Look Mummy, There's an Aeroplane Up In The Sky - Or Dear bod What Have I Gotten Myself Into. - Tamiya 1/48 Royal Navy Sea Harrier FRS.1 - Finished

[AliGauld]

Ok, so I bought this when I got back into the hobby as it was cheap.

I then learned of it's reputation and have been ignoring it ever since, but, as it's Christmas I thought why not.

In the interests of transparency I have bought a fair bit of after market for this but forgot to get a resin seat as the kit one is a tad basic.

I ordered up the seat last night and it will arrive sometime but I should be able to make a start as it should just slot in.

I did cut the main fuselage part off a ear or two ago when I thought I'd do it but that's all that's been done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now the aftermarket.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are for the Airfix kit but I believe they can be made to fit.

 

So, there you go.

I felt the need to challenge myself to try and improve and I'm afraid you've all got roped in. 

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[Winded Penguin]

Another Harrier on the forum👍

I can't resist🤩

[bigbadbadge]

Wicked Choice Alistair,  will enjoy this, maybe I will be inspired to get on with my FRS.1 again , the engine is something I look at every day at the bench.

Chris

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

You'll need all of that aftermarket too. I did this one ages ago and improved it to my (then) satisfaction with plasticard and fusewire etc. I'm looking forward to you showing me how it should be done proper. 😀

[jackroadkill]

Oh hell yes; I'm in on this!

[AliGauld]

1 hour ago, Winded Penguin said:

Another Harrier on the forum👍

I can't resist🤩

You haven't seen the mess I may make of this yet.

 

1 hour ago, bigbadbadge said:

Wicked Choice Alistair,  will enjoy this, maybe I will be inspired to get on with my FRS.1 again , the engine is something I look at every day at the bench.

Chris

 

Thanks Chris,

At least you'd be able to show me how it should be done.

 

1 hour ago, Bertie McBoatface said:

You'll need all of that aftermarket too. I did this one ages ago and improved it to my (then) satisfaction with plasticard and fusewire etc. I'm looking forward to you showing me how it should be done proper. 😀

I'm not sure about showing how it should be done but there may be some entertainment value in my struggle.

 

7 minutes ago, jackroadkill said:

Oh hell yes; I'm in on this!

Nice to have you along.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[Dr. Quack]

Oooooooh yes..

..I'm up for this.

Flightpath set looks comprehensive.

One of these is definitely on my list - though maybe not the Tamiya one.

Looking forward to this.

 

......and Merry ...er... C-word.

[AliGauld]

11 minutes ago, Dr. Quack said:

Oooooooh yes..

..I'm up for this.

Flightpath set looks comprehensive.

One of these is definitely on my list - though maybe not the Tamiya one.

Looking forward to this.

 

......and Merry ...er... C-word.

Welcome aboard Q,

I had thought of getting the Kinetic version a few times but I got their GR1/3 one and decided just to try this out.

It will be good for me to stretch myself.

May have bitten off a bit much this time. Let's see how it goes.

And Merry Saturnalia to you.

 

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[mark.au]

4 hours ago, AliGauld said:

felt the need to challenge myself to try and improve and I'm afraid you've all got roped in. 

Oh yeah, I’m in.

[AliGauld]

14 minutes ago, mark.au said:

Oh yeah, I’m in.

Nice to have you aboard.

This one may be a bit bumpy.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[AdrianMF]

I’ve had that feeling about the kit too - “Tamiya? How much??”. I settled for a 1/72 Hasegawa stash queen instead.

 

Looks like you have enough aftermarket to bling it up though - are you sure that PE fret doesn’t contain all the parts you need for its parent aircraft carrier too?

 

Regards,

Adrian

[AliGauld]

Just now, AdrianMF said:

I’ve had that feeling about the kit too - “Tamiya? How much??”. I settled for a 1/72 Hasegawa stash queen instead.

 

Looks like you have enough aftermarket to bling it up though - are you sure that PE fret doesn’t contain all the parts you need for its parent aircraft carrier too?

 

Regards,

Adrian

To quote a certain sperm whale on passing the petunias.

"There certainly seems to a hell of a lot of it".

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[Dandie Dinmont]

4 minutes ago, AliGauld said:

"There certainly seems to a hell of a lot of it".

A mere nothing to a man of your talents, I’m sure you will turn this sow’s ear into a silk purse with your customary nonchalance. 
Done by Hogmanay?

 

Craig. 

[AliGauld]

Just now, Dandie Dinmont said:

A mere nothing to a man of your talents, I’m sure you will turn this sow’s ear into a silk purse with your customary nonchalance. 

Thanks Craig, I think. 

 

1 minute ago, Dandie Dinmont said:

Done by Hogmanay?

Oh I think that's a tad optimistic. Maybe the 1st.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[speedy]

An equal balance of a kit. Shocking design but the best box art. Bet you’re signed off sick with stress after this one.

