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As a 'work in progress', this is a bit of a fraud really as this very lengthy project is now finished. But I thought I'd share my working pictures in case the way I do these things is of any interest to anyone else. My models tend to be 'museum type' i.e. little or no weathering. There are, in any case, many folks here on these pages who do that sort of thing much much better than I do. On the other hand my aircraft models feature most, or in this case all, of the following: - Fully working flight controls, controlled by stick and rudder. - Manually retractable undercarriage - 'Pose-able' flaps - Lighting - nav, collision and cockpit - Illuminated HUD or gunsight - Working props, fan, turbines etc This is the story of how I did these things with the Airfix Harrier. Quite the hardest plastic kit I've tackled - weeks of putty and scribing, rinse and repeat!

Hello all, Here are some pics of my Airfix Sea Harrrier. It was a really difficult build - some of you will know the 'curse of the rivets' and the oddly fitting parts. And there is more detail in many modern 1/72 kits than you'll find with this offering. I also made life harder still for myself by building in working flight controls and lights and so on. Then, finally, I failed, once again, to produce a decent gloss finish with an airbrush and had some real difficulties with the decals. And the Extra Dark Sea Grey is almost certainly too extra flipping dark. I could go on. And I'm sure some of you will pick up mistakes I haven't spotted yet. But, all that being said, it does make for an impressive looking thing in its own way. I would also like to thank David Hughes of the wonderful Tangmere Aviation Museum https://www.tangmere-museum.org.uk/ for giving me the chance to take a close look at their FA2 as it provided many clues as to how various things move at full scale, like the outrigger wheels etc. Do visit them if you can: it's run by a very dedicated band of volunteers. My build log is here: So first up some general pics... 'Ah, but the intake vents are closed', I hear you say. That's true, of course, but she will be displayed in flight, eventually, when I get round to making a stand of some kind. Incidentally, those black lines round the gun pods are supposed to be there. They have a kind of rubber flange to make an airtight join. These usually ended up painted over post Falklands schemes. The Aim 9s sometimes had grey fins, as you can see on pictures of the Harriers on the flight deck as they headed South. Mine are perhaps too grey though. Tomorrow, some dusk and night images.

Morning all. You know sometimes, you just run out of steam on a project - for various reasons. This is one I was really enjoying, and then for some reason - principally because the windscreen caused me grief and got a big glue mark in it, the spark sort of died a bit. I'm not unhappy with it, but Im not overjoyed. Anyhow - inspired and aided by Pappy's & Callum's models - here's my "lurker" - finished with Tamiya & Gunze acrylics, decals from the kit, and few improvements to the gun pods. I've forgotten to add the kill marks, and the camera fairing on the starboard nose should be in MSG. Oops! All comments welcome as ever. Jonners

Something different for me from my usual helicopter. getting the bench ready for the Sea king GB The decals looked alright when I applied them and when the Matt went on there was some silvering but as they say "Hay ho" The carpet monster has been well hungry with this and there a a few bit eg the Ariel s behind the canopy that have gone west Normal 5 ft looking distance It doesn't seem long ago that I was sitting down the lane at Yeovilton and putting the camera down because it was just a sea harrier or a Canberra or a hunter (sobs into hanky) Rodders

