Hawker Siddeley Harrier T.4 (Sword)

1
February 20, 2021
Nice artwork on the box, but I won't be using this scheme.
2
February 20, 2021
Not a lot of plastic. Here is the main sprue.
3
February 20, 2021
And the rest. Note the solitary resin bit for the air brake bay.
4
February 20, 2021
The kit does not have the blow-in doors open, so hopefully one of these sets will fit!
5
February 20, 2021
The very cool DERA (now QinetiQ) Advanced Control Technology test aircraft scheme.
6
February 20, 2021
Kit decals and photoetch fret.
7
February 20, 2021
The pre-painted instrument panels are the wrong colour grey. Oops.
8
February 20, 2021
Out with the 10/0 brush and a bit of Dark Admiralty Grey goes on. This is just the first coat.
9
February 20, 2021
Cockpit tubs went together well.
10
February 20, 2021
Kind of a blank canvas for the ejection seats however. But that's OK because...
11
February 20, 2021
...we can tart up those babies! Actually I think these came out pretty good.
12
March 7, 2021
Fuselage together. The Freightdog intakes fit very well.
13
March 7, 2021
The special instrumentation pods carried by XW175 were made from some spare drop tanks. Looks pretty rough at this stage!
14
March 7, 2021
Whew, that looks better. A bit of sanding and a splash of paint makes all the difference.
15
March 7, 2021
I still need to do some work with the apertures/sensors on the port pod. Antennae will be added later.
16
March 7, 2021
The front coaming from the kit was a joke - wider than the fuselage! I scratchbuilt one and added a PE HUD.
17
March 7, 2021
It almost looks like it should. Almost.
18
March 7, 2021
All primed up and ready to go!
19
March 7, 2021
I'll start with an overall white as a base for the Raspberry Ripple scheme.
20
March 14, 2021
Overall coat(s) of white. I used Testors RLM21 which...
21
March 14, 2021
...took three days to dry. Never again!
22
March 14, 2021
I probably should have done the red first, but instead painted Oxford Blue (from MRP).
23
March 14, 2021
MRP airbrush ready paints have the viscosity of water, and take many light coats to build up. But it goes on smooth!
24
March 14, 2021
MRP Signal Red on the tail.
25
March 14, 2021
And the rest of the red areas. Still lots of clean-up to do, fix some overspray, micro-mesh some edges, etc.
26
March 14, 2021
As far as I can tell, I followed the scheme as shown in photos. Can't wait for stickers!
27
March 22, 2021
She looks a lot better with her stickers on!
28
March 22, 2021
The Vingtor decals are very thin and snuggle down nicely.
29
March 22, 2021
The same scheme on the Combat Decals sheets has several inaccuracies.
30
April 1, 2021
Now this thing was fiddly!
31
April 1, 2021
The belly of the beast.
32
April 1, 2021
Things are coming together - exhausts, gear doors, airbrake.
33
April 1, 2021
Several blade antennae added.
34
April 1, 2021
And the rest - the nose probe, PE weather vanes on the windscreen and nose, and the canopies.
35
April 1, 2021
I had to scratchbuild a brace for the center of the front canopy and add the canopy retention cables.
36
April 1, 2021
Enjoy the rest of the photos!
37
April 1, 2021
38
April 1, 2021
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April 1, 2021
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April 1, 2021
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April 1, 2021
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April 1, 2021
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April 1, 2021
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April 1, 2021
45
April 1, 2021

Comments

32 20 February 2021, 15:53

20 February 2021, 16:02

Bill Gilman
Thanks Christian. I really like the scheme on the test aircraft and I'm hoping I can do justice to this one. The Sword kit is a typical short run kit, so I'll have to pay attention!

20 February 2021, 16:04

Patrick Hagelstein
Cool! A new Bill Gilman build! Obviously I'm in! Enjoy the build (even for a Sword kit...)! 🙂 👍

20 February 2021, 17:59

Cuajete
Nice scheme. Following!

20 February 2021, 18:56

Slavo Hazucha
Tuning in!

20 February 2021, 19:18

Łukasz Gliński
So jealous, I failed to get the Sword 2-seat Jump Jet so far.

