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BAE Systems Harrier GR.7A


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Ok, with the Wellington sorted, I can finally crack on with my first entry for this GB. I'll be building the Revell/Hasegawa Harrier GR.7, which will be built as a GR.7A in the markings of 800 NAS circa 2006. Here's the contents of the build.

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Initially, I only intended to add the quickboost airbrake as Hasegawa have this moulded closed, but they are always extended with the landing gear. One thing led to another, and I've ended up buying the Aires wheel well set and cockpit. The cockpit is actually for an AV-8B, but I have it on good authority that the differences are only very minor, so I'm happy enough to plough on with it. The seat however is more noticeably inaccurate, so this will be replaced my an Aeroclub MB Mk 12 seat (though I will use the etch belts from the Aires set), with the Stencel seats being put aside for future AV-8B and A-7 builds. The markings come courtesy of the Model Alliance UK Air Arm Update 1 sheet. I'll also be adding a pair of mavericks from a Hunter FGA.9 kit- thanks goes to Pete (bomb'ed) for providing some excellent pics of these, as well as other stores and detail shots of the aircraft itself, much appreciated :thumbsup2:

Hopefully, she'll look a little something like this- photo courtesy of MikeH on UKAR

ZD346

Usually I build OOB, but as it's a Harrier, I thought I'd go the whole hog with her. Bit nervous about all that resin, but should be good fun :D

Hope to make a start on cutting some plastic and resin ASAP

Cheers

Shaun :)

Edited by Seamus
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Cheers chaps, hopefully I can do a good job of all that resin :pray:

:popcorn: Hmmm. Can't wait Shaun.

There may well be times where I call upon you for guidance during the build, after all, you are the good authority I was referring to in my first post ;)

Glad the CD is a help mate. Look forward to seeing the Harrier finished, shame it in NSW markings though!!!!!!!!!

CD is spot on :thumbsup: Don't worry about the NSW markings, I have similar intentions for a 41® Sqn bird in the near future :D

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Ok, here's the first bit of progress. I've spent much of the time so far cutting and sanding, in fact I have less of the kit than when I started :D. I started with the cockpit, which is very nice indeed, but requires much thinning of the inside walls of the forward fuselage. I've ground the walls down with my dremel, as well as thinning the outsides of the tub itself. I went a bit too far on the tub, going through the resin :blush: Luckily though, the gaps are at the front, so will be well hidden by the IP once it's all installed. Then, I made a start on the wheel wells, removing the nose and main wheel doors moulded into the fuselage. The nose wheel well is moulded integrally with the intake fairing, so again a bit of thinning of the inside plastic was required. The Aires instructions suggest removing the entire nose wheel door, which is slightly larger than the new resin doors, so I've now got a bit of a gap at the front of the wheel well, which I shall have to fill with some plasticard and milliput. The main gear bay is a much better fit, though i have yet to fit the sides to it, so I'm anticipating yet more thinning inside the fuselage. The airbrake has also been removed and the quickboost bay fitted in it's place. Again, a decent fit, though I've had to use a spare well as the first one has gone AWOL :doh: So here's where she is after a dryfit- it's a bit of a tight fit up front, but not too bad really. Apologies for the pants pics, my camera is struggling with macro of late :(

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The first major problem I've encountered is with the seats. The seat supplied with the cockpit set is the American Stencel seat, so I bought an Aeroclub MB Mk 12 as a replacement. However, it seems to be much too small, especially when compared to the Stencel seat.

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Not really sure what to do here. the Stencel seat is noticeably different from the Mk 12, and the Aeroclub seat just looks daft when fitted in place. I may have a look at the supplied seat and try to jazz it up using the etch supplied with the Aires and Aeroclub seats, though nay better suggestions would be much appreciated

That's it for now, I plan to do some fore fettling and sanding before giving the resin parts a wash and a blast of primer.

