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'What Might Have Been' - a 1/32 Harrier GR9 project.


HammerUK9

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Tim, cool project. I too missed out on Piero's stuff, so I'm in similar boat to make my own stuff. After looking over what he did and what you're doing I think I'm going to give it a try myself. I'm in the process of gathering as much information on Harriers as I can. I like how you did the fan blades inside the engine. I'll have to remember that myself. ;)

Keep up the good work :thumbsup:

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Hi YT - just as a point of pedantry, the row of blades behind the fan that give such a great impression of depth don't rotate and are therefore "stators". The Pegasus in the Harrier II has 3 stages of fan rotors, interspersed with stator stages that effectively twist the airstream back towards the next fan stage. As you probably already know, a really interesting design feature of the Pegasus is that the fan rotates in the opposite direction to the compressor behind it, minimising the gyroscopic effects of having all that lovely titanium going around in circles.

All this will make zero difference to your model of course, except you might feel the urge to twist the stators in the opposite direction to the rotors. :D

Looking forward to your build thread too.

Kirk

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Hi YoungTiger - thanks! I hope that between the two of us you can pull out some useful techniques for correcting the kit issues, or ideas for making your own! My little fan blade mod is just so that anyone attempting to look up the nozzles might have something to see - it's OCD at it's best :) The replacement fan stages that I'm going to have to make will be a lot more detailed than that. Have you taken a look over the Harrier SIG pages? Graham (I hope you're taking note of how much I'm plugging this for you! :P ) has uploaded some fantastic photo sets that you can use for getting a look at those hard to reach places, and even to position and measure panel lines. There is also plenty of additional documentation for getting an accurate build.

Kirk - some nice info there. I hadn't actually appreciated the fan and compressor stages rotated in opposite directions, but it does make perfect sense. Shows how much I've picked up from four years studying Aero Eng :banghead:

Progress update: Camera lens still hasn't arrived :weep:

I've now finished all the panel lines and riveting on the nose!! It's really starting to look the bees' knees. I've also got both halves of the canopy prepped - I made sure I did my Christmas shopping in a town that has a Lakeland so that I could pick up some Quickshine :) It's worked far better than Aqua Gloss, although both halves still have loads of ultrafine scratches. This is after using Micromesh up to 12000gt, so I might have to try a final buff with a nail-polishing pad. You think that might work?

In the meantime, I'm tackling the ARBS. I decided to rip out my earlier attempt (as I kept feeling guilty about taking shortcuts), and have just finished scratching the mounting frame (the thin metal 'strip' that runs around the edge of the sensor platform), which has a hideously complicated shape:

2866181036_13c4ede3f2_o.jpg

(photo from 'Axeman3d')

819.jpg

(Photo from 'DDonSS3')

I made it using a 1.5mm wide strip of 0.5mm plasticard, but set sideways so the 0.5mm edge faces outwards. Hopefully I can have a photo in the next couple of days.

Thanks for watching!

Tim

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Graham (I hope you're taking note of how much I'm plugging this for you! :P ) has uploaded some fantastic photo sets that you can use for getting a look at those hard to reach places, and even to position and measure panel lines. There is also plenty of additional documentation for getting an accurate build.

Tim

My blush is deeper red than Santa's outfit!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Tim, I hear you, but we all have some sort of OCD when it comes to our models :coolio:Btw, thanks for the link. It sure has tons of cool info/pic on the jet.

Graham, since you are here as well. I'd like to thank you for taking all those pics and sharing them with us. Even though we have Harriers here in the US, I don't get to see them much where I'm at. T-38, U-2, and occasionally F-16 or F-15, so I sure do appreciate all you photos. :thumbsup:

Mike

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  • 3 months later...
  • 2 months later...

Hi Kirk (and everyone),

Definitely not!! :winkgrin:

I took a break over Christmas to do something 'quick' and OOB, and was then contacted by someone (whose father had flown in one of the squadrons at my local airfield during the war) showing interest in my P-47 project. He sent me photos of his dad's plane - bearing in mind that almost no information exists on the fighter group in question - so I'm pressing on with that as it's going to be dedicated to him. And that'll take me a good few months :)

Rest assured that I'll return to this one with vigour when the Jug is finished!

I finally got a camera lens that fitted, but the original CCD chip doesn't quite fit the lens, so my picture quality still isn't great and is on a par with my new iPhone. When I actually get some money I'll get the correct CCD for the lens and then everything should be OK.

Tim

PS Kirk, I've still got to sort my bang-seat out so am keeping an eye on your MB-12 CAD work :)

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Have a look under the nose,if it has a small bulge with a little arieal on its more likely ex falklands,if it hasnt got this feature probably not.Though i stand to be corrected lol.

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Hi there

Your museum is right she is indeed an ex Falklands bird, she served with No1 squadron from HMS Hermes in June 1982 but unfortunately she never saw any action as she arrived to late. She stayed on board Hermes until the surrender on the 14th June 1982, then she was moved to RAF Stanley for just over a month to which then she returned home on the 6th July 1982.

Hope this was of help.

Clive

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'Cause I feel you're all worth it, here are a few photos of the build as it stands:

IMG_0280_zpse897f726.jpg

IMG_0281_zpsedbfaeb1.jpg

IMG_0282_zps05e61400.jpg

IMG_0284_zps8bf7f653.jpg

IMG_0285_zpsc0d6d244.jpg

IMG_0289_zps093a01f9.jpg

IMG_0290_zps0016cd13.jpg

IMG_0291_zps08395cd7.jpg

All the riveting and panelling is complete on the nose section. Next step is building and plumbing in the ARBS, tidying up the cockpit rim and installing the instrument panel.

I've had a slight mishap with the canopy, so it's possible I might have to seek replacement parts :weep:

On a less important note, I'm having a bit of a wobble on the nose art. I've got two different styles in mind but am struggling to make up my mind on what to stick with. Opinions would be welcome :)

NoseComparison_zpsd24efd50.jpg

(Author information unavailable - line drawing from The-Blueprints.com)

The upper style is what I illustrated earlier, but I'm currently favouring the lower style. I guess the rounded edges make for a more natural look.

Thanks for all your continued interest!

Tim

Edited by HammerUK9
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Looking good Tim.

There's a shot of the cockpit aft bulkhead in one of the SIG's walk-around galleries that may help you if you have "Harrier OCD"; between those rails is some kind of tank which is about the same height as the moulded section in your kit but does not extend fully to the starboard rail. On the port side there is a taller section which extends vertically up to the upper ejection gun mounting bracket. The pipe/duct entering the base of this component is a kind of mustard yellow colour and flares to meet it from a circular section which cranks to port to pass through the bulkhead near the cockpit floor. All this is completely hidden by the seat of course...

Kirk

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Thanks for walking me through it Kirk - as you say, it's going to be almost entirely hidden by the seat! :banghead:

Which is why the only modification to the aft bulkhead I have made so far is to remake the top part of the ejector rails. Once I've put an MB-12 together I'll see how much is left visible and modify it if needs be.

Tim

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  • 6 months later...

Great work so far keep it up.

As for the Ashburton GR3, it was used for radar trials for the SHAR FA2 and had the radar grafted on the front, I believe a replacement GR3 nose was fitted before the airframe left the UK. I was fortunate to visit the museum when the Harrier had just arrived quite a coup for them really, but what a great museum.

Neil

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