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


HammerUK9

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Well so far I am quite impressed by the intake ducting, very nice scratch building by the way. This is getting me fired up to go with my F8J. I am looking forward to this build and more on the cockpit also.

Cheers

Edited by Paul Wilsford
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Ta for your compliments!

Kagemusha - thanks for mentioning that... I posted somewhere else in this forum about them; I won't be getting the cockpit, but might be interested in the seat, and if I end up making one of the 100% LERX birds then I may well have to get the Update set, especially for the BOL rails. Mind you, I'm planning to fix the missing wing kink, and if I can do that then I can do anything :)

Dave, Al, Kev - Thanks!

Buccy - Glad you agree! :jump_fire:

Paul - Thanks for the encouragement! It's easy to forget that when you're sweating away in frustration trying to eek out the last few ounces of accuracy (still struggling with those blinking panel lines, especially since I gave the surfaces a dose of primer), you're somehow inspiring others ;)

Been doing more work on painting the nose gear bay - while the detail is excellent, Aires has cast it as one complete part so not only the recesses, but even a lot of the sidewall detail, is very difficult to get to. Still, not going too badly. It appears that the OOB gear pivot bearings are too wide apart and lack serious detail, so I'll have to scratch them and mount them to the gear bay directly.

Pics soon,

Tim

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Hi Kirk,

I'm afraid the Peg is closed up now! Would you by any chance mean the rods that sit just aft of the stator vanes? Wasn't sure anyone would notice :whistle::)

Big (relatively) step completed this evening - just about finished painting the NLG bay and have got both halves of the nose glued together! Next bit will be to finish the NLG bay in situ and to correct the cockpit rim. The protruding section of the seat rails was scratchbuilt, but it appears I left a crossbrace out, so that'll have to be fixed. Pics will be up tomorrow.

I've also discovered, thanks to some colossal dimension errors from Trumpeter, I've got the delightful task of more-or-less rebuilding the entire nose gear strut :analintruder: Not to mention sourcing wheels from somewhere.....

Tim

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Kirk, please don't apologise! Irrespective of the whiffy content, I'm just trying to build a better Harrier, so am always willing to take on community feedback ;)

The main reason I left them out was because I didn't feel they were particularly visible through the nozzle bearings. However, since you've spotted that, I'll install them forthwith. It won't be too difficult to put them in now that it's closed up - it'll just need a pair of tweezers :) I'm not normally a literal rivet counter, but for this build I've had to adopt that mindset in places :banghead:

Thanks for the encouragement - TBH they shouldn't really box it as a GR7, since it's nothing more than an AV-8B with some bodged RAF decals thrown in. BUT, it's the only (?) 1/32 Harrier II and makes for fantastic foundations.

Evening update:

I've glued a plasticard ring to the front of the nose-fuselage to give the correct slope effect. This correction was inspired by Piero's build, but instead of gluing it to the nose itself, I glued it to the fuselage. The reasons are because the join line between nose section and fuselage travels rearward as it descends and passes under the fuselage and also because it will give me more room to correct the slope of the front canopy mounting. Can anyone tell me what the hole is for?

22.jpg

23.jpg

The ring was cut from 1mm plasticard, but then sanded back with some 240grit W&D to be flush at the bottom. The slope seems to be about spot-on :)

Hope you're enjoying following this build,

Tim

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TBH they shouldn't really box it as a GR7, since it's nothing more than an AV-8B with some bodged RAF decals thrown in.

TBH, they shouldn't have boxed it at all until they'd sorted out the many differences with the real thing. There was a detailed analysis over on LSP which rather came to the conclusion that (depending on one's aspirations) it might be better to start with a big lump of styrene and a file...

Can anyone tell me what the hole is for?

I understood it to be a fresh air intake for the cabin conditioning system. There's a similar submerged inlet duct on the Hawk that leads to a kind of check valve at the bulkhead.

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Well, thanks to a rather turbid weekend/start to this week, I've found myself without much time or inclination for modelling, so apologies for a lack of updates.

The nose has been coming along pretty well and I've finally got it attached to the cockpit section:

24.jpg

The alignment is looking pretty good, but smoothing the joins to the plasticard ring is proving a bit of a pain!

I've also started work on the ARBS sensor. I've taken a bit of a shameful shortcut (for this build anyway) and merely glued a disc onto the open tip of the nose, which will then be populated with some equipment. In my defence, the photos I could find didn't show the back of the sensor particularly clearly, but the existence of a gimballed platform was pretty obvious - and Piero achieved it :banghead: I'll make sure that I achieve the same effect using clever painting instead...

