International Scale Modeller

Hey Guys!

I finally made up my mind of what to build - I was first thinking of a Swedish HKP4 (Vertol 107/CH-46) but I went for a jumpjet instead

So... I don't think this aircraft needs any presentation really, but here's a short intro anyway



The British Aerospace Sea Harrier is a naval short take-off and vertical landing/vertical take-off and landing jet fighter, reconnaissance and attack aircraft; the second member of the Harrier Jump Jet family developed. It first entered service with the Royal Navy in April 1980 as the Sea Harrier FRS1 and became informally known as the "Shar". Unusual in an era in which most naval and land-based air superiority fighters were large and supersonic, the principal role of the subsonic Sea Harrier was to provide air defence for Royal Navy task groups centred around the aircraft carriers.

The Sea Harrier served in the Falklands War, and the Balkans conflicts; on all occasions it mainly operated from aircraft carriers positioned within the conflict zone. Its usage in the Falklands War was its most high profile and important success, when it was the only fixed-wing fighter available to protect the British Task Force. The Sea Harriers shot down 20 enemy aircraft during the conflict; 2 Sea Harriers were lost to enemy ground fire. They were also used to launch ground attacks in the same manner as the Harriers operated by the Royal Air Force.

The Sea Harrier was marketed for sales abroad, but by 1983 India was the only operator other than Britain after attempts to sell the aircraft to Argentina and Australia were unsuccessful. A second, updated version for the Royal Navy was made in 1993 as the Sea Harrier FA2, improving its air-to-air abilities and weapons compatibilities, along with a more powerful engine; this version continued manufacture until 1998. The aircraft was withdrawn from service early by the Royal Navy in 2006. The Sea Harrier remained in service for a further decade with the Indian Navy until its retirement in 2016.

Specifications (Sea Harrier FA2):

General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 46 ft 6 in (14.2 m)
Wingspan: 25 ft 3 in (7.6 m)
Height: 12 ft 2 in (3.71 m)
Wing area: 201.1 ft² (18.68 m²)
Empty weight: 14,052 lb (6,374 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 26,200 lb (11,900 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Rolls-Royce Pegasus turbofan, 21,500 lbf (95.64 kN)

Performance:
Maximum speed: 635 knots (735 mph, 1,182 km/h)
Combat radius: 540 nmi (620 mi, 1,000 km)
Ferry range: 1,740 nmi (2,000 mi, 3,600 km)
Service ceiling: 51,000 ft (16,000 m)
Rate of climb: 50,000 ft/min (250 m/s)

Armament:
Guns: 2× 30 mm (1.18 in) ADEN cannon pods under the fuselage, with 130 rounds each
Hardpoints: 4× under-wing pylon stations, and 1 fuselage pylon on centerline plus 2 attach points for gun pods with a total capability of 8,000 lb (3,630 kg) of payload.
Rockets: 4× Matra rocket pods with 18 SNEB 68 mm rockets each

Missiles:
Air-to-air missiles:
AIM-9 Sidewinder
AIM-120 AMRAAM
R550 Magic (Sea Harrier FRS51)
Air-to-surface missile:
ALARM anti-radiation missile (ARM)
Martel missile ARM
Anti-ship missiles:
Sea Eagle

Bombs:
A variety of unguided iron bombs (including 3 kg and 14 kg practice bombs).
WE.177A

Others:
reconnaissance pods or
2× auxiliary drop tanks for ferry flight or extended range/loitering time

Avionics
Ferranti Blue Vixen all-weather airborne radar
BAE Systems AD2770 Tactical Air Navigation System
Thales MADGE Microwave Airborne Digital Guidance Equipment
Allied Signal AN/APX-100 mk12 IFF


The kit looks like this:

Boxart


Clear parts, Photoetch and a massive decal-sheet


Assembly instructions


Sprues








And some aftermarket goodies




Tommy

Just love the Harrier, only idiots take them out of service and sell them lock stock and barrel oh yer that will be us

Looking forward to the build Tommy

Thats a really nice choice - looking forwards to seeing the completed version.

