International Scale Modeller

After much dithering I've finally decided that my first entry into this SIG will be the iconic Harrier


Specifically the Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR. 1

A quick intro courtesy of the kit instructions

Developed in the 1960s as the first truly successful V/STOL combat aircraft, the Hawker Siddeley Harrier proved a revelation upon entering service in its earliest GR. 1 form. However, its development period was not without issues, with various other NATO partners dropping out of the programme, some citing its lack of supersonic speed as a potential problem. The RAF persevered and despite criticism, the Harrier matured into a capable combat aircraft. Powered by a Rolls Royce Pegasus engine that vectored thrust through movable nozzles, the Harrier proved to be very manoeuvrable, enabling the Harrier to hover as well as take off and land vertically. With its small size and ability to operate from rough strips and even roads, the GR. 1 was soon accepted into RAF service in the Close Air Support (CAS) role. With much to the RAF’s Harrier force based in Germany at the height of the Cold War, the role of the Harrier, should World War 3 have broken out, was to undertake conventional strikes against Soviet Forces, combined with a secondary reconnaissance role. Detachments were also sent to Belize and there were various goodwill trips around the world, demonstrating to potential customers the versatility of Hawker Siddeley’s revolutionary design.



Speed: 730mph (1,176 km/h) at sea level
Combat Range: 230 miles (370 km)
Wingspan: 25ft 3in (7.7m)
Length: 45ft 8in (13.9m)
Armament: 2x30mm Cannon plus 5,000lb of underwing stores.

A total of 61 of the GR. 1 variant were built

Onto the kit and this is an Airfix starter kit - as you can see the Humbrol paints have already bitten the dust!


And the Hobbycraft security team has taken great care in placing their tape...


But everything's inside the box A total of four grey sprue frames and one clear


The surface mouldings look good and crisp, but being Airfix there's a wide range of EPMs available... most are tucked away where they won't be seen but there's a couple I've already spotted that will need some attention


A comprehensive instruction sheet


Which somehow runs to a staggering 45 stages for such a small kit


I've got a small vignette in mind for this and as a child I always remember seeing video of Harriers lurking in unlikely places so I'm thinking of something suitably arboreal if I can make it work. And of course I want to show it in the hover if I can

TC's building a wingy thingy - how do I feel about that then?



Topic subscribed

Oh this one looks like fun! Love the Harrier or really any plane that floats!!

Stokesy44 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 02, 2018 10:04 am TC's building a wingy thingy - how do I feel about that then?

Topic subscribed

DrSprue wrote: ↑Mon Apr 02, 2018 3:05 pm Oh this one looks like fun! Love the Harrier or really any plane that floats!!

Thanks guys - great to have you along as always!

I made a start on things this weekend and frankly pretty much threw the instruction sheet to the wind and just went where I felt like going - I'm sure it'll all work out in the end

So as usual we start with the cockpit - nothing too scary here, and happily Airfix still include a driver in most of their plane kits


After some Ultimate black primer, everything was brush painted with Vallejo model colour and model air. The whole lot was then given a thin black wash with the cockpit detail picked out by dry-brushing Vallejo Model Colour White-Grey (couldn't use White due to copyright infringement problems and potential litigation )


The cockpit was finished off with decals for the instrument panels


I then started dry fitting bits - in this case the air intakes


And put the main wings together - I have a cunning plan to leave these dry fitted during painting to allow for easier access for masking the fuselage... we'll see


Then dry fitted the cockpit and the intake cowlings to see where attention was needed (around the cockpit tub not surprisingly)


Everything was then taken back apart and the intakes were sprayed with white-grey and the fan test fitted (this was sprayed with model-air steel and then given a black wash). This all fits together quite nicely when it's out of the fuselage (more on this in a moment)


Then it was time to zip everything up with some cement. Underneath you can see a gap in the front wheel well (yellow arrow) which I couldn't get closed up. This is formed from the bottom of the intakes and they either ended up not right along the sides of the fuselage or not right in the well, so I opted for a gap in the well as the less intrusive fix when I get to it. The red arrows show the mounting points for the cannon, these were just indents and needed drilling out.


And from the top with all the other components that have been built up - there's a little filling and sanding needed in places but overall it's not too bad except in that wheel well. The canopy has also been masked up ready for installing, the tail and nosecone also added.


Overall it's more or less the right shape though


Hopefully I'll get some of the filling and sanding done this week with the aim to have it undercoated by the weekend.

Thanks as always for looking

I love how quickly a 1/72 kit goes together!

It's looking great so far - shame about the unavoidable gap in the wheel bay though!

Consider me subscribed

Nice to see you at last Tomcat even if you are late to your own party...

Coming along nicely though

cheers

Paul

ElCapitan wrote: ↑Mon Apr 02, 2018 3:57 pm I love how quickly a 1/72 kit goes together!

It's looking great so far - shame about the unavoidable gap in the wheel bay though!

Consider me subscribed

Thanks Rob - good to have you along

Yep after the usual faffing about with the cockpit you do get something reassuringly plane-shaped quite quickly at this scale!

