'1/24 FA2 Sea Harrier Conversion'

[geedubelyer]

I'll chime in and add my kudos Jake. That wiring is mega-impressive <_< Well worth the wait.

It looks like the real deal and it does n't get any better than that. Will any of it be seen once the seat is in place? I know that it's not important as the joy is in the making but, it would be a shame if it all got covered up, never to be seen again....

You mention that you're planning to tone the colour down. I'll be interested to see what effect that has. Compared to the image you posted, as far as I can see, your work looks just right as it is.

Great stuff

[Skyking]

OK I am changing my nik to Rumpelstiltskin. How the heck did I manage to sleep through this thread?

Even though jets aren't personally "my thing", an excellent model is, and you are blowing the doors off this one Jake. I have been building in 48th scale for as long as I can remember, but as my eyesight goes and my fingers seem to get inexplicably fatter, I am leaning more and more to going at least thirtytooth scale.... for the very reason you are demonstrating here. You can pack all that neat stuff in there. I have the Airfix 24th scale Musting in the stash my wife wants me to build... (don't ask... long story) and I am looking around for some Waldron bits for it and whatever else I can scrounge. I printed out your thread to use as a guide, especially with the Photoshop ideas. Whodathunkit? A very informative thread and very well laid out and explained.

Cheers

Mike

[janman]

Gee! Details, details...

Great to see this awesome project is alive. I've really been looking forward too see some progress and luckily here it comes. You've got my approval! :)

[Girolamo LORUSSO]

great job! compliments

[regevmo]

During this build you did a comparision of the model parts to the real thing and if you did't write what is what i would have a difficult time to decide what is real and what is not, that how good this build is !

Waiting for more upadates.

Regev.

[Aggressor Supporter]

The detail wire work looks great.

[PapaSmurf630]

Hello again chaps,

I'm back with a small update just to prove progress is still being made albeit very slowly.

The wiring on the bulkhead is now about 80% complete with only minor areas still left to worry about. The picture here shows some bits added from last time but nothing majorly new.

My attention is know turning to the rudder pedals and the front of the tub, before making a start on the IP. But that is coming in future updates...

This update focuses yet again on the bulkhead. There's a large air conditioning (I think) pipe running out of the tub floor and wrapping itself around either side of the ejector seat. At points in the pipe, there are vents and outlets to blow out air to keep the circulation moving (or atleast that's what I can gather from looking at the photos...someone please correct me if I'm wrong) Here's a picture of the pipe I'm talking about...

You'll notice the pipe splits into two a short way after sprouting from the tub floor. This led to some head scatching as to how I was going to reproduce this...

...At first I tried shaping 3 bits of wire which were roughly the right diameter and super-glueing them together...

...but this inevitably failed as the superglue simply didn't have a significant amount of surface area to glue properly and the joint was brittle. Not to worry, 50% of modelling from scratch is problem solving!

In order to get a good enough joint, I decided to use some armature building experience from Uni. Using two peices of wire I made the rough shape and glued them together...

...This will give me a strong 'skeleton' which I can build onto.

Next I started adding the 'flesh' and thickened the wire to the correct diameter using 'Super Sculpey' which is a sculpting compound.

We use this stuff at Uni to sculpt figures, heads, hands...the great thing about it is that it stays soft until you cook it in the oven. It then goes as hard as diamond. It's shatter and chip resistant but you can sand it and drill into it just like milliput. The thickened wire was then finished with my fingers and sculpting tools, cooked for 15 minutes and then sanded to a nice finish after cooling.

The remainder of the pipe was constructed next...

This thick wire was to hard to bend accurately so a thinner gauge wire was used as a prototype first (it's easier to bend and thus quicker) I'd bend it, test fit it, trim, bend, test and trim until a good fit was achieved. I then copy the distances between bends in the small gauge wire to the thick, final peice of pipe. Hopefully a good fit will be achieved. This side took me 3 tries.

The final result, primed.

Luckily, the metal 'sleeves' on the real thing helped disguise/strengthen the join between the thick wire and the super-sculpey wire. Sitting next to the piping is the LP fuel handle. This handle is mounted to the left of the bulkhead.

A quick reminder of what the piping looks like on the real thing...

(the LP fuel-handle is just out of sight on the right)

Roughly mounted.

I think some details are oversized but I have come to realise that it isn't a bad thing afterall I want them to be seen. Certain areas still look a little rough but all loose ends of wires, gaps and uneven paint will all be neatened up during the next updates. I should hopefully be clearing up this area now. I have to run the lower running wires into the side walls of the tub (I'll probably glue the tub and bulkhead together for permanent soon) and then begin on the rudder assembly and instrument panel (ATLAST!!)

