Official Harrier GB

Thanx for comments Vance if i don't get more harriers soon think i complete the GB  

Leave it open for a couple more weeks at least.  I just put the decals on my Harrier and I figure I should be done in the next week or so.  I'll just post pics when its done.

Hi guys,

I finally finished her.  Sorry that I didn't take any progress pics along the way.  It was too late to take any assembly pics and I was just too lazy to take pics of the painting process.  But jetmodeler was kind enough to let me participate anyway.

First, though, let me say that you guys have some nice builds.  I've enjoyed lurking in this GB.

This kit is the Monogram 1/48 AV-8B Harrier.  I built it OOB but I did add the beacon light, the VHF antenna, the gun muzzle and the nose gear light.  

This kit, in my opinion, is great.  Overall I think it captures the shape of the AV-8B better than any other kit.  Its my second Monogram/Revell Harrier, in fact.  

The only major fit issue is the part where the wing sits in the fuselage "saddle."  You just have to spend some time fitting it right and filling the seams above and below but its not too bad.  Also, for some reason the raised detail does not line up symmetrically on the fuselage halves.  The most notable offenders are the slime light boxes and the pitot tube guide marks.  They really need to be sanded/filled.  The instructions leave out some important decal placement as well.  Also, it can be a little difficult to get the plane to sit on all 5 wheels.  You have to take care to get that part right.

The canopy doesn't line up with the windscreen too well, either.  It doesn't look so good in the closed position.

I cut off the fuel tanks just because I think the lines of the plane show up better without them.  But I probably will add some better ordinance later.  I want to leave it OOB for now.

Anyway, enough talking.  Here she is.  Hope you enjoy it:

This is what I've been calling the "Fly-n-hi effect."  I paint on functional slimelights:

I picked up this kit at Modelzona 2011 for $6.  Here's the box art:

I took a couple of pics of the old with the new.  I built the other Harrier about 2 or 3 years ago after being inspired by the movie True Lies.  Its the wrong squadron but it has the weapons loadout from the film.

Well done Fly-n-hi

what you used for the lights?

Thanks bsyamoto.  The beacon light is just some clear sprue that I sanded into shape and the nose gear light is a lens from the spares box.

Bsyamato and Fly-n-hi, excellent job to both you two.

Both harriers came out as top notch builds.

Awesome looking builds Fly-n-hi!!!

Wow. It's really been a while. Sorry guys didn't really mean to stray away from this GB for that long.

Ok, so a month into the new year I finally decided I would start mine. I'll have some pictures up soon. It's actually a revisited project I'm doing.

Hi everyone ;

 I apologies for my slow progress on my 1/72 Esci AV-8A project  . I was attempting that fancy YAV-8C paint scheme for my build however I have decided to use the Wolfpac decals sheet No.72-035 "Winter Camouflage" AV-8A Harrier ;

So far I have only managed a little interior painting on some of the sub assembly's ;

Wolfpac give the modeller quite a good history of each aircraft depicted with their decal sheets and they mention that this particular AV-8A was fitted with the Stencel SEU-3/A seat . I recently picked up the Pavla resin Stencel seat which has the overhead handle ;

Next I'll start  glueing the cockpit and fuselage halves together and continue on with some proper WIP pic's to follow soon .

John .

Neat paint scheme,looking forward to seeing it come together John!

John, I'm really liking that paint scheme.

Nice start Helo, i'm curious about the fitting of cockpit section (lots of parts are the same of my gr3 kit) , had lots of problems there

Fly-n-hi

 

This is what I've been calling the "Fly-n-hi effect."  I paint on functional slimelights:

Very nicely done machine - what did you use for the slimelights?!?!

Helo - I love those winter camo schemes on a Harrier, I was tempted to try one with mine, but had picked it up specifically for the Falklands GB. Maybe next time.

Well, it's not everyday you have a 1/24 scale kit in the stash (or under the bed) so I decided to bump the 1/72 Super Sabre and start the Harrier now. This kit will be in 3 builds, Airfix, Harrier and Falklands.

A lot of pieces, a lot not on sprues and not very well organised or numbered. I'm going to have to work out a filing system to keep track of the pieces.

I'm also adding this Flightpath upgrade set which includes resin wheels and ordinance and heaps of photo etch and white metal parts for the cockpits and engine and ladder etc.

This kit is a gift pack and has supplied some small pots of Humbrol paints so first things first some cataloguing and converting into Tamiya and Gunze from my collection.

I think I'll have to fill up the tub for this one as well to bath the parts

Cheers

I've never seen so much brass! There are sheets and sheets of the stuff in this Flightpath set. Instructions could be a lot better though. Half of it is diagrams, the other half is written instructions. it's complicated stuff let alone having to visualise it yourself.

Anyways, here is the IP with brass pieces and some pieces for the side consoles.

Cheers

Casper the Chihuahua

I've never seen so much brass! There are sheets and sheets of the stuff in this Flightpath set. Instructions could be a lot better though. Half of it is diagrams, the other half is written instructions. it's complicated stuff let alone having to visualise it yourself.

Anyways, here is the IP with brass pieces and some pieces for the side consoles.

Cheers

How detailed is that kit OOB?

Looks like something I might want to get one of these days.

As you can see the cockpit on this kit is pretty sparse.

There are two not-very-fitting-at-well plastic bits for the side wall that I just threw away.

I cut off the window sills and replaced them with the FP brass offerings. As you can see on the port side, just a plastic ridge.

So while the Flightpath set spices up the IP and some of the side consoles considerably, it completely fails to add anything else to the cockpit. So scratch time. As always with my approach to scratch, I like to simulate not replicate. I tried to do something that looked good to the eye and not worry too much about what was really inside this pit for real.

It's amazing how much of this will be seen on the final kit. Airfix could have done a little more perhaps. But it's amazing what can be done with some left over PE, resin, styrene cockpit shapes and wire.

Cheers

great and huge work casper!!

Some more work on the brass...The ejection seat lower half

The coaming above the IP, the HUD assembly and the headrest of the ejection seat.

Cheers

Here's the IP, just a bit of touching up to do on the paint job but essentially it's there. It will look better once it's under the coaming with the HUD attached.

Cheers

Nice work so far casper. The IP looks great.

I agree with you, all that left over stuff can go a long way.

Time to get out the mini saw.

Need to remove the cockpit. I think this kit was originally a GR.3. The instructions ask to hack this front section off and replace it with the FRS.1 version.

The tape help remove a clean area

Not quite a clean fit for the new piece but putty will help that

Cheers

What surgery needed bad point for airfix!

Great work Casper waiting for more

So more on the Airfix puzzle. Flashing galore on this kit, also ejector pin marks on almost every piece! We get spoilt building Tamiya, Dragon, Eduard and Trumpeter kits a lot of the time!

I decided to finish the engine parts off in Alclad lacquers. The black undercoat helps with creating depth in the detail of the parts.

Some more work done on the cockpit. Far from finished, possibly the most detailed office I've ever worked on.

Front view;

Front view with coaming;

Rear view and starboard sidewall;

Nearly finished the ejection seat just waiting for the harnesses to dry.

Cheers

I've started to add some extra piping and wiring to the engine but at this scale it's going to need a lot more.

Cheers

Nice work on the engine. How much of the engine are you gonna let show?

Here it goes. My most tedious project of the year.

I took it and just primed it the way it is. Most pieces either missing or have fallen off. I can see there is going to be a lot of scratchbuilding involved in this one.

Great updates

Sometimes scratchbild pieces are not avoidable even if not planned to do LOL

Cockpit almost done. I think it must be the most work I've done on an office so far. I'm pretty pleased with the results.

Cheers