Quax wrote: ↑Mon Apr 02, 2018 6:15 pm Nice to see you at last Tomcat even if you are late to your own party...

Coming along nicely though

Thanks mate

Yeah I try not to have more than two builds on the bench at a time so I had to finish one of those off before joining this party - needed some 1/72 practice before the Bombers

Awesome!

Great choice, and good work sofar!


Tommy

Great progress so far, gotta love a harrier!

TommyKillander wrote: ↑Tue Apr 03, 2018 7:40 pm Awesome!

Great choice, and good work sofar!


Tommy

chief5437 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 04, 2018 11:48 am Great progress so far, gotta love a harrier!

Thanks guys

Here's a quick update from this week, first up the tweezers rebelled and pinged the clear HUD into hyperspace so I just created a rough facsimile out of an offcut from another spare part - it's installed and painted black in here and I'm hopeful hit won't stick out like a sore thumb at this scale


And just to make sure I couldn't see it anymore I covered the whole thing with the masked canopy sections


Underneath I cut some small shims from flat plastic and tucked them into the gaps in the wheel bay, making sure I didn't cover the gaps for the locating lugs on the undercarriage leg


Then it was a case of finishing off the sanding on the seams and re-scribing four panel lines before the whole thing was given the Ultimate primer treatment


And that'll be it for a couple of weeks as we're off on holiday from Saturday.

Thanks as always for looking

Its starting to look really nice Neil!

Looking nice at the end there. All primed up and the classic Harrier silhouette.

Looking great Tomcat, building the ESCI frs.1 myself

DrSprue wrote: ↑Thu Apr 05, 2018 3:46 pm Its starting to look really nice Neil!

Stokesy44 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 05, 2018 4:17 pm Looking nice at the end there. All primed up and the classic Harrier silhouette.

Golfbravo251 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 10, 2018 2:23 pm Looking great Tomcat, building the ESCI frs.1 myself

Thanks guys - I'm hoping to throw some paint at it this weekend to get things moving along again

Quick update this morning with just the one photo as I spent the weekend mostly masking which is one of my least favourite jobs and was in a "just get on with it" mood. The undersides were painted with Vallejo Silver Grey - which has come down a little whiter than I was expecting but I think should come back after a wash or two; this was then masked off and Med Sea Grey was applied and then masked for the dark green - both from Vallejo Model Air. I left a day between each coat and masking session.

There are some areas which will need a little touching up but overall the result is pretty good


Once I've sorted out the clean up on the main build I'll get moving on the undercarriage and load out.

Thanks for looking.

Ooh! Sharp masking mate. Tidy!

Looking good! Quite fancy building one of these myself

Looking good mate.
Harrier is my favourite aircraft of all time!

Stokesy44 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 30, 2018 11:24 am Ooh! Sharp masking mate. Tidy!

ElCapitan wrote: ↑Mon Apr 30, 2018 11:31 am Looking good! Quite fancy building one of these myself

Maverick231 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 30, 2018 6:38 pm Looking good mate.
Harrier is my favourite aircraft of all time!

Thanks guys

I've started tidying up the edges where I had some minor bleeds. I probably should have mentioned that the masking was done with a mix of Tamiya masking tape, Tamiya tape for curves and white-tack where I couldn't get the tape to behave!

It's a really nice kit Rob, the only issue I've had so far is that fit in the front wheel-well and I'm still not convinced that wasn't me doing something daft.

Been a busy week work-wise but have still managed to grab a few hours in the evenings to move this along as Mrs T has had a couple of evening shifts this week as well.

The wheels included in the kit are intended to be sitting on the ground and have the tyres bulging accordingly which is a nice touch, but since I want this to be hovering I got hold of some resin replacements


These were assembled and painted along with some of the other assorted griblies that I left off earlier. The pale colour is Vallejo's silver-grey again, the undercarriage has also been given a black wash to try and get the details to show up a bit. The metallics are Games Workshop.


After sorting out the oversprays I decided to throw some decals at the main build before adding the bits:


Having wrecked decals on two of my recent builds I'm pleased to report that these went down a treat - probably some of the best decals I've used from Airfix


There's some work needed to try and get them to conform - especially around the air intakes but overall it's coming along nicely and I can start to think about the base


We're off to the rugby tomorrow and fishing on Monday but hopefully I can wedge some bench time in on Sunday.

Thanks as always for looking.

Looking good mate. The new wheels look really smart and the whole thing's got a lovely look to it.

Stokesy44 wrote: ↑Fri May 04, 2018 5:51 pm Looking good mate. The new wheels look really smart and the whole thing's got a lovely look to it.

Thanks mate

The decals around the air intakes are proving a to be a little resistant to conforming so I may resort to a couple of nicks with a scalpel to show them the error of their ways.

Some great progress there, it's really looking the part!

Have you tried Mr Mark decal softener - I tend to use it for decals that refuse to conform or are a bit thick. Failing that, a dab of X20a can sometimes do the trick.

Tomcat64 wrote: ↑Sun May 06, 2018 8:40 am
The decals around the air intakes are proving a to be a little resistant to conforming so I may resort to a couple of nicks with a scalpel to show them the error of their ways.