In Piero's build (you should see where the AMS inspiration came from by now!), he found that the kit ARBS cover wasn't a particularly good fit and so he used another clear dome that didn't seem to be fulfilling any other purpose. I've actually found that the correct part has the correct shape, particularly as the edge will need a little paint - but had to dremel out the locator pin and then thin it down further from the inside. A dunk in Alclad Aqua Gloss should make it fit for purpose!

25.jpg

Lastly, I've made the RCV, other random sensor and the mountings for the Zeus ECM. The RCV was made with a small loop of 0.25mm plasticard, to give the required curve effect, with four very thin strips glued across it. This loop was then glued inside the hollow nose. the Zeus fairings are giving me no end of trouble. The shape is a nightmare for starters and, while easy to draw directly onto the plastic, is very hard to translate onto a sheet of paper/plasticard. I tried sculpting putty placed within guidelines on the nose but that didn't work at all. If anyone might be able to suggest a solution it would be very much appreciated!!

26.jpg

I've also finally joined the Harrier SIG; hopefully I can get some more references and then dissuade any other who wants to follow in my footsteps with this kit :P

Kirk, thanks for that! The hole being cabin conditioning - makes perfect sense doesn't it? *facepalm*

Until next time, Keeeeeeeeep - WATCHING!!

Tim

Edited by HammerUK9
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Kirk, just what I needed! :D I'll give it a try over the next day or so, but sounds great!

I've spent a bit of time preparing to get to grips with the main fuselage - and, as I might have expected, it'll need more than a little bit of filling and scribing!

Perhaps the biggest task is correcting the nozzle fairings. Both hot and cold fairings are too large, too thick (would scale up to a couple of inches!) too rounded and hollow underneath. They're also the wrong shape. :badmood:

27.jpg

The red lines mark approximately the correct fairing shape.

There's too much that needs changing to merely modify the existing fairings, so I've cut the kit ones off. I left the front section with the fire port intact because it is pretty much correct and would be harder to replicate. I've made a backing plate from 1mm plasticard which will plug the gap and allow me to correctly shape a replacement fairing.

TIm

Edited by HammerUK9
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  • 4 weeks later...

Good evening!

Wow, I can't believe it's been a month since my last post! As real life has taken a bit of a toll this month, I've had some time to think about building it but not actually to do anything about it.

In the little time I've had, I've worked through a few different methods of producing the Zeus ECM. In the end I found a few sections of sprue from the kit were the perfect thickness, if not completely cylindrical. No matter - after being cut to the right length, it was held at an angle against a dremel to make the 'slope' to join it with the fuselage. The shape of the tip was done by hand. My thanks to Dave T for some cracking photos that helped with this stage.

I apologise for the quality of the photos - my camera is u/s with a replacement lens barrel on the way, and this is the best that my phone can achieve *shudders*.

Number28.jpg

29.jpg

Hopefully this project's back on track now. I've also spent a bit of time putting together the audio for my RFI slideshow ;)

Tim

Edited by HammerUK9
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Hi Andy,

What a great find! Thanks a lot for linking me to that, it could definitely come in useful - for both the kink and the replacement fan blades :)

Evening update: Chucked the second Zeus that I'd sanded as I had the not-quite-cylindrical sprue the wrong way round, so they didn't quite match up (second one was shorter and fatter). Replacement made to my satisfaction. I'm currently scribing the dividing line between the yellow cover and the grey body:

ZD351-W019.JPG

Photo from Graham James. There are more available at the Harrier SIG - and they've been very helpful for measuring panel lines and rivet counting!

I've also spotted that the external part of the cockpit coaming, to which the canopy is mounted and with the vent hole in the front, slopes too steeply in the kit and joins the main part of the nose too far aft. To fix this, I've made a thin plasticard cowling that fixes to the existing coaming at the top and further towards the front of the nose at the bottom, also sweeping around the fuselage to match the correct panel lines.

New camera lens will hopefully be here by the weekend.

Tim

Edited by HammerUK9
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Ref. the build over on ARC I think it's a bit unfair for people to do an in-prog build online whilst saving the actually useful information for future publication :angry: Reeks of the old "trade secret, old boy!" mentality.

Anyway, nice to see your work progressing, the nose fix sounds interesting, waiting for pics when your lens arrives :Tasty:

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Thanks Al!

