P.1127

Watching and following with interest. I managed to bag myself a part started (but only just) Matchbox version of this kit a year or so ago at a good price. Looking forward to seeing how it should be done! Any idea of the aircraft you're for? Cheers, Jack

Fantastic modelling making on display here, a very determined effort with excellent results so far. Your compressor faces look particularly nice, a great technique there. It's a shame there's so much awry with this kit but you're doing a great job! Jack

Such a nostalgic kit for me, I had one sitting on a little black stand in my childhood bedroom until the post-university clear out got rid of it. Great story of a great piece of aviation too! I'll follow with delight 😊 Jack

Enjoying this a much as I enjoyed your Boeing 314 build. The comparison shown of the Sunderland and Empire fuselages is enlightening. Jack

Looking better and better and better! Jack

Following along eagerly. I enjoyed your Boeing 314 build immensely and I have no doubt this will be as good! Jack

I think you're right... I fancied the wings could be modified but not much else of use. I occasionally check auction sites for a damaged or built kit with that in mind. I have admired your Type 1000 build recently, cannot fault it, especially in that livery. Cheers, Jack

I'll follow along, if I may? Solid progress so far, although I can offer no support on the paint front other than expressing sympathy. I've often fancied once of these kits for converting into a "Type 1000" airliner... maybe too much! Thanks for sharing, Jack

Another delightful thread to follow, thanks for continuing to take the time to share.

This both gladdens and saddens my heart. Gladdens because I'm at the sanding / filling ad nauseam stage on my Kestrel built. Saddens because I've only just started and am already 11 months in!

Excellent. I love the Kestrel and am trying something similar with the 1/24 Airfix kit at the moment (there's a thread somewhere...). I'll be watching with interest. Jack

For my money, you've done a great job on this. The model really captures the evocative shape of the aircraft nicely and the landing gear is spot on. Thanks for sharing, Jack

Hoorah for the Christmas holidays! Glad to see you back at the coal face: watching with interest. Jack

Orso, that looks pretty good to me. Can you give some more details about the tail? Did you make it yourself? I am aware of the Concorde SST site, which I have enjoyed looking through but couldn't find anything specific relating to the differences G-AXDN and the production aircraft. I may have missed it! Nick, I had to google the HPH Concorde: Wow, what a kit. It definitely looks to be a production machine though rather than machine 101... I think 102 was much closer to a production machine so perhaps it's a good representation of that?!

Hello all, Sorry everyone if this question has been raised and answered before... I searched but couldn't find anything (user error?!). I'm very much looking forward to receiving a Revell boxing of the infamous 1/72 Concorde for Christmas. How do I know so far in advance? I bought it myself for my wife to wrap for me... but it does mean I get to do a bit of planning before the big day. I make an annual visit to Duxford with some students and rather like the livery of the Concorde there, G-AXDN. My question then, is there a definitive list of changes (large and not so large) between the pre-production G-AXDN and the production models? Obvious to me is the shorter tail-cone on G-AXDN compared to the production aircraft and the different engine nozzles? What else have I missed? Is a conversion of the kit back to G-AXDN possible given my mediocre modelling talent (I reference my Kestrel build)? Thanks for looking, Jack

Aaaaand finally, here are some photos taken showing the current state of play (sorry for persistent poor quality... maybe one of them is in focus?!) The revised ejection seat and landing gear are not shown here: I left them in the box by mistake. You can see that I have committed to the original Kestrel tailplane shape. XP984 only flew a few flights in this configuration and only ever conventionally (no hovering) but I think it adds another layer of interest to the model and was a quick and easy thing to do to the original Airfix bits. The pitot probe is (obviously) home made and is intended to be as durable as possible. It's made from snuggly fitting styrene tube of varying diameters along it's length whilst the tip is a piece of piano wire. It's not yet glued, nor will it be until just before the final coats of paint. I'll then attach it with the tiniest amount of super-glue, fill and sand the joint and hope that it doesn't get knocked too much! The next job is to tidy the air intake a little more before spraying a coat of filler-primer to really see how it's doing! Once the intake is "sorted" I'll then glue the engine in place, followed by the wing. This will then allow me to tackle the revised over-wing fairing! Thanks for looking, Jack

