Airfix Harrier GR.7-anything I should Know?

[mollythedog]

So,after a very long absence from kit building (as opposed to scratchbuilding) I thought I'd ask the learned gentlemen here-is there anything to look out for? Bum paint numbers,easily rectified errors or obvious improvements? Happy to get the strip and stretched sprue out,and make what is needed,if anything.

I would like to build it out of the box,and other than decals,not use aftermarket stuff. I would like to represent an aircraft operating off one of the CVL's-not fussed which one (ship or a/c) depending on aftermarket decals available.

Would like to build one of those green aircraft tugs shown on airliners.net,shown towing them around the flight decks-anyone have dimensions?

All suggestions welcome-it has been 20+ years since I actually started AND finished an Airfix plane of any sort,and after seeing some of the builds on here am sure I can learn a thing or 2.....

Cheers

mollythedog

[mollythedog]

Well,apparently not then....

I have trawled the site,but most comments seem to be for the Hasegawa versions,or in 1/48th-of course the colour options apply to all so this part has proved useful.

My only comments,based on the parts I have assmbled,are;

Considering that this was a kit made using CAD,I am surprised by the number of parts that don't align using the holes and pegs-it has been easier to remove all and sand flat before cementing together. The cockpit tub/seat is sparse and a sloppy fit,some fillets each side will help close up the gaps and represent the side consoles. The fuselage halves were damaged , the joint of the cockpit nose section is weak until the 2 halves are joined,and both parts are warped outwards.

Apart from Model Alliance,are there other decal options? Nothing wrong with theirs I am sure,but like to know if there are other options.

Is there really no info available regarding RN deck gear?? Nobody has ever photo'd the aircraft tugs or measured them? I did take a couple of shots when on board Illustrious at a Navy Day years ago,but didn't think to use my stick to act as a scale measure against,as I usually do for other things,such as weapons,wheels etc. I was more interested in the ship to be honest....

Cheers

mollythedog

[AnonymousFO98]

Hi Molly

It is a bit quiet at the moment and some will be at Hinckley today

The Airfix GR7 1/72 is a fairly old kit now and was not a CAD produced kit.

I have a couple in the stash pending. Not built one yet, so I cannot comment about the construction

It seems good to me in the box but typical of the time(and recent Airfix) there is sweet FAA in the cockpit

The schedules GR9 will be a CAD kit no doubt.

The tug idea sounds excellent and am hoping to get/scratch some myself

There have been threads on BM about the deck tractors before but iirc there are no 1/72 kits available. May well be proved wrong on that score.

[Doug]

Hi Molly,

My good mate Walrus is quite right the kit is quite old now being the companies original Harrier GR.5/AV-8B kit and as stated by Walrus is not a CAD designed kit. Overall there is nothing bad about the kit, but it does have a few vices as you have already found out there are some fit issues and you haven't really scratched the surface yet as I am sure you will find out as the build, progresses. (The nose you have already mentioned and the main wing fit (Undersides) and the fuselage main undercarriage doesn't always touch the floor). There are a number of Harrier fans on this site and I am sure they will chip in as soon as they read your post. Colours are keyed to the Humbrol range and are pretty straight forward and accurate, there may be some minor colours missed but again the Harrier aficionado's I am sure will point you in the right direction.

Anyway welcome back to the fold and hope you enjoy your build.

Doug.

Edited April 25, 2010 by Doug

[Giorgio N]

I have the same kit in the to-do list, and can only agre with what's been written.

Decal-wise, apart from model alliance, there might be some old modeldecal sheets around, but these cover older marking options. Then there's the (in)famous sky models sheet, which had a few GR.7, but is probably not worth hunting.

I'm sure Xtradecals has a few options but I'm not up to date on their catalogue..

[Mark M]

i have a feeling flight path may do some deck stuff

ill check and get back to you

try this

http://home.clara.net/djparkins/fltpath/fp...postwar_raf.htm

http://home.clara.net/djparkins/fltpath/fp72_ladders.htm

not sure if it helps

Edited April 26, 2010 by markmarples

[AnonymousFO98]

I have the same kit in the to-do list, and can only agre with what's been written.

Decal-wise, apart from model alliance, there might be some old modeldecal sheets around, but these cover older marking options. Then there's the (in)famous sky models sheet, which had a few GR.7, but is probably not worth hunting.

I'm sure Xtradecals has a few options but I'm not up to date on their catalogue..

