Harrier GR3 47 years into Build

[224 Peter]

Long, long ago, well 1974, I bought the 1/24 Airfix Harrier kit when it appeared, Inspired by a conversion article by Alan Hall and Mike Keep, "Updating the Harrier" on pages 118 to 123 of a magazine I no longer seem to have, I started work. 

As with may kits I purchased when at Brunel my modelling went into hibernation when i started work in 1975 and then found a wife in 1977...and bought a house...then Airfix in 1997 issued big Harrier as the GR3. My conversion continued its hibernation. 

 

Time passed and I thought that it would be a good project to finish, so earlier this year I painted the body and started the last stages, painting and final assembly. 

I acquired a sent of the Airfix decal sheet for the GR3 I'm going to finish it as one from 56 Squadron with the multi coloured fin from 4 Squadron, RAF Gutersloh. 

Why? Because in 1968 I went, with Esher ATC, to RAF Camp at Gutersloh, Germany. 

 

Long story, here it is, the fin ready in black. It still needs some additional painting.

I used vintage Humbrol paints HX1 and HX2 from the NATO paint range. They are slightly glossy and cover well, using a brush.

Getting the overall camouflage pattern to join up was "interesting" !

 

 

 

The next stage is to spray with gloss acrylic, then apply decals, and finally attach the underwing stuff, outrigger legs and so on. 

 

I'm building this in parallel with the Hurricane and Typhoon, previously mentioned.  

Edited July 16, 2021 by 224 Peter
Tempus Fugit

[huvut76g7gbbui7]

2 hours ago, 224 Peter said:

then apply decals,

Weren't they 'transfers' back then? 

I wonder if this is the longest that a kit has lain untouched?

Good to see it revived 

 

Richard

[bar side]

Was that a GR1 originally then?  I remember sticking a GR1 together (can’t say I built it) Seem to remember you built the engine first & most of the rest fitted around it.

Yes, definitely water slide transfers - what’s all this fancy decals stuff about?

[224 Peter]

It was indeed. 

Yes, the instructions show the assembly of the engine, with linked moving engine exhaust nozzles, as the first step, followed by the cockpit, and so on. Not that many parts really, when compared with modern large scale kits. 

Likewise the transfer sheet is small, about 6" x 4" whereas the sheet for the later GR3 is massive, larger than A4! 

Back then we always spoke of transfers, I'm not sure why decals has gained ground, yet another americanisation, I suppose. 

[Lord Riot]

That looks fantastic. Good job they don't go off!

 

Nice colours too, I've ordered a 1/48 Jag so might try and get that grey & green. Or are they the same as Tamiya XF-81 and dark sea grey?

 

Just noticed one thing, was '56 sqn' a typo? They never flew Harriers.

 

 

 

 

[224 Peter]

43 minutes ago, Lord Riot said:

That looks fantastic. Good job they don't go off!

 

Nice colours too, I've ordered a 1/48 Jag so might try and get that grey & green. Or are they the same as Tamiya XF-81 and dark sea grey?

 

Just noticed one thing, was '56 sqn' a typo? They never flew Harriers.

 

 

 

 

Yes, sorry....No 4 Squadron....

[Rob G]

Re the word 'decal'. The Yanks have nothing to do with it, it's French.

 

From Wikipedia: The word is short for decalcomania, which is the English version of the French word décalcomanie.

 

The technique was invented by Simon François Ravenet, an engraver from France who later moved to England and perfected the process he called "décalquer" (which means to copy by tracing); it became widespread during the decal craze of the late 19th century.

 

[Azgaron]

Nice looking Harrier!

 

Looking forward to seeing it finished!

 

Håkan

 

[224 Peter]

12 hours ago, Azgaron said:

Nice looking Harrier!

 

Looking forward to seeing it finished!

 

Håkan

 

So do I!! 

I plan to finish it before the end of the year, all the painting is done, just need to apply the transfers, fit the weapons load and add a few antenna. 

I have a GR3 Front cockpit that I can inspect and photograph: the kit cockpit, especially under the canopy behind the seat, is VERY basic! 

 

[corsaircorp]

Hello Peter,

Always good to see an old kit revival !!

I have a 1/48 thundersteak and a Hog started in 1988 that are waiting for my attention....

You did better 44 years ! I restarted the F-84....

that old kit are good too, lots of detailling to have it up to date but however good kits.

Congrats for the camo too, brushed on such a big beast 👏

Sincerely.

CC

[Azgaron]

4 hours ago, 224 Peter said:

So do I!! 

I plan to finish it before the end of the year, all the painting is done, just need to apply the transfers, fit the weapons load and add a few antenna. 

I have a GR3 Front cockpit that I can inspect and photograph: the kit cockpit, especially under the canopy behind the seat, is VERY basic! 

 

Yes, the cockpit could have been done better by Airfix, considering both the engine and pilot looks a lot better.

Nice to have a cockpit to inspect!

 

Håkan

 

[224 Peter]

.......18 months later the Harrier is up next onto the work bench. 

If you have been following this thread, apologies for the "sounds of silence", nothing has happened, other than I'll need to dust the Harrier before doing anything further! 

