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1/72 Hasegawa Harrier GR.3, 4 Squadron RAF Germany


Hoops

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Good Afternoon,

 

I think that the Hasegawa kit has some disadvantages, but it is dirt cheap where I live right now, and I think with the proper amount of effort, I can overcome those problems and turn out a good looking build. I'm working on this aircraft for my local hobby shop's fall contest, and this is the plan for how it should appear in the end:

 

51349382418_32ecd6c46f_o.pngpath1357-2-1-5-5-6 by J Hooper, on Flickr

 

I've not found any good decals for this scheme, so I did my own artwork and had them ALPS printed. They are in the mail and will hopefully be here in time for decaling. Depending on how the yellow turns out once printed, I may paint the lightning bolt on the tail, but that decision will be made once the decals are in hand.

 

51349896274_d6949966ed_o.pngpath1344-3-6 by J Hooper, on Flickr

 

First will be fuselage details, you can see the traces of the sink marks throughout the fuselage.

 

I opened up the intake on the top side and boxed it in from the rear.

 

51348426932_d10b0fb22a_b.jpgP1050488 by J Hooper, on Flickr

 

I also boxed in the nozzles added some details that were missing:

 

51348427157_084a46be3b_b.jpgP1050487 by J Hooper, on Flickr

 

The airbrake well was detailed also:

 

51349896494_a0c76fb24d_b.jpgP1050486 by J Hooper, on Flickr

 

Detail added to the vents, the flaps were dropped, and the wing fences were replaced with .25mm sheet styrene.

 

51349896524_44f3ecb4c2_b.jpgP1050485 by J Hooper, on Flickr

 

Detail of the tail vents:

 

51349382533_109b80d7bf_b.jpgP1050489 by J Hooper, on Flickr

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External Parts, first the underwing stores:

 

The drop tanks were modified from Hasegawa Napalm bombs. The kit doesn't come with any, and these proved to be pretty close based on the scale plans of first generation Harriers that I had. Some reshaping, detailing, and adding sway braces an they were complete. The Phimat pod is from the Special Hobby Mirage F.1 kit, the spacer and sway braces were scratch built, and better fins added with .25mm sheet on the tail. The same space was added to the other side, and the LAU-7 rail was added from a Hasegawa 2nd Gen Harrier kit.

 

51348427042_ec344d8444_b.jpgP1050495 by J Hooper, on Flickr

 

The plates on the end of the horizontal stabs were shaved off and replaced with .25mm sheet.

 

51350177870_68c2f61142_b.jpgP1050492 by J Hooper, on Flickr

 

Detail added to the gear and the heat shields using sheet and stretched sprue (black for contrast so that I can see it.)

 

51350177855_b04ea4a92c_b.jpgP1050496 by J Hooper, on Flickr

 

The gun pods:

 

51348427237_2f839c4e4d_b.jpgP1050482 by J Hooper, on Flickr

 

The sink marks in on the intakes were filled, and I filed down the top blow in doors to represent them dropped. I left those on the side flush so that I don't have to get crazy with the decals.

 

51350178015_9384afa3e3_o.jpgP1050478 by J Hooper, on Flickr

Edited by Hoops
Forgot to add two photos:
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And now for the cockpit:

 

The seat is from NeOmega, I've had it the stash forever, but it is the right mark. I narrowed it a bit on the bottom to fit in between the consoles and so that the cockpit would fit in the fuselage. Lots of detail added with lots of sources.

 

51349155441_978a63bd64_b.jpgP1050501 by J Hooper, on Flickr

 

Inserted in to the fuselage side:

 

51349382433_2cec339432_b.jpgP1050504 by J Hooper, on Flickr

 

Fuselage halves closed:

 

51349155426_3f04b525c9_b.jpgP1050507 by J Hooper, on Flickr

 

I'll be adding some more detail to the deck behind the ejection seat, but that will wait until the interior is painted, and the sides are glued closed.

 

All for now!

 

Cheers,

Hoops

Edited by Hoops
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  • 3 weeks later...

An update:

 

Tail Markings have been painted, including the "H." I was not thrilled with the color density on the ALPS printed decals, so I elected to paint the markings instead.