Comments welcomed as always

Cheers

Shaun :)

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Shaun,

the seat doesn't sit straight to the floor, there is a rocket pack under the seat and if you put the rear rails with a small gap underneath it may not look to small. You should find some pics on the CD to have a look at.

Cheers Pete

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Shaun,

The etch is essential to the Aeroclub seat as it represents the sides of the seat pan and the PEC connector that protrudes from it on the left and the manual release & safe lever on the right, bringing the width out to fill the space.

As Pete points out, the seat pan mounts on to the main seat beam which itself slides on to the ejection gun mounted on the cockpit bulkhead and the pan itself does NOT rest on the cockpit floor for the reason Pete gives.

The launch rails on the Aires 'pit will need to go which may be a little tricky. If Pete's CD has reference of the GR's bulkhead can I borrow it? I think I have a pic somewhere if not so shout.

Keep up the good work! :)

Cheers,

Kirk

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Thanks for the input chaps :)

I was aware of the rocket pack (which actually is not present with the seat), but even so, I reckon it will still sit too low in the tub. Comparing the seat to Pete's pic, I'm not convinced the back rest is wide enough, and it's considerably smaller than that of the Stencel seat. Is this the case in reality? I would have thought they'd be relatively similar in size :hmmm:

I guess the best thing to do is to get the etch on the seat and see how it compares then...

As for the launch rails, given that they won't be too visible with the seat in place, I don;t think it;s worth removing them, given how delicate it will be to remove them.

Anyways, that's all for another day- a day at Bruntingthorpe with a group of lovely old cold war jets awaits ^_^

Cheers

Shaun :)

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I was aware of the rocket pack (which actually is not present with the seat), but even so, I reckon it will still sit too low in the tub.

Although there are no locating pins/lugs, I think the idea with the Aeroclub seat is that you attach the pan slightly up the beam (meaning that it won't sit nicely on it's base until you install it). As you know, the seat height is adjustable with (off the top of my head) about 100mm movement.

... I would have thought they'd be relatively similar in size :hmmm:

Alas no. The Stencel's rail as about twice as wide as the M-B. I really need to hunt that reference for you...

Anyways, that's all for another day- a day at Bruntingthorpe with a group of lovely old cold war jets awaits ^_^

Lucky chap - hope you had a great time.

Cheers,

Kirk

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Ok, I think I may have the seat sorted :)

I've spent the evening glueing the etch to the seat, which makes a considerable difference to the appearance of the seat. Taking Pete and Kirks advice on board, I've left a small gap between the bottom of the seat and the floor, where the rocket pack would go, which in turn helps to raise the seat up a bit. I've also glued the rail to the back of the seat higher up, by 1 mm or so, as comparison with reference shots showed the 'space' between the back and head rest to be too small. This in turn left a big gap between the bottom of the rail and the floor of the pit, so I've glue in a piece of spare resin from one of the casting blocks and sanded it to shape with the dremel. Not a perfect way of doing things, but it's not going to be seen once installed so I can live with it. So, I think I've now got a better sized seat when compared to the Stencel

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And all looks reasonably good to my eye with the seat dryfitted in the cockpit, though of course I'd appreciate any input from you much wiser folk ;)

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The railings Kirk has alluded to are a bit of a problem, but I think it would be too delicate a sanding job for my ham fists to remove them, so I'll probably leave them as is.

Next step will be to wash and prime the resin before hopefully getting some of the parts sprayed up

Thanks for looking, all comments welcomed

Cheers

Shaun :)

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The cockpit is now complete- I sprayed up the tub and side panels with Hu 164 which is a close enough match for Dark admiralty grey, before applying a couple coats of Klear and a black oil wash. made a bit of a mess of this as the wash started to lift the paint, which suggests I didn't prime the resin all that well, so I was reluctant to remove too much of the wash, so it all looks a little bit messy. Anyways, this was all matted down, before the details were painted and a little bit of drybrushing to add some highlights. Here's the pics, the macro highlights the mess I made of the wash, but you get the idea :whistle:

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For the IP, I painted the resin and etch parts separately, before assembling the resin-film-etch sandwich. I think it's too small a scale for the details on the acetate to show through properly, but it looks OK i guess. There will be some filling required once the IP is glued in place, so I've left the HUD assembly off until that's sorted and the IP coaming has been painted properly.