You're quite right - funnily enough, I'm trying to produce something similar alongside my build, but it will be more coherent, better formatted and with far more of the nitty-gritty technical stuff that would just make posts too long. But if asked a direct question I'd never refuse to answer in full and my 'publication' would most definitely be free - it was the reason I gave to join the SIG after all! :)

Progress for today - glued the Zeus on and immediately decided they protruded out from the fuselage far too much - cue a bit more sanding and filling and now they look pretty good! I've got the additional cowling installed and it now lines up correctly with the slope of the windshield. Miscellaneous other panel lines and rivets added and refined; will hopefully finish that by the end of play tomorrow.

I've also been taking a look at how the different sections of the intake will go together - it's quite a complicated affair on the Harrier and it looks like completely scratchbuilding both fan stages will be by far the easiest part :mental: . I'll try and explain in the medium of sketches tomorrow ;)

Tim

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Ref. the build over on ARC I think it's a bit unfair for people to do an in-prog build online whilst saving the actually useful information for future publication :angry: Reeks of the old "trade secret, old boy!" mentality.

Anyway, nice to see your work progressing, the nose fix sounds interesting, waiting for pics when your lens arrives :Tasty:

Agree!

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I've just spent half an hour getting the canopy coating done (Klear unfortunately predates my return to modelling, so I'm using Alclad Aqua Gloss).

I was disappointed (given that it's a Trumpeter kit) to find a great big seam line down the canopy, made worse given the lack of any intrusive framework. Still, nothing that my good friend Micromesh doesn't seem to have solved.

When I trimmed the windshield down, a small sliver was taken out of the glass portion. Any good solutions to fix this? I'm thinking about building up an excess of gloss on the damaged part, sanding the area back down and then giving it a final coat - would this work?

Tim

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Ref. the build over on ARC I think it's a bit unfair for people to do an in-prog build online whilst saving the actually useful information for future publication :angry: Reeks of the old "trade secret, old boy!" mentality.

If John wants to hold back that information in order to secure publication then that's his prerogative - I think we get too used to everything being immediate and free these days. Live and let live. At least a neat solution is possible, maybe by thinning the insides of the wings in order to produce the kink..?

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A couple of interesting links, engine-wise http://s362974870.on...ic=215029&st=20 & http://mikro-mir.com...mpeter-132.html Russian translation for second link;

AV-8B Harrier II, Trumpeter, 1/32 Production of blades of a jet engine

In my work on the model AV-8B Harrier II in the 32-m scale from Trumpeter I was faced with the fact that the execution of the developer to model engine blades do not climb any gate and led me violent conflict. Even painted, they looked very unimpressive, and when you consider that this is one of the most prominent places aircraft AV-8B Harrier II, even unacceptable. Looking at some photos of the real engine, I decided to rework and invented a method for manufacturing simulation engine blades.

I decided to start with, do a test model of the blades and cut them until the model engine. If all of a sudden it does not, it will remain the old - better something than nothing.

What could be better than metal? Only metal! For the manufacture of blades, I took tin of shaving gel, as it is more rigid than the beer tin. Later I discovered that I did not lose with the chosen material - beer tin is very, very flexible, and even for such work does not fit.

A piece of sheet metal was leveled and cleaned of paint and varnish. Furthermore, the planned center and gauge set the scope of the right diameter, in accordance with section inlet. I vaguely remember the lessons of geometry in school, my brain is pulled out of the depths of my mind the information I needed, how to mark up the same width blades radially. Using the radius and divided the circle into 6 equal sectors. Further, for simplicity, we take one sector and divide it in half. The new sector divide in half again, and so several times until an acceptable result. The exact size of the width of the blade motor Pegas I have not found, and not particularly looking for, and drew on his eye and photos of real engines.

Get the width 3mm, which I granted, and by installing the meter needle distance 3 mm, marked out a half circle. Scratched with a needle through the center point of the circle and label all the blades. Meter had a small circle for a guide to further not cut and planned lines cut the sheet with scissors. It must be said that the gesture by slitting shears bent even more rounded blades along the cutting edge of the scissors, and then received the workpiece should be leveled. Tweezers sprained shoulder to simulate the setting angle of the blades and tried on the workpiece in the air intake. I liked the result and decided to do the finishing part.

Trumpovskuyu parody cut, leaving only an imitation of the mount, which there does not need it he has never been there, but the "late, John, to drink" Borjomi "! ....", He pasted and you can not remove it.

Edited by Kagemusha
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