Welcome to the Hovering SIG Tommy! Great to have you along - and with our first fixed wing aircraft too

The Game's afoot!

I was hoping to get in there with the first fixed wing build but you beat me to it.

This will be an interesting version
Great to have Tommy building on the forum in the sig

Thanks guys!

I have been eyeballing this kit in the stash for a while now so I took the opportunity to start building it!


Tommy

Hey Guys!

I finally got some time to get started on this build - life is so busy now

We start off with the cockpit (no surprises here)


Most parts in the kit seems to have flash to some extent...


....and I get the feeling that this build will not be a walk in the park.... It's not exactly Tamiya standard...


But the the centerline seam on the headrest is something that most kits struggle with...


So, after some cleanup I have started to glue stuff together

I'm preparing the parts for photoetch - it will be a lot of that later.


Tommy

Hey Guys!

I found this magazine in my bookshelf, unfortunately it doesn't have many reference pictures of an FA.2 , but the reading about the history of the aircraft is great


Anyway... let's get started with the photoetch, shall we?










Primed in gray primer



Love this one....



Tommy

I have been working on the photoetch this weekend.

Painted up the cockpit parts with base-colours to prepare them for the PE




Picked out some details on the ejection seat with Olive green and Khaki


I had to scratchbuild throttle and nozzle handles, since the PE parts looked too wierd

It's a bit out of scale but its better, I think....

Some variations made to the seat using a sponge


Drybrushing the bangseat


(Most of) the PE for the harness glued in place with superglue



Tommy

Yes lovely.Loving the detail.

Cockpit detail looks superb. Great looking PE for the IP and side panel controls

Tempted by that coloured PE. I need a set of Tiger II radiator grills for a recent Tamiya purchase but they are under the minimum spend for my favourite online retailer. If I got some PE for the Shar.....

Beautiful work as always Tommy - I never cease to be amazed at all the extra detail you manage to cram into a 1/72 cockpit

digger303 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 08, 2019 10:22 pm Yes lovely.Loving the detail.

Thanks!

Stokesy44 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 08, 2019 11:02 pm Cockpit detail looks superb. Great looking PE for the IP and side panel controls

Tempted by that coloured PE. I need a set of Tiger II radiator grills for a recent Tamiya purchase but they are under the minimum spend for my favourite online retailer. If I got some PE for the Shar.....

This kit have been sitting in my stash for a while and at some point I bought the Big Ed kit - it's debatable if it's worth the money thb - it's only PE and a masking set. No resin.
The coloured PE is nice though and the masking set is very convenient.

Tomcat64 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 09, 2019 3:16 pm Beautiful work as always Tommy - I never cease to be amazed at all the extra detail you manage to cram into a 1/72 cockpit

Thanks Neil - but this time I'm actually building a 1/48 kit


Tommy

Okay!

I got some stuff done today... not much but it's slowly progressing...

Weathered the cockpit with Tamiya Black Panel wash and cleaned it up with enamel thinner


And after that I flat-coated everything with Gunze GX-113 thinned with MrColour Levelling Thinner (MLT)






The MLT, however, dissolved the adhesive tape on some of the painted PE parts(!), so they fell off

So I had to superglue them back, but after that everyhing was OK

I have also started to clean up the air intake and nose landing gear well.





Tommy

TommyKillander wrote: ↑Mon Dec 09, 2019 6:00 pm

Tomcat64 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 09, 2019 3:16 pm Beautiful work as always Tommy - I never cease to be amazed at all the extra detail you manage to cram into a 1/72 cockpit

Thanks Neil - but this time I'm actually building a 1/48 kit


Tommy

And I had a letter from my optician's this morning telling me I was overdue for an eye test - looks like they were right!!

That cockpit looks superb in whatever scale anyways

The cockpit looked good and then you applied the wash. The result is like chalk and cheese...marvelous.

