Piotr Mikolajski Posted February 17, 2021 Share Posted February 17, 2021 IIRC Jet Art Aviation Ltd is current owner of VAAC Harrier, they posted some photos on their Instagram account. Here are two YouTube clips you may find useful. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted February 18, 2021 Author Share Posted February 18, 2021 I've found an interesting issue - Sword have the identification numbers for the PE bits wrong in the instructions. At least 80% are mislabeled. It's not so difficult to find the right bit as you proceed but some, like the seat harnesses, are drawn so poorly it's hard to know what's right. I'll rely on photos the best I can, but Sword might want to have a go at proofreading the next time. Cheers, Bill 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikolay Polyakov Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 The twin-seater looks great in my opinion, I’ll take a seat. 😸 This kit is very promising, good luck with the build! 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andwil Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 Looking at the photos it might be possible to modify the cannon pods into those pods under the fuselage? Also, that pitot/probe on the nose looks like a fun project for 1/72! AW 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted February 18, 2021 Author Share Posted February 18, 2021 53 minutes ago, Andwil said: Also, that pitot/probe on the nose looks like a fun project for 1/72! Had to mention that, didn't you? Cheers, Bill 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vingtor Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 (edited) 9 hours ago, Andwil said: Also, that pitot/probe on the nose looks like a fun project for 1/72! The long test probe from Master for the F-16XL could possibly be used? http://www.master-model.pl/product/am-72-131.html Edited February 19, 2021 by Vingtor 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 A Sword kit in 1/72? That brings back memories... You've chosen a lovely subject, I'll tag along if you don't mind Ciao 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted February 19, 2021 Author Share Posted February 19, 2021 9 hours ago, Vingtor said: The long test probe from Master for the F-16XL could possibly be used? Good find! That looks just like it. I'll get that on order right away. And, of course, I won't be able to buy just one item - I need to amortize the shipping costs against several, right? 8 hours ago, giemme said: A Sword kit in 1/72? That brings back memories... You've chosen a lovely subject, I'll tag along if you don't mind You're always welcome here, Giorgio. Based on the emoticon you've chosen (going around in circles) I'm guessing the "memories" of the 1:72 Sword kit were not all, well, memorable... ***** I think I should start building this crazy thing. The first item was the engine face which was painted with GSI Creos Super Metallic 2 Super Stainless. Great stuff by the way - I like these better than Alclad although the range of metallic shades is more limited. And they stink, but if you're used to the odor of Mr. Color you should be able to handle it. I then added a black wash made with Future, following Roy's Recipe from his blog. It was only then I noticed that Sword didn't clean the tooling as well as they should have. You can see the moulding defect clearly. I had Mr. Sulu put that on the viewer and magnify: I can't imagine that is supposed to be there, but its consistent circular shape leads me to believe this is not just dirt in the mould. Whatever it is, it can be easily hidden when the engine face is assembled in the fuselage. I did some quick work with the front and rear cockpits. It's always fun with these short run kits to assemble the bulkheads in the right position and at the right angle since there are no locating pegs. Fortunately, there are some protrusions on the interior of the fuselage that show you exactly where these parts are to be positioned. Sword provide PE rudder pedals, not easily seen in this photo, but they look remarkable like the real thing. Now, you may remember that I did not have any aftermarket resin Martin-Baker Mk. 9 ejection seats so I decided to "tart up" the kit seats. As a reminder, here are the raw materials: After a bit of scrounging through the PE spares box, and using the kit supplied harnesses, I've arrived here: Works for me. You may note that the front seat (right) has its appropriate canopy smashers. I still need to go to the Island of Misfit Stickers and see if I can find any small placard decals that can be used on the headrest. After studying the instructions, it looks like I can leave out the seats, instrument panels, coamings, and control sticks until after the fuselage is assembled and painted. This will make masking a lot easier. Speaking of those instructions, I found another error. The rear windscreen is shown being located in the wrong place, and is shown in the wrong orientation. As moulded, one edge of the windscreen has the seal for the main canopy. This is good, and I'm glad Sword moulded it that way. But in the instructions they have you put the edge with seal down against the coaming. If you're keeping track we have this plus the incorrect numbering of the PE parts (so far). I wonder if I volunteered to proofread their instruction sheets Sword would send me free kits? Cheers, Bill 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beard Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 9 minutes ago, Navy Bird said: I wonder if I volunteered to proofread their instruction sheets Sword would send me free kits? That sounds better than my plan of moving to France and surviving by translating bar menus. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shalako Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 23 minutes ago, Navy Bird said: Beautiful seats Bill! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmas Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 If I hadn’t seen this with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have thought it possible that anyone could turn a couple of nondescript bits of grey plastic at 1/72 scale into perfect minute replicas of ejection seats. That’s beautiful work. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted February 19, 2021 Author Share Posted February 19, 2021 1 hour ago, Beard said: That sounds better than my plan of moving to France and surviving by translating bar menus. Let's see: vin, wine, vino, wein, wijn, viini. víno, vinho, vinus, вино, वाइन, 酒, ... and over here on this side of the pond - grape juice. 1 hour ago, Timmas said: If I hadn’t seen this with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have thought it possible that anyone could turn a couple of nondescript bits of grey plastic at 1/72 scale into perfect minute replicas of ejection seats. Ah, but did you see it with your own eyes? It is but a photo... Thanks for the compliments everyone! I love making the tiny seats. They just look so cool. Cheers, Bill 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 Very nice seats Bill Stay safe Roger 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 3 hours ago, Navy Bird said: Based on the emoticon you've chosen (going around in circles) I'm guessing the "memories" of the 1:72 Sword kit were not all, well, memorable... It's my only Sword kit built so far, the EE Lightning T4, and just like this one had only two sprues, nice surface detail and no locating pegs (it's a short run kit, so I'm OK with that). Quite more extensive in resin and PE, though. That emoticon spells "frantic"... I was, at times, trying to wrestle things in place, especially the front wheel bay and the radome/air intake. In hindsight, I should have added my own pegs/lugs (well, more than what I did) to improve the fit and have some solid anchoring points. It turned out good enough for me, in the end, so it was a pleasant build, all in all. Back to your model, you're off to a great start already: lovely tub, and the seats look just amazing! Ciao 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David H Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 Those seats look lovely, Bill! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted February 20, 2021 Author Share Posted February 20, 2021 I love the Internet. Except when it gives me different answers. I was doing some simple background research about good old Raspberry Ripple. Of course I ignored the search results about ice cream - but was surprised to see both Oxford Blue and Roundel Blue listed for the blue portion of the scheme. I'm also getting both Signal Red and Post Office Red. My notes (from very long ago) say Signal Red and Oxford Blue. The instruction sheet from Combat Decals says Signal Red and Roundel Blue. Looking at photos I'm tempted to say that the decal instructions are correct. Oxford Blue seems too dark and Post Office Red seems too "cherry." So what is it? Did it change at some point? On the assembly side of things, I'm having a go at putting the fuselage together. The holes for locating the vertical tail and ventral fin were flashed over, so I cleaned those out. The cockpit sections fit nicely, as did the internal portion of the intakes that hold the engine face. BUT, and there's always a BUT with short run kits, the engine face ends up not in the right position vertically. It needs to come up a few millimeters. Now, this seems to be due to the use of the aftermarket intake cowlings. To me, it's important that the engine face is centered and aligned with the intake trunks from those resin cowlings, so an adjustment was made. This creates another small cosmetic problem that you can't really see so therefore I won't tell you anything about it! Once the fuselage was together, I realized that I forgot to put in the main gear and air brake bays. D'oh! Luckily, I can reach these areas since the wing isn't on yet. I am so...old. Cheers, Bill 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted February 21, 2021 Author Share Posted February 21, 2021 She's starting to take shape - but lots of work still to do cleaning up seams, etc. At least this time I remembered to drill out the inlet at the base of the fin prior to putting the fin on the fuselage. It's devilishly hard to do so after the fin is on