1/48 Harrier page. Kinetic and Hasegawa

[paddy]

Harrier T12

This is a bit of an odd one. The T12 was a 2 seat harrier based on the GR7/9 and AV8B, both series 2 Harriers. All other 2 seats were based on series 1 versions like the AV8A and FRS1. It had a digital cockpit, an new bigger wing with inboard out rigger wheels, a new nose and fin but was still a conversion of the series 1's rather than a new build.
Its a model thats not available currently OTB but can be made with the CMK resin kit coupled with the Hasegawa Harrier GR7 single seat version.
I bought the CMK kit ages ago and now as of December 2022 Hobby 2000 have re introduced the old Hasa kit so its game on again.



the CMK kit is resin and comes with full cockpit and seats and relevant fairings and cowls to join to the Hase fuselage


It also includes Vac formed canopies and suitable decals for a T12 Harrier. a quick search and i found this which is the aircraft depicted by the Decals

By comparison this is my recent T4 build

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ZH657 depicted is seen here in Navy colours of overall medium sea grey or as some call it Navy Grey Tamiya XF80. In truth these harriers were parts of Joint Harrier command which means they were shared by the Navy and RAF so its quite likely that there are pictures of this aircraft in the past in RAF colours.
a similar situation now exists with Navy and RAF F35's in fact last night on TV i watched a documentary on the new Queen Elizabeth carrier which was deployed with the RAF 617 Dambusters sqn with some of their f35's being flown by Navy pilots and some RAF on a RN ship....

this shot shows the resin cockpit and how it needs to be attached to the plastic fuselage

finally the resin seats which i may use but i am not really a fan of one piece mouldings with included seat belts etc.



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[moon puppy]

Could you imagine the cooperation between USN and USAF pilots? USN Aviators not being sling shot into the air and USAF pilots catching the 3rd wire? It's an interesting idea though isn't it. Combine the training commands into one.

Looking forward to this Paddy

 

[paddy]

I think its the way it will go here. It does seem odd now to have two sets of Airfields, operational conversion units, Maintenance and training etc for Navy and Airforce. We are starting to get a joint Helicopter command now as well that works with Navy, army and Airforce.
I seem to be hung up on Harriers at the moment so sorry if this all gets a bit repetitive .

 

[moon puppy]

I think the closest the US ever came to this was with the F4 Phantom and still there were huge differences between USAF and USN and even USMC aircraft.
USAF and USN combining resources, what's the next thing you gonna suggest, Cats and Dogs runnin' together?

Love the job you're doing Paddy, press on!

 

[jknaus]

Cool. Watching with interest
James

 

[Heavens Eagle]

I think the closest the US ever came to this was with the F4 Phantom and still there were huge differences between USAF and USN and even USMC aircraft.
USAF and USN combining resources, what's the next thing you gonna suggest, Cats and Dogs runnin' together?

Love the job you're doing Paddy, press on!

What Bob said!

 

[helios]

USAF and USN combining resources, what's the next thing you gonna suggest, Cats and Dogs runnin' together?

They did in a way. After the USAF axed the EF-111 and was left without a tactical electronic warfare aircraft, the USN provided 2-3 "expeditionary" squadrons of EA-6B Prowlers (stood up previously decommissioned squadrons). These operated predominantly from land bases, but were mixed USN/USAF aircrews. I believe all ground crew was USN, as they were the ones with the training in the airframe, plus had a surplus of A-6/EA-6 mechs after the retirement of the A-6 in 1996.

That was part of the reason we never seemed to have enough Prowlers to go around. We'd deploy w/ 5 aircraft, then as soon as we'd get home 3-4 of them would be sent to one of the next squadrons in the workup cycle.

 

[paddy]

A couple of relevant points on this build.

The re released Hobby 2000 BAe Harrier GR7/9 is actually a Macdonald Douglas AV8B. the sprues are stamped AV8B and crucially the ejectors seat is a , Stencel S-III-S and for UK use it should be a Martin Baker Mk10.