20 February 2021, 19:55

Bill Gilman
The build is moving along - the fuselage is assembled and the seam work finished. I had to scratchbuild a coaming for the front instrument panel as the one supplied by Sword is flat and wider than the fuselage. Someone wasn't paying attention on that one. I added the front HUD using parts from the PE fret and leftover film from a Sea Harrier kit. The front windscreen was dipped in Future prior to attachment to the fuselage, and then faired in with PPP. After this work was done, the cockpit was masked off and the model painted with a grey primer. I'll give that a day or two before I spray an overall white as the base for the Raspberry Ripple scheme. It won't be long now! Cheers, Bill

7 March 2021, 23:11

Łukasz Gliński
Raspberry Ripple? Yikes! 👍

8 March 2021, 08:38

Cuajete
Good progress 👍

8 March 2021, 18:50

Bill Gilman
Whew, that was a lot of fiddly masking, but the Raspberry Ripple scheme is on the Harrier. Still lots of work to do before I get to the decals, but I like how she's coming together. Cheers, Bill

14 March 2021, 22:35

Augie
damn, how did I miss this one? I am in

14 March 2021, 22:43

Bill Gilman
Welcome aboard @Augie! Did you ever build that 1:48 Blackbird?

15 March 2021, 12:16

Augie
Hi Bill, sure did. theres a few pics kicking around.

15 March 2021, 14:19

Cuajete
Looking so good.

15 March 2021, 20:59

Bill Gilman
Hi mates, the decals have been applied to the VAAC Harrier. I think she looks rather nice in this scheme. I used the decals from Vingtor instead of those from Combat Decals - when comparing both to photos off the real plane it was apparent that the Combat sheet had several inaccuracies. Things like font and line weight, etc. Plus, the roundels on the Combat sheet are all the same size, whereas those on the wings should be larger. Anyway, enjoy the pics. Lots of fiddly stuff left to do - the usual 80% of the work that is left after you've done the first 80%! Cheers, Bill

22 March 2021, 17:30

Es-haq Khosravi
Verrry interesting!

22 March 2021, 18:06

David Taylor
looking good Bill.

22 March 2021, 18:14

Cuajete
👍

22 March 2021, 19:00

Bill Gilman
The VAAC research Harrier T.4 is finished! Enjoy the photos. Cheers, Bill

1 April 2021, 15:35

Augie
Superb Bill as always m8 🙂

1 April 2021, 16:54

Thomas Bischoff
awesome work!

1 April 2021, 17:10

Bill Gilman
Thanks mates!

1 April 2021, 18:01

Łukasz Gliński
Awesome detailing and lovely colours 👍

1 April 2021, 19:06

Cuajete
Amazing. Congrats!

1 April 2021, 19:21

Rui S
Looks great 👍

1 April 2021, 19:21

Sebastian Meyner
Stunning work 👍

1 April 2021, 19:29

Bill Gilman
Thanks mates! Raspberry Ripple was always my favourite flavour! 🙂

1 April 2021, 20:06

Spanjaard
Beautiful job Bill!

1 April 2021, 20:15

Mike Grant
That's beautiful Bill.

1 April 2021, 23:31

Bill Gilman
Thanks mates! It was a fun project.

1 April 2021, 23:40

Clifford Keesler
Beautiful.

1 April 2021, 23:45

Peter Wu
Great Job, I like the paint work, much better than what I did.

2 April 2021, 01:15

Bill Gilman
Thanks guys. I spent a lot of time getting the masking right. It's a wonder the tape had any adhesive left since I took it on and off so many times!

2 April 2021, 12:56

Rui S
Very Nice paintjob 👍

24 April 2021, 18:21

Album info

This should be a fun project, and my first Raspberry Ripple British test aircraft in a long time.

Hawker Siddeley Harrier T.4

45 images

1:72

Completed

1:72 Harrier T.2/T.4/GR.3 and FRS.1 dropped door intakes (Freightdog Models FDR72021)

1:72 F-16XL / F-CK-1 Pitot Tube & Angle Of Attack Probe (Master AM-72-131)

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