Sea Harrier FRS.1, 70s, magnets
The wings are a great fit.
As is the cockpit section. Love this kit!
Just a bit of filler needed at the top but that is probably user error.
Just a bit of filler needed at the top but that is probably user error.
There was a hole in the rear of the canopy. Perfect if you display it with canopy open, but annoying to find out after you glued it closed. Luckily I bought milliput recently. White vallejo filler would look awful as I can't paint the inside anymore. So I rolled a ball of milliput to approximate size, painted it black and put it in place. The outside had to be kneaded and scraped but I can paint that again. Hope the inside looks OK.
More milliput. I filled some gaps in the wingtip wheel .. strut.. fairing? The kit is made for gear down display, but I have had a request to build it with the gear up. Had to do some cutting and filling.
Guns are in place too.
Guns are in place too.
Magnets in the interior in 3 places.. guess what they are for
Finally had some warm weather to spray primer outside. Let's try pre-shading again and not cover it too much this time like I did with the Tornado
Finished the Sidewinders and 1000lb bomb today. The bomb is a bit darker than I intended, but I am quite content at the tiny yellow line so I'll leave it.
Sea Eagles are in progress still. Orange was a nightmare so I gave up and just "plastered" it on way too thick.
Sea Eagles are in progress still. Orange was a nightmare so I gave up and just "plastered" it on way too thick.
I just had to attach all the stuff again after this. Glad I put some effort into the Sidewinders as they stick out a lot on the Harrier!
Base layers done. First details added (strobe, yellow on RWR, and metallic on the position lights). Todo: radar cone and pitot.
The Sea Eagle missiles are fully assembled now. Looks menacing (though probably too heavy) in this loadout from the box art.
The tanks and bomb. I love being able to swap stores with the magnets.
Help! I made a huge mistake. I glued these plates in first with CA before inserting the main exhaust pipes. Now there is not enough space to slide the exhaust pipe in. How do I fix this? ...
... Should I cut or sand this exhaust pipe? Is there something I can use to dissolve the CA a bit and pull the deflector plate off?
OK so after some more prying with various bits, I got the heat deflectors off with this thingy..
.. although one of the exhausts slipped in in a weird way and now it's pointing up. Could not get it to rotate for a while. Also damaged the paint a bit as you can see.
Eventually I managed to "sharpen" a wood stick and used that to rotate the exhaust, getting leverage from the wing.
Both sides finally on, lots of paint repair to do! The lacquer clear coat and decal film should arrive in a few days and then I can see if these 1983 decals will still work..
Ready for decals!
Start of the base. I used magnetic tape so the underwing stores won't roll away when detached from the model.
First time dealing with 40-year old decals. As the instrument panel decal fell apart when I tried to use it, I decided to get some decal film. That helped a lot, but for this roundel, the edges were not completely covered and they curled upwards. Revell decal softener is not the strongest softener there is and does not comfort me yet...
Even though there is definitely some silvering on some decal edges, the end result looks presentable enough.
My messy workplace gets approval from at least one lady in this house
Weathering. These acrylic washes on top of acrylic varnish did not wash off cleanly so I tried oil after that, was much better but I'm going to need white spirits ("turpentine") for really clean panel line accents
Next up is the satin varnish, removing the canopy mask, and adding the last antennae and bits.
This is a gift to an English teacher, so that's how I knew the base had to be a Union Jack
One of the tail decals broke but I am really proud of how close I put the 2 parts. They resisted quite a bit!
CAP loadout. But we can do much more with the stores that are magnetically attached to the base..
Clean..
Anti-ship strike
Long-range patrol
Ground attack
The supervisor joined me as I finished the last bits
Комментарии
22 1 March 2023, 12:54
FreakAll 7 magnet attachment points are in position now: both sidewinders (will be glued to the rails, magnets are in the wings themselves), there are magnets in the inner wing pylons to be able to attach fuel tanks or Sea Eagle missiles, a magnet for the in-flight refuelling probe, hidden inside the fuselage, like the one for the centerline pylon with bomb, and finally a single big (3x5 mm) magnet for the base.
Most magnets are 2x1 discs, but on the front side of the wing pylon that wouldn't fit so I put a 1x1 there. Alignment of the stores is only very slightly worse than I normally have with CA glue, so I will be doing this more often. Practise on the Mirage F1CR helped a lot.
10 March 2023, 21:43
FreakThanks! I practiced the magnet gluing on the Mirage F1CR (which I did not paint yet) before this one and got the hang of it after a bomb rack with 4 bombs. Very happy how these are turning out, now let's hope I don't ruin the paint and varnish.
Decals will be interesting: the red dot for the center of the roundel is a separate decal in this kit. If it goes wrong, I guess I can always paint the red dot.
9 April 2023, 16:47
FreakI guess I'll have to 'saw' the exhaust pipes down the middle to be able to pish the two parts in, one at a time. Any other thoughts on how to fix my mistake?
20 May 2023, 10:06
Album info
Old style 70s light/dark paint scheme
In-flight display
Removable weapons with magnets:
Sidewinders, Drop tanks, Sea Eagle missiles and/or a 1000lb bomb on the centerline
Hope I can also get the removable in-flight refuelling probe fitted with a magnet
