After a clear cote, I removed the canopy and glued what I guess is part of the opening mechanism on the inside. Then some actuators got both aluminium and chrome paint.
The tires was touched up as well.
The pylons was painted grey, but I’m not sure that is correct. According to the tab and corresponding hole on the rocket the pylon will sit like this.
I hope that is correct, as it’s hard to see exactly how it sits on the pics I’ve seen.
I noticed that I had missed painting a few spots like the black on the fin and one antenna (I think it is)
Then i repainted the grey a bit on the fin.
It looks a little bright, but with clear cote on it turned out quite okey.
Then on to the decals. They go down quite nicely, but the print is a bit off, at least the white background.
I still need to do the other side and some stencils are still missing. I’ll let this dry a bit and then do the other side.
I got the advice to buy new decals, but for some reason didn’t follow that advice.
Maybe if I get hold of this kit again, I’ll get some better decals, as there are quite a few nice paint schemes available.
Time for some decals. I’m doing a bit at the time. Those lines under the belly was a bit of a pain in the …
I still have a lot of stencils to do on the underside. Just letting these dry first.
First I painted to the best of my ability all the dark sea grey areas.
Then the grey areas was masked off with black goo.
Dark green was painted.
Turns out I had a few missed spots that needed to be taken care of.
Not perfect, but a lot better!
So how did it go with the 2 or 3 years old tape and the paint that was under?
Actually bloody perfect! The stabilizers broke off but that’s really no problem at all.
Next will be to paint everything else that isn’t painted, and to give the plane a clear cote.
I got a hunch to pick up this build that I started a few years ago.
I had already started painting it and had masked in preparation for the topside camo. So the tape have been sitting there for quite some time. I just have to hope for the best.
First I had to address a few spots with ghost seams.
After that was done, I repainted with black and masked the canopy and front area which should be black.
Then I used a mask for irregular patterns to paint with light ghost grey over the black. This was the first time I used this kind of template, so it didn’t go very well, but I think it’ll do for the purpose of the paint.
Next I’ll start painting the camo, starting with dk sea grey.
I modified the gun pods by drilling holes and adding a cylinder for the barrel opening, and also a small rod as barrel inside. I also glued the exhaust vents and added some putty to the seams.
The front landing gear well is just an opening right into the rest of the plane, and does need some form of attention.
While pondering that, many of the small parts ended up in a paint “forrest”.
And the glass parts got a dip in Pledge/Future floor polish. The cast/copy is so bad that there’s no detail on the glass surfaces.
More putty and sanding! 🙂
Masked the canopy and front glass, making up for the missing frame.
I made a HUD display and put the pilot in place.
More in next part.
Håkan
I had to break up the tail a bit as it didn’t align right. managed to damage the rudder some. Easy to fix with some putty though.
Putty was also needed along the fuselage seam.
Putty was also used to cover some ejection pin marks.
After some sanding, the seam looked pretty okey. Usually have to put on a cote of primer to check if more work is needed.
The hardest area to clean up was in the wheel bays and air brake. Sorted that with a tool made from a piece of sprue, sanded slightly in an angle and with a small piece of sanding paper on top.
The cleaned up parts.
The wings built and test fitted against the fuselage.
A fit that wasn’t very good, and had to be adjusted some by taking of a bit from the tabs. After some work, the fit was acceptable.
Some putty and cleaning up on the wing joints.
Next, more putty and sanding.
Håkan
First I added detail to the seat, as it was a tad too simple. As I’ve decided to use the pilot I didn’t need to do any belts.
The pilot got some color on the uniform, and the cockpit and fan got a cote of black.
The pilot and seat got some more colors. I mostly worked with different tones of green/olive green. White helmet and black gloves and boots.
Silver (Hu11) was painted on the fan, and then masked off, and the cockpit side walls was painted a medium grey.
The pilot got some shadows and dry brushed highlights.
and the cockpit got some grey.
I test fitted the wings, and they don’t align. Part of the problem is the tab that prevents the upper wing half to align nicely to the fuselage. Also the wings halves doesn’t align, which needs to be sorted.
After removing the location tabs, the fit was a lot better.
Once that was sorted, I glued the fuselage halves.
This concludes this part.
Next, puttying, sanding and assembly of small parts.
Cheers,
Håkan
I’ve started this build as a part of a group or buddy build, dedicated to the Harrier 50 year anniversary. I have both the Tamiya and Hobbycraft boxings of the same model, and choose the HC one to build, as the decals to the Tamiya kit had a yellow tone to the white areas. Having no replacement decals made it an easy choice. In retrospect I should have choosen differently, for reason that will be explained later in the build.
Anyway, as I had a deadline to follow, I had to get cracking with the build. As there was a bit of competition, with prizes included, pictures of the box and contents with some sort of time/date stamp was required.
Those pics were taken with my android, and not so good, but they filled their purpose.
The first things to be done is the cockpit and the engine. I choosed to not show the engine, but it still needs to sit there in order to hold the exhaust vents.
The engine was a pretty quick assembly.
Sadly the fit in the fuselage, mainly to the intakes, wasn’t very good.
So I decided to do something to sort that. i started by cutting the location tabs, and cleaning up the intake cone. I also removed the tabs from the fan and cleaned that up too.
The alignment of the engine and fan cone wasn’t good, so I cut away the fan, so I could get that part sit right. I also glued the cone parts to the fuselage to get them to sit right.
I painted the fan too, even of much of it won’t be seen once assembled.
It looks kinda crazy with the engine tilted that way, but it actually aligns with the openings for the exhausts. I don’t know if HC have made some error when copying Tamiyas kit, but in my point of view, it’s pretty possible.
Next up is the cockpit and fuselage assembly.
Cheers,
Håkan
Once the cockpit was done I could start assembly and join the fuselage halves.
Fuselage joined
Not entirely perfect fit, but not the worst I’ve seen either. Will require some putty, and eventually some CA glues to seal the seams.
I’ve also glued the top and bottom wing parts, and in order to make them fit to the fuselage, I had to widen the body some with a sprue.
Sprue inserted
That helped some.
evident “gap” at root.
Some pushing slightly upwards, when gluing the wings, will help lessen the gap, quite a lot.
Håkan
Music and Model building 