Another long short update on a particularly uninteresting area of cockpit but I felt it was worth showing since I've probably put more effort into getting this right than the side panels put together! Some seriously fiddly bits! (Crazy considering this will only be seen without the seat, but you can still peak down the back of the seat and 'know' it's all there) Hope this helps all you other harrier builders out there.

P.S. if any dial-up users still cannot load up this page then just ask and I can resize and repost them.

Edited July 8, 2008 by PapaSmurf630

[Youngtiger1]

Awesome work dude. I can't believe all the detail your putting into this cockpit and it looks just like the real thing....wow!! I'll be watching this very closely and learn as much as I can

Mike

[Jack-Swiss]

JUST SUPEEEERB!!!!!!!!!!

really awesome!!!

Cheers

[Aigore]

Eeeek, I´ll never build my 1/24 scale Harrier....now I´m scared!!!

Masterful work!!! Exceptionel work even

[Aggressor Supporter]

Whoa!

[PapaSmurf630]

Hello chaps,

Well I'm back with some progress. Not the huge update I was planning but it's something just to show the project is still going (albeit very slowly due to University projects)

I'll begin with some early (and rather poor quality) photos of the rudder pedal under construction.

The 'toes' of the pedals have raised lumps of metal so this was replicated by carefully scribing into Coke tin metal.

Next is a bad picture of the rudder pedal itself. I've tried to get as close as possible to Dave T's brilliant reference material (should be linked on the same page if you want to compare)

And a shot from behind. Once again I apologise for the poor quality. Certain areas of the pedal towards the rear are more basic than I had hoped but due to reference limitations this is as much as I can pick out from the photos.

Here is the entire rudder pedal assembly. Some details maybe slightly oversized but it's hard to get definitive sizes of parts in an area where there aren't many visual aids to compare them to. I have a feeling the middle area and the rear of the rudder pedals themselves go back a little to far but this is negligible.

Another shot from the side. Please note that the pedals are not glued to the linkages yet so will be properly aligned when glued after painting.

Here it is in its place within the tub. The plastic underneath will be removed and is only there to make it easier to move around the workbench.

Another shot from the side in the (slightly dusty looking!) cockpit. The area still has not had the flooring put in and other details around the forward bulkhead put in (I am working on this at the moment)

And the final overall shot of the cockpit from where it stood about a week ago.

I'd just like to say a quick thanks to Dave T for those brilliant reference photos. Without I would have had to entirely miss out or guestimate what was going on back there. Cheers for that!

Looking back at this portion of the model, it was fun to build. This being the first time I've ever used scratchbuilding techniques, this was the first time I've had to build something so intricate. Whether it was successful or not is up to you guys. And before anyone asks, no, none of this will be seen when the tub is finished thus rendering it all rather completely pointless but ultimately enjoyable Atleast we'll know it's there!

Next on the to do list is the control column and IP. Will post more progress soon when I have painted and detailed the rest of the forward area of the cockpit tub.

Cheers!

[Aigore]

You´re succesful alright!

It´s really too bad to hide all those goodies....you should display the entire cockpit outside the airframe!!!!!! Ther´s nothing else to do but to buy another kit so you can use that cockpit in this build and detail it a bit less

[John Wolstenholme]

Hi Jake, good to see you back with an update. Some fantastic detail there (and yes I had asked myself the question).

And before anyone asks...

If it is enjoyable that’s great, as long as you don’t bog yourself down with such detail and the interest wanes when it matters. You know how I know.

Keep up the great work.

Regards

John

[Skii]

Astonishing work Jake, a pure labour of love here, and the attention to detail and accuracy is simply mindblowing!

[janman]

Astonishing work Jake, a pure labour of love here, and the attention to detail and accuracy is simply mindblowing!

Seconded! Can't wait wait to see more progress.

[PapaSmurf630]

Hello chaps,

Another update. And yes, once again it's covering the recent progress of the (very, very visually interesting ) forward area of the cockpit tub. This time around, I have added a lick of paint onto the components from the previous update plus I have also 're-floored' the area with Coke Can metal with rivets being pushed up from the back (the same technique I did for the rear bulkhead)

Firstly I quick overall picture of the cockpit roughly where it is now. Please note that at the moment everything is blue-tacked in place so please ignore any alignment issues.

Here you'll instantly notice the light chipping I have put in around the area. The scuffs are from reference material I have and not just randomly put in to simulate weathering. I'm guessing the yellow is the primer they use under the grey.

I hope no-one minds if I use some of my reference material to better illustrate the area I am modelling here. (images courtesy of the Harrier SIG)

Here you can see the reference I have of the chipping patterns etc etc

Here you can clearly see the slight weathering. The gap in the floor plates is for the flight control stick which is the next thing on the to-do list.

