06/24

The car driver who didn’t see me this morning until he skidded to a stop inches from my front wheel may not have seen me, but I’m fairly sure he then heard my most unladylike swearing. Probably unnecessary as, like Andre’s assailant, he appeared to be contemplating a change of underwear at the very real possibility of committing vehicular homicide. The swearing helped me though, not least because 10 minutes before I had skidded on black ice on Embra’s high quality roads, depositing me, and bike, on the tarmac with some force (those who know me well will know I am no svelte cyclist). The (different) car driver behind kindly drove round me without stopping to enquire if I was ok, which at least left me unprotected in the road for the buses to aim at. I may park the bike for the rest of the winter. Nice P40 PC

My sole Poseidon photo, but sadly little use for research purposes: Untitled by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr

You may hate me for saying so, but Madeleine is, of course, gorgeous, and I will happily takeover as Daddy daycare if you can get me a green card and match my outrageous salary demands. Failing that, air freight all three sprogs to Scotland and we’ll sort ‘em out. Meanwhile, the winged thing is gorgeous, and weathering seems like a perfect next step, I would go with a pale white/yellow gouache dot filter to fade and blend it all down. But what do I know, I only stick stuff together these days 😂

So am I! I think I’ll just fudge the internal screen, and on this one I’ll do a closed canopy with crew so hopefully any errors will be suitably misdirected. I have a Sword two seater in the stash which I might try and do open.

With the help of a friendly ‘erk from 1942, we foiled the sabotage plot and unmasked the saboteur. 🙂 Untitled by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr Today, more chores but I’ve slapped some paint on the pilot of the play Harrier. My eyesight isn’t what it was, so this is probably as good as I can hope for, with the aid of the magnifying visor. Once the canopy frames are painted I think it should pass muster. Untitled by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr

Indeed. I still don’t understand what keeps them up, but then again, nor do I understand how my iPad lets me talk to my friend in Illinois, but it works, so who am I to argue. The good news is I seem to be covid free, which is nice, the bad is that health means no escape from Mrs 06/24’s “to do list”. As some of you may know, we moved back into Edinburgh earlier this year, and a an acquaintance has spent the past two weeks installing new taxiways on the 06/24 apron. My job was to fill in and repair the now “too small” run off area (lawn 🤣). Untitled by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr That done, more interesting matters could proceed - primer on the play Harrier: Untitled by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr Some new reading: Untitled by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr (A different kind of Cold War altogether!) However, an afternoon out beckons, we’re off to try and complete “Operation Sabotage” an airfield themed escape room experience at the National Museum of Flight. Normal service should resume tomorrow.

Sad to say I enjoy targets nearly as much as I enjoy winged and rotary things. Hi PC, have you not been paying attention 🤣 Falklands stuff so far is all winged (but hairycopters will follow)

Loaded for the Falklands by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr Bombed up with cluster bombs and tanks from the Italeri kit, and the original recon pod on the centreline. More appropriate as a load out for the Falklands than RAFG I suspect, but not impossible. Clearly, if you’re buying a Harrier choose the re-tooled Airfix or the Esci/Italeri versions, they are much “better” models, but this was great fun and not too taxing for my covid fogged brain. If I ever get to wargame with 20mm Cold War then this will be ideal.

Nothing interesting to show on the T.4, the covid has left me feeling worse today so apart from some light sanding and front undercarriage doors, I’ve not done anything meaningful. Instead, on the basis that if I messed it up due to the brain fog, it wouldn’t matter, I chucked together the ancient Airfix first version GR.3, in action pose. The original GR.1 tooling, on which this was based, came out in 1969 (same age as me then!) and was modified into this GR.3 version in 1983. I built a lot of these as a kid, probably my favourite kit, and despite its age and obvious weakness in detail, it still to my mind captures the look of the 1980s harrier force well: Light relief by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr

One of the reasons for replacing the Bobcat bits with Airfix, is that the Bobcat features the extended ferry wingtips which, by all accounts, were rarely if ever used, and also the mega tall tail fin that only the early twin tub Harriers had, most seem to have had the standard tail, albeit mounted on a kind of booster seat arrangement. So, swallow a couple of brave pills along with my next dose of paracetamol and off with the tails from both kits, and the Airfix tail is grafted onto the Bobcat fuselage. Frankenharrier returns by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr Despite the Shar’s many shortcomings, one, if not the only, place it scores over the later GR.3 tooling is that the fin is the right height, rather than the diminutive GR.1 effort that carried over to the GR.3 new tool.