Superb looking cockpit Tommy

Tomcat64 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 09, 2019 9:58 pm And I had a letter from my optician's this morning telling me I was overdue for an eye test - looks like they were right!!
That cockpit looks superb in whatever scale anyways

Thanks Neil!

digger303 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 09, 2019 10:52 pm The cockpit looked good and then you applied the wash. The result is like chalk and cheese...marvelous.

Thanks!
Yeah, the problem with prepainted PE is that they never get the colours right and also the print sometimes looks a bit "pixelated". The wash and flat-coat improves both those issues, I think.

Kevthemodeller wrote: ↑Tue Dec 10, 2019 4:17 pm Superb looking cockpit Tommy

Thank you Kev


Tommy

Hey guys!

Short update; been spending most of the evening dryfitting fuselage and the stuff that belongs inside it.

This is not Tamiya shake-n-bake





The combination of flash, unprecise location tabs and complex subassemblies makes this build a little more complex that I thought...

...but I will build it ofcourse - just need to figure out how to approach it first


Tommy

Sweet work Mr K
You will wrestle her faults into fabulousness in no time
Cockpit is amazing

Cockpit looks great Tommy.

I share your concerns about the intakes. I'm already thinking about how best to paint and then mask them.

fantastic job as ever on the cockpit Tommy, I'm looking forward to the finished article

Paul

Twokidsnosleep wrote: ↑Tue Dec 10, 2019 9:07 pm Sweet work Mr K
You will wrestle her faults into fabulousness in no time
Cockpit is amazing

Thank you, Scott!
There will be a lot wrestling with this one I think

Stokesy44 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 10, 2019 9:08 pm Cockpit looks great Tommy.

Thanks!

I share your concerns about the intakes. I'm already thinking about how best to paint and then mask them.

Yeah, me too...
I can't sleep at night.... (just kidding)

My plan is to dryfit and adjust until I get a snug fit and then paint fanblades in metal and the airscoop and thewheelhouse/fuselage parts white, so I get that sorted. After that it should be easy to mask everything up before I paint the cammo - I think....

Quax wrote: ↑Wed Dec 11, 2019 2:01 pm fantastic job as ever on the cockpit Tommy, I'm looking forward to the finished article

Paul

Thanks Paul!


After a good night sleep I realised that this kit isn't worse than most of the 1/72 kits I have built - it's just bigger so everything looks more intimidating

So, let's start the styrene slaughter.... I will get rid of the pitot tube right away... I will scratchbuild a new one later.


This is the first kit where I had to cleanup the location pins....


Lets remove the "rail" on the inside where the cockpit tub is supposed to sit - it doesn't fit there... Part of that is probably my own fault because I was lazy and didn't dryfit the tub in the fuselage before I glued it Also, the photoetch makes the side consoles thicker....


But now it fits perfectly! I will add new location tabs after I have completed the wheel well and intakes fitting.

I have removed the HUD and IP to avoid them getting smashed during the man-handling of fuselage. I will probably dryfit the cockpit and connected parts a hundred times before I can glue this fuselage together, so I keep them in a safe place for now...


Tommy

Hey Guys!

Moar progress

I have decided to start working on the nose wheel compartment, it's quite a busy place on the real aircaft

......but the kit, not so much

I will add some photoetch and random wiring to make it more "noisy"






The fit in the fuselage is actually quite OK, most important is that the length is good. I can always remove/add material in the inside of the fuselage on the side to make it fit.


Painted with H308, which seems reasonable when I compare it to the photos.


I could have gone totally bonkers with wires and geeblies, but I'll stop at this since no one will see it anyway


Tommy

Nice progress Tommy - really enjoying watching you knock this into shape and cram in the extra details

Tomcat64 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 13, 2019 10:47 am Nice progress Tommy - really enjoying watching you knock this into shape and cram in the extra details

Thanks Neil!
I guess "knock" is the keyword here

I continued with my "YOLO-mission" to add some more details to the nose wheel bay

Colores!


