SaintsPhil

Best bet for any GR tornado in 1/72 is the revell kit it's fantastic both for detail and cost (gift set is £7.99 in hobbycraft at the moment). You'll then need some bits to bring it up to a GR4, you can get the bits in the Airfix GR4 kit, rest of the kit is poor and it's OOP but they come up on eBay. Aviation Workshop did a GR4 update set but it seems to have sold out. Hope that's a start! Phil

Update so far: Most of painting is done and decalling is complete. The Aztec decals are fantastic and have gone on very nicely. Only issue is there is no sharks mouth! I've been through the spares box but nothing that fits and looks right so I guess that I'll have to do it post removal! It only lasted a few days anyway! Next another coat of QS to seal decals then a coat of Matt, after all the aerials have been fitted. Phil

Nice to see another F3! I'm doing the Hasegawa version of the kit, be interesting to see them both as there have been a few threads asking what the merits of each kit are. Is there anyway you can make the pictures bigger? They appear tiny to me (could just be of course!). Good luck! Phil

For the GB I'm doing the has kit plus the flightpath set. Take a look at my thread it has sprue shots if you want to see the break down http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=71397

Being an early prototype I very much doubt the aircraft would have had much in the way of weapons related avionics fitted. That probably goes along with Steves pics showing no monitors on top of the rear IP. I also read somewhere that the early prototypes had no Radar in the nose, it was just an areodynanic faring. From what I know about modern aircraft development testing they are most interested in monitoring the aircraft structure during flight, especially during early phases. It's possible the rear occupant would be there for monitoring the aircraft, and given the era the aircraft was developed in I would suggest this would be done with barometric style instruments. It's also feasible that the rear IP was a copy of the front in case of a failure requiring the rear seat occupant to fly the jet home! I guess the rear IP in these prototype jets would have changed as the testing progressed as well. I have also seen pictures of only one occupant in the early jets, with instrumentation filling the rear section. This rambling probably isn't all that helpful but the point I'm making (eventually) is that you can probably use a bit of artistic license back there and it would look about right for some point in the development! Phil

Hmmm I went for white same as the UC bays but I didn't thinknit looked right! Think I'll go for very dirty Dk Green, being as this GR1 has wrap around! Thanks Phil

What colour is the airbrake bay and in side face of the air brake on the early harriers please? Phil

I asked the same question a few months back and got the same answer, tap water. Having tried it I can confirm it sprays well thinned about 50/50 with Tap water and gives a great Matt finish, satins good too. Just be careful not to cost to thick or it has a tendancy to stay tacky for ages then dry kind of cloudy! Phil

Well despite not being supposed to be doing any modeling today (girlfriend wants to go out for the day) I manage to sneak a start and I've dipped the canopy and put it to one side to dry! It's a start!! Phil

Very nice! I like the variation in tone on the panels around the spine.

Steve they look pretty similar to my eye! Reason I ask is master do some lovely turned metal pitot in 1/72 (as well as 1/48 and 1/32 I think) and I'll get one to replace the not do good hasegawa effort! Phil

Thanks, I'll have to compare the extended kit nose wheel and the white metal part to visualise what you mean but I'm sure I can do something! I'd rather use the metal gear leg with mods over the kit part! Phil

I got an H&S from Paul at little cars and I think it's fantastic. I had cheap clones from eBay previous to that and they almost put me off using one!

Quick question, is the pitot tube on the nose tip the same for the F3 as it is for the GRs? Phil

This was the guy I got them off on eBay, got some raised eye brows from the girlfriend when a package labelled SnM stuff turned up....

I really rate them for airbrushing, they do dry quite quickly on the airbrush tip so keep a bit of tissue/cotton bud soaked in airbrush cleaner handy! They brush paint ok too! Only issue I have is that the range of model air is limited, although it's getting bigger! I've had mixed results with Xtracrylics... Phil

They are early Harrier GR1 covers, I'd gone with a pic from a SHAR1 though as I couldn't find any of a GR1 with them fitted, I'd been told they were the same. Thanks guys, had a feeling it might be a can of worms! Phil

So the main point to take away would be they're red...

eBay at first and then at shows of late!

Thanks gents, I'll give tamyia a go as I can get those easily nearby! Phil

Thanks guys, for the help and the kind words about the seats! I was pretty chuffed with my efforts there but credit goes to aeroclub as the seats were nice unpainted! All I had to do was add the ejection handles which I made from Kapton wire (used for PCB repairs) beauty is it's bright yellow!! I asked about the front wheel as I have the aeroclub upgrade set and want to use the replacement gear from it but I believe it's for an FGR2 so I assume it'll need some work! Of course I should have guessed with different engines the FOD covers would be different!! If I can get a decent pic I'll try making some, got to be better than the kit intake internals! Thanks again Phil Oh and no glue present when I got it!! Something about a silk purse from a sow's ear comes to mind...

Looking very smart! Would love to get hold of one of those Monogram kits! Phil

Thanks for clarifying! I've got a couple of questions before I carry on. Should I use the shorter nose gear leg as this was a land base FG1? Are the RAF style FOD covers the same as any other Phantom covers? ie can I use the Eduard set? Thanks Phil

Wrap around green and DSG done! This was my first attempt at free hand cammo with an airbrush and I'm pretty happy with the results! I also tried to add some fading to the paint on the upper surfaces, not sure it really shows up in the pic though! Since this I've used pro modelers wash to bring out the panel lines and coated in Quickshine (Klear substitute). I can highly recommend this stuff to anyone who has run out of Klear. I know these steps seem out of the normal order but the panel lines are so fine I was worried the wash would not fill them after a coat of QS. I got an email from hannants to say the decals are back in stock and are on the way! Bad news is I'm now back at work so progress will slow to my usual snails pace! Phil

If the airfix gift set paints are like the revell ones they dry almost instantly in the airbrush! I've had limited success thinning them with either Tamyia thinners (which has a drying retarder in it) or Vallejo airbrush cleaner. Don't judge all acrylics by these paints! Phil