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The seat has also been painted up and the belts from the Aires set added. The belts are intended for the Stencel seat, but I think I've managed to position them to represent the Mk 12 belts in accordance to reference shots. The back rest was added from tamiya tape and painted up. Again, it looks better in the flesh, so to speak.

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The cockpit was then assembled, but was far too wide to fit inside the fuselage, even after thinning it down beforehand, so I whipped out the dremel once more and sanded the crap out of the back of the sidewalls and inner fuselage sides! Fits alight-ish now, but a bit more fettling required methinks.

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I've also removed the moulded gear doors and airbrake (tidying up with plasticard where I went too far :oops:) and have sprayed up the wheel and airbake wells in white, which are now awaiting a wash. I've decided I'll try something different here, given the trouble I had in the cockpit. I'll probably try promodeller wash- saves the headache if it all goes wrong. The airbrake and main gear bays fit well, but I'm having trouble with the nose gear bay. It's been cast as a single part with the inner walls of the intake duct, which is giving all sorts of grief trying to get the wheel bay in the right place and the intake ducting to line up flush with the fuselage. It's a bit of a nightmare really, and even if I can line them up, it'll be a nasty filling and sanding job once in place, so I'm thinking of chickening out and scratching some FOD guards. Think I'll make them up first, just in case they're pants! :lol:That's probably a bit difficult to make sense of, so I'll get a pic up when I can.

Thanks for looking, comments welcomed

Cheers

Shaun :)

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Ok, been playing around with the Harrier again today, though it seems I'm spending plenty of time at the bench with little reward at the moment :hmmm: As I mentioned earlier, the resin nose wheel bay is cast as one with the inner intake wall (immediately aft of the forward fuselage) which makes fitting it tricky. It's ever so slightly narrower than the fuselage, and also leaves gaps at the top of the join.

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These are going to be tricky to fill and sand later on, though are much less noticeable with the intakes in place, which themselves are pretty nasty inside, with a sizeable gap between them and the bellmouth (?) ducting down to the fan.

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So, I've knocked together some FOD guards from plasticard, with some tamiya tape and then cling film (the latter glued with PVA) over the top to give it a more textured appearance. They look a little rough as there's still a bit of fettling to do plus a lick of paint wouldn't go amiss, but it's a start I guess. With the FOD guards in place, it should also help in masking the intakes when it comes to spraying her up, which can be a tricky business.

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I've also glued the airbrake well i place on the starboard half of the fuselage. Not too happy with the fit here, there's some nasty gaps, bought about by some questionable sanding on my part after the part didn't fit too well- lack of experience using resin has caught me out here :(

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Not looking forward top trying to fill and sand it once the fuselage is closed up, bit of a nightmare methinks :raincloud:

On a more positive note, a bit more fettling of the cockpit has got it fitting quite nicely now. Just to need to assemble the main gear bay after giving it a wash and try and fit it in place without making a hash of it like the airbrake, then I can think about getting the fuselage buttoned up.

Comments and suggestions most welcome

Cheers

Shaun :)

Edited by Seamus
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Shaun, you seem to be at that point where as the modeller little seems to be happening but you're actually making steady progress. From your pictures, the inner wall of the intake seems to be smoothing up nicely & the airbrake bay just looks like it wants a blob of filler. It may well be that the resin piece has distorted slightly on its trip from casting to cutting mat - they sometimes need a dip in hot water before fitting as the resin can be quite plastic.

