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1:32 Trumpeter Harrier GR.7


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Thanks to the skills of the surgical teams at the West of England Eye Unit, RD&E this project will see completion.

4.5 months of playing at sound engineer to finally digitise (nearly) all my vinyl and cassette tape recordings and I've had enough. Record WAV > edit > sound levels > remove clicks and other irritations > MP3 > Walkman for nearly 1100 tracks!

To get back into the modelling saddle, I decided I needed to re-charge the patience capacitor, before returning to complete the finicky detail on the A-7E. To do so I thought I'd take a look at the Harrier GR.7, starting with the engine. Although you will only see the front fan and nozzles I thought what the hell, I can take some pictures to see it after it's buried.

I've seen comments for most of the problems with this kit, but there are others. The compressor fan was not to my liking, it is large and most visible, not buried deep in the fuselage as is usually the case. Deciding to rebuild this I thought I would check the number of blades. I can tell you it is not 30, as the kit part, nor 18 as the numbers provided on the Zotz decal sheet. Uhhh. Also, the front nozzles seem small and definitely shouldn't be rectangular.

8b.jpg

14a.jpg

Found I needed to modify the fuselage sides to get full movement of the nozzles.

Edited by John Wolstenholme
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:deadhorse1:

I am using the CPR technique – chinese plastic resuscitation.

The gun pods (LIDs) are too long, too narrow, wrong shape front and rear and with incorrect/lacking detail. The locating lugs also position them incorrectly on the fuselage.

4b1.jpg

Address the problems and they don’t look too bad.

4c1.jpg

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Hi John, good to see you working on something again. It would be nice to have a Harrier in my display case at some point so I'll tag along if I may and make notes?

The compressor fan was not to my liking – it is large and most visible, not buried deep in the fuselage as is usually the case. Deciding to rebuild this I thought I would check the number of blades.

So, you actually completely scratch built this new engine fan and front end? :blink:

Wow! That is some seriously crisp, neat work. Any hints on how you went about it please?

It looks superb by the way. :thumbsup:

I'm eager to see what you work on next.

Cheers,

:cheers:

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John, where on earth did you learn to have the patience to digitize 1'100 tracks... building these kind of kits, I guess :woot.gif:

Really good to see you get at this Harrier. One of my favourite aircraft but I am clearly not as courageous nor as skilled as you, so I've been putting this one off.

The compressor face looks incredible and I'm sharing Guy's curiosity. Exhausts look the part also.

I believe the kit gun pods are a complete mess, looks like you made short work of the issues and came up with a spectacular result... you're making this look easy when in fact it is anything but.

:worship:

Marcel

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Any hints on how you went about it please?

Guy, I am looking to try and get something published, so giving details of the fixes at this time may be unhelpful to this end.

What are you using for references?

Andy, spent hours/days trawling the net e.g. thousands of photos on Flickr.

where on earth did you learn to have the patience to digitize 1'100 tracks

Marcel, old age and got sick of listening to commercial radio. Where theres a will, theres a way.

My oversight, thanks to all for dropping in.

It seems strange how much has been said regarding the shape of the nose (which doesnt look that bad at a cursory glance), whilst I havent seen any comments regarding the nozzles and shrouds. The nozzles protrude beyond the shrouds and there is little/no aerodynamic fairing of the shrouds to the nozzles. Now this does look really odd!

More CPR.

1Ja.jpg

Hmm, Alclad is still very delicate even after Future coating.

Edited by John Wolstenholme
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Hmm, Alclad is still very delicate even after Future coating.

John,

Clean and meticulous work as always.

On my recent F-4E build, I used gloss black Krylon lacquer paint decanted from a rattle can as a primer base for all the titanium panels in the rear. After spraying on Alclad and letting it dry for about 4 days, the finish is really strong and I have masked that area many times without any of the paint lifting- and all without any Future to seal it. Just a possible suggestion for your Alcald issues.

Cheers,

Chuck

Edited by chuck540z3
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What color paint are you using? I'm building a GR.7 too and I painted mine with a first coat of Gunze Sangyo medium sea grey, and it looks way too dark and not blue enough compared to photos.

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The *** of the exhaust duct actually has heat blankets that are slightly lighter in color. I know because I worked on F402s. The center of the front (LP compressor) is a light blue, like the case.

Just some observations to help for a perfectionist.

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Just a possible suggestion for your Alcald issues.

Chuck

Hello Chuck. Thanks for that. I think the real problem is the nozzle/shroud fit is a little too tight - need to remove a lttle material inside fuselage and shrouds.

What color paint are you using?

Sorry, no idea at this time, my attention is only on all the ‘problems’ I intend to try to rectify and will be for some time.

(i) The *** of the exhaust duct actually has heat blankets that are slightly lighter in color. I know because I worked on F402s.

(ii) The center of the front (LP compressor) is a light blue, like the case.

Hi ‘Exhausted’, appreciate your input.

(i) Can you elaborate on this (***) as I am not sure to what you are referring.

(ii) I assume you mean the ‘hub’ to which the compressor blades are attached? If so, with it being hidden behind the front fairing I just painted it all the same colour. Got two holes in it from the construction :D

Thanks,

John

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With things just taped in place, intakes are constructed with auxiliary doors open to differing degrees, except for the lower two which will be fitted closed after intakes are fixed to fuselage. The cut-outs in the doors are matched to the stops!

19a.jpg

The kit intake lips are thin/irregular in thickness so I have attempted to improve this.

20a.jpg

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I think most believe there is somewhat more than one billionth of a degree error on the wing leading edge. The problem has been dealt with, by others, by filling/sanding and re-scribing to the upper wing surface, but this only removes the bumps and dips making the leading edge even straighter when viewed from the front. This modification produced the distinctive kink to the leading edge.

22b.jpg

Now looking to the underside there is much work to be done to the pylons and actuator housings. Whilst awaiting some ABS the ideas start churning.

Edited by John Wolstenholme
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This modification produced the distinctive kink to the leading edge without filler/sanding and re-scribing.

22b.jpg

Care to elaborate a bit more on that? It's looking great so far

love the intake and engine fan great work

Cheers

Frederick Jacobs

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  • 2 weeks later...

Andy I don’t know about intriguing, but certainly brain testing!

Here are the kit pylons, flap and aileron actuator fairings, all simplistic and inaccurate.

23a.jpg

I decided to start on the inboard pylons as there are numerous things to be sorted. Fit of Fowler flaps to wing (do not match), correct actuator fairings and pylons (crutching pads (?) and fit of pylon to actuator fairing), check drop tank and fittings to pylon. With only photos to go on not 100% accurate, but they are much closer to the real thing. Bottom section of pylons unfinished as these need to be formed w.r.t. drop tanks, which have some issues. As far as I can see the length and diameter/shape of the rear half of the tank look OK, but the front half is too thin/pointy. The sway braces (?) appear to be in the wrong places, which probably makes the fitting of the tank to the pylon wrong.

28a.jpg

29a.jpg

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