I have put the kit instrument panel in here just to show where it roughly goes and demonstrates how much will actually be obscured.

Once again, here I have placed the IP and the shroud over the top again to demonstrate what a big waste of time this was! It's very dark but you can still get a sense of there being 'hidden detail' there. I'm sure with a small torch you could see it all.

Thanks for taking the time to read this thread. I am completely open to criticisms and comments (good or bad!) and if anyone has difficulty in loading the pictures I can also resize them in future posts. I say this every time but hopefully the next update will be sooner rather than later.

Thanks!

Edited March 15, 2009 by PapaSmurf630

[Jack-Swiss]

Wooooow...that's lovely paintjob!!!

Absolutely stunning!

Cheers man and keep up the great work

[nautilas]

Hello chaps,

Hi

Another update. And yes, once again it's covering the recent progress of the (very, very visually interesting ) forward area of the cockpit tub. This time around, I have added a lick of paint onto the components from the previous update plus I have also 're-floored' the area with Coke Can metal with rivets being pushed up from the back (the same technique I did for the rear bulkhead)

Firstly I quick overall picture of the cockpit roughly where it is now. Please note that at the moment everything is blue-tacked in place so please ignore any alignment issues.

Here you'll instantly notice the light chipping I have put in around the area. The scuffs are from reference material I have and not just randomly put in to simulate weathering. I'm guessing the yellow is the primer they use under the grey.

I hope no-one minds if I use some of my reference material to better illustrate the area I am modelling here. (images courtesy of the Harrier SIG)

Here you can see the reference I have of the chipping patterns etc etc

Here you can clearly see the slight weathering. The gap in the floor plates is for the flight control stick which is the next thing on the to-do list.

I have put the kit instrument panel in here just to show where it roughly goes and demonstrates how much will actually be obscured.

Once again, here I have placed the IP and the shroud over the top again to demonstrate what a big waste of time this was! ^_^ It's very dark but you can still get a sense of there being 'hidden detail' there. I'm sure with a small torch you could see it all.

Thanks for taking the time to read this thread. I am completely open to criticisms and comments (good or bad!) and if anyone has difficulty in loading the pictures I can also resize them in future posts. I say this every time but hopefully the next update will be sooner rather than later.

Thanks!

Hi there i have been watching your progress from the start and it it fantastic, you must like the punishment, and the harrier.I have recently dug out my harrier to start and have one question for you about the rivet detail, what is the best way to fill? i thought of halfords filler primer, and mainly do you think it is neccersary, are the rivets on the real aircraft not as pronounced roy.

[Henk Koppelaar]

Outstanding awesome job.......

[PapaSmurf630]

Hello chaps,

Since it has been over 5 months since my last posting on this build, I thought I'd bring you all back up to date with recent happenings. I have had a bit of downtime over the last couple of weeks which has let me really get down to work on the pit, focusing mainly on the lower half of the instrument panel (IP).

Work began on this area many months ago, at the same time I was finishing off the rudder pedals. I started by tracing around the outside of the kit IP. This was because I felt the general shape was close and it would save me having to find out the contours of the fuselage myself. This outline was then used to develop a rough sketch (created using many different reference photos)...

I used the sketch to help me figure out where the main panels were, how they fit together, general size of instrument faces etc. This comes in very handy just because it allows you to start 'getting your head around' the area and gives a nice starting point from where to dive in.

Next, the kit IP was scanned into the computer and the resulting .JPEG image fed into Adobe Illustrator.

I've only just started using this program since being at University but it allowed me to create a pretty accurate outline of the IP and provided a good basis from which to create a more accurate drawing (initially using my rough sketch from earlier as general reference.)

I'll admit it's nothing spectacular to look at and not in the same league as Timmy!'s beautiful Jaguar drawings but it really helps to refine sizes and dimensions of all the panels and instruments on the IP. Without this drawing, all my panels would be cut out with far less accuracy and ultimately lead to a poor fit and messy result. Having this to use as a guide eliminated the guess work that I was using when creating the side panels on the tub and sustained the belief that if I stuck to the drawings as closely as possible, I'd get a result that would be square, clean and crisp (hopefully!) Obviously this all assumes that the drawing is accurate in the first place and this is one of the reasons it has taken so long to provide an interesting update. However, what I'm not showing you is the hours of cutting out and test fitting of lots of instrument panels to ensure a close and snug fit in the cockpit tub and fuselage. Moving on...

First on the to-do list was the small panel to the right of the IP. It contains the PWR display and the power control unit. First up was the PWR...