 

Good luck though👋

[Bigdave22014]

Good luck. This one still haunts me, but at least it's useful as a paint mule...

[AliGauld]

3 hours ago, speedy said:

An equal balance of a kit. Shocking design but the best box art. Bet you’re signed off sick with stress after this one.

 

Good luck though👋

Thanks very much,

I'll give it a go.

 

2 hours ago, Bigdave22014 said:

Good luck. This one still haunts me, but at least it's useful as a paint mule...

Thanks very much.

Probably sound advice.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[heloman1]

A SHAR, I couldn't resist following this one! Tamiya, what could possibly go wrong?

Remember when you get to all that brass sheeting, a large clear plastic bag and your chosen cutting surface placed inside. Don't want anything going ping off into the ether do we?

 

From a soggy South Africa, seasons greetings.

 

Colin

[kiseca]

Ah. That familiar trap. I too was once a returning modeller tempted by the Tamiya Sea Harrier's very attractive price tag.

 

I did mine out of box. It had its moments of drama - the rotating engine nozzle mechanism failed long before the build was finished, for one thing - but for the standards I had set myself at the time (2 years ago) the end result looked enough like a Sea Harrier to sit comfortably on my shelf. I was happy with it anyway.. and still am.

 

It's not the easiest of kits to build, far from the best fitting, not great detail, a pointless detailed engine when the visible space all around it is just the inside of the fuselage plastic... but it's not the worst model I've built since returning to the hobby, either. It's not even the second worst.

 

 

 

 

 

It is the third worst, though.

[AliGauld]

41 minutes ago, heloman1 said:

A SHAR, I couldn't resist following this one! Tamiya, what could possibly go wrong?

Remember when you get to all that brass sheeting, a large clear plastic bag and your chosen cutting surface placed inside. Don't want anything going ping off into the ether do we?

 

From a soggy South Africa, seasons greetings.

 

Colin

 

Thanks Colin, 

That is a great tip and will save me from the usual 3hr hunt on the floor.

 

26 minutes ago, kiseca said:

Ah. That familiar trap. I too was once a returning modeller tempted by the Tamiya Sea Harrier's very attractive price tag.

 

I did mine out of box. It had its moments of drama - the rotating engine nozzle mechanism failed long before the build was finished, for one thing - but for the standards I had set myself at the time (2 years ago) the end result looked enough like a Sea Harrier to sit comfortably on my shelf. I was happy with it anyway.. and still am.

 

It's not the easiest of kits to build, far from the best fitting, not great detail, a pointless detailed engine when the visible space all around it is just the inside of the fuselage plastic... but it's not the worst model I've built since returning to the hobby, either. It's not even the second worst.

 

 

 

 

 

It is the third worst, though.

I have low expectations of my own ability and if it turns out vaguely Harrier shaped then that will do for me.

I'm really using it as a push to try and improve my limited skill set.

 

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[AliGauld]

With several deep breaths, in between cooking sessions, here we go.

 

Plastic has been cut, etch has been folded and glue was liberally spread around.

 

 

As this will not be seen at all I'm going to do absolutely nothing about the seams.

 

The fan however and the  shroud that goes over it will be very visible and I cut the locating lugs from both and smoothed them out.

 

 

 

I am waiting for a resin seat to arrive but thought I might as well dress up the kit one in the PE and see how it looks.

Just the side plates glued to this just now as I'll put the belts and stuff on after I've painted it.

 

 

The main cockpit tub got some PE.

 

 

As did the IP 

 

 

 

 

Now if it stops persistently raining here I'll get out to the Garage and get these primed and maybe coloured.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[bigbadbadge]

Nice progress Alistair,  at this rate you'll be finished in a week or so😉.

Chris

[AliGauld]

Just now, bigbadbadge said:

Nice progress Alistair,  at this rate you'll be finished in a week or so😉.

Chris

Thanks Chris,

I needed to cut plastic as the more I looked at it the less I was enthused by the prospect.

It's started now and I will Magnus it.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[AliGauld]

I got a chance to get out to the Garage and so stuff was primed and once that had dried various colours were sprayed.

 

Mr. Color Gloss Black for under the metallics.

 

 

 

Colourcoats Dark admiralty Grey on the tub, IP and seat.

 

 

 

 

Dark admiralty Grey and Gloss White on the fuselage

 

 

 

I will need to respray the Dark Admiralty Grey due to sloppy overspray on my part.

 

Rubber Black on the IP parts.

 

 

 

And Gloss white on the engine shroud.

 

 

More tomorrow,

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Cheers,

Alistair

 

 

[bigbadbadge]

Nice work Alistair , glad you got the opportunity to get into the Garage to get some paint on .  Hope you had a great day today.  Have you had a good look around your pressie yet???

 

Merry Christmas to you and yours fella

Chris