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'1/24 FA2 Sea Harrier Conversion'


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Hey guys,

Been progressing slowly on this bird. Haven't got much to show for the time spent on it so far but here goes anyway.

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Right Side of Nose. New mold so no rivets at all! Just noticed my spelling mistakes on 're-revitted' :woot.gif: Oh and the red rectangle shows the previous position of the panel.

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Comparison.

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Another Comparison.

A whole days work, and only 1/6th of the fuselage finished. The rivets on this thing are amazingly big. They had to go! Still though the final result even so far is worth the effort. Will still have the wings, vertical stab and tailplane to do, aswell as speed brakes etc...and then comes the cockpit and the rest of the detailing! <_<

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The FA2 Conversion Set, AMRAAM Set, Air Intakes Set, Under Carriage Set.

I don't know whether to bother investing in the FRS.1 set.

The site needs better pictures of the resin, and from the pics I can see, the tub looks exactly like the Airfix Tub.

Anyway, it'll be a week or two before I finish the filling and sanding of the rivets :explode:

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  • 1 month later...

Update.

Got the FA2 conversion set on Monday. Here it is:

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Lots of white metal parts for vents etc

Big bits of resin aswell, might save putting weight in the front (if it even needs it which I doubt) Still not quite sure where to slice the rear fuselage to make room for the plug, but that stage is far away anyway.

Finished filling and sanding one half of the fuselage. Takes a LONG time.

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Comparison:

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Lighting wasn't the best but thought I'd get an update on here.

Currently working on detailing side wall of cockpit, can't wait to get some pics up on here of it, looks the business!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Small update.

Overall Front Fuselage shot with new Heritage Resin Nose.

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Beginnings of the detailing.

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GR3 seat temporarily in place.

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Things have slowed down due to me finding this quite big fault (if you want to make this model as accurate as possible. Airfix have designed the seat to fix directly onto the rear bulkhead. In the real aircraft, this isn't the case. There is some sort of a frame behind the seat. You have to cut part of the rear cockpit off, tilt the rear bulkhead backwards. This means building a bulkhead from scratch (making it longer due to the shallower angle. It also means lengthening the side consoles and other bits.

Sorry if this is to indepth. I figured this would help anyone building the FRS.1 aswell. All the pictures so far are the VERY beginnings, it will get a lot more visually interesting soon :thumbsup:

Cheers!

Edited by PapaSmurf630
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Hey guys,

Back again after some more cutting work!! Weird, I've spent a couple of weeks on this model, and I haven't actually 'built' anything! Just when I think I can start making, I have to chop more bits off!

I started by carefully cutting of some of the rear cockpit.

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This picture shows the orientation of the new bulkhead.

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Lastly, this picture shows the material that still needs to be removed (in pink) The pink at the top will be sanded off when the bulkhead is in place to get a perfect angle (and hopefully fit)

The wheel bay plug is inplace in this picture, the front end will have a part sliced off aswell.

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Black part will need to be extended, along with tub and side consoles!

Next update will hopefully have the new bulkhead in place! I've got to do this treatment to both sides :whistle: Going to be a LOOONG project!

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Yet another small update. I know I should probably wait a little longer inbetween posting updates, so you guys can see a little bit more progress, but I figured I'd try to give as much of a indepth build thread as possible since there are so many changes and modifications that need to be executed in order to get a good model of this awesome aircraft.

Anyway, the bulkhead!

This may not be the fastest or easiest way of making a bulkhead but it's very cost effective. All you need is some scrap card, a sharp scalpel and 500g of patience.

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Using a peice of card roughly cut to form, I then dry-fitted and re-trimmed over and over again until I got as close to a fit as is possible. The best method I discovered was to do two seperate halves, this makes it easier to isolate what parts need trimming.

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Lovely! As close to perfect as I want to get (with eye sight and sanity intact)

Wake up everyone!! :D

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Finally, it's just a case of transferring the shape to plasticard and cutting it out, sanding and dryfitting until you've got it snug as a bug!

Sorted. Next step - lengthening cockpit tub and other parts :cheers:

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Quick update. Cockpit tub corrected. I think that's the last major 'corrective surgery' I'm going to have to do in the cockpit. Now it's just a case of building up the sidewalls, IP, Bulkhead and of course adding all the switches and dials...sheesh...

btw, all small gaps around the edges of the bulkhead will be hidden when I place foil over it (and wrapping slightly around onto the walls) to produce the raised rivets.

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Airfix have designed the seat to fix directly onto the rear bulkhead. In the real aircraft, this isn't the case. There is some sort of a frame behind the seat. You have to cut part of the rear cockpit off, tilt the rear bulkhead backwards. This means building a bulkhead from scratch (making it longer due to the shallower angle. It also means lengthening the side consoles and other bits.

Hi, sorry to barge in, newbie here and all, but i can say with some authority that the Harrier seat does in fact slide up & down a rail attached to the rear bulkhead.

There is marginal clearance between it and the bulkhead, so in 1/24 this would be negligible.

Cheers.......

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Yup, there is indeed a rail that the seat sits on.

BUT, the bulkhead is still to far forward. This becomes undeniably evident when you mark out the postions for the ducts that sit on the sloped section, behind the rear cockpit bulkhead.

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Hello,

Another update.

Last couple of days have been spent finishing of the framing around the left cockpit wall and also expirementing with new methods (most of these methods are new for me)

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Nearly completed framing. Still A LOT more detail to go on this thing, but atleast it's a good start.

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This is a control panel that is found on the left of the cockpit side wall. All scratched out of plastic, foil, wire and paper. Boy is it small. One more switch has to be put on this then it's complete.

I've also realised I have a whole bunch of pictures with the ejection seat removed, thus showing the WHOLE bulkhead, boy do I have a job cut out for me. This is great for me and the project because I can remove all 'guess work' and get it as accurate as possible.

Cheers guys.

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Small update.

Been a day of small yet needed progress. Building in an area where the detail is very obscure in reference pics.

Also, noticed a small recess in the side of the left side-console. This NEEDS to be replicated or it'll cause later fit issues when I install the ejection seat.

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Remove material.

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I did mine like this. Very quick, effecient way.

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Ended looking like this.

This had to be done. I spent about an hour looking at it contemplating whether it was worth the effort or not. I think it'll save a few headaches later on.

Next step, detailing the forward side wall, then painting, then installing the smaller components before starting on the rear bulkhead. I PROMISE I wont post another update until I have the side wall painted and near enough done :wacko: Any comments/criticisms welcomed.

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Looking good so far,are you using the FA2 book done by Albert Osinski.Its a good reference for the FA2.Cheers for the offer of your help by the way and good luck with the FA2 project.

Edited by viper494
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