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NG899

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Everything posted by NG899

  1. Oooooooo... 1/24th, there's bold! Let me know if you need any help with the Airfix beast Tony and I'll send you over what I have from my 1/24th GR1 to FRS1 conversion which has been sitting on the Harrier SIG display at shows for the past 16 years. 90% of it will be applicable for the airframe similarities. Drop me a PM with your email address in it when you want some stuff sending over. Cheers Nick
  2. The answer on seats is simple - Stencel SIIIS-3 seats as on the USMCs AV-8As. Martin-Baker Mk.9A seats had been fitted to the initial orders of USMC AV-8As but these were replaced with the Stencel SIIIS-3 seat; also fitted to later AV-8A orders. The answer on the ordering is less simple, they were provided from Dunsfold to the US under an extension of the USMCs 1974 FY AV-8A purchase to avoid Labour Party opposition who were hostile to the Franco government. Rational enough. Less rationale was what happened in Spain, where there was opposition as a Spanish law forbade the use of fixed-wing, carrier borne aircraft by the Navy. Somehow, the Spanish planning team managed to argue that the Harrier did not take off or land conventionally and so was really a fixed wing helicopter, which did not contravene the law! (My head hurts!) On the paperwork the Harriers were labelled T/AV-8A(SP), this later being shortened to T/AV-8S. At HS Kingston, they were known as the Harrier Mk.50 or Mk.55 - single-seater and Mk.58 two-seater. In Spain they were known as the VA.1 Matador (single-seater) or VAE.1 (two-seater). The twin-stick acquired the nickname the Shark; hence the colourful sharkmouth and black fin scheme applied to one of them. The initial batch of Harriers were put on the St Louis AV-8 final assembly line before delivery to Spain, with Armada-compatible ARC-115 VHF radio kits. When a second batch of 5 Mk55 single seaters was ordered in 1977, Franco was dead and King Juan Carlos' democratic government was able to deal directly with the UK. On the second batch, externally, the logo Armada replaced Marina and they did not carry US-style Build Numbers. Hope that helps Nick
  3. F A B U L O U S ! Ciao Piero. Many congratulations on a simply(?) stunning display of models of the only aircraft ever to meet Thomas Edison’s brief: ”The aeroplane won’t amount to a damn until get a machine that will act like a hummingbird - go straight up, go forward, go backward, come straight down and alight. It isn’t easy but someone is going to do it.” Well done! Cheers Nick
  4. Hi Shaun, Sorry to hear that things have been a bit rough for you, I hope things are on their way up. Is that the box of stuff I gave/sold you a few years back cunningly crafted together into something which looks more like a Harrier GR9 than a Trumpeter kit built OotB ever could? We Harrier fans are being spoiled with the work Piero and you are doing just now. I also recognise that book from somewhere... the second of the author's names looks very familiar to me... It's mine! Looking forward to seeing the finished result... Cheers for now Nick
  5. Almost there Piero. It's looking fantastic, though you'll now have to do another one with the wolf's head insignia on the fin! Looking forward to seeing the finished photos and the full Harrier line-up... Ciao Nick
  6. Film of the Tornado flight over RAF bases featured in this morning's today programme on Radio 4 may be more widely available than in the UK... http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p062gmp3 Cheers Nick
  7. Nice one Stephen! Good to see the 1417 Flight scheme for a change. Cheers Nick
  8. The new Humbrol enamel paint and conversion charts given away with the last AMW gives: Are there are direct Tamiya equivalent colours to the following humbrol for a Harrier GR.7/9; -156 Dark Camouflage Grey > XF53 -164 Dark Sea Grey > XF24 -165 Medium Sea Grey > No match given, but XF12 is given as a match for Humbrol 64 Light Grey, which is their non-satin MSG -167 Barley Grey > XF19 Which again, all adds confusion when compared to the matches provided above; but, I hope it helps, a bit. Good luck Nick
