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

Looks great, Toshi!

M. Brindos

Looking good, Toshi! :)

cant wait to see the next installment. :D

 

Toshi

Looking good, Toshi! :)

cant wait to see the next installment. :D

To my fellow forum members,

This is what I have done today.  My next step is to mask certain areas and pre-weather the Harrier.  Thank you for the visit.

Toshi

jeaton01

Your model building is very impressive, Toshi.  And, I see you are now working on your photos with a graphics program to add text.  Might I suggest that you keep the text out of the subject area?  I may be the only one afflicted with this, but it confuses my eyes when it is on or near the model.

 

I just found out how to use the graphic text yesterday.  It was fun adding something in that was different.  Still, I completely agree with you as it does distract from the main subject of which is the kit itself.  Thank you so much for always visiting and supporting my projects!

Toshi

Your model building is very impressive, Toshi.  And, I see you are now working on your photos with a graphics program to add text.  Might I suggest that you keep the text out of the subject area?  I may be the only one afflicted with this, but it confuses my eyes when it is on or near the model.

Planning the next step of this Harrier build, I used fermis's WIP Harrier as a base on what direction I should be going in.  I'm extremely greatfull of his assistance with my build as this has helped me so much.  Thank you fermis!

I've also learned through many mistakes to utilize photos on the Internet of which Mrs. Toshi helps me with for examples on how this build should look.  What was really cool is that last night I got to see True Lies playing on HBO. This is one of the major ideas, reasons, and inspirations in building a Harrier kit.  Plus you've got to love a jet the can do a vertical takeoff and landing.

Watching True Lies for the umpteenth time, I never bore of the Harrier scene.  At the very least, I was able to see what I was doing wrong and how to correct any issues to the best of my abilities.  What you see above is what was done last night as well as this mornings bench time.  I've got several doctors appointments so I won't be able to do anything else with this kit until the early evening.  Thank you forum members for your dedication in following my builds!

Toshi

P.S. The Eduard PE is really a great and accurate representation of what the parts and pieces it replaces should look like.  For anyone interested in building this kit with an aftermarket Eduard PE set, the set number is 32673.

Greatmaker

Coming along nicely Toshi. The cockpit looks fantastic

 

Toshi

Coming along nicely Toshi. The cockpit looks fantastic

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

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

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.

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 .

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

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 an exploded view of the main gear.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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