MPC 1/48 Sea Harrier FRS.1

[Davec_24]

I have recently obtained an MPC SHAR-1 courtesy of Ant Phillips' Stash Reduction Programme, and thought what the heck, why not build it for this GB - you can never have enough SHARs. The kit is MPC, which is a re-boxing of the original Airfix kit (complete with dodgy flap scribing, etc.). The transfers I have are slightly out of register, so I'm thinking along the lines of after-market for these, particularly since I quite like the EDSG/white "pre-war" scheme for the SHAR (though I also like both the dark grey and low-vis Falklands schemes too - tough call). Depending on whether I can get said markings in time, this one may or may not make the finish date!

I also have a Neomega cockpit set for this one, which will be my first venture into the world of resin. This will also be only my second airbrushed model, so all in all I expect this to be a fairly steep learning curve for me. So far, all that has been done is to rescribe the whole airframe, as it previously had raised detail - again, this is something in which I lack experience. At the moment, it looks fine, but this may change with some paint applied. Due to the fact that I forgot to take shots prior to this (wasn't sure as I'd do it for the GB), here are some shots of the kit, rescribed and with the major components removed from the sprues:

A quick dry-fit suggests that the chord at the wing root is 2-3mm larger on the wing section than the corresponding part to which this joins at the fuselage, giving the appearance of a dog-tooth at this point. I have a vague feeling there may be such a step on the real deal, but perhaps not quite that big in scale - can anyone enlighten me on this?

I hope to keep this one updated a little more frequently than my last WIP (1/72 Matchbox Phantom, also for this GB), as I may do some kit surgery with the flaps and undercarriage bays (and certainly will try dropping the upper intake doors), plus I will be fitting a resin cockpit for the first time, so I may need all your help to avoid messing this one up...

Edited March 10, 2009 by Davec_24

[Obi-Jiff Kenobi]

Not having built one of these, I can't offer any advice, but I have an Airfix issue in the stash, so I'll be watching with interest.

Incidentally, the MPC boxart is much better than the original Airfix, with the uninspiring photo.

[Davec_24]

A small verbal update - there isn't much to see yet, hence the lack of pictures. I've cut out the undercarriage bays and the airbrake bay, along with the cockpit coaming. I used a hot knife blade and then cleaned them up with a knife and a file. I am now boxing in the undercarriage and airbrake bays and will give them a bit of detail such as ribbing and pipes, wires, etc. after that is done. For some reason, the kit's plastic doesn't seem to be responding very well to either Humbrol or Revell polystyrene cement, and does not form a stong bond when using either of these - I will have to watch this, and tack things with superglue where necessary. Hopefully I'll have some pictures of this when there's a bit more to see.

[Davec_24]

Another update, this time with some pics! I have now finished boxing in the undercarriage bays and half of the airbrake bays (the rest of this will be done later), and am nearly ready to start building in some detail. Due to the apparently poor bonding properties of the plastic in the kit, I've made sure the main gear bay has enough bracing to support the weight of the model on its gear when completed. I will do something similar with the nose gear, but will fit the cockpit first, as I may brace one to the other. Here is a pic to illustrate what bits I chopped away (starboard fuselage half) and the bays built into the port fuselage half - I have done it this way to make detailing the bays easier:

And a pic of how it looks closed up - not much to see yet as there is no detail, it's more a check to see that the bays line up right, etc.:

Notice in the previous picture that my thumb is complete with dressing and appropriate wound underneath this - the blood I shed for modelling (a.k.a. making careless mistakes with knives...)! Thankfully this one wasn't anything like as bad as it could have been!

I have also finished painting the Neomega cockpit set, which is a vast improvement over the kit's one! I thought I would take a picture before assembling it, so you can see most of it at once:

The ejection seat is particularly nice with this set, I hope I've done it justice:

Next up is beginning the detail work on the undercarriage and airbrake bays, and fitting the cockpit to the fuselage. I think I may have removed a bit too much of the cockpit coaming, so I have blanked off underneath where the replacement part will go so that I can back-fill any gaps with Milliput (or putty if that's more appropriate - I'll wait and see) as necessary.

Edited March 13, 2009 by Davec_24

[Obi-Jiff Kenobi]

Some very nice work there, Dave. Hope the thumb heals quickly!