  9. Very nice T4 there Tim B and some good corrections for others to note for their builds. A few additional things I'll be doing on mine is: increasing the front-to-back length of the auxiliary intake doors which are about 1mm too short, filling the underwing "cut-outs" where the inner and outer dog-troths are and filling the port tailplane's underside leading edge, which also has an odd step in it. When you say the T4 is ugly, surely you'll be applying the same adjective to the LRMTS-nosed GR3? Or will your GR3 be an early one with the pointed nose, original tail-sting with added vents from the GR1A and single FRS1 type vent ahead of the GTS/APU intake? Initial work is underway with Kinetic on the GR1-3, including a lot of correction ideas from the SHAR and T-Harrier kits but the delivery is likely to be 2019 I understand. The original pointed-nose, pointed tail-sting and short finned T2 is actually a very attractive two-seater, as two-seaters go; the T4N and T8 are pretty nice too, and certainly look to be out of the HSA stable. They are all nicer than the "tuning-fork" concept proposed for the twin-stick, with separate noses either side of a central intake... That's a very nice Kestrel conversion you have done too Tim; can we all have more photos please! My attempt to convert the Monogram GR1 to P1127 XP831 in initial transition flights configuration stalled a few years ago and must be rescued this year... Sorry, the photos have probably disappeared into the big Photobucket (apologies for swearing) black hole. Cheers Nick
  10. Hi Piero, Great to have you back working here on another Harrier! Compared to the GR.7, this looks to be a quick build, so far... Ciao Nick
  11. Thanks Selwyn, getting my imperial and metrics muddled. Have you got any pics of the 4lb one? The info I have so far is that it was identical to the 3kg one in shape and size but a different weight. Thanks Nick
  12. On option one, if opting for Matras and Lepus then put the Matras on the inboards and the Lepus outboard. On option two, to be really different, you could replace the option one Lepus with 4kg practice bombs fitted on the racks rather than to CBLS-100s. I found a photo of just such a fit the other day but am darned if I can find it now. I'll keep looking... Hope that helps. Nick
  13. Signposting folks to the excellent build of an Airfix SHAR FA2 in the March 2018 issue of Airfix Magazine World by Stu Fone. http://www.airfixmodelworld.com/the-magazine/view-issue/?issueID=7060 Lots of good helpful insights to help you there. Cheers Nick
  14. IIRC, didn't the ML Aviation Twin Stores career have an adjustable or alternative attachment points so that it could be fitted off-centre from the pylon, offset either outboard or inboard depending on the load being carried? On Lepus flare use, I believe the RN only ever carried single flares on the outboard pylons, the live rounds being white with red-brown and green stripes, rather than the blue of the practice rounds seen in the HSA photos in Mason's book and other publications. For RAF flare use, using a dispensed, wooded site at night for V/STO and VL recovery must have been "interesting" for the pilot shall we say, for the purpose of just lighting up the foe. Most of the wet film images that exist of early Harriers in the field from the early 1970s are captioned as being "staged" images rather than "in use" ones which, considering the Harrier was new and photos subject to secrecy limits is not a surprise. The Fourfax site has a few images from that period which may help: http://www.fourfax.co.uk/galleries/1971-2012-harrier/1971-90-harrier-gr3 Cheers Nick
  15. I'd agree with that James, it's ZB600/Z. The white would still have been ARTF (Alkaline Removeable Temporary Finish) and would have been applied as roughly on the T4 as that on the GR3s; don't be too neat with it! https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/full_size_0186/1279751-large.jpg On the extended two-seater IFR probe, this will help from the guys restoring XW928... The additional bit is at an angle to the main section. Of course, we got this photo too late to pass on to Kinetic... Doh. The Kinetic IFR probe is, IMHO, a tad thin; the Airfix item is better for scale thickness. Cheers Nick
  16. Hi there, This provides information on what HSA and the A&AEE trialled on GR1s, e.g. Martel, but isn't an indicator of what was used on operationally on squadrons. Note the UK tanks are given US gallon sizings, 120US = 100UK and 400US = 330UK. The 4lb and 28lb practice bombs would have been is CBLS100 units My advice would be pick a squadron, pick an approximate date and then search for photos to back up what you want to load. That said, finding digitised images from the early-mid 1970s is not easy and most photos show relatively light loads. Thinking about how the RAF Germany Harriers were used operationally from dispersed exercises against advancing forces, it was the Harriers' modus operandi to fly short sorties with different ordnance, return, refuel, rearm and repeat. A typical GR.1 TACR (Tactical Reconnaissance) load would be: gun pods, inboard pylons - BL755s, outboard pylons - Matra 155s, centre-line pylon - reconnaissance pod. If operating in pairs then the other would likely have 1,000lb-ers replacing BL755s; the bombs having retard tails fitted, with airburst (risky!) or delayed action fuses. Unless on live ranges the bombs/CBUs would be practice rounds; of which I'm sure Selwyn will be able to tell you more... Hope that helps Nick
