Piero

Hello, as requested by some of you, here is the WIP of my big Harrier GR.3 in 1/24th scale. The Airfix Harrier kit is old… almost like me… with basic details compared to the big scale but good in size and shapes overall. To detail the plastic parts I’ve used the Flightpath detail set (PE + resin +metal parts) and added some others parts from scratch. A good documentation is always mandatory… the web is a great source… but I still like the old paper books too. Here is a selection of books. Ok, let’s go to the building stage… starting from the exterior surface. The plastic parts are full of deep and big holes to represent rows of rivets. I don’t like it. So, I’ve used liquid plastic putty to fill the holes and a wet fine sand paper to smooth the surfaces. Pass to the cockpit. The IP plastic part is not too bad… some details were added here and there to better represent the dials and switches. Decals were used too. The cockpit tube and sidewalls are assembled and detailed with plasticard, tape and wires. Same job was done to the front undercarriage bay. The Martin Baker Mk.9 ejection seat is based on the bare plastic part… add details here is a must. Other areas that required details are the small reaction valves and vents like these… fine metal mesh from spares is a good solution. I didn’t want to detail the Pegasus engine because it would end up inside the fuselage and you would not see anything. So it’s time to close the fuselage with everything inside. You can see many details were added all aorund the fulselage using plasticard. Also the row of PE vortex generators were added to on top of each wing. The cover of the instrument panel is based on the plastic part of the kit with some details added on. The windscreen was detailed with PE parts from the Flightpath detail set. Moving on the external stores, first I’ve scratchbuilded a CBLS to be attached under the belly pylon, based on the HE 1000lb kit's bomb and some plasticard and then painted in RAF Dark Green. Next are the fuel tanks and the Matra SNEB rocket pods. First of all a layer of primer with black pre-shading, then a spray of RAF Dark Green. To finish the parts a shading and fading was added too. Same for the pylons. Tailplane and vertical fin with details from plasticard and Flightpath's PE. Ok, everything is ready for the camouflage. Gunze's acrylic paints H331/H75 for RAF Dark Sea Grey and H330/H73 for Dark Green RAF. But first, a layer of Tamiya’s Zinc Chromate is applied all over. When the paint is dried a black pre-shading was added along all the panel lines. RAF Dark Sea Grey is almost done… Fin flash and yellow combat number were painted too. Then RAF Dark Green camouflage pattern was airbrushed. I’ve painted the RAF roundels on my Harrier. A good washing was applied along the panel lines using diluited Humbrel’s enamels. A soft paper tissue was used to removed the excees of wash… here the result. Apply decals required a big effort… as to obtain a good finish effect mixing clear paints, due the size of the model. All five wheels touch the ground... but what a pain!!! Working on the 4 vectoring nozzles... Here the canopy with details added and ready for painting. The big metal pitot tube was done by a friend of mine. It took me a year to do this Harrier. I’m very happy with the final risult and I enjoyed it to build. CIAO! Piero

Hi Alain, this is the Nesher in-progress with the resin nose fitted... not so much putty... CIAO! Piero

Hi, thank you very much for the compliments!!! Yes, I like... just a little bit... the Harriers The Nesher model was done fitting the Isracast resin nose to the Italeri Mirage IIIE kit. I'll post soon a new topic in the WIP section of my work on the Gina and another one of the GR.3 in 1/24th. CIAO! Piero

Hi, after almost 20 years spent on 1/48tth models, I moved to the bigger 1/32nd scale. Here some pics of the models I have completed in the last 5 years. Trumpeter A-4M Skyhawk in 1/32nd Trumpeter AV-8B Harrier II in 1/32nd Trumpeter Harrier GR.5 in 1/32nd Trumpeter Harrier GR.7 in 1/32nd Trumpeter Harrier GR.9A in 1/32nd Trumpeter AV-8B+ Harrier II Plus in 1/32nd Tamiya F-16CJ in 1/32nd Revell Hawk T.1 in 1/32nd Italeri Mirage 5BA in 1/32nd Italeri Nesher in 1/32nd … and now something even bigger… Trumpeter Hurricane IIC in 1/24th Airfix Harrier GR.3 in 1/24th At the moment I’m working on a DayGlo FIAT G.91R-1B in 1/32nd. CIAO! Piero