without drilling it at an angle. Overall, the fit was not too bad for a short run kit. I've decided to ignore the instructions on the decal sheet to use Roundel Blue. The overwhelming consensus on the inter-web is Oxford Blue. Unless one of you Harrier/QinetiQ/VAAC experts tell me otherwise. I'm finishing up my scratchbuilt front coaming now, as I want to add that and the front windscreen prior to painting. I made the coaming from bits of plastic and portions of a coaming cut from an old kit in the spares box. Lots of mods to the latter to make it fit a Harrier! I don't even recall what kit it came from. As I always tell wifey, you never know when you're going to need some of this crap precision injection moulded styrene. Cheers, Bill the Hoarder PS. Whilst I was perusing the spares box(es), I found a couple of Harrier tailplanes. Judging from the colour and hardness of the plastic they are from Hasegawa. Needless to say, they are much nicer than the Sword parts so I'll use them. They are identical in size, and even the panel lines match. They must have been left over from my Frankenharrier FRS.1. 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David H Posted February 22, 2021 Share Posted February 22, 2021 Rob parts from better kits whenever you can. That's what *i* say!! -d- 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted February 22, 2021 Share Posted February 22, 2021 8 hours ago, Navy Bird said: Overall, the fit was not too bad for a short run kit. I should think so, given the fast pace you are keeping! The thing is almost done and ready for paint! Glad for you it went together with "minimal" effort, I'm very much looking forward to the painting stage Ciao 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vingtor Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 On 2/22/2021 at 12:29 AM, Navy Bird said: I've decided to ignore the instructions on the decal sheet to use Roundel Blue. The overwhelming consensus on the inter-web is Oxford Blue. Unless one of you Harrier/QinetiQ/VAAC experts tell me otherwise. I specify Oxford Blue as the colour on the Vingtor instruction sheet. Don't remember where I got the information from though. I did find a spare decal sheet with the QinetiQ markings. Please see www.vingtor.net for ordering information, if you wish to buy it. The sheet (72-118) is not listed though, but the same price apply to all 1/72 scale sheets. Nils 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted February 23, 2021 Author Share Posted February 23, 2021 7 hours ago, Vingtor said: I specify Oxford Blue as the colour on the Vingtor instruction sheet. Don't remember where I got the information from though. I did find a spare decal sheet with the QinetiQ markings. Please see www.vingtor.net for ordering information, if you wish to buy it. The sheet (72-118) is not listed though, but the same price apply to all 1/72 scale sheets. Thanks Nils. I've sent an email to your Vingtor account. Cheers, Bill 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted February 24, 2021 Author Share Posted February 24, 2021 Yikes! It's amazing how rough things look at this stage. But, we can see that the Harrier has birthed a pair of Sabrinas. Once these are properly sanded and faired into the fuselage, there are some additional lumps and bumps to be added (specifically to the port pod). At the end of the build (assuming I get that far) the pods will sprout antennae. 📡 The pods were made from the drop tanks. I scaled the pod length from a photo which I hope was not taken with a fish eye lens, or from a fun-house mirror. Close enough for horseshoes and 1:72 scale, I say. The QinetiQ stickers have been ordered from Nils. Thank you! Coamings, instrument panels, and HUD thingies coming up next. Still need to clean up seams, do some re-scribing, etc. All in a day's play in Navy Birdland. Occasionally, Mrs. Navy Bird slides plates of flat food under the door to the inner sanctum. If I ask what it is, I hear "Shut up and eat it!" Cheers, Bill 9 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheyJammedKenny! Posted February 24, 2021 Share Posted February 24, 2021 Awesome job on this little thing, and so nice to see this beautiful jet taking form so quickly! Is that red stuff you're using from an ancient tube of Mattos Paint car body filler putty? I think I recognize the shade! If it works, and isn't too "hot," then so much the better. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David H Posted February 24, 2021 Share Posted February 24, 2021 Bill, does the excess red putty around the Sabrina fairings swab away with a Q-Tip and Mr Color Thinner, or Acetone, or something similar? Just curious. -d- 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBaron Posted February 24, 2021 Share Posted February 24, 2021 A delicious display of progress and process Bill. On 21/02/2021 at 23:29, Navy Bird said: I found a couple of Harrier tailplanes. Judging from the colour and hardness of the plastic they are from Hasegawa The modelling equivalent of a wine tasting I guess... 1 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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