 

51391026757_07d97e5aa6_b.jpgP1050533 by J Hooper, on Flickr

 

The underwing stores are complete and ready for installation once major construction and paint is completed:

 

51392804990_3bc4dca95b_b.jpgP1050536 by J Hooper, on Flickr

 

The same is true for the landing gear, the Yellow "H" on the outrigger gear is also painted on, those proved to be significantly more fiddly.

 

51392804965_78145c118b_b.jpgP1050538 by J Hooper, on Flickr

 

The compressor face and the air brake are also similarly ready to go. "H" on the airbrake also painted.

 

51391026712_facf61cc26_b.jpgP1050541 by J Hooper, on Flickr

 

 

Edited by Hoops
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The cockpit is painted and ready for installation:

 

51392045078_7d6f99f1fa_b.jpgP1050542 by J Hooper, on Flickr

 

Shown test fitted here:

 

51391789181_a4402e2eed_b.jpgP1050544 by J Hooper, on Flickr

 

Next step is doing some filling and shaping on the nose.

 

It is my opinion that the front of the nose is not far off. Where the narrow "barrel" transitions to the rest of the fuselage, however, It looks like it gets pinched and throws off the look of the nose. Some puttying and light shaping will show some improvements there I hope.

 

Cheers and thanks for looking,

Hoops

Edited by Hoops
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Can't believe I didn't see this thread until now. Some real quality work going on here! And as a Harrier nerd, I'm glad to see the attention to detail being applied to this kit.

 

Mark.

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2 hours ago, Harry Lime said:

Can't believe I didn't see this thread until now. Some real quality work going on here! And as a Harrier nerd, I'm glad to see the attention to detail being applied to this kit.

 

Mark.

My sentiments exactly! Some great work being shown here.

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Some nice work there.  However, the seat is a Mk 9 but a sub mark used on a Jaguar and is wrong for the Harrier GR3, check out some pictures of the Harrier seat, the headbox is completly different.

 

Selwyn

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Another update before I start priming and painting the aircraft:

 

Here are the modifications to the canopy, the molded on det cords were carefully sanded off and polished away so that they can be replaced by decals. The panel in the back was scratch built (can be seen in the previous cockpit photos) and the fairings boxed in:

 

51403606760_d499865c6b_b.jpgP1050549 by J Hooper, on Flickr

 

51403385494_57ecf84a6a_b.jpgP1050548 by J Hooper, on Flickr

 

The gun pods are mounted on the bottom, as well as the various vents and antennas. Paint looks a bit rough right now, as parts had been primed to check shape, then sanded filled, or otherwise adjusted:

 

51401882017_90d36d1792_b.jpgP1050556 by J Hooper, on Flickr

 

The detail on the glareshield can be seen, as well as the reshaping of the nose extension, detailing on the deck behind the cockpit and other various vents. The pitot tube base was replaced as the kit item was too short as well as too large in diameter. The kit supplied vent below the right cold air nozzle was significantly cut down, as the Hasegawa piece is way to large, and the other vent on fairing was added from scratch.

 

51402892178_809fec939e_b.jpgP1050555 by J Hooper, on Flickr

 

51403606750_fe529e6d58_b.jpgP1050554 by J Hooper, on Flickr

 

Next step is to attach and blend in the windscreen, then mask, prime and check for any flaws that need to be addressed.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Hoops

 

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On 8/21/2021 at 6:54 PM, Harry Lime said:

Can't believe I didn't see this thread until now. Some real quality work going on here! And as a Harrier nerd, I'm glad to see the attention to detail being applied to this kit.

 

Mark.

 

On 8/21/2021 at 9:37 PM, BLACK_MAMBA said:

My sentiments exactly! Some great work being shown here.

 

Thank you for the kind words gentlemen!

 

On 8/21/2021 at 10:02 PM, Selwyn said:

Some nice work there.  However, the seat is a Mk 9 but a sub mark used on a Jaguar and is wrong for the Harrier GR3, check out some pictures of the Harrier seat, the headbox is completly different.

 

Selwyn

 

I appreciate the feedback. Looking at the references I have I can see that there is a difference. It looks to me like the head box slopes down at the back. The shape of the front looks pretty similar to me. As this will be somewhat obscured by the canopy bow, and the work is already done, I will be continuing with the seat I've got. Especially because I don't have any more appropriate Mk 9 seats on hand, and this needs to be complete by Sep 9 to make into my local hobby shop's contest.

 

Cheers and thanks!

 

Hoops

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  • 2 weeks later...

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