[Davec_24]

Now that the weekend is finally here (for me, anyway... I'm at work on the "real" weekend!) I've managed to make some progress on the SHAR. I've done some detailing in the undercarriage bays, trying to make them "something like". They are relatively simple representations, as I hadn't the stomach or the confidence to accurately reproduce the mass of pipes and wires visible in the real thing. Also, some parts of the bays are fictional as I couldn't find adequate pictures, though I have tried to make them in keeping with the general looks of the rest of the bay - again it's "something like" rather than fully realistic.

I also succeeded in getting the large pipe visible in the nose gear bay on the wrong side of the thing, but by the time I realised it was stuck fast and so the nose gear bay is incorrect as a result. Well, there's always next time...

Anyway, some piccies:

You can see the airbrake bay in this shot - I will detail this later, after closing up the fuselage halves. The rear bulkhead will be shaped at the same time so that it matches the contours of the fuselage.

And the nose gear bay:

Obviously there is a lot of cleaning up to be done there, and some of the details won't really be very visible until it's all painted up - I'll take some pictures of the bays when they're done.

The kit's main gear leg is very lacking in detail and looks flimsy compared to the fiarly stout looking leg of the real thing, so I might scratch-build my own main leg. Also the bay doors will need hinges adding before attachment to the aircraft, and the retractor struts will be added once the doors are on.

[Obi-Jiff Kenobi]

Some good progress there, Dave.

[Davec_24]

Looking around for pictures, I've come across this picture of an Indian SHAR on which you can see that the large rectangular vents on the upper fuselage fuselage (I don't know what they are, though I think perhaps one of them is an intake for the starter unit?) are open in that picture - are they always like this, or do they close over? The kit just represents the port-side one with a panel line, so may need cutting out if there is no shutter of any sort. The one on the starboard side appears to have some sort of louvres, judging by the panel lines in the kit, but these could of course be drastically wrong! I've closed the fuselage halves up now, so this may result in some "ship in a bottle" type building through various open sections, should the need arise!

Edited March 18, 2009 by Davec_24

[xffw45343tg]

Hi Dave. The vent on the starboard side is the intake for the GTS/APU (Gas Turbine Starter/Auxiliary Power Unit). Forward of this is the cooling vent for the APU itself, whilst on the port side is the exhaust duct. The intake has a mesh cover, the exhaust is uncovered. I think there may be a ground cover for the exhaust but it is rarely (if ever) depicted in place. If you are into weathering, there is often a slightly sooty stain aft of the exhaust.

Kits rarely depict these details well as it tends to leave gaping holes into the empty fuselage and/or 'solid' mesh. On the real thing the duct curves out of sight about 50cm down. Looking at your build, if you were to take out the intake duct, you should be able to feed in some mesh underneath through the engine intake area? Exhaust is a little more tricky - afraid I have no suggestions.

HTH.

[AnonymousAA72]

Don't know if this will help but here's the same area on my recent Harrier GR1 conversion...I put the mesh under the vent and blanked it off below with black plastic card, for the exhaust duct I built a rectangular box

[Davec_24]

Thanks guys, that's really useful! Because the finished model will have FOD covers installed on the intakes, I haven't fitted the intake trunking and turbine face, just the bulkhead onto which they mount (to stiffen the fuselage). I could feesibly cut a hole in this bulkhead that would be large enough to put things in from underneath the vents, without compromising the fuselage integrity. Also, I've not fitted the exhaust nozzles yet, so there is also a potentially workable gap where they will attach. Does the GTS/APU exhaust duct curve down and forwards, or down and to the rear? There is definitely a noticeable curve to the trunking, looking at photographs (i.e. it's not just a bottomless void!), but it's hard to determine which way the trunking curves.

On another note, I plan on opening up the blow-in doors so that I can dropp the upper ones and part-open the side ones, which seems to be how most shots of Harriers on the ground look. Has anyone got any experience or advice on the best way to cut out the fixed intake doors before I go chopping my kit about? I'm basically looking at either chopping each one out in turn complete with the rearmost section of the part immediately behind the door and then re-building the edge of the square behind the door (does that make sense), or alternatively chopping out all of the doors in a half-ring sort of shape and then re-building the areas between each door. I will be doing this with a hot knife more than likely, and then cleaning up with files etc., if that info helps! Thanks once again for all the help, guys!

[AnonymousFO98]

Hi Bill

what did you use for mesh/where did you get it from please?

Thanks also Kirk

wondered what they were as they are crudely depicted on the Airfix 1/72 kits and need redoing imo

walkaround pics tend to miss out the upper surfaces of aircraft- i can't possibly think why?