From left to right
Hobby 2000 Stencel S-III-S
A white metal MB Mk 9 i found
A Spare MB Mk 9 from the Kinetic T4 i built
The seats from the CMK 2 seat conversion Harrier T12

What i actually need for a T12 is a pair of Martin Baker Mk12 seats. fortunately Aires do a pair for £5.00 , crucially without moulded in seat belts....order sent.
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This next picture shows how the resin cockpit fits too the std fuselage. basically the two side pods for the air intake are used as a bridge between the two. the resin part is heavy so i might reinforce this method as its quite a bit of weight hanging off the front . The kit nose looks like it will match up quite well. fingers crossed

It will be hard to paint the cockpit as its one piece and narrow although it looks ok in the blown up picture here.
Looking ahead the only real problem i can foresee is the Vac formed canopy. I have never used or even cut one out, at least they give you 2 so they obviously expect me to cock up the first A word on the Hobby2000 original kit here. Super smooth and super fine detail and panel lines, very impressive so far. I half expect this to be made from worn out old Hasegawa moulds but they are sharp as new or better.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

If the resin part is a little heavy, you can always remove some of the excess resin and leave just enough to make good contact with needed connections to kit parts. Just take care with the resin dust.

 

[Greg Kimsey]

...still watching and loving. Your tech talk is over my head! But I love reading it, and the responses.

 

[paddy]

Actually Paul its better supported than i thought so will leave it but agree re: working with resin

I quite enjoy these resin alterations, I used to do some of the Airs engine kits for 1/48 WWII stuff but this CMK kit is a world away from the old Aires kits. The ability to create a completely new model from what is on the box lid appeals to me and particularly like the thought thats gone in to making the attachment to the pouring blocks as fine as possible so a snip with cutters has replaced getting the hacksaw out Firstly i think you need to decide are you going to attach the rein parts to the kit or the kit to the resin parts, trying to alter both to fit often doesnt work. Often the key is the join and with this model i have very slightly tweaked the kit parts to marry up to the resin.

This where the forward section of the wing attaches to the fuselage . I had to shave down the rear underside and front to get it to sit how i wanted, i use a new scalpel blade side on and draw it down the length of an edge.

I got a pretty good fit but want that front edge sitting higher than the front of the fuselage sides, it the moment they are sprung down bit can be raised wand glued.

With the resin nose in place there is just a little filling to do ( or i could glue it on at an angle ) and have a Banana Harrier . some of that join will be covered by the cockpit cowl like this but you can see now why the wing and fuselage sides and the cockpit need to be fettled in to position so that cowl doesnt rock

The resin parts here are the cockpit section, the complete tail fin and the rear radar /tail

You might think i am on a mission here being only 3 days in but i have a terrible virus that has rendered me into a Zombie.. Every breath is touch and go and i doubt i will survive to finish this. Some call it just a Common cold but they are mostly women who just dont understand.

 

[moon puppy]

Some call it just a Common cold but they are mostly women who just dont understand.

IKR, when she's sick it's all out sickness and in health till death due we part but when I'm sick "Man up! trash needs to go out"

Looking good Paddy

 

[paddy]

Not quite sure what colour these Royal Navy T Harriers were. The front line Navy birds were a lot greyer than the trainers looking at pictures. Probably a cross between Navy grey and Barley grey.
I originally went for Navy grey but it was way to grey

These trainers were kept in very nice condition and appear to almost be a semi gloss and have a strong Blue tint

so i mixed this which is not to far from US light ghost grey.

This is under Florissant light and looks closer to what i need in daylight. I have also given this a coat of semi gloss clear to take the powdery matt off the finish.
Happy with this and the joint between the Hasegawa Harrier and the CMK nose is very good to .

All the while the Vac form Canopy is lurking and threatening to mess this up.

 

[Rhino]

Which Sea Harrier variant was it that was ASW capable, and will we be blessed by that model as well?
Your Harriers are like your other models. Impressive!

 

[paddy]

Hi Rhino
The first Sea Harriers were FRS1 , 57 were built and in 1988 they were converted to FA2 standard, 98 FA2 were built and converted so about half were new build..
All these were fighter aircraft with little ground attack sophistication and as far as i am aware they had no ASW capability.
They were fleet defence and ASW was carried out by the Lynx Helicopters with Sea Skua anti-surface missile and depth charges for subs. things have moved on a bit these days.
I do have another Hobby2000 harrier which i will build as a RAF GR9 (the last model) and i also have a Kinetic FA2 Sea Harrier.
Maybe i will complete the set with a a series one GR3 and a series one Sea Harrier as well ;-)..........but then what about a GR5 ? and a really early Kestrel

 

[moon puppy]

Diggin' it!

 

[Rhino]

In for a Penny, in for a pound!

 

[jeaton01]

That's a fine looking piece of work, Paddy.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

 

[Steve Ski]

I almost missed this one, looking good from here.