paddy
Well-known member
Airfix 1/24 Harrier GR3
Anyone who watches the BBC program “Top Gear” will know its filmed in the hangers at Dunsfold Airfield and their test track is in fact the old runway. What they may not know is its also the old Harrier factory. Several of my school friends went to Dunsfold as apprentices working on the Harrier production line in the mid 70,s when it was Hawker and later British aerospace ,Incidentally Dunsfold was built by the Canadians during WWII and was the home to a Mitchell squadron as well as Mustangs , Tomahawks , and Typhoons. Dunsfold closed when the RAF/royal navy retired the Harriers.
Anyway I digress, 20+ years ago I bought an Airfix 1/24 Harrier GR1/3 and promptly realised my mistake and filed it under “spare parts”
The fuselage looked rather like someone at Airfix had just developed a program on his new Windows 95 computer to add rivets to existing plans. The result was a fuselage that incorporated the complete works of Shakespeare…….in brail.
Fast forward 20 years and I saw an online build where the guy was filling each of the literally 1000’s of indents with a mix of super glue and baby talc. This got me thinking, what could I do to clean up that old kit in the cupboard now I have 20 years more experience. This becomes more relevant when you realise this model has recently been re-released by Airfix.
The Harrier is a surprisingly small aircraft, in 1/24 scale its 553mm long, A 1/32 Phantom F4 is 600mm long so this model is quite manageable but be warned, in most areas its very basic, I say most areas because for some reason it has a pretty well detailed engine. Basically its going to be a model that will reflect the amount of effort you put in with extra detail
Here is an example. The kit seat and the Martin Baker Mk9.
Rather than do the usual multiple shots of sprues I will detail parts as I go along as above.
This is what I propose to do with the surface detail. I have rubbed the surface down lightly with (wet) wet and dry paper, 800 grit to take high points off. I then gave it 3 coats of automotive filler primer from a can, rubbed that back then gave it a coat of Tamiya fine grey primer.
Its not perfect but it’s a huge improvement, I will re-add and panel lines I think should be more prominent.
Not gone mad on the nose as it will be cut off soon anyway
Anyone who watches the BBC program “Top Gear” will know its filmed in the hangers at Dunsfold Airfield and their test track is in fact the old runway. What they may not know is its also the old Harrier factory. Several of my school friends went to Dunsfold as apprentices working on the Harrier production line in the mid 70,s when it was Hawker and later British aerospace ,Incidentally Dunsfold was built by the Canadians during WWII and was the home to a Mitchell squadron as well as Mustangs , Tomahawks , and Typhoons. Dunsfold closed when the RAF/royal navy retired the Harriers.
Anyway I digress, 20+ years ago I bought an Airfix 1/24 Harrier GR1/3 and promptly realised my mistake and filed it under “spare parts”
The fuselage looked rather like someone at Airfix had just developed a program on his new Windows 95 computer to add rivets to existing plans. The result was a fuselage that incorporated the complete works of Shakespeare…….in brail.
Fast forward 20 years and I saw an online build where the guy was filling each of the literally 1000’s of indents with a mix of super glue and baby talc. This got me thinking, what could I do to clean up that old kit in the cupboard now I have 20 years more experience. This becomes more relevant when you realise this model has recently been re-released by Airfix.
The Harrier is a surprisingly small aircraft, in 1/24 scale its 553mm long, A 1/32 Phantom F4 is 600mm long so this model is quite manageable but be warned, in most areas its very basic, I say most areas because for some reason it has a pretty well detailed engine. Basically its going to be a model that will reflect the amount of effort you put in with extra detail
Here is an example. The kit seat and the Martin Baker Mk9.
Rather than do the usual multiple shots of sprues I will detail parts as I go along as above.
This is what I propose to do with the surface detail. I have rubbed the surface down lightly with (wet) wet and dry paper, 800 grit to take high points off. I then gave it 3 coats of automotive filler primer from a can, rubbed that back then gave it a coat of Tamiya fine grey primer.
Its not perfect but it’s a huge improvement, I will re-add and panel lines I think should be more prominent.
Not gone mad on the nose as it will be cut off soon anyway
And here it is back in Tamiya fine primer with the nose cut off for the GR3 version. ( the kit gives an option of GR1 or GR3 )
Its not perfect, rivet counters will still run out of fingers but it acceptable to me. Its never going to be in a show or subject to scrutiny beyond Modelers alliance so although in some lights you can still see rivets, they dont look out of place (even if they are).
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