Hi Dave

looking good to me so far

pity the fuselage has been closed up but the ship in the bottle detailing should be possible

hope it goes okay- will be worth doing i reckon

[AnonymousAA72]

On another note, I plan on opening up the blow-in doors so that I can dropp the upper ones and part-open the side ones, which seems to be how most shots of Harriers on the ground look. Has anyone got any experience or advice on the best way to cut out the fixed intake doors before I go chopping my kit about? I'm basically looking at either chopping each one out in turn complete with the rearmost section of the part immediately behind the door and then re-building the edge of the square behind the door (does that make sense), or alternatively chopping out all of the doors in a half-ring sort of shape and then re-building the areas between each door. I will be doing this with a hot knife more than likely, and then cleaning up with files etc., if that info helps! Thanks once again for all the help, guys!

I've used umpteen different methods on my Harriers and the method depends on the kit I'm building. For the Airfix 1/48th kits I've mostly cut the whole upper section out and re-built the lot with plastic card. For the lower closed doors I've filled the indendations and re-scribed the new doors or used thin plastic card laminated on top of the filled areas to reproduce the doors.

Edited March 18, 2009 by Bill Clark

[AnonymousAA72]

Hi Bill

what did you use for mesh/where did you get it from please?

I'm not that sure now - it was in my spares box!

EDIT: Actually looking at the pic I posted above I think that it may have come from the Harrier/SHAR P.E set from Airwaves/Hannants?

Edited March 18, 2009 by Bill Clark

[xffw45343tg]

Does the GTS/APU exhaust duct curve down and forwards, or down and to the rear? There is definitely a noticeable curve to the trunking, looking at photographs (i.e. it's not just a bottomless void!), but it's hard to determine which way the trunking curves.

Imagine a broad "V" shape as viewed from the front of the aircraft. The left hand part represents the intake duct to aft, the right the exhaust duct. Both are directed towards the centre where the roughly cylindrical gas turbine lies. Actually, forget all these words and take a look at this. Part of the intake duct remains on the engine access panel and joins where you see the yellow transit cover. The intake mesh lies on the top of the duct. I'll see if I can dig out the info I recall about the FOD cover - might suit your model and allow you to defer the intake duct until you take on a 1:24

There's a fair bit of info about the real intakes between Jake's & my threads which may be of interest if not much use. Again, I'm more than happy to clarify if need be.

Walrus - The reason I don't have many pics to offer up is because they've hung that GR.3 so high up in the Hendon museum!! (Blasted curators don't seem to want me climbing all over the thing). I've come across a fair few pics of this area on t'internet although very few of the open access panels on the starboard side. It's hard to do realistic mesh in an injection moulded kit so don't be too hard on Airfix. Kit is donkey's years old too...

[Davec_24]

Kirk, that's great - you are a fountain of all Harrier-related knowledge sir! Looking at more pictures, I have noticed several aerials underneath the aircraft, most of which do not feature on Airfix's model. There is a small aerial under the nose which does feature, but there is a larger blade type aerial just forward of the nose gear bay that does not feature, though I suspect it should be there. Also, I have seen some photogtaphs of FRS.1s which have an aerial under the tail just aft of the airbrake, and another on the starboard side of the fuselage, but I am unsure whether either of these aerials would be present on a Falklands (or immediately pre "tone down") aircraft. Does anyone know which, if any of these should be present, and if there are more aerials not featured in the kit which I have missed?

[xffw45343tg]

Off the top of my head there are small IFF aerials above and below the nose, and a larger UHF ones behind the cockpit(?) and ahead of the nose landing bay(?). Upper VHF is in the fin tip, lower in the ventral fin fairing (i.e. they don't stick out).

To get proper answers, I'd point you towards the Harrier Special Interest Group, whose members are ridiculously well-informed about which a/c had what when. IIRC there are build articles on the FRS.1 that show "standard" positions of all sticky-outy things including the oft overlooked oil vent on the starboard cheek fairing.

It would be a crime not to keep an eye on this amazing project (Edit: URL temporarily removed - something up with Art Nalls web site at the mo) too.

Edited March 18, 2009 by Kirk

[bexwh773]

It would be a crime not to keep an eye on this amazing project too.

Firstly,

Dave, absolutely cracking build so far, enjoying watching this as I have a soft spot for these Ladies

Kirk, Art's website seems to have nowt about his SHar, mind yu, I havent had an email from him since he repaired her after the landing gear failure

Bexy

[xffw45343tg]

Oh dear. Ignore my link. Looks like the site is down for some reason. There were some great photo albums and videos there of the recent flights.