The 1/24 scale Kestrel project lives on! I've been pretty inactive over the last few months due to both family and work commitments but work has been rumbling along on XP984. I've made some attempt to add detail to the cockpit and have remade the instrument panel to be more representative of a Kestrel: there were some significant differences between it and the Harrier in this regard. The big news though is that I could no longer resist and I've glued the fuselage halves together... I probably should have waited but I needed the motivation of making what felt like progress! It has meant though that: I've now managed to make the loooooong pitot probe for the nose (this MUST NOT be glued until much closer to the end)... I was l looking forward to this bit as it forms such an integral part of the overall look of the machine I've also filled in the Harrier airbrake and got that roughly blended in to the surrounding fuselage I've fitted the extended tail-boom (the full size housing for the anti-spin 'chute) I've glued in place the fin and faired in the bottom joint with the fuselage ... and finally I've started the mammoth task of filling in all of the dimples (rivet holes). TBF, I quite like them but they're definitely over-scale, at least depth-wise and so many had been obliterated by modifying the rest of the fuselage that the rest also had to go. For this job I had intended to use filler/primer but I was also told that Perfect Plastic Putty (?!) was good stuff so I treated myself to a tube. It's gone on well so far, sands beautifully, dries much faster than anything else I've tried and is definitely more controllable than the Humbrol filler or Isopon car body filler I had been using for the big jobs. I've managed to secure myself the missing (starboard) tailplane half for the princely sum of £45... but it does come with an un-made Sea Harrier FRS1 kit so not TOO bad... but it still means I'm half a tailplane down... nevermind! I'm hoping to be able to take some photos over the next few days so will show the progress then! Thanks, Jack

I'll follow along as well, if I may! These 1/32 kits seem to be very reasonably priced and I'll be interested to see how this one goes together. Good luck.

Cracking! Lovely stuff.

Cracking build, brilliant display. That's for sharing, Jack

This is right up my street, a great idea to stop a model heading off to landfill: "green" modelling! look forward to seeing how you get on with it. What's your plan regarding the paint scheme? Jack

Gah... I assumed (clearly incorrectly) that the intake configuration was fixed for XP984... more research required obviously. I'll think on re. the tailplane: I've already modified the one I have to what I think is the original configuration and am trying to source a starboard half: if I come across both halves for sale I'll perhaps stick to the Harrier type. In reality there's a little bit of time to finalise the configuration but I am getting itchy and wanting to glue the fuselage together... I MUST resist! Thanks for your interest, Jack

Lovely start, especially the instrument panel. Looking forward to watching this progress. Jack

Ditto. An enjoyable thread so far, very tidy and very nostalgic. Jack

Afternoon all, I've not been idle over the last few days but, alas, I've not got as much done as I would have liked. Photos of the NLG bay with it's modicum of scratch-built detail. Needless to say that it all looks a little bit better in real life... I've now moved onto the cockpit area attempting some scratch-building in way of adding detail to the tub and ejection seat. The Instrument Panel in the Kestrels is noticeably different than that supplied in the kit. This is my current focus and I'll post an update hopefully after the weekend. The rest of the time I've been digging into the configuration history of XP984. Merewether's book has been a great help here for trying to nail the configuration. According to Merewether (who I assume to be correct!) the aircraft flew with two wing types: the "7th", or Kestrel wing and the Harrier wing. The aircraft flew with three tailplane types: the "original", an "extended" and the "production" (what I assume to be the Harrier) tailplanes. I have made enquiries as to what the "extended" tailplane looks like... the original tailplane is what I have modelled (I'm still to locate a replacement for the lost one) based on the literature, which was modified from the Harrier one in the kit. The wasp in the beer? Merewether's book provides a fantastic list of the aircraft's flights up until 11th September 1968 but it clearly states that the aircraft only ever flew conventionally, i.e. not vertically, with the original tailplane. My plan to model the aircraft hovering in it's original configuration is not accurate... as it never did hover in this configuration. No worries... slight change of plan required I think... I may now display the model on the ground in a "just about to take-off conventionally" pose. Thanks for the interest (and for keeping the pressure on), Jack (P.1127)