alrite Posted September 28, 2008 Share Posted September 28, 2008 Phwoar, that things a beast! looks like you've got the better of it so far though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seamus Posted October 7, 2008 Author Share Posted October 7, 2008 Cheers Will Right then, I've re-established some motivation with this build after being a bit scared off by those horrid undercarriage doors, so time for a rather mundane update . I was getting a bit of grief from a poor join between the fuselage and the bulkhead at the rear of the main gear bay. So, I got some cyano in there and clamped it down nice and tight. This has given me a much better join between the main gear doors and the mount for the airbrake. So, I've glued these and the nosewheel doors down with some cyano for added strength. The nosewheel leg had to be attached prior to the doors else I wouldn't have been able to get it in; not exactly ideal, but I didn't have much of an option. It'll just need to be carefully masked when it comes to painting. The remaining gaps around the doors have since been filled, and now look like this: The filler has yet to be sanded down, and the model as a whole is looking rather untidy, but I'm nearing the stage of getting some primer on the old girl. Other medial tasks have included adding additional filler to the nose join and sanding it back to get a better join- feels good to the touch, but primer will reveal all. The wingtip joins have also had another round of filling and sanding. Next step is to get the IP and coaming in place and any gaps filled so that the windshield can then be attached in place. Thanks for looking, comments and criticism gratefully received Cheers Shaun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seamus Posted October 12, 2008 Author Share Posted October 12, 2008 Ok, here's a minor update on the Harrier. I've added the tailplanes and dropped them according to reference pictures of parked aircraft powered down. I've also attached the windshield and masked off the cockpit, intakes and nozzles. A touch more sanding here and there and she's ready for priming I think Hope to get the primer on tomorrow and see what joints need additional filling and sanding. Hopefully there won't be too many as I'm just about fed up with filling and sanding this beast! Thanks for looking, comments welcomed Cheers Shaun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seamus Posted October 17, 2008 Author Share Posted October 17, 2008 Ok, more progress to report. I've spent the last few days priming, fixing poor joins, re-priming, fixing some more etc etc. Seems I'm not as good at filling/sanding as I'd like to be Still, most of the joins are as good as I'm going to get them; just some work still required around the windshield. After weeks of sanding and filling this thing, I've finally had enough so decided to apply a preshade this morning. Was nice to not have to be as controlled with the AB as I normally am with my 1/72 builds As I said, still need to attend to the canopy join, but it's finally ready for paint now I'll start with the fin, so that when I come to spraying the black part, I can touch up a couple areas of preshade I've missed as well as cover up the fix around the canopy. Dare I say, things are really pushing along nicely now and I can really start to enjoy this build Comments welcome as always Cheers Shaun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Looking good Shaun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xffw45343tg Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Cor - whizzing ahead now.Keep up the good work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seamus Posted October 21, 2008 Author Share Posted October 21, 2008 Thanks you two Another chunk of progress to report then and I have sprayed the yellow (2 coats) red and black that make up the special fin flash for this 4 Sqn bird. This was then masked off before getting the grey part of the wraparound camo on. Quite pleased with the subtlety of the preshade so far Hope to get the green on tomorrow, but need to clean up the joins on the fuel tanks and rocket pods she'll be carrying. Thanks for looking, comment and criticism welcomed Cheers Shaun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Nice work Shaun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bexwh773 Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Youre getting there Shaun, looking great so far, and not far to go now Bex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seamus Posted October 22, 2008 Author Share Posted October 22, 2008 Thank you ladies More progress then and the dark green has been sprayed. It's gonna require plenty of touching up, but here's a (bad) pic to give you an idea of what she's now looking like.... I've also realised that there's a couple of intakes just behind the cockpit that I forgot to attach So I'll get them on before getting the touch ups done over the next day or so. Once that's done, I'll start glossing her up for some decals Thanks for looking Cheers Shaun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seamus Posted October 24, 2008 Author Share Posted October 24, 2008 More progress then and the main camo is just about done- just a tiny bit more touching up required, which I missed until i took these pics The kit decal sheet supplies the yellow flashes on the fin, but I thought it better to paint them, using the decals as a template to make some masks for it. This also will require a bit of touching up, but pretty happy with the result so far Once the paintwork is properly sorted, I'll make a start on getting her all glossed up Thanks for looking, comments welcome as always Cheers Shaun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 Nice week Shaun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bexwh773 Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 Hey Shaun, Nice work, and nice to see an Ugly Duckling starting to look like a Pretty Princess Bex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xffw45343tg Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 ... an Ugly Duckling ... Go and stand in the naughty corner!!! Such filthy language. Then 100 lines: "Harriers are more beautiful than a pretty thing on St Good-Looking day." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bexwh773 Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 Go and stand in the naughty corner!!! Such filthy language.Then 100 lines: "Harriers are more beautiful than a pretty thing on St Good-Looking day." Im not Queen of the Naughty Corner for nothing you know Now then, I agree Harriers are beautiful, but the GR3 was lets face it, a MEGA FUGLY Bex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xffw45343tg Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 <Falls of chair in shock> You'll be picking on the bottle nose dolphin next I suppose. Shaun, that's a beautiful a/c and no mistake. Don't listen to this heresy - the only slightly suspect Harrier is the FA2 and even they grow on you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seamus Posted October 24, 2008 Author Share Posted October 24, 2008 Now, you know I completely agree with you Kirk, I was just so shocked myself I couldn't think of a reply that wouldn't involve something along the lines of 'better looking than a Phantom' Else, I'd have been shot down for heresy and be joining Bex in the naughty corner As for the FA.2, I always thought it was one of the better looking Harriers The best looking of all though has to be the FRS.1, now that's a beauty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xffw45343tg Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 Yep - it crossed my mind to give out 50 lines on "Phantoms can't land when there's a crater in the runway...", or "How many Phantoms can you land on Illustrious?" but like you I thought that would be cheap and petty. Thank goodness for good old-fashioned objectivity, eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seamus Posted October 26, 2008 Author Share Posted October 26, 2008 (edited) More progress over the last couple of days then. Spent Saturday getting the Klear coats on. Standard practice of 3 light coats, each one polished up with some micromesh. Have spent most of today getting the decals on in between the football and NFL matches (Disappointed to see my beloved Chargers lose the latter ) Decals went on very nicely with some microsol, though there was a problem with some of them-see below. Before decalling I got the LRMTS 'eyelids' painted. First with yellow for the primer, then black on top, which was lightly sanded back around the join as this was an area which quickly wore on the real thing Here's the problem I referred to; some of the decals, mostly the red ones, were badly out of register I think the best way to deal with it is to mask around them once sealed in and touch them up with some red paint before the matt coat. It probably won;t look perfect, but hopefully it'll be better than this. I'm actually very disappointed they are like this as it really tarnished the look of the model IMHO Once I get this problem sorted, I should be able to get the old girl weathered, so shouldn;t be too long now. Another potential problem I've encountered is the classic Harrier problem of getting all 5 wheels on the deck. After drilling holes in the resin wheels the other day, a quick dryfitting has revealed the outriggers to be a long way from the deck. There's only so much more I can take of the bottom of the main wheels, so not too sure how I'm going to solve this one; maybe mount it on a base that has a slight dip in the middle Anyway, thanks for looking, and any comment and criticism welcomed Cheers Shaun Edited October 27, 2008 by Seamus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted October 26, 2008 Share Posted October 26, 2008 I had a similar problem on the Airfix 1:48 Harrier with the red decals being out of register. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xffw45343tg Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 Hmm. Shame about that red; maybe Airfix would have supplied some replacements but it can take a while for them to deliver. Love the paint chipping on the LRMTS eyelids - very realistic. The standard approach to getting Harriers to sit straight is to make sure the nose wheel and outriggers are in contact and then adjust the mounting of the main gear. On the 1:24, this issue does not normally arise because of the way the (standard) parts are engineered; the nose and outriggers are free to move, so the model should find its own level. On top of that, as you know, the main is fixed in length so would require some surgery to adjust its extension. I seem to recall that you used Heritage replacement bits for the main and nose struts(?) so the nose fork may not still move(?), but if you've left the outriggers to float, they should still extend to touch the ground (albeit that the a/c probably wont be level). I was thinking of putting a couple of ballpoint pen springs in mine to counter exactly this problem... Good lateral thinking with the dished base though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
periklis_sale Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 very nice work there mate!!! Amazing build!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seamus Posted October 27, 2008 Author Share Posted October 27, 2008 (edited) Thanks for the kind words and suggestions peeps Tiny update, and the out of register problem has been sorted I masked off the areas around the edges the needed touching up, and simply touched up the red using Hu 174, which was an almost perfect match. Some of the decals, namely the Ejection seat warning triangles are still out of register, but I don't fancy attempting to touch the wording up by hand- just something else to go wrong Regarding the undercarriage problem, looking at it yesterday, there's little way of lowering the height of the main gear leg due to the way its mounted and getting any tools in there to do such a job would be difficult. It was apparent that the main wheels weren't quite at the same depth, so the old man's gonna take them to the belt sander at his work and get them even. That should help a bit, but he's also gonna take 1mm off the depth, which is just about as far as I can go without there being too little space between the floor and the rim. I'll assess the situation once he gets back with them this evening, but I'm assuming there will still be a gap, so I'm thinking a bit of rod will be required to extend the leg to the right length. Annoyingly, the outriggers were designed to be extendable, but I glues them in the shortest position so that they looked to be under load- hindsight is a wonderful thing Still, with the red sorted, I can now push on with the panel wash and weathering Thanks for looking, comments welcome as always Cheers Shaun EDIT: Dad's just got back form work with the ammended wheels, so here's where she stands (pun intended ) at the moment. The port outrigger is the only wheel off the ground now, so I reckon a short length of rod in each outrigger should get her to sit right Edited October 27, 2008 by Seamus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bexwh773 Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 That is an excellent recovery job there Shaun Now you Uppy Downy Fetish Twins have finished the Forthwith Extraction of the Micheal of this poor Phanatical Phantom Phan I can now phinish my phine phrase From Ugly Duckling to Pretty Princess and once shes phinished she'll be a Regal Queen Bex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seamus Posted October 27, 2008 Author Share Posted October 27, 2008 Thanks Bex, you're too kind Just a quick post, and I had a bit of a brainwave and trial fitted the kit rubber outriggers. All the wheels are just about on the deck now, just a tiny bit off on the mainwheels, so I'll take a tiny amount off the bottom of the outriggers and all should then be well Much happier with this fix as it would have been a tad difficult to get 0.75mm of rod into each leg, so that's something I don't have to worry about now Cheers Shaun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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