Yep, fancy decal solutions are great but now and then one has to resort to medieval methods!

Looking great so far Neil!

Paul

alextheblue wrote: ↑Sun May 06, 2018 8:46 am Some great progress there, it's really looking the part!

Have you tried Mr Mark decal softener - I tend to use it for decals that refuse to conform or are a bit thick. Failing that, a dab of X20a can sometimes do the trick.

Stokesy44 wrote: ↑Sun May 06, 2018 9:11 am

Tomcat64 wrote: ↑Sun May 06, 2018 8:40 am The decals around the air intakes are proving a to be a little resistant to conforming so I may resort to a couple of nicks with a scalpel to show them the error of their ways.

Yep, fancy decal solutions are great but now and then one has to resort to medieval methods!

Quax wrote: ↑Wed May 09, 2018 7:57 am Looking great so far Neil!

Thanks guys

I don't have Mr Mark decal softener but I did have one last bottle of chemicals in my arsenal so I wheeled out the Daco Red Label Strong stuff and that sat them down like an expectant Labrador and saved me getting all caveman on them!

Nice build Neil! Can't wait to see the final photos.

Your work is inspiring me on my 1/24 Harrier build.

Looks great!.....

DRUMS01 wrote: ↑Thu May 10, 2018 1:53 am Nice build Neil! Can't wait to see the final photos.

Your work is inspiring me on my 1/24 Harrier build.

Looks great!.....

Thanks mate

I remember building the 1/24 Harrier as a kid - it was a real beast and probably beyond my skill level back then but I took a swipe at it anyway! I just remember having a nightmare trying to get the front landing gear strong enough to take the weight without collapsing - I don't know if the kit has been upgraded since then but it's obviously haunted me because that's got to be getting on for forty years ago!

Still making slow but steady progress on this one...

When we last left it and as mentioned above I had a problem with the decals around the air-intakes but here's the results of a couple of applications of Daco Strong - Microsol and Solvaset barely touched them but the Daco set them straight down


I don't know what came over me but I dug out the smallest drill bit I have and bored out the muzzles for the cannon


And as you can see from the previous shot I also added all the under-dangling stuff like wheels, doors and pylons


Then it was time for a liberal coating of black clay wash - it doesn't matter how many times I do this it always gives me the jitters that it won't come off...


No need to worry though... it's like magic


This was completed all over and the whole thing was given a couple of coats of AK Ultra Matte to seal it up before adding the final gribblies and peeling off the cockpit. I'd also been working on the weapons pods; these came out ok and were attached to their pylons but the cats made a complete Horlicks of masking the external tanks (I mean it can't have been me right?) so they got a swim in a bath of Vallejo airbrush thinner and are currently drying off ready to undercoat again (the tanks not the cats). But that gave me enough plane to work out the rough centre of gravity and attach a Games Workshop flying base


I found some ready made trees online


Which then came together with the Harrier and a sheet of foamboard to give an idea of what I'm aiming for


The board has been cut to shape with a hole cut out for the base to drop into and then white-glued to a piece of plastic card, and that's currently under some weights to make sure everything's stuck together properly ready for trimming.

Hopefully I can have another go at the external tanks this week and get them attached whilst getting agricultural with the dio base.

Thanks as always for checking in

Very nice. The wash has come out really well.

I'm liking the trees too. They look really natural

That Harrier looks just great!

Looking forward to see the dio, those trees look really good.


Tommy

Stokesy44 wrote: ↑Sun May 13, 2018 5:42 pm Very nice. The wash has come out really well.

I'm liking the trees too. They look really natural

TommyKillander wrote: ↑Sun May 13, 2018 6:42 pm That Harrier looks just great!

Looking forward to see the dio, those trees look really good.


Tommy

Thanks guys - the fuel tanks have been sorted & attached and I've started in on the base as well - hopefully pics will be up later this week.

I like it, it's making me smile a lot.
I want a go.

pourquoi61 wrote: ↑Fri May 18, 2018 10:48 pm I like it, it's making me smile a lot.
I want a go.

Thanks mate - glad to see you could join in

Finally managed to get some decent time in at the bench this weekend and moved the project onto completion

Here's how the base came together... the various bits of foamboard were cut to size, attached to each other with white glue and then contoured with putty of varying shades for no other reason than I ran out of green. The sawn off cocktail sticks were just used to mark when the trees were going to end up


Once dry this was all given a liberal coating of Vallejo textured dark earth - a staple ingredient of any of my dio bases


A mix of grasses of varying shades, plus some woodland scatter and MiG Europe Dust pigments was mixed together and applied with thin white glue


Around the flying stem the area was brushed back with a stiff brush and more Europe Dust pigment was worked in to give a bare area


Trees were planted


And ground cover was added


And we're done!

If you want to see how it all turned out in the end then head over to the reveal which is here

Just having a look at your diorama build.

pourquoi61 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 03, 2018 5:21 pm Just having a look at your diorama build.

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions

Tomcat64 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 04, 2018 10:13 am

pourquoi61 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 03, 2018 5:21 pm Just having a look at your diorama build.

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions

Thanks I will.