Airfix 1/24 Harrier GR.3

Hi Gang - posting again after a long time. I hope every one is well. I've been working on lots of projects during lockdown, lucky to have a hobby that is unaffected by solitude.

A while ago I started work on the Airfix 1/24 Harrier GR.3 that has been in my stash for umpteen years. I haven't decided on the exact aircraft yet, but I'm going to complete it as a machine used in the Falklands war, and hopefully ready for the 40th anniversary of the conflict next year.

It's an ancient set of moulds, dating back to 1974 (if memory serves) and updated in various re-issues to GR.3 and FRS.1 standard. (If you've got the latter in your shed ready to sell for a reasonable price I'm your customer!) I've got the very comprehensive Flight Path brass and resin upgrade set to enhance and correct the detail.

I bought the Flight Path RAF Type 'Y' weapon loader set so I could get a second BL.755 for an accurate load. The first step therefore was to build that and the weapons to get used to how Flight Path work. It's very good stuff but can stand some extra detail. I used lots of Archer Fine Details resin rivet decals, especially on the fins. Really pleased how it turned out. (Just realised how terrible that photograph is - many apologies!)



After that was complete I moved on to the Martin Baker Mk.9 ejection seat. Flight path provide a complete replacement in photo etched brass sheet and white metal. There are around 60 parts to build this up.

Here it is in unpainted metal, but with the seat cushins enhanced with some MIG acrylic water medium to provide the fabric effect. I also added the piping on the seat cushion and stitching on the back cushion.


And primed


Now painted with decals from the spare box and a few scratch addons.




Thanks for looking in, more soon

Oh boy Gareth is back. More cool stuff to go with Ajay's!

Glad you are doing well.

Hi Nixer, I hope you are well too.

I did some more work and got the cockpit tub and instrument panel installed in one side of the fuselage. Here are some shots of it before fitting. The instrument panel was particularly 'fun'. I punched out lenses for the instruments from thin transparent plastic, and used the Airfix decals rather than the film ones from Flightpath on the back. I found a map of the Falklands that looked a bit like an aeronautical chart and redeuced it to scale before punching out a circe with Goose Green on it for the moving map display. (A certain amount of artistic licence was applied here as the actual charts would have been on a 35mm film cassette and back lit, so invisible when the unit was unpowered.)





The rudder pedals, rear bulkhead and sidewalls are from a resin set made by Simian Stuff, which I believe was originally a Heritage Aviation Models set. The instrument panel and cockpit tub were of lower quiality than the Flightpath metal, but the rudder pedals are superior, so I cut them from the tub to add to the Flightpath tub. 

 









Very pleased with that! 😊
I'm currently grappling with detailing the engine air intakes, which is a huge job, so might be a while before I update.

Cheers,

Gareth

Holy freholies, that's just crazy detail work!

Thanks for the comments kids!

I've been doing lots of work on 'de-rivetting' the fuselage and wings, which is basically filling and sanding over and over again. Really tedious! Airfix were more restrained on the upper surfaces of the wing, so I have progressed more quickly there. Here's a couple of shots of the starboard wing with the Flightpath replacement fences and vortex generators, which are really nicely done and add some real finesse to the detail. I've also cut out the navigation lights. The gaps were filled with slear plastic and sanded to shape before being polished back to clarity. (Under masking tape here as I wanted to put a coat of primer on to check the rivets had been filled correctly.)














Thanks for looking in, more to come soon.

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I've turned my attention to the landing gear.

Here's the original main gear leg. Not too bad considering it won't be very visible, but it could do with more finesse.



 

I don't believe in adding detail that won't be seen, and nost of this will be between the main wheels, but it could be spotted by a someone observing closer than 'show distance'. I broke out the styrene strip and rod, brass tube and heat shrink tube. I replaced the smaller scissor link, added some surface detail for the shafts the other scissor link rotates on, and replaced what I assume is some kind of damper for the main oleo. Pleased with that. 😀

 



 

I've also spent a lot of time on the intakes / auxiliary intake doors. On the right is Airfix's original, accurate enough for an aircraft in forward flight. At rest the upper auxiliary doors droop inwards under their own weight. (In the hover all the doors open inwards due to the suction from the engine, and supply extra air.) On the left is my modded version of the starboard intake, using Flightpath's replacement doors. 




Gareth


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You know i'm stealing that water medium idea for seat cushioning. Lovely detail Goon, 1/24, that thing is gonna be a whopper!

It's a bit of a monster Ajay!

I finished the wheels today. These are ResKit's replacements. Flightpath supply replecement resin main and nose wheels, with extra detail in PE, but they aren't much cop to be frank. (The Airfix parts are crappy rubber tyres and quite poor hubs.) These parts a real upgrade to the detail in the undercarriage. 