EEEK! I have this sheet but didn't know there was a problem with it

What is wrong please Giorgio

sorry to hijack your thread Molly

if a long litany will start a new thread

[Giorgio N]

Walrus, don't worry, it's not reallya big deal: the main issues are on the earlier generation harriers. The "royal navy" titles are not gret as the font is not right(look at the "O" and you'll see what I mean) and I'm not ure of the size, some of the colours are a bit suspect, the roundels are more generic sizes rather than fitting where they are supposed to go. Also there are no underwing codes for any of the options and IIIRC not all the codes are right for the subjects.

The american options seem better, although one of them has a wrong Bu.No. The spanish options look good though. Finally, I feel the stencilling is quite generic.

For the GR.5/7 I feel it's not worth hunting because it doesn't offer much and it's out of production. Yet if you have it already there are some parts that can be useful. And if you find it for a few quid, then is an interesting buy.

Now I have the sheet, and actually already used it on 3 models ! I used the 1 Sqn Gr.1, a 4 Sqn GR.3 and the 799 Sqn. FRS.1. I also plan of sing one of the american options and one of the spanish, and maybe the Belize flight Gr.3. So I don't think it's all wasted money, only that there are more seriously researched sheets out there.

[aw-boss man]

So,after a very long absence from kit building (as opposed to scratchbuilding) I thought I'd ask the learned gentlemen here-is there anything to look out for? Bum paint numbers,easily rectified errors or obvious improvements? Happy to get the strip and stretched sprue out,and make what is needed,if anything.

I would like to build it out of the box,and other than decals,not use aftermarket stuff. I would like to represent an aircraft operating off one of the CVL's-not fussed which one (ship or a/c) depending on aftermarket decals available.

Would like to build one of those green aircraft tugs shown on airliners.net,shown towing them around the flight decks-anyone have dimensions?

All suggestions welcome-it has been 20+ years since I actually started AND finished an Airfix plane of any sort,and after seeing some of the builds on here am sure I can learn a thing or 2.....

Cheers

mollythedog

Aviation Workshop have a RN deck tractor already in production in both 1/72 and 1/48 scale in their AIRFrame range. The release date is Telford 2010.

We already have RN deck crew including pilots in 1/72 scale. Released late 2009.

www.theaviationworkshop.co.uk

Regards

Gary

[mollythedog]

Aviation Workshop have a RN deck tractor already in production in both 1/72 and 1/48 scale in their AIRFrame range. The release date is Telford 2010.

We already have RN deck crew including pilots in 1/72 scale. Released late 2009.

www.theaviationworkshop.co.uk

Regards

Gary

Thanks for all the comments. I had looked on the aviationworkshop site yesterday-nothing is mentioned about deck vehicles,and the flight deck crew are listed as sold out....

Flippinheck,this thing is a struggle-now I know why most prefer the Japanese version! I thought this would be modern kit,far removed from the Airfix I grew up with. Er,no

I thought I could work around the sloppy cockpit tub fit by adding 30thou rails and trimming...

Nice idea,didn't work.

Plan B then....remove part of the nose bulkhead,to allow a false floor to be inserted (scrap 20thou) so that if nothing else,I can get the tub to sit level

Which allowed me to glue the front end up,pulling the warped nose together,and hopefully giving me a solid fuz to work on. The join behind the cockpit,and to one side of the fan assembly will need some Milliput.

Atleast the tub will slide in now,and I plan to soup up the seat and add side consoles once the tub is glued in. The wing to fuz joint and the engine intakes are going to need a mound of Milliput too.

Forgive any errors in terminology,I am a ship modeller playing at planes.....

Onwards and sideways

Cheers

mollythedog

[aw-boss man]

Thanks for all the comments. I had looked on the aviationworkshop site yesterday-nothing is mentioned about deck vehicles,and the flight deck crew are listed as sold out....

Flippinheck,this thing is a struggle-now I know why most prefer the Japanese version! I thought this would be modern kit,far removed from the Airfix I grew up with. Er,no

I thought I could work around the sloppy cockpit tub fit by adding 30thou rails and trimming...

Nice idea,didn't work.

Plan B then....remove part of the nose bulkhead,to allow a false floor to be inserted (scrap 20thou) so that if nothing else,I can get the tub to sit level

Which allowed me to glue the front end up,pulling the warped nose together,and hopefully giving me a solid fuz to work on. The join behind the cockpit,and to one side of the fan assembly will need some Milliput.

