NA Harvard IIa 20 SFTS Cranborne S Rhodesia (finished)

[monthebiff]

Now that looks rather nice Max, very striking!

Regards. Andy 

[LSP_Kevin]

Wow, that looks fantastic, Max!

 

Kev

[Out2gtcha]

Wow indeed! Great paint results Max

[mozart]

Thank you all for your kind comments, the yellow scheme including the prominent numbers is striking.  There were several airfields close together around most of the major townships such as Gwelo and Salisbury in S Rhodesia, so identification of individual aircraft was an important issue, especially with hot-headed young men doing low flying and risking killing themselves and the local populace!!  

 

I like modelling in-flight aircraft, so I'm working on the prop at the moment.  There's no easy, or right way, to represent prop blades in motion - having no blades, a clear disk, a motor etc are options but I prefer the prop-blur solution.  So I cut off the blade itself just above the junction with the propeller hub and cut a slot down the remaining length.  The Prop Blur PE was cut to length (9 feet for a Harvard, the KH supplied blades are too long) and will be slotted into the cut, then painted.  It's worth noting that the front face of the blades were silver, but the rear face was black, this to prevent glare I imagine?

 

I like to think it worked reasonably well in my "Spit in trouble" from a few years ago!

Edited June 16, 2019 by mozart

[mozart]

I've been slowly progressing this build with a bit of weathering, using Flory's Dark Dirt applied over a couple of coats of MRP Super Clear gloss varnish (which isn't very gloss at all, but that suits me right now!).  I like the flexibility of dark dirt, it dries very quickly (especially with some help from a jet of air from the airbrush) and I can easily take off just as much dirt as I wish, or re-apply and repeat where necessary:

 

 

As can be seen from the lovely photo of the balbo shown elsewhere, these flying school Harvards were real workhorses and whilst no doubt carefully mechanically maintained it appears their cosmetic appearance was less important. 

 

I'm trying to get the Harvard and the Stieglitz finished asap because my fingers are itching to start a "Hawker double build" shortly that I'm rather excited about! 

[LSP_Kevin]

That looks sensational, Max! You're making my fingers itch to build another one myself.

 

Kev

[ade rowlands]

I really like that. Great work. 

[mozart]

Thank you both, I've just finished masking the canopy sections so should get those sprayed up over the next couple of days, then it's really just the flaps and lowering undercart to fit, plus a display stand of course! 

[mozart]

OK - so I've masked and sprayed the five sections of the Harvard's canopy, inside and out.  I'm using AlleyCat's resin AM set AC32033C, which is the correct configuration for my Harvard.  However unfortunately there is a fit issue, and I think I can understand why largely based on the thickness of the resin and the build-up on the three sliding sections.  As can be seen from these examples on the Harvard at Yeovilton, the pilot's section of the canopy is the widest, the second section slightly narrower and the third narrower still:

 

 

However due to the moulding thickness constraints the narrowest section of the resin canopy has to be considerably narrower than scale in order that the succeeding sections can be slightly wider, with the widest forward section being the same width as the fuselage sides.  This solution however leads to some ugly gaps on sections 2 and 3:

 

 

I think I'll be able to overcome this with some strips of thin card at the canopy/fuselage interface, perhaps a double thickness on 3, single on 2 to bring it all flush.  I was hoping to have the forward section open but I can't see how this is going to work sadly due to the same issue with resin thickness.

 

Any thoughts or further advice always very welcome chums!! 

[monthebiff]

Really liking your Harvard Max, bloody shame about that canopy but have to agree with you idea of a fix though.

 

Regards. Andy

[Cheetah11]

Hi Max

 

The Harvard is looking great.

 

On the 1/48 Harvards I just left the center section off to display the front canopy open. You can maybe do the same and simulate the center section on the inside with decal strips.

 

Nick

Edited July 5, 2019 by Cheetah11
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[mozart]

Thanks Andy, just one of those things sent to try us I guess!  What would life be like if every kit was perfect and clicked together.....you and I would be bored straight way!

 

Bless you Nick, what a simple but elegant solution that would be!!!  I've been thinking about it this morning whilst I've been out driving - I think in our scale I may try cutting a frame structure from plastic card on my Silhouette cutter (I've already drawn the masks on there), then paint and bend it to fit inside the pilot's canopy.  Obviously I'll still be putting some micro-strip along the canopy/fuselage interface.

Edited July 5, 2019 by mozart

[mozart]

Well that worked rather well!  10 thou card; for those interested the settings on the Silhouette were: depth (of blade) 4, speed 4, force 33 (that's the max. on my machine), passes 4.  The "windows" snapped out very easily, the framing is less than 1mm in width and I know for sure that I couldn't have done this as neatly or simply using a knife.  This little exercise has opened up a whole range of possibilities to enhance models.

 

 

I'll put a few rivet marks on then paint it up shortly.

[Kagemusha]

Really nice Havard Max, I was going to suggest you maybe try the rear-most canopy in the centre section, and the middle one at the rear, to get the pilot canopy open, but it looks like you may well have found a neat solution, hope so. 

[Out2gtcha]

Great work Max!