  17. One word... Gorgeous! As for the next subject, it has to be a Jaguar with the snow leopard spots winter camo... Cheers Nick
  18. Dave, I have to agree with you on Burden et al's "Falklands The Air War" for being the best factual account, dispassionately written; a masterpiece. Yes, it could be updated (as I have done for the Harrier SIG with the FRS.1 and GR.3 tomes) but it needs someone to do and their input/agreement. In a way it has been by Gordon Ramsey with his After The Battle volume on the Falklands War; another masterpiece but written as an overall diary of events, rather than aircraft type by aircraft type, one side then the other. Cheers Nick
  19. If you wished to do something a bit different you could fit Lepus flares, one per outboard pylon. While most photos of Lepus show them as blue rounds the live ones were white with dull red-brown and green bands; see p159 of the Harrier Modellers Datafile by SAM Publications. From speaking to pilots I know they were used out there and, on one occasion, caused a bit of a scare for some out-of-position Italians... Just a thought. Cheers Nick
  20. Keeping it simple, if you're happy with a GR7 then model one of those with white over the DSG/DCG colours on the airframe. The only external differences for the GR9 over the GR7 was that those with the 65% LERX (the flat LERX) had 'frog-eye' fire access points above the engine covers and the access ports in the wing root leading edges filled as these now had wiring behind them, not holes. The 100% LERX (curved shape) had frog-eyes as GR7s and GR9s, so pick a 65% LERX airframe which comes with the Hase/Revell kit, or in the Eduard boxing. Hope that helps, if not, please ask! Cheers Nick
  21. Great build and display! Out of some interest in 74 Sqn, having made Mungo Park's Spitfire MkIIa in which he jointly claimed Biggin's 600th with Harborne Stephen, have you depicted a particular flight with known pilots and aircraft serials or gone for something more generic? Just asking as you've changed the roundel sizes a bit and underside colours on them, so was wondering what source info you had used. The Sqn ORB? If you have depicted a flight it would be interesting to know more about the possible action depicted... Thanks Nick
  22. Hi Joeltc, To answer your question, yes, the holes behind the blow-in doors matched the intake interior colours; with the caveat mentioned about the outerside top surface can cost colour dropping into the edge of the holes about 1-inch (25mm). Have a look for photos on the net of Harrier intakes. Note there are a few things to correct on the wings... 1. The underside of the outboard dog-tooth should not b stepped down but follow the rest of the underside leading edge and be like the top side above it. To fix simply fill with plasticard shim and filler then sand to shape. 2. The big step inline with the inboard dog-tooth under the leading edge also needs filling and sanding surfaces the wing undersurface is a consistent span-wise flat surface and doesn’t get thinner towards the underwing fairing’s join with the fuselage. 3. Note the MDC on both snoopy hoods stops too high on the starboard side; an issue Kinetic are aware of. To fix - either paint all the MDC lines a very pale grey or extend the line by engraving so on that the starboard side is identical to the port side on both hoods. If that’s too hard you’ll have to leave as it is. 4. Watch the wingtip joins which need some rework... For details of the work and for other build tips check out another thread on the Kinetic T-Harrier in the Modern area of BM. Note the comment about NOT dropping both ailerons as I see two professional kit reviewers have done in error, spoiling otherwise good builds. Oops! Cheers Nick
  23. My pleasure Muzz; store the info safely away somewhere as it'll be asked for again I'm sure some time. I just hope Joeltc reads it before he gets too far!
  24. Howard, Great to see a Mustang with puttied wing panels rather than those panels being wash enhanced, which makes me cringe every time I see it. Your model is the first I've seen this way for...ages! (Grabs tin hat and dives under desk!) That fact and the superb finish make this a very special model of a P51D. Congratulations! Cheers Nick
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