 

I have spend the interval working on one old, and one new, kit. The old is the Revell 1/32 Hurricane from the early 70s and the new is the 1/24th Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat. Both have their own threads...

 

The Hurricane and Hellcat will be done by the end of "Lockdown 2" so between then and Christmas I'll finish the Harrier! 

 

Watch this space! 

 

 

[224 Peter]

The Hurricane and the F6F-5 were both completed within Lockdown 2, you can find them both the in "Ready for Inspection" so the Harrier has my undivided attention. 

 

Sitting down and sorting out what needed to be done took an hour or so, nothing missing...other than the instructions for placing the Transfers, especially the stencils. An e-mail to Airfix solved that problem: almost by return they arrived as a pdf! That is what I call Customer Service. 

 

The next job was to get the old lady back up on her legs: easier said than done. In those days of the 1970s big kits were expected to have "moveable everything". In the case of the Harrier this means a retractable undercarriage: I wish they hadn't as the kit provides no positive location points to lock the main legs in the down position. So I glued them down.  I need to check which doors are down when the gear is down, we have a Sea Harrier at BDAC so I'll check on Dec 3rd, when I'm back on duty. 

This brings us to the wing tip outriggers: they are not very robust and when I tried to ease them into their pivot points the lugs broke off, so I had to glue them in position.  The rear jack appears, according to Airfix, float in the wingtip void. Another reason to photograph the underside of our Sea Harrier; I think some creative scratch building will be needed. 

Once the legs are sorted it is time to put the under wing markings in place, so I can then attach the underwing pylons. 

 

This is my representative of No 4 Squadron at RAF Gutersloh, Germany in the late 1970s.  The fin is black, ready to receive the red and yellow flashes.  

The pilot I painted long, long ago: I will. leave him there, although the canopy doesn't close with him in place. 

 

 

Working on the model revealed another hazard of dealing with a more than 40 year old model: plastic fatigue. As you can see, the left side tail stabilizer has parted company with the kit: it failed along the glue line. I'll have to make a jig to hold it in place whilst the new join sets, it will probably be epoxy. 

 

A final thought, compared with the 1/24th Grumman F6F-5  the Harrier is small, mind you after getting into the GR3 Cockpit we have at BDAC it was already clear to me that the Harrier had been designed to be as small and well packaged as possible! 

 

Mor when all the legs are fixed and the tail is repaired! 

Edited December 2, 2020 by 224 Peter
Typo... Addition...

[junglierating]

On 12/30/2017 at 11:02 AM, Rob G said:

Re the word 'decal'. The Yanks have nothing to do with it, it's French.

 

From Wikipedia: The word is short for decalcomania, which is the English version of the French word décalcomanie.

 

The technique was invented by Simon François Ravenet, an engraver from France who later moved to England and perfected the process he called "décalquer" (which means to copy by tracing); it became widespread during the decal craze of the late 19th century.

 

No you are all wrong 😅😅 it's all the late Mike Silk( ?) Of Modeltoys and his fantastic modeldecal range...I collect them now....not so sure why...geek?

[224 Peter]

Did anyone spot the mistake in the photo above? 

The lower part of the wheel shroud is on the wrong way round and the wheel fork also: 

This is what the full size part looks like....

 

 

 

The fork faces aft and the high part of the shroud is also aft facing. 

SO, what happened. 

After some exploitation it became clear that 40 odd years ago I'd assembled one of the outriggers with the wheel fork backwards and fitted the shrouds backwards. 

Careful disassembly followed. Thank goodness that the old adhesive was brittle...

Some repair will be needed... 

BUT it should work out fine...

 

More later...

 

[224 Peter]

Well, I have repaired the broken leg. But before assembling the leg fairings I wanted to be 100% sure it was oriented correctly.  

 

A careful study of photos in Bill Gunson's book Modern Combat Aircraft 13, Harrier, showed that the restorers at BDAC have assembled the lower fairing incorrectly: the curved part is upside down. 

This photo, from p 61 clearly shows that the  curved section goes over the wheel fork, so that the fork is partially covered when retracted. 

 

 

A salutary lesson: even restored A/C are not always correct and it is vital to check as many references as possible!

I can now go ahead and assemble the fairings and legs. 

Airfix left the retraction jack to "float" so the legs can retract. I need to build some internal detail so it looks as it should. 

 

This is the view looking up and forward into the outrigger wheel well. 

 

 

Clearly rather different from the kit! 

 

More, later!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[224 Peter]

Progress...

 

It is Transfer time: I do not enjoy applying the myriad of stencil markings: why does a Sidewinder need 17 transfers?? 

 

Fortunately I managed to source an Airfix transfer sheet from their first FGR3 release, but not the instructions. It took some time to get a copy, I finally asked Airfix and they came up trumps! 

After the hiatus with the wing tip legs I thought it safer to get the underside transfers in place and the weapons loaded before fitting the legs: they will need a little scratch building inside the wing fairing to match the photo above. 

The wingtip leg hiatus resulted in a repair job to one, using a metal pin instead of the oleo sliding part: they are somewhat fragile. 