I printed off a copy of the line drawing and stuck the area I wanted to create to a thin piece of plasticard. This was then carefully lined up and...

...POW! Punched cleanly out! It may be worth pointing out that it's the small square around the hole that is the PWR display. I have not glued the paper onto the plastic in this area as I want the paper to fall away when the square is cut out.

Next, I painted the face of the PWR display black and glued some clear acetate onto the back before trimming it back. This was then painted clear green on the back side...

Another copy of the (now coloured in) IP drawing was printed and the PWR markings punched out. Once the green had set, it was stuck to the underside of the PWR display and then the whole lot stuck again to a slightly larger square of coke can metal (steel or alluminium?)

Details like screw heads and any knobs or switches are then added. In this picture you can also see the PWR control unit. This was made in the same way as the panels I created earlier on in the build for the instruments on the left and right side of the tub.

[PapaSmurf630]

The next image shows the way in which I decided to separate the cockpit instrument panel. According to reference pictures the lower-middle section (the area in between the pilots legs) seems to slope away from the pilot. I guess this angles the instruments upwards making reading them easier. Because of this, I have detached it and this will be sloped backwards slightly.

This shows a close-up of the IP in its basic state before the layers of detail are added.

I really like the way the acetate gives such a nice clean reflection. I really don't feel you can get the same crispness with Future, especially not at this scale.

Here are images of the real life panels to the left and right of the main IP.

Hopefully you should see them starting to look similar to the image above those.

I put them to one side and then moved swiftly on to the lower area of the main IP.

First I'd like to quickly explain how I produce another type of switch ("Oooh! How interesting!" I hear you all shout) that can be found in the cockpit. These seem to be 'selector' switches that can be turned left or right to select different options. They are on the panel at the bottom of the picture.

I produce these by using stretched sprue (or rod styrene)...

...and squeezing the tip with a pair of tweezers. The flattened tip is then trimmed on either side (as they have become wider too) with a scalpel and stuck to the panel.

If need be, they are then trimmed down further using a pair of side cutters. This is the same panel as the one at the bottom of the last reference picture. Two types of switch are used on this, with the middle row being created using the method just shown. This panel was then lined again with coke can metal.

(Note: match used to show scale. Not quite as impressive as Pierre's (Scalephantomphixer) amazing F.2A engines but getting there! ;))

Now we move onto the area with the large amount of dials (at the top of picture)...

I wanted to create this area using coke can metal as I felt it would give a much crisper finish with much more strength and without the thickness of plasticard.

First I printed out a flipped copy of my guide and superglued it to the back of some coke can metal. Holes were then punched out carefully.

Until I was left with something looking like this...

Unfortunately, this is all I have time for. It's 5:30am and the sun is starting to rise. I will continue with the update tomorrow. Good night!

[Kostucha]

Simply put, this is a beautiful bit of work you have on the go here. Really, it's something else. I thought I had a tough time with the plumbing in the Stuka... my word. Beautiful!

[martin_sam_2000]

looking good. The amount of effort and detail you are putting into this is amazing. This will definately be a one of a kind model when it is gone.

Can't wait for more!!!

Sean

[PapaSmurf630]

Thank you for the kind posts Sean and Kostucha! I'm really enjoying the progress on your 1/24 Stuka. I made that model a couple of years ago when I was 14 and I still think it's dangling off the ceiling! :(

Time to post the other half!

The panel is then very carefully bent backwards and forwards...

...until it breaks cleanly off. A couple of light passes with a scalpel suffice and the bending creates a beautifully crisp cut. The whole lot is then precisely glued to a drawing of the dials from earlier. More on that later...

Next up is the middle panel. This area contains the missile control panel and other important indicators.

I begin by cutting out the appropriate section of drawing after glueing it to a thin piece of plasticard.

This is then embellished with squares of green tinted clear acetate. The actual indicator lights are a little less stark but I feel it'll add a bit of interest to a panel which is otherwise rather boring.

When all the bits are put together we get something that looks like this...

..Not a far cry from the real thing but still some way to go.

After all the panels were created, I could start refining the base of the lower IP.

Two cut-to-shape lengths of coke can metal were stuck to either side of the IP. These also have rivets pushed into them. The fit of the panels is so good between them (thanks to the drawings) that you have to slide the panels in from the top. Very snug!

After this the build really started to speed up. Most of the main measuring and cutting was out of the way and it was onto the fun bit...assembly.

The lower IP got a lick of paint...

...and the dials were installed. The process is very similar to how I created the PWR display. The dials were not punched out separately and instead stuck to the backside of the panel in one piece. You'll also notice a gap in the middle of the lower IP. From my reference pictures it seems these two panels are installed with a gap between them. I don't know why but I have tried to replicate it.