Atleast the tub will slide in now,and I plan to soup up the seat and add side consoles once the tub is glued in. The wing to fuz joint and the engine intakes are going to need a mound of Milliput too.

Forgive any errors in terminology,I am a ship modeller playing at planes.....

Onwards and sideways

Cheers

mollythedog

Hi

Figures will be back in stock my the end of the month as will the Sniper pods etc.

The vehichles will not be advertised until nearer the time but rest assured they are in production. By the way, there are 3 versions of the RN deck tractor. The first one will be the current version followed by the 1970's version (HMS Ark Royal and Eagle)

These will be to true 1/72 scale.

Also in production is the Leyland Hippo refueller which should also be out at Telford.

Regards

Gary

[Kes]

Keep it up Moll, I've got this kit nearing the top of the 'to do' pile, nice photo build so far, kinda curious how this one turns out?

. . . Kes

[Shar2]

Aviation Workshop have a RN deck tractor already in production in both 1/72 and 1/48 scale in their AIRFrame range. The release date is Telford 2010.

We already have RN deck crew including pilots in 1/72 scale. Released late 2009.

www.theaviationworkshop.co.uk

Regards

Gary

Could these be up-scaled to 1/48th? PLEASE

[mollythedog]

Could these be up-scaled to 1/48th? PLEASE

I don't know if this is of any interest to anyone that has this kit "to do", I certainly didn't intend it to be a WIP report-wrong place and besides,I am far too ignorant and slow to show how it's done-so just a heads up showing how I have tried to work around fit problems.

Atleast it looks like a Harrier now-nose and wings on-

The port wing halves fit is horrible- I used a piece of 20thou square rod on the leading edge to fill the gap,as I thought it would give a better finish than filler. The gap between the fuz and wings is pretty big too....

I have started to mod the original seat assy,using a second,taken from the GR.7 Hi-Tech from Airfix,as a guide. Like I said,want to bodge this rather than chuck money at it-don't have shops I can go to buy aftermarket stuff,so that has to wait until next Telford!

Looking forward to seeing those deck tractors at SMW too.

Out with the Miliput then......

Cheers

Sean

[AnonymousFO98]

Hi Sean

that gap is annoying but not too bad

Personally would use styrene card instead of Milliput.

If you need to sand the latter once it is set in an awkward place like that it will be tricky

hth

[mollythedog]

Hi Sean

that gap is annoying but not too bad

Personally would use styrene card instead of Milliput.

If you need to sand the latter once it is set in an awkward place like that it will be tricky

hth

Er,too late Walrus-but after doing it,I think that next time I'll use card (atleast 15thou) and make up fillets to fill the wing root/fuz joint. I use milliput for pretty much everything,and used wet can be sculpted to fit into any tight space. This part wasn't too bad to clean up-

We had some nice weather here finally,so I left it outside drying in the sun. Somehow the dog snaffled it-luckily my wife saw that he was sloping off with "something" in his mouth-my GR7....no damage done,but he already scored his first kill,ripping to bits an 80% complete Matchbox Sea Harrier-some would say no great loss,but it had had a lot of work done to it. He obviously like Harriers too...

Here it is,cleaned up a bit. Looks like a Harrier,should be easy once this is done.....

The plastic card fillet worked well,just a smear of Greensuff after and it was sorted,after trimming and shaping of course.

Hopefully something here might have of some use to anyone else fancying a go at this kit. I am looking forward to doing another once this one and the FA2 are out of the way....

Cheers

mollythedog

[aw-boss man]

Could these be up-scaled to 1/48th? PLEASE

They are all planned to be upscaled to 1/48 Scale. We are just waiting for our master maker to return to work due to a family problems.

Our main resin projects this year will be to upscale many of our weapon sets and accessories from 1/72 to 1/48 scale.

Both RN deck tractor, the RAF Hallem tractor and the ground support equipment will be cast in bot 1/72 and 1/48 scale

Regards

Gary

[EE Lightning]

Hi There,

Just seen this one and good luck with your build. In fact I am doing a complete build on this Airfix re-release over on www.scalemodellingnow.com This kit suffers the same fate as just about every other Harrier kit in that all the wheels don't touch the ground at the same time! the fix is quite straightforward though by cutting off the outrigger locating tabs and adding slightly larger ones and combining that with flats on the tyres will pretty much fit it.

All the best, Geoff