 

There are many load options: I'm thinking along the lines of two fuel tanks and a single sidewinder, with one empty rail, suggesting a post combat return: thoughts anyone? 

 

This is the U/S view. 

 

 

Next will be the fuselage sides and fitting the underwing load, then the wingtip legs, and finally the upper surface transfers, plus the little vents and antenna, wind vane and pito nose probe. 

It should be done by the year end!! 

[bigbadbadge]

Looking good, great Looking conversion.   44 years!!! Crikey I thought my 5 Yr on and off Tiggie build was long.  

I like this , great work. 

Got a 24th scale Sea Harrier on the go just sprayed all the fuselage, wings etc with some primer  and in the process of sanding back to get rid of the rivets, this will be a long build too!!!.

Great work 

Chris

[224 Peter]

Chris, 

 

I don't think I'll be repeating this length of build, if for no other reason that I'd be 112 when finished....! 

I have a stash of mostly 1/32nd and 1/48th kits, all RAF markings. 

But I have 3 more 1/24th, Mosquito, Tiffy and Spitfire. 

 

Photos of your Sea Harrier? At BDAC we have a 1/1 scale one, a Falklands Veteran, XZ457, more info here:

http://www.boscombedownaviationcollection.co.uk/index_files/Page2625.htm

The collection is open, so if you need hands on references, do visit! 

 

Peter

 

[bigbadbadge]

18 hours ago, 224 Peter said:

Chris, 

 

I don't think I'll be repeating this length of build, if for no other reason that I'd be 112 when finished....! 

I have a stash of mostly 1/32nd and 1/48th kits, all RAF markings. 

But I have 3 more 1/24th, Mosquito, Tiffy and Spitfire. 

 

Photos of your Sea Harrier? At BDAC we have a 1/1 scale one, a Falklands Veteran, XZ457, more info here:

http://www.boscombedownaviationcollection.co.uk/index_files/Page2625.htm

The collection is open, so if you need hands on references, do visit! 

 

Peter

 

Crikey  Peter you still have a few large scale models to do,  i have only just started the Sea Harrier and it will be a slow/back-burner type build,  nothing to photograph at the mo and not sure I will do a WIP or not really.  Thanks for the info and the link too, I will have a study.

Thanks

Chris

[HOUSTON]

Exceptional  workmanship. 

[224 Peter]

As the Harrier gets closer to completion I had a good look at the GR3 cockpit at BDAC as I wanted to be certain that the visible part of the cockpit was reasonably correct before I applied the transfers. 

I also measured up the pitot probe as I have to make one. 

 

This is the pitot:

 

I discovered one significant error in the kit cockpit area: the auxiliary air inlets. I'd opened all the external ones above the horizontal years ago, but I'd forgotten the two at the back of the cockpit. 

 

This is what they look like. in real life:

 

 

Note the two circular access panels above the inlets and the centre track guiding the cockpit. Note also the bulkhead behind the seat that forms the pressure seal: the cockpit is pressurised.  The kit is devoid of all these parts.  

 

 

I suspect that angled bulkhead in the kit is at an angle that isn't acute enough as the Airfix designers took the top of the bulkhead to join the angled part to as 

the kit has a blank panel and side tracks for the canopy that don't exist on the real thing. 

 

Anyway, this is step 1, marking up the new holes:

 

 

I drilled corner holes and with a new blade carefully cut out the rectangle, filing it to shape. 

The panels were punched from 10thou plasticard. 

The centre track is made from square section plasticard, with one face cut off. 

 

This is step 2, masked up. 

 

The kit advises aircraft grey as the interior cockpit. On the GR3 they were matt black: fat too late to correct all the cockpit, but the rear bulkhead and panels look OK. 

 

Step 3, painted. 

 

All I need to do is refit the seat, cut the side canopy rails down and make a mounting for the canopy so it sits in the centre track. 

Then it is back to the Transfers....

 

The moral here seems to be the closer one looks, the more one finds to correct! It is a vintage kit, so I shouldn't expect too much! 

[Selwyn]

GR1/3 and T4 cockpits were Admiralty grey they were not black. Your cockpit  pictures above clearly show that.

For god sake don't put a sidewinder on the jet, its a ground attack aircraft not a fighter, Sidewinders were only put on the aircraft  as a temporary measure for the Falklands and wasn't a common fit afterwards. SNEB pods (M115) orBL755 cluster bombs are far more appropriate.

 

Selwyn

[224 Peter]

Selwyn, 

 

thanks... Dark Admiralty Grey? 

Not too late to correct it! 

As to the Sidewinder.... I know...they just look good.....

A pair of cluster bombs I think, with a pair of tanks inboard. 

 

[Selwyn]

4 hours ago, 224 Peter said:

Selwyn, 

 

thanks... Dark Admiralty Grey? 

Not too late to correct it! 

As to the Sidewinder.... I know...they just look good.....

A pair of cluster bombs I think, with a pair of tanks inboard. 

 

Yes its a bit darker than Medium sea grey IIRC.  The cockpit images will give a good match.

 

Selwyn