshi. 

I love the Harrier. I have the Hasegawa 1/48 waiting in my stash, but I won't get to it for a while. Yours is looking great so far! That cockpit is very impressive!

--Chris

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much dirkpitt77 for your words of support.  I'm very excited to be back on FSM Forums and building kits.  The most important fact is that I get to have conversations with forum members like yourself.  Thank you for the read and reply!

 

Toshi

 

Toshi

Boy, does Trumpeter really love their engines!  This engine is all OOB in detail.  What surprises me is the level of detail that will not be seen as it will be encased in the fuselage.  But, isn't that what most detailed models do?  

Unless a modeler is extremely skilled and will perform scratch building and open up some panels exposing the engine details, that will be the only example to be able to view such intricate building techniques.  I for one am not skilled enough to do such work albeit I can vicariously live such scratch building through other master modelers scratch building here on FSM Forums.

Still, ultimately the assembly process was very difficult and inspiring at that same time plus, most importantly I had a great time with this.  Although no one will see this, I am going to AB and weather this monster of an engine.  Please view my progress below and thank you for visiting my post!

Toshi

Yeah, there's a lot there that will never be seen. I skipped on all the extra stuff...just painted the inside of the rear section, as that is the only bit that can be seen, if you contort your eyeball!

FYI...the rings on the rear of the engines, that the exhaust nozzles attach to, wedge in between the fuselage and engine(held in place once fuselage is assembled)...no glue required. That way the nozzles can be positioned/moved as you see fit.

Also...when it comes time to put the wings on. There is a gap at the bottom where the wings meet the fuselage. I cut lengths of sprue and wedged em in, spreading/widening the fuselage, to meet the wing.

fermis

Yeah, there's a lot there that will never be seen. I skipped on all the extra stuff...just painted the inside of the rear section, as that is the only bit that can be seen, if you contort your eyeball!

FYI...the rings on the rear of the engines, that the exhaust nozzles attach to, wedge in between the fuselage and engine(held in place once fuselage is assembled)...no glue required. That way the nozzles can be positioned/moved as you see fit.

 

Toshi

fermis

Also...when it comes time to put the wings on. There is a gap at the bottom where the wings meet the fuselage. I cut lengths of sprue and wedged em in, spreading/widening the fuselage, to meet the wing.

 

Toshi

The nose gear is one of the most strongest landing gears I've ever built.  It reminds me of the Revell/Monogram 1/48 B-24 Liberator's front landing gear.  Just extremely sturdy that you could almost put the full weight of the model on and then some.  

I have included an exploded view of the assembly parts of the Harrier nose gear cabin.

Toshi

I had to trim part #E12 a bit, to get it to fit into the slot of the "fork" E46. Just a little, along the bottom edge of the "blade" portion.

fermis

I had to trim part #E12 a bit, to get it to fit into the slot of the "fork" E46. Just a little, along the bottom edge of the "blade" portion.

 

Toshi

Ah, Toshi-San

The Main Modeling Man, great to see you back at the bench, and just a few weeks ago you were thinking you might have to quit.

You're right, that Pegasus is quite an engine, it fills a lot of space inside the airframe. Looking forward to watching this one grow in the Toshi model garden, thanks for the post. Always a good day, when I get to see what Toshi is up to currently.

Build on.

Patrick

Thanks to fermis, I was able to get through an issue with the nose gear.  As you see above, fermis went into detail with the part number to be trimmed for a better fit and finish.  The nose gear actually has a plastic type of spring loaded mechanism that allows it to move forward and backwards like the real Harrier.  Pretty cool!

Toshi

Here is an exploded view of the main gear.

patrick206

Ah, Toshi-San

The Main Modeling Man, great to see you back at the bench, and just a few weeks ago you were thinking you might have to quit.

You're right, that Pegasus is quite an engine, it fills a lot of space inside the airframe. Looking forward to watching this one grow in the Toshi model garden, thanks for the post. Always a good day, when I get to see what Toshi is up to currently.

Build on.

Patrick

 

Toshi

Here is my progress from Friday and Friday night.  There's still much to do but I feel good about the direction this is going at!  Thank you for the visit.

Toshi

Hey Toshi !

 Glad to see that Bird on your new bench . I told you it would all work out . I build these mostly in 1/144 . 

 Now gotta tell you why . My first missus bought me one of the original 1/144 kits pre 1980 . It was fun to do . But after I finished arming it up she called it the " Mad Mosquito " on her coffee table ! So I have at least one in this scale all bombed and armed up in her memory . Gotta have a " Mad Mosquito " somewhere in my build area . It makes me smile !

 Have to tell you this too . I have six "O" scale rail-road buildings and three ships under construction in my area . One is a 1/96 scale monster too ! . Catchya Later  T.B.           P.S. Remember My build area is half of a five foot folding table now .

I knew you'd be back... how could it be otherwise?

Following along as usual. Vertical/Short/Takeoff(and)/Landing aircraft have always fascinated me as well. I keep wondering when the POGO will go into production ???? Oops, I just dated myself - as if my user name doesn't

P.S. If they'd had computerized avionics and rear view cameras back in '66 I bet the XFY-1 VTO might have come in handy when the UH-1 Hueys were in short supply.

Tanker - Builder

Hey Toshi !

 Glad to see that Bird on your new bench . I told you it would all work out . I build these mostly in 1/144 . 

 Now gotta tell you why . My first missus bought me one of the original 1/144 kits pre 1980 . It was fun to do . But after I finished arming it up she called it the " Mad Mosquito " on her coffee table ! So I have at least one in this scale all bombed and armed up in her memory . Gotta have a " Mad Mosquito " somewhere in my build area . It makes me smile !

 Have to tell you this too . I have six "O" scale rail-road buildings and three ships under construction in my area . One is a 1/96 scale monster too ! . Catchya Later  T.B.           P.S. Remember My build area is half of a five foot folding table now .

 

 

I can't comprehend how you build all of that on half of a five foot table.  That's just amazing.  Thank you so much for the read and reply as well, I so enjoy these interactions and look forward to this each day!

Toshi

1943Mike

I knew you'd be back... how could it be otherwise?

Following along as usual. Vertical/Short/Takeoff(and)/Landing aircraft have always fascinated me as well. I keep wondering when the POGO will go into production ???? Oops, I just dated myself - as if my user name doesn't

P.S. If they'd had computerized avionics and rear view cameras back in '66 I bet the XFY-1 VTO might have come in handy when the UH-1 Hueys were in short supply.

 

Toshi

Coming along nicely Toshi. The cockpit looks fantastic