The intakes (with dropped doors) from the Shar can be made to fit with a bit of effort (and copious amounts of filler). The wing is on, the pit has a coat of paint, need to be patient now and let it harden before sanding. (I’m off work with covid so not feeling great, surprised I’ve managed as much as I have today.) Harrier T.4 in 1/72 by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr

A new thread to capture WIP stuff that doesn’t fit with my Falklands themed thread. Anyone who has read that will know I have a bunch of Airfix Sea Harrier bits lying around that didn’t get used after I realised the Esci/Italeri version was so much more accurate in outline. I don’t like to bin unbuilt plastic (which is funny given that I rarely keep my finished builds for long!) so how better to use up some of the Airfix bits than another Frankenharrier - this time a T.4 cobbled together with a mixture of Heller/Bobcat fuselage, SHAR wings and spare seats from my GR.3 builds. Hopefully once a PJ Production crew is onboard, the relative lack of interior gubbins won’t be visible. The front seater has gained a rudimentary IP from another spare. Frankenharrier take 2 by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr

I’ve decided to create new threads away from the WHIF world, since my modelling seems to be increasingly led by real-world accuracy again, but thanks for watching folks.

For this one, to drop the intake doors, I decided to copy the method @Navy Bird used on his build of the Fujimi kit, which typically understated masterclass can be found Here Dropping the intake flaps by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr

The fan blades were painted using Games Workshop/Citadel contrast paint, which provides a useful light and shade effect straight from the pot. Contrast painted fan blades by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr

The cockpit is coming together on the GR.3: 1/72 GR.3 with Kitsworld Instrument Panel by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr

A bit more work on the GR.3 - dropped flaps courtesy of the CMK control surfaces set, to match the photos of ‘989 after the crash. Dropped flaps by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr The photo shows me more clean up is required.

A lucky strike on EBay at lunchtime means I’ve acquired the Xtradecal set, so can build all the Falklands Harriers I want! 👍

The cockpit has been dry fitted into the fuselage to test. Once painted and closed up I think it’ll look the part. In the foreground, the wings are having the pylon fairings removed - pretty much the only real challenge with the original Esci kit Harrier GR.3 by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr

Meanwhile, I’ve made a gentle start on a GR.3 which I’m hoping to build to represent XZ989/Red 07 after its “hard landing” at San Carlos FOB ( https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/55553 ) again I’m using the Esci/Italeri as the base as I’m hoping this will make representing the chopped nose easier. As the aircraft lost the main part of the canopy during the crash, I felt the cockpit needed something better than my home brew I used in the Shar, so I used the CMK set, which, despite being designed for the Airfix version fitted the Italeri cockpit with only minor fettling. Harrier GR.3 by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr Harrier GR.3 by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr Harrier GR.3 by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr The set comes with a nice MB9 bang seat too.

I need to decide which airframe the Shar will be. At the moment I’m leaning toward XZ455 as that was the one that made a pit stop on Fearless. However I don’t have suitable decals (only source I know of in 1/72 is the Xtradecal sheet which seems to have vanished from Hannants website) and the aircraft which landed on Intrepid was ZA177 which I think has featured on more decal sets. THE FALKLANDS CONFLICT, APRIL - JUNE 1982. © Crown copyright. IWM (FKD 199) IWM Non Commercial License THE FALKLANDS CONFLICT, APRIL - JUNE 1982. © Crown copyright. IWM (FKD 83) IWM Non Commercial License I do have another Ita/Esci/Airfix in the stash from the Airfix 25th anniversary set, so maybe I’ll do both, if I can get hold of suitable stickers.

Took advantage of the autumn sunshine to shoot some primer onto the Shar. Shows up a few areas needing attention but overall I’m quite pleased. SHAR in primer by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr SHAR in primer by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr

No amount of Google-fu seemed to turn up dimensions, so in the end I went with the Airfix versions, on the basis they cleaned up slightly better, and I know at least one set will be spare as I want to do a GR.3 RAFG version with weapons on each pylon at some point. Drop tanks fitted by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr

Drop tanks by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr Airfix GR.3 on the left, Italeri on the right. The latter are fractionally shorter. Don’t suppose anyone knows the correct length?

The Airfix gun pods (from the GR.3, not the weird bulbous things from the SHAR) are a surprisingly good fit on the Esci/Italeri/Old Airfix fuselage. 1/72 Italeri/Airfix Harrier by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr Haven’t decided if I’m using the Esci original drop tanks or the set from the GR.3 yet, they are broadly the same (Needless to say the Airfix new SHAR tanks aren’t…)