And some washes


After flatcoat (GX-113+MLT)


Finished article - I'm happy with that !


Now I only have to make it fit into the fuselage...

But I'm slowly getting there....

Okay... let's move our attention to the air scoops and blow-in doors


There are two versions of the blow-in doors; fully closed and partially closed. I will use the partially closed ones since the aircraft will be gear down.


Massive sinkmarks on the doors...


Liquid Sprue to the rescue


Painted the fans with buffable laquer metallics


Stay tuned!

Tommy

More great progress here Tommy - the details in that nose-wheel bay really pop after the wash.

Tomcat64 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 16, 2019 11:42 am More great progress here Tommy - the details in that nose-wheel bay really pop after the wash.

Thanks Neil


It's been a crazy busy week, but now it's finally vacation so I hope to get some stuff done

Cleanup of the blow-in doors and the inlets.

The Ultimate Customisable Sanders are *really* helpful here...

Not great, not terrible.... But I will glue everything together and let it cure before I proceed





Tommy

Cool stuff Tommy
Always entertaining watching you work

Looking good. That wheel bay is looking very nice.

She seems to be fighting you a bit - it will make the finished version all the more sweet

Twokidsnosleep wrote: ↑Sun Dec 22, 2019 2:49 am Cool stuff Tommy
Always entertaining watching you work

...not sure what you mean by that....
(just kidding)

Thanks Scott!

Stokesy44 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 22, 2019 9:33 am Looking good. That wheel bay is looking very nice.

She seems to be fighting you a bit - it will make the finished version all the more sweet

Right now she is not behaving like a good girl....


Okay, let's proceed with the rest of the stuff in the belly of this aircraft...


This CA glue debonder is great stuff! Perfect for cleaning up CA glue and does not react with the styrene

It has a lot of warning texts and a "Jolly Roger"-sign so it must be good....



But the center wheelbay looks a little bit dull, eh?

I need to do somethinge here I think

My main issue with this kit is that the location-tabs/slots are really weak; the does not provide a definitive location. It's almost like they where not designed in the CAD and instead carved out of the tooling steel

(I know is sound ridiculous, but...... that's how it feels)

I think I'm on the right track after a hour of dryfitting and carving....




Let's do some PE instead for a while..... A pity that the numbering of the PE parts is all messed up




Lot's of issues all across the board - but I'm actually enjoying this build


Tommy

As long as your having fun is the main thing.

digger303 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 27, 2019 11:37 pm As long as your having fun is the main thing.

I may sound strange, but I do


Ok... mistakes were made....

An IPMS buddy of mine is building a Harrier too and he pointed that the blow-in doors are placed the wrong way

The instructions are a bit ambiguous and the parts fits better the wrong way

...but it's still wrong, no matter the excuses; It should be like this


So... I used and old trick - flood the seams with TET while carefully prying loose the parts. Work slowly and let the capillary force soak the TET into the gaps


I lost a couple of "teeth" but I will rebuild them with plasticard. This setback, however, gives me the excuse to scratch build new sidewalls and doors (which is something I was already considering)...

But now I have to let the plastic dry up for a couple of days... so let's focus on the wheel well again

Added some stuff and wires...


Grey Primer


Painted up


I have glossed it with GX-100, leaving it to cure.

I will leave the bench for a couple of days and spend the New Year with my sister so when I'm back I will continue with the aux air intakes and the rest of the parts that goes into the fuselage.


Tommy

Ambiguous instructions, poorly drawn parts and multiple ways of fitment are sheer terror to a model builder
As a kid I remember “stepping up” to Tamiya kits where parts and Instruction drawings matched each other precisely, instructions were precise and everything fit just one way or not at all so you knew how it went together.

Man sorry to hear you lost some teeth in that process...sounds like it was like a hockey fight

TommyKillander wrote: ↑Sat Dec 28, 2019 2:42 pm

digger303 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 27, 2019 11:37 pm As long as your having fun is the main thing.