Well, as alluded to in my recent (and only second!) RFI (here if you are interested) displaying my 3rd, 4th & 5th completed builds, I am now going to embark on my first WIP! What I have learnt in my short time in the hobby is that taking time to plan, solve problems and learn new techniques is what I have enjoyed most. I did my last model (Seafire XVII) as a quickie but didn't enjoy it nearly as much. I have also found myself drawn more to the WIP than RFI threads - perhaps this too suggests I prefer the process rather than the results (although I do enjoy the results too). I am fascinated and awed by the skill and attention to detail of some guys on here. This WIP is going to be the first small steps towards hopefully achieving those levels of skill, and as such, I looking for as much help and suggestion as anything from this WIP. Some have already helped in the planning stage elsewhere on Britmodeller, even if they don't know it, so thanks to those that contributed here and here - in particular Nick G (NG899) and Dave (SHAR2) for their help and PMs. That's enough of my life story! The whole reason for building this Sea Harrier is continuing my theme of British Heroes and none can claim to be that much more than the Sea Harrier FRS.1 and those that flew and looked after them during the Falklands. An aircraft untested in combat and with many detractors writing it off as too slow and a just gimmick, piloted by brave and skilled men, proved itself anything but. You only have to watch the recent re run of "Decisive Weapons" (here on Youtube and well worth a watch) to realise how brave ("75% of you will not return!") these guys where and how well they were supported. Anyway, on with the build (which will be a marathon not a sprint by the way - it took me a month just to get started!!) Here are the bits I shall be using.. Model and extras oooo, lovelly Sidewinders First class book with pictures, diagrams and building tips ...and this is the link I have used so far for my main inspiration.... Nick Greenhall SIG Build Process The first skill I knew I was going to have to learn was one that, reading so many comments by so many of you, was going to be hard going - rescribing!! I have begun to realise, after one fuselage half, many expletives, sanding and puttying and more sanding why it is so unpopular!!! As well as rescribing I have also drilled a hole for the camera towards the nose and recessed the panel. I have a small panel of 5 thou cut with a hole and backed with clear pastic from a Tesco meat container (glued with Klear) as a cover panel for the camera (currently testing a copy of this to ensure when masked with liquid mask it doesnt pull it out/tear). I also drilled a hole for the vent just ahead of it and have put some fine mesh in taken from a spare PE grill that was, according to Eduard's instructions, for the GTS/APU exhaust vent that doesn't require a mesh - I think I am right on that - I hope so as I have a knackered mesh now!) Airbrake internal area has been cut out to make way for some detailing when fuselage halves are put together (can't see from these pictures).I have prepared the tailplane slot so I can use the Pavla tailplane. Cut the heat shields and will make some more as per Nick Greenhall's template (website named above). Cut a hole for the GTS/APU inlet (difficult to see against white background) Next job is to start to make necessary cuts and adjustments to bring the turbine blades forward - bit scared of that bit! Onwards and upwards & thanks for looking!

In hindsight..... I don't think a Sea Harrier FRS1 was such a good choice for a third build since my 30 year modelling 'holiday'. Why? Because too many people around here know too much about them! So building one of these as a test of new to me materials and techniques possibly wasn't such a good idea. So.. You are all going to have to forgive me for using a little artistic licence when I built and painted this. Mostly based on and inspired by this aircraft ( http://www.abpic.co.uk/popup.php?q=1055311 ) on its return to the U.K. after the Falklands conflict (I was in my early teens at the time). I have taken some liberties based on my lack of experience and just tried to get a presentable model, rather than a totally accurate presentation... Could be too much of the 'what ifs' about me. So please excuse the lack of tilted tail plane, the port side tank I should have weathered differently, the lack of 'distressed' sidewinder rail and a hundred and one other little 'errors'. So.... This was built from a second hand Esci kit that sadly had suffered somewhat in its slightly squished box and some of the main parts were somewhat warped. Cue careful bending back into shape in a bowl of hot water. I should have taken that as a warning because THIS build fought me every inch of the way with many little things going wrong. Trying resin parts AND some limited brass all at the same time was almost taking on too much. A bit of a challenge for this inexperienced soul I say, but I had to have those gorgeous Pavla gun pods, nozzles and intakes, as well as give brass a try with a little Airwaves set. I also had a bunch of decals from back in 1982, and a part used Modeldecal sheet that would allow me to create this aircraft without buying any other aftermarket sheets. Sadly, the Esci kit stencil set was pretty awful and didn't respond to Microsol at all. With no decent stencils I decided to replace the whole lot with the excellent Extradecal Falklands Anniversary sheet. Oh, and finished off with the Master pitot and angle of attack tube. I'm totally sold on these, they're great! The brass not so much. So here it is. I'm sort of pleased with it, it's a million miles away from my Matchbox rendition when I was in school, but.. My next model is going to be an out of the box build me thinks... Maybe practice my NMF and weathering a bit and not bother with all those bells and whistles... This time. And before I let you get on and look at my images... One last thing. I will eventually stop banging on about how I haven't done this for 30 years since I left school but I want everyone to know where I'm coming from and... well... erm... be more kind. SeaHarrier03 by IrritableRabbit, on Flickr SeaHarrier01 by IrritableRabbit, on Flickr SeaHarrier04 by IrritableRabbit, on Flickr SeaHarrier05 by IrritableRabbit, on Flickr SeaHarrier06 by IrritableRabbit, on Flickr SeaHarrier07 by IrritableRabbit, on Flickr

Hi everyone Despite having the Modellers datafile, the excellent stuff from Nick Greenhall et all from the SIG site and other piccies from t'internet I can't seem to find any drawings (ideally to 1/48) of the 30mm Aden pods so I can more acurrately detial them on my Airfix SHAR. I have done the obvious (drilled out muzzle, rounded ends, sanded off blisters to replace, drilled cooling holes) but would like just a bit more detail. Thanks in advance