Another 1:24 Harrier GR.3

[xffw45343tg]

Anyone know if the GR3 has a temperature probe in the starboard intake - or better still have a pic?

I'm struggling to get a good fit to the duct and need something to take my mind off it for a bit...

The problem stems from the poor fit of the engine; in the real thing it is angled downwards 1.5 degrees from the horizontal and this is proving very difficult to replicate. I hay have to hack about at the hot end to get the nozzles to align properly :-(

Kirk

[xffw45343tg]

A little bit more.

I'm having real problems trying to get everything lined up and it's proving rather frustrating. Having put in the inner wall of the duct, I'm trying to get the engine lined up so that I can position the bullet fairing and the bellmouth. It would seem that either the engine is fractionally too long (which is likely given the construction although I haven't yet measured it) or the duct is (which seems less likely as if anything it looks too short as compared with references); either way I can't get the hot end to line up with the apertures. To help with this I've glued up the hot nozzles so that I can fit them to the back of the engine. Here's a shot that kind of shows what I'm trying to get:

In this pic the engine is skewed slightly to the left, meaning that the right hand nozzle is way off. The engine needs to go further forward, so I have to take some material of the pointy end of my inner wall. It's getting mighty close to point at which the join breaks...

Also visible is the gaps between the oversized circular part of the bellmouth and the front of the engine casing.

What you can't see is where I've taken of the front nozzle mounting plates and narrowed the engine so that it will install much like the real thing. Still not sure if this was a smart idea or not but I'm committed to it now.

From the other end it all looks like this.

The bellmouth is only resting in place and is slightly lower than it's final position. I may add a strip of styrene around the edge to make it mate properly with the fuselage skin, although this isn't essential as it will be obscured by the AI door assembly.

Finally, a pic from aft with the engine removed.

You can see the marks I've made noting the fan hub centre and edges to help me position the bullet fairing. You may also be see the card template I have made for the bulkhead above the bellmouth duct. Thanks to Dave for his excellent (if strangely edited) reference pic. (By the way Dave, did you cut yours at the Frame 8/8A joint or further back?).

Once the duct is right and the bullet fairing in place, I plan to make up some forward fuel tanks and the beam above them (for which I don't have particularly good references). Then I can glue in the bellmouth and fill all the little gaps.

If I can't get it all lined up soon, I may take a break from this bit and go back to the landing gear bays whilst I figure out a plan B. Perhaps I could separate the front of the engine again and shorten it? Suggestions welcome.

Cheers,

Kirk

[periklis_sale]

looking great mate!!!!

[xffw45343tg]

A very small progress update, some responses to earlier questions and a question of my own:

As fitting the engine was getting very frustrating, I decided on another change of scene and started on the nozzles. When I was still in OOB mode, I had sprayed these, expecting to just stick them together. Alas there is a great big seam right down the middle (although to be honest, I'm not sure how else they could have been engineered in plastic) and all the alignment pins and steps remain highly visible after assembly. The 3 shots below show before and after I cut and filed off all the steps.

If I were to do these again, I'd remove all the guide pins etc before sticking the pieces together as they don't really help with (fiddly) alignment. I used cyano to fill the join lines. One of the turning vanes in a hot nozzle still looks not quite square to me - if I hadn't lined it up with the step it would probably have been fine. You live & learn I suppose. The real nozzles often have small trimmer pieces bolted to the inside faces. These compensate for the minor changes in engine performance that arise with age. Mine's brand new so it won't need any .There are also a few ribs on the outer surface above where the internal turning vanes are joined and I may well add these in thin card before I paint the top coats.

In response to Jake's "How did I do the ducts" question, I stuck a template former into the fuselage half at the duct opening and again against the original Airfix intake. Putting the 2 curves together gave me a crescent shape that I then stuck to the airfix intake, before cutting out the slot inboard of the Aux Intake doors (although I subsequently separated the forward section entirely). I then bunged a load of filler behind the aft faces of the crescent and filed away at the bellmouth until it had a more realistic shape. I think this is visible in the 1st picture I posted. Lots of priming and sanding later, I had the 2 halves you see in the recent pictures. The end result is far from perfect as there is a significant gap to the outer fuselage but this is (a) invisible and ( easily filled. Once I had decided to make the engine fit like the real thing and removed the forward nozzle mounting plates, I realised that the intake ring could be fitted as a single part into the fuse ONCE I had completed the inner duct faces and bullet fairing, so I joined them together. I plan to add a small strip around the perimeter of the circular end to disguise the less than perfect join to the engine. There is a similar clamp fitted to the real thing to seal the join so this is only minor artistic licence.