The hubs are Alclad Stainless Steel, with a wash of thinned black oil paint and some Tamiya Aluminium dry brushed highlights. 

The tyres are Tamiya NATO Black, with another thinned black oil wash. I haven't decided which airframe I'm representing yet, but it's likely to be during the later days of the conflict, so the tyres will have had a long six weeks at sea, plus a few visits to the PSP Forward Operating Base at San Carlos. I oil dot weathered them with a couple of shades of dark brown, one of green and some white and 'Starship Filth' (a mid grey). Hopefully this represents a bit of peat, grass and salt build up on the thyres, and the tread being scuffed by the anti-slip coating on the carrier deck.

Here's the full set of five wheels, and a close up of the three mains.








Thanks for looking in again,

Gareth

Oh, good grief, man, the wheels have grass stains on them.

Grass. Stains.

I know I sound repetitive, but I can't help but be continuously floored by your and other's work on this forum.

Amazing aren't they Dart. As I have no doubt said before, I have always, at least when younger, prided myself on attention to detail.

Goon and Ajay make me feel like a blind copy editor. Then there's the guy building a Wellington with turrets more complicated than my car...except bigger!

Grass stains indeed. Where's the seabird guano?

Do carry on Gareth...Ajay...Fidd, and all the other contributors here, especially Dart, who's model he actually flies.

Best forum on the site now.

Hi Gang,
Here's the completed nose gear leg. Flightpath provide a white metal replacement for the main parts, new lights and a phot etched representation of the wiring / tubing. Unfortunately this is quite poor, or I couldn't get it to fit, but I ended up scrapping it except some of the junctions / unions.


I replaced all the cabling and tubes with lead wire. I also drilled the representations of the light bulb out of each lamp. The upper one I made a new lens from a Little Cars lens. I then used one the same to represent the bulb in the larger unit, and made a clear plastic lens. Some light weathering to show some chipping / wear / and a little grime. (If my memory serves not one single mission was scrubbed due to unservicability of the SHAR throughout the Falklands campaign, so they were obviously well looked after.)

The wheel still rotates so I can align the slight flat spot when fitted, and I could only get it to stand up by propping it up.









Thanks for looking in,
Gareth

Love it man.

Absolutely amazing when a real talent goes off out of the box!

"Oh Geez Gareth, it's .000324 % off color."

You know what?

I would freakin love to paint a background for one of your works of art. Or Ajay's also.

Wow, or perhaps " Stunning " is a better word choice. U and Ajay and Sanbagger what creative talents.and complete Masters of the modeling medium. My Hat is off to all of you.

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Thanks everyone  Here's the main gear leg, with wheels just press fitted for now. (You can see one of the holes I drilled to mount them on cocktail sticks for painting. 😏) Most of the detail was removed and replaced with more accurate parts. I've given it a little bit of wear and tear, and some general grime. Again, not too much as the aircraft were generally very well looked after.


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Cheers,

Gareth

"I've given it a little bit of wear and tear, and some general grime. Again, not too much as the aircraft were generally very well looked after."

Yes, but as usual, you have no doubt correctly surmised that priorities would be mechanical maintenance vs spit and polish.

Grass stains are cool. But, I can't wait for the rest man.

Truly an artwork.

Thanks Nixer and Argon V.

Nixer - When I weather a model I try to think of the environment it's 'lived' in for a while. I then try to apply that to every element of the subject. I'm not the greatest at weathering but I do think I can claim consistency and realistic 'less is more' approach, which I'm really happy with.

Here are the drop tanks. These needed the raised panel lines removing, and scribing back in. I then had to add the fasteners that hold the front and rear section to the centre. I did this by using plastic card to make a 'slide on' guide with positions drawn on to show me where to make the detail. I also made drain plugs with the RP Toolz hexagon punch and die set. I gave them a strong pre-shade and then slowly built up Hataka RAF Dark Green before adding the decals, some weathering to the nose and fasteners, a Flory Models 'Grime' wash and, finally, a flat coat.






Thanks for looking in,
Gareth

Tanks look absolutely fantastic Goon.

I've been trying to get my hands on Flory wash for sometime now, all nil stock Australia and postage from os is dearer than the actual washes. I did get some VMS clears that i am eager to try and i am going to have to bite the bullet on that postage as i want to use the wash with the new clear on the next build. Money man

The Flory washes go a really long way. covering a lot of models have a really long shelf life, so even if they are more expensive to get in Australia they'll still be pretty good value. I thnk UMP make some similar 'sludge' washes that work the same way, so maybe check availability of them?

