Enzo the Magnificent Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 Yep... I may be slightly I started these builds on the first day of the GB. Things did not quite go as planned... more of this later. Here was the original bunch of kits. The intention was to build the following Hawker P1127(RAF) XV276 Not strictly speaking a Harrier. This is an aircraft from the Development Batch. The DB aircraft varied a lot in their intake geometry - some had fewer blow-in doors and odd shapes to the cold nozzle fairings. XV276 was the first of the DB aircraft but at the time represented by the model it had production standard intakes. I can use the Airfix GR.1 kit with a simple repaint - natural metal! Harrier GR.3 XV738 The first production Harrier. This one has a personal connection for me. I was my jet! Bravo was used by IV(AC) Sqn as its flagship for the 75th anniversary of the squadron formation. I designed and painted the famous fin insignia. However, this model will represent the jet as a standard line jet, which is how I remember it best. This is the Airfix GR.3 kit with a Freightdog fin. Harrier GR.5 One of the first plastic pigs taken on charge by 3 Sqn (Cementheads). This aircraft was in use at the same time as XV738. This is the Airfix GR7/9 with a Quickboost replacement nose. I will be using decals from Modeldecal Sheet 100. AV-8B+ Here's where the wheels came off! This is the Hasegawa AV-8B kit using undercarriage ahys from Aires and a speedbrake from Quickboost... More details in the next post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted June 1, 2014 Author Share Posted June 1, 2014 Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. But what about three times? Nearly ten years ago, I attempted to build an Airfix 1/48 Seafire FR.47 using the Aires cockpit. I've told the story a few times on BM. Suffice to say the cockpit simply did not fit. In attempting to make it fit, I thinned the fuselage halves and cockpit sidewalls so much that they lost their structural integrity and collapsed! I didn't abandon the build as I had some spare fuselage halves - but I should have learned a lesson. Later on this year there will be a second P-51 Mustang STGB. I'm looking forward to it. I entered the first one but didn't complete either of my builds. I attempted to use the Aires cockpit and wheelbay on both builds. Guess what? They didn't fit!!! Hugely disillusioned, I abandoned both builds. For the forthcoming P-51 STGB I will be building the same subjects I attempted for the last one - but I'll avoid any Aires bits. One would have thought that I'd learned my lesson - but apparently not! I started the Hasegawa AV-8B and attempted to fit the gear bays. I had some trouble because it doesn't fit...! What a shock! I found I wasn't enjoying the build at all so I came to a decision. I would complete the Hasegawa kit in slow time as an early AV-8B and withdraw it from this GB. Instead I would use this sprue from the Hasegawa kit to convert an Airfix GR7/9 into an AV-8B+. All seemed well. The new AV-8B+ was progressing well and I continued with the Hasegawa kit and the annoying resin. And then... I found that not only does the resin nose gear bay not fit without thinning the fuselage halves to a dangerous degree, but when fitted, it intrudes into the cockpit area! Arrrrgggghhh!!! So the Hasegawa kit has been withdrawn indefinitely until I work up the enthusiasm to revert it back to kit standard. But in the meantime, I found I was fascinated by the Desert Storm colour scheme which I had intended for the Hasegawa kit. There was only one thing for it... I got another Airfix GR7/9. I will modify the nose and fit the Hasegawa gunpods to give me five entries for this GB. as anything! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted June 1, 2014 Author Share Posted June 1, 2014 So without further ado, we'll leap straight in. Hold on tight, rider! These are the first generation Harriers with the intake parts ready for installation. Cockpits and intakes fitted with the fuselages ready to be closed up. This is the GR.5 and AV-8B fuselages completed. At this point I was still persevering with the Hasegawa kit. However, it only takes about 25 minutes work to get to this point from the start, so the Desert Storm aircraft would catch up very quickly. The GR.5 forward fuselage ready be closed up. Here we have a first generation and a second generation model each with the mainplane in place. And my workbench is starting to look at little like Dunsfold...! Here are a selection of noses... From top to bottom: GR.5, AV-8B and AV-8B+. The latter two need to be sanded smooth. This is fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomjw Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 This is excellent, if not slightly mad I struggled with just two builds on the go at once. I will follow this with interest. Cheers, Tom 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted June 1, 2014 Author Share Posted June 1, 2014 This is excellent, if not slightly mad I struggled with just two builds on the go at once. I have five builds currently on the go in the Korean War GB and another 5 due to start next weekend in the D-Day GB... I need some serious therapy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomjw Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 I have five builds currently on the go in the Korean War GB and another 5 due to start next weekend in the D-Day GB... I need some serious therapy. That is serious stuff mate. Your work bench must be huge with OCD levels of organisation. We are not worthy... T 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted June 1, 2014 Author Share Posted June 1, 2014 OCD levels of organisation. I have a spreadsheet to organise it all... I'm not kidding! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomjw Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 I have a spreadsheet to organise it all... I'm not kidding! Fantastic. I like that idea. I think I will need a spreadsheet to follow your builds. Keep up the good work. Tom. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troffa Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 Go on then Enzo- educate me- "Cementheads"? I've heard 3 Sqn referred to as "Chicken on a brick" before, but never heard that one! Troffa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted June 1, 2014 Author Share Posted June 1, 2014 Go on then Enzo- educate me- "Cementheads"? I've heard 3 Sqn referred to as "Chicken on a brick" before, but never heard that one! Dunno where it came from. In the 80s at Gutersloh, both squadrons had nicknames. 3(F) were "Cementheads" while IV(AC) was "Happy Four". There were other nicknames which were used as a term of abuse between the squadrons. These actually came from the radio callsigns used by the groundcrew. Happy Four's callsign was "spanner". Some wag on 3 Sqn started to refer to us as a "bunch of spanners". Sadly he didn't take into account the fact that 3's callsign was "ratchet"... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 This is definitely a build to watch! I love the idea of mating the Hasegawa radar nose to the Airfix GR7/9. I really want Airfix to make an AV-8B+ kit with the Italian Navy markings. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted June 1, 2014 Author Share Posted June 1, 2014 I really want Airfix to make an AV-8B+ kit with the Italian Navy markings. I'd like some enterprising resin manufacturer to produce a set with an AV-8B+ nose and another with the upper fuselage flare dispensers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xffw45343tg Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 You will build a replica Dunsfold apron to sit them all on then, won't you? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintsPhil Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 I thought I had a production line going on with 3.... I did the GR7/9 to AV8B conversion myself a while back, don't forget to sand off the RAF specific bits, like the underside chaff/flare lump by the airbrake and the strengthening plate and rivets behind the rear nozzle! Also if you add the upper fuselage flare packs, the intake at the base of the tail is extended to avoid ingestion! Phil 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedman Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 I have five builds currently on the go in the Korean War GB and another 5 due to start next weekend in the D-Day GB... I need some serious therapy. You can come and join me in my padded cell if you want 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted June 3, 2014 Author Share Posted June 3, 2014 I thought I had a production line going on with 3.... I did the GR7/9 to AV8B conversion myself a while back, don't forget to sand off the RAF specific bits, like the underside chaff/flare lump by the airbrake and the strengthening plate and rivets behind the rear nozzle! I knew that. Already done. Also if you add the upper fuselage flare packs, the intake at the base of the tail is extended to avoid ingestion! But I didn't know that! Nice one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xffw45343tg Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Don't forget to delete one of the gun switches on the 8B too (outboard of the left MPCD)... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardtarget Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Keep it up Enzo, we are certainly mad doping multiple builds for muiltiple GB's I do try to keep focussed but its easy to get swept away with it all. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Moff Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 Enzo and Troffa - personally I kept RAF nicknames simple....Crab Air!!! Great builds Enzo, mucho respect! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Moff Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 Hardtarget - I have to say the Navy Jomblie helicopters flew in whatever weather was thrown at them - Fly Navy!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted August 3, 2014 Author Share Posted August 3, 2014 I need to apologise to the group. My intention was to break the builds down so that each model got its own posts as they progressed. Sadly things didn't work out that way. I got caught up in the build (as well as the 15 or so other models that I am building for GBs) and didn't document them as well as I should have. What you see below are the only photos I have taken of any of the builds since me last post. This is the P1127-RAF ready for decals. It was sprayed aluminium from a rattle can with various panels sprayed over in different shades of Alclad2. And here is the GR3, sprayed with Xtracrylix Dark Sea Grey and Dark Green. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted August 3, 2014 Author Share Posted August 3, 2014 And as if my magic... here is the P1127 finished! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted August 3, 2014 Author Share Posted August 3, 2014 Here is the GR3. This was my jet and I am quite pleased with the way this one turned out. Except for that pitot... And yes, the rear fuselage actually did get that dirty! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted August 3, 2014 Author Share Posted August 3, 2014 One of the first GR5s which 3 Sqn took on charge in 1990. While the Cementheads were converting to the Plastic Pig, Happy Four continued to use the GR3 so this aircraft and the previous one were actually concurrent. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted August 3, 2014 Author Share Posted August 3, 2014 An early AV-8B, ready to go to war. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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