As regards the bellmouth fit, this is always a tricky part on Harrier kits. Don't forget that the real thing effectively has 2 bellmouths; 1 from the fan face to the aft end of the auxilary intake doors and a second one from inboard of the forward end of the AI doors to the external intake lip. Whilst there is a clear step between the 2 in the most outboard sectors (with webs between the AI doors), this reduces to almost nothing at the top and bottom. I've not come across any kit parts that model this particularly accurately but (as was said on another thread) unless you're a midget with an endescope, you won't be able to tell so I wouldn't get to het up about it. :)

Incidentally, if the forward IP is not yet glued in, the small panels above the MPCDs (screens) are both very dark grey in colour. Shout if you want a picture reference.

Kirk

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thanks for the encouragement chap ^_^

Don't forget that the real thing effectively has 2 bellmouths; 1 from the fan face to the aft end of the auxiliary intake doors and a second one from inboard of the forward end of the AI doors to the external intake lip.

That would explain the gap then, which is good news :DTBH, I'd rather leave the blanks off as I prefer it that way (plus my blanks are a bit pants :blush:) so if you say it's looking OK, who am I to argue ;)

Still waiting on the wash to arrive so progress has stalled for now. However, I've got thinking on the nozzles. The supplied nozzles are a bit pants- the cold look oversized and the hot are solid. So, I was thinking of either pillaging some off an old Airfix kit and stripping and reworking them, or maybe investing in some resin replacements. Me being me, I'd rather be lazy and go for the resin, so does anyone though if any are available in this scale?

Hopefully more to come next week involving getting the fuselage together

Cheers

Shaun :)

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Thanks very much peeps ^_^

more progress and the fuselage has now been buttoned up and I've began work on cleaning up the seams. Typically, things didn't fit quite as nicely as the dryfit once I slapped some glue about the place, which left some nasty steps along the forward fuselage joins. These have been sanded back in preparation for some milliput before more sanding, The rest of the joins were largely OK, with only a little clean up required, though a touch of filler will be required here and there. Following on from Kirks advice in Ian's build thread, I've blanked off the gaps between the nozzles and engine bay, though not with quite as much finesse as Ian :whistle: I've also had to add some small strips of plasticard to build up a gap left between the main gear bay and the fuselage- I can see this coming back to bite me in the bottom later in terms of getting the main wheels on the deck :banghead:

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I've also pillaged the nozzles off an old Airfix kit, which have had their seam lines sanded back ready for some filling as well.

Next step is to get those joins sorted before cracking on with the rest of the construction

Thanks for looking

Cheers

Shaun :)

Edited by Seamus
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Thanks very much Grant :)

More progress to report, and things have started to move along quicker now. I've slapped a bit of milliput around the fuselage seams and sanded back to eliminate the steps. Probably still a bit more work needed around the rear of the cockpit section, but overall I think it's looking OK, though of course primer shall reveal all. I then set about completing the bulk of the construction. The fit was generally OK, though there has been some sanding required around the wing/LERX/fuselage joins to get them smooth, A touch more filler will be required here, especially on the underside of the LERX, but nothing too taxing. The nose has been a little more troublesome in that it was slightly larger than the fuselage, so again more sanding has got it looking respectable, though I'm not convinced the shape of it is quite right :hmmm:. Again, a touch of filler should sort things out. I've also installed the IP and stick into the cockpit. So, here's where she stands at the moment.

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All rather messy at the moment, but hopefully it'll come good once I get the primer on. It's probably worth noting that the glazing have has the seams sanded of and been polished back up and given a dip in Klear, so they're now ready for masking. The windshield section sits a little higher over the forward fairing, so I think a bit of careful sanding on the underside of the frame should do the trick and get it down to the same level.

Just need to mask off the inside of the intakes before they can be installed, then it's onto more filling and sanding before priming. Hopefully I can get this done within the next few days and make a start on the paintwork.

As ever, all comments and suggestions welcomed

Cheers

Shaun :)

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