A small update with the outriggers detailed. I had originally painted and weathered these a little while ago, adding the Flight Path tie down rings and some placards from the decal file. Then a friend me some photos of a museum example with a lot more detail apparent on the rams that actuate the legs themselves. I've added an approximation of this.

As ever there are many rivets that need filling and sanding, but I left the line along the separation between the tow parts of the fairing. These nearly always appear weathered and bare, which I guess is due to repeatedly removing them for maintenance. The retaining straps for the pipes are made from some bits of heat shrink tube.






More soon

Well, that’s just …. incredible. I can’t tell you how humbling it is to see this kind of work.


How did you do those data plates?

Hi Gang,

Progress, at last! I didn't want to go any further without getting a primer coat on to check the de-rivetting and multiple gaps that needed plastic card and filler to get rid of. To do that I really needed the windscreen in place. I've got the Flightpath brass set that has replacement framing, which is very difficult to fit. Instead of trying to get it to fit the kit part I tried vacforming and crash moulding a replacement, and this is where progress stumbled. I just couldn't get it right and the frustration lead me to mucking about with other kits, and completed several full builds in the intervening time. You know how it is! Anyway, I went 'do or die' on the windscreen and sanded all the frames off, befre polishing back to clarity. I spent hours trying to bend the brass parts to fit, and had a pretty good result. It wasn't quite good enough though, so had the idea to use my plotter cutter to replicate the parts. (I have an FRS.1 set in the stash that has the same, or at least similar, parts.) I scanned the frets and then made a cut file after using the software to find the edges. It wasn't bad, but there were plenty of manual interventions to make with the mouse.

I cut 0.25mm styrene sheet, with a second pass at a shallower depth to engrave the rivets and some panel lines. To say I was pleased with the result is a massive understatement. I fitted it, really pleased with myself, and then realised I hadn't painted it black on the inside! So I cut it off, sanded the glue residue away, and repolished the transparency. I re-cut the part, PAINTED IT BLACK, and fitted it. It's not perfect, but I'm properly pleased with it. Unfortunately it shows that the HUD is way off centre! Can't do much about that now🤪

Here it is, before and after masking.

OG - The data plates are cockpit placard decals intended for 1/48 aircraft.





When I go to work next week and colleagues ask me what I did at the weekend I can say I spent the absolute vast majority of it making three simple plastic parts for a model. 😄 And it has taken nearly all weekend as this is the most complex part I've made with the cutter, and I've had to make it up as I go along. Still, it's ready to cut for the FRS.1 I'm planning when I can get my hands on one. I can now crack on and prime, fill, sand, prime, fill, sand, prime, etc... (God knows how much this is going to cost in Mr. Surfacer!)

Thanks for looking in,

Gareth

Brilliant work.

That's a crazy amount of perfection you are getting here.

But then, next time listen to the Stones. They told you.

Wow

Looking absolutely brilliant man. Also, i'm glad i'm not the only one who does a thing, misses a thing and has to totally undo and redo it

Cheers all.

I think I mentioned earlier that the kit is of a 'vintage' and there are a hundres, perhaps thousands, of rivets molded in. They don't show on the real Harrier. You can see them, but they are flush rivets and so at 1/24 invisible. The bog job of this build is 'de-rivetting'. Filling them with Mr. Surfacer, sanding, priming,filling, priming, sanding, etc. This is the third pass and some still show through the primer. It fills the spray booth too. Big bugger isn't it?



Gareth

An update on the Harrier.

Flightpath provide some nice PE brass inserts for the area around the yaw Reaction Control Valves. There's a nice template provided to mark where to cut, so I stuck this on with PVA, giving time to move around before it set, and also removable when the job was done. Here you can see the lines I scribed around it stained with some Flory Models wash.




I drilled around the inside of the shape, and joined all the holes with a sharp blade.





The aft end of the brass need a tweak with some pliers to put a curve in, and then I glued them in with PVA. Again, this gives loads of time to adjust the fit. Once in the correct place I ran a good amount of penetrating CA glue around the seam, and the whole thing set solid.



The yaw RCV can now be seen through from one side to another, as you'd expect from seeing the real machine. It just needs some tidying up with a little filler and a file, and then I need to get a panel line scribed round it. It's a massive improvement on the kit representation of the area.

(If you're wondering why I didn't do this before joining the fuselage halves, then join the club! It would have been much easier.)



Thanks for looking in,

Gareth

Man I had to come out of self-imposed retirement for this one.


I knew from the start that Gareth would outdo himself working with a 1/24th scale Harrier, seems I was right. Just amazing work sir.