I may sound strange, but I do


Ok... mistakes were made....

An IPMS buddy of mine is building a Harrier too and he pointed that the blow-in doors are placed the wrong way

The instructions are a bit ambiguous and the parts fits better the wrong way
...but it's still wrong, no matter the excuses; It should be like this

So... I used and old trick - flood the seams with TET while carefully prying loose the parts. Work slowly and let the capillary force soak the TET into the gaps

I lost a couple of "teeth" but I will rebuild them with plasticard. This setback, however, gives me the excuse to scratch build new sidewalls and doors (which is something I was already considering)...
I will leave the bench for a couple of days and spend the New Year with my sister so when I'm back I will continue with the aux air intakes and the rest of the parts that goes into the fuselage.

Tommy

If there were prizes awarded for the most mistakes or the biggest I would need a trolley.....

Man this thing is putting up a fight!

I know how frustrating it is when the fit is "loose" and I always seem to opt for the wrong alignment.

Keep at it Tommy - you'll knock this into shape, hopefully without losing any more teeth though!

So far I think you've got the topside of this particular fight keep kicking at it mate

I cant tell you how many times I have put parts on wrong because of wrong or ambiguous directions and not knowing the aircraft. At least thats what a friend said to me once.

This is just excellent work Tommy! I have a half built kinetic S2 so, I think I know what you mean about the instructions.

As always some amazing work going on here Tommy

Thanks guys for the encouraging words, it's much appreciated

Let's start with the fun part; the wheel well

Weathering done and it's sealed with matte varnish

Ok... after that it's back to the air intakes. I have cleaned up the mess after the "glue flood" and sanded the edges flat to prepare for some new "teeth"


1mm plasticard will work fine




Also added a drop of liquid sprue to add some support


Now I will leave it to cure for a couple of days before I continue...


Tommy

Lovely work on the wheel wells Tommy

Intrigued to see your approach to the intake "teeth" - can I ask why you added them as a length of plastic to be cut back rather than cutting back before attaching?

Tomcat64 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2020 11:16 am Lovely work on the wheel wells Tommy

Intrigued to see your approach to the intake "teeth" - can I ask why you added them as a length of plastic to be cut back rather than cutting back before attaching?

Thanks!

Yeah, I think it will be interesting as well

My thinking was that it is easier to remove material than to add new material if the shape is wrong or I make it too small. We will soon see if that was a bad idea or not...


Tommy

Ok!

I'm continuing with the recovery action of the aux inlets...

I have cut and sanded away the excess material on the new shiny white "teeths"




The kit has 2 set of blow-in doors, one fully closed and one partially open. I'm gonna reuse the lower part of the fully closed set and scratchbuild internal sidewalls and doors for the upper part.

But first there are a couple of ugly gaps that needs to be taken care of...




And I also add a couple support ribs for the main air-scoop funnel.



Tommy

Got some works done today, wohooo

I have sanded down the added material on the lower doors


And cut it to length


Added the air funnel and filled the seam (it was a bit too pronounced I think)


Ok... the inlet looks like this:

It kinda gives me ideas.....

Preparing som material for the sidewalls; gluing 0.5 mm and 1 mm plasticard together


...but I'm thinking of 3D printing them on my Anycubic Photon instead... it's so much easier to do that


Tommy

sounds a labour of love Tommy, but amazing work its looking great

Meliodas2019 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 14, 2020 10:27 pm sounds a labour of love Tommy, but amazing work its looking great

Thank you very much

After some thinking I made a 3D model of a "wedge" in Fusion360 and printed it on Anycubic Photon. It took 2 hours effective time including the printing


After curing and removing the support the "wedge" looked like this


And this is the result sofar.




I need to fill some gaps and scratchbuild the doors, but after that the first one is finished.


Tommy

Thats an impressive result - well done!!!

Looking really good here Tommy!