I'll edit the earlier post to remove the link for now. Sorry Bex.

[Davec_24]

A bit of progress has been made, the airbrake bay, airbrake and retractor strut are now mostly made and detailed - I hope to have some more pictures up soon. I have also successfully fitted the trunking to the GTS/APU intake and exhaust, and will fit a grill to the intake after painting. I'll know for next time to sort this out before I close up the fuselage - and there will be a next time as I've just got another one of these off ebay.

The Xtradecal Falklands War 25th Anniversary Harrier decal set that I ordered for this build has arrived today. I'm considering either the "Pre-War" EDSG/White colours, or the MSG/BG scheme. For the latter, there are four low-vis roundels included with the set, although the drawings only show them present on the cockpit sides (i.e. a total of two roundels). Since there generally seems to be sufficient decals for one Harrier in each scheme, it would seem unlikely that the extra roundels are included to allow two SHARs in this scheme to be modelled from one decal sheet (though this could be the case). Does anyone know if there was the odd SHAR which carried additional roundels on the wings, or some such, and thus requires extra roundels?

[silverkite211]

XZ457/14 had roundels on the fuselage and upper surface of the wings.

[Davec_24]

Some more pics then! Firstly, I made some ducts for the GTU/APU from plastic card, shaped such that they stick into the fuselage at an angle. The intake duct was inserted through the hole where the forward nozzle will eventually be, with the aid of blu tac and cocktail sticks. The intake duct was similarly inserted, this time through a hole cut into the bulkhead that would normally mount the compressor face. Here are the ducts:

The ducts secured inside the fuselage (though at the moment they are painted plain black so you can't really see much!):

I also installed ribs and the likes in the airbrake bay using plastic card, and profiled the inside of the airbrake itself using Milliput to get the right sort of 3D shape. I added rivet detail to this using a pin, when the Milliput was only part-cured. I have also fabricated a retractor strut from a cocktail stick and pieces of wine bottle foil, with some fuse wire for the hydraulic line. The part of the actuator which attaches to the brake itself will be made (probably from some thick wire) and added a little later:

I have also cut out the blow-in doors using a hot knife, and need to trim and clean these up before I make the doors and re-build the rest of the part as appropriate.

Thanks for that silverkite, that would explain the extra roundels. I'm a little confused though, as the table that comes with the decal set (listing colour schemes, numbers and notes, etc.) lists XZ457/14 as being deplyed in EDSG/White and then overpainted to EDSG all-over during the conflict itself, i.e. not in the MSG/BG scheme for which the "mystery" roundels are present.

[silverkite211]

Well, shoot, I was hoping that I could help a little. Phooey. And I've also run through what I can remember about Sea Harriers during Operation Corporate.

I'm enjoying watching your build thread, I have an old Monogram Harrier kit that I'm turning into a GR.3, although I'm not doing anything even close to the work you're putting in on this Sea Harrier.

[AnonymousFO98]

Hi Dave

when the white undersides were overpainted with EDSG the roundels were changed also- the white painted over in roundel blue

would that be the mystery roundels?

Hope the following won't detract from your build- so if a discussion is to ensue please could we have it elsewhere, but . . .

there have been some comments about the overpainted white not being any different on pics.

In the SAM Datafile there are photos with a clear demarcation line.

whether the difference is sufficient to render in scale may be left to individual judgement - it is very subtle but it is there in my opinion.

which admittedly ain't worth a lot

[Davec_24]

I didn't mean to sound ungrateful there silverkite! I really appreciate all your input on this thread, this model's going to be much better than it would have been without the help of my fellow Britmodellers! I think I may have been a bit confusing here - the scheme for which I have got "extra" roundels is the MSG/BG scheme, which was painted onto the "reinforcement" SHARs sent out for both airgroups - these were ex-809 NAS aircraft and had pale blue and pink roundels. This is as distinct from the traditional "toned-down" Falklands scheme where the white undersurfaces of the (previously EDSG/white) aircraft were painted out with EDSG, and the white on the roundels with roundel blue, both of these arguably resulting in a slightly different tone where the white was over-painted compared to the colour that was there originally.

The MSG/BG "reinforcements" scheme usually has only two of the low-vis roundels on the aircraft, one either side of the cockpit (i.e. had no wing roundels at all). The decal set I have comes with four roundels, but doesn't indicate what the additional pair of roundels are used for. It is that extra pair of roundels which are my "mystery roundels", and I'm not sure whether they go on the wings of one of the aircraft painted in this scheme, or some such.