All the tanks in the front wheel well? Brake accumulator (port side) and I think the others are reservoirs for the strut extension and nose wheel steering hydraulics. Dave T will know for sure.

I've made more progress on the duct and engine fit but no pics yet so I'll post separately when I have some.

My question is:

Anyone got any suggestions of how to remove the "ejection gun" moulding from the bulkhead without completely ruining the latter?

Cheers,

Kirk

PS/ Thanks Peri!

[Seamus]

Good work on the nozzles Kirk

Mine look a bit naff with the seam down the middle, but for some reason or other I didn't do much about it but now they're all painted up I think I'll leave it as is (I'm a lazy bugger really )

Keep up the good work, 'tis inspiratinal stuff

[Dave T]

..... Thanks to Dave for his excellent (if strangely edited) reference pic. (By the way Dave, did you cut yours at the Frame 8/8A joint or further back?).

grrrrr.... sorry dude, only just stopped by this thread again. Too busy playing with the real thing see

When i got ZD670, it had been sliced in half just slightly forward of the first nozzle. After the intakes went to a good home (on a T bird as it happens) all was revealed as they say, so the oppurtunity was taken to split it at the cockpit/fuselage build joint.

(Trivia time... Harriers are a one piece fuselage, but built/joined in 3 sections, but these joints are not transport joints.)

Cracking modelling Kirk...

.

[xffw45343tg]

Too busy playing with the real thing see

Surely you should start an "in progress" thread on it. Can't see any rule on here that says models can't be 1:1 scale .

[xffw45343tg]

A few more pictures for you.

I'm pretty much done with the bullet fairing and can shortly set about the internal framework and forward fuel tanks. It's far from perfect and I still have to do the "cruciform" on the centre of the bullet and the louvres for the a/c outlets but I think its about as far as I'm prepared to go on this one.

Other rivet measurers will notice that the central bullet is more oval than circular and that it appears conical rather than cylindrical. I also couldn't manage to get the concave of the inner wall into my model. Next time around (ha!) I'll cut off most of the Airfix wheel well (part 62) above the strut pivot so that it doesn't foul the intake and start the taper of the cockpit section further forward, just aft of the bleed air duct doors.

This last pic shows the rest of the duct dropped in place and I'm reasonably happy that it looks a bit like the real thing.

I said I'd mention the engine. Re-reading Nick Greenall's definitive guidance notes in the Modeller's Data File - Sea Harrier made me aware of a slight difference of opinion. Nick says that the Airfix Pegasus fan face is too far aft and should align with the front edge of the main access panels (11 & 12 on the real thing), but I'm not sure that I agree. I realise that this is a bit like taking on the Pope, so I'm prepared to be shot down in flames by those who know better BUT.... it seems to me that the and of the intake duct is about right (there's lots of a/c pipework above that makes it look like the duct is supposed to be in line with frame 12 but don't forget the engine does not sit horizontally) and the engine is TOO LONG. I figured this out when trying to get the inner duct wall to look like the pictures of the real thing. Eventually, I prised the fan off the engine and will take about 1.5 to 2mm of the engine casing and try again. I think this will also make the Pegasus fan casing look a bit more in proportion. We'll see, eh? (Welcome to the forums btw, Nick and open fire when ready.)

I have another question for you all to add to the "how am I going to get that seat rail off???":

> How do you make your own "rivet" heads?

The exhaust gas deflectors are smooth on the kit and covered with various groups of fixings on the real thing. I thought I might try small dots of PVA but am worried about getting them uniform in size. I know Jake remade parts out of aluminum so that the indentations could be made from the rear, but I was hoping to work with the kit parts. All suggestions welcome.

Cheers,

Kirk.

[Dave T]

Why remove the seat rail if the seat will hide it ?

[xffw45343tg]

Why remove the seat rail if the seat will hide it ?

No good reason - it's just that I know what Jake's FA2 looks like behind the seat - pure jealousy I guess.

Tiny update as progress is VERY slow at the mo. Been putting in the tiny little aircon outlet louvres above the bullet fairing - well tiny for me, you 1:48 magicians out there would find this a doddle. Still have the lower ones to do.

I've also added the nose gear thrust members (the 2 longitudinal bits of styrene) and started to make up templates for the frames (ignore the 2 rectangular bits of card - they're just helping me check that everything is square). Intake duct needs painting and installing next, although I suspect I won't be able to do this during my daughter's birthday party...

Later.