Greg W Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 Ok, this eventually will be a WIP but at the moment, it is a little side project to satisfy the curiosity of myself and some interested fellow modelers. I have been gathering kits, reference and aftermarket so I can make 1/24 FRS.1 and FA.2 Sea Harriers. Our fellow LSP member gunpowder, provided me with The Heritage Aviation FA.2 resin nose and fuselage extension. I did not receive any instructions with the conversion parts, so the question that came up for discussion was, where precisely does one make the cut for the fuselage plug? The information needed was found in the two books below and this post is for those that are interested in doing the same conversion, if they are able to aquire the Heritage Aviation parts or use 3D printed parts, in order to convert the Airfix FRS.1 into the FA.2 The Airfix FRS.1 kit is really the GR.1/GR.3 kit, with additional sprues that includes a new tooled FRS.1 forward fuselage section. The modeler has to cut the GR nose off and graft on the Sea Harrier parts. Below you can see GR.1/GR.3 fuse (bottom) next to the modified kit parts. The Heritage Aviation resin nose has been added to the FRS.1 forward fuselage and the ejection seat is a 3D printed part from Flory Models. themongoose, geedubelyer, LSP_Kevin and 6 others 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg W Posted February 22 Author Share Posted February 22 (edited) This is the fuselage extension plug. Initially, I had only a general idea of where it should be placed. The real 1:1 fuselage extension is 13 3/4" wide. The HA resin part is just over 9/16" wide. The cut in the fuselage is made just behind the rear bulkhead of the main gear well. In order for my HA resin plug to fit, some resin needed to be removed from the bottom of the forward facing interior protrusion, which extends over the wheel well. In other words, it was fouling on the two tabs marked in red. Cut on the dotted line... Edited February 25 by Greg W geedubelyer, Shoggz, Landrotten Highlander and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg W Posted February 22 Author Share Posted February 22 Landrotten Highlander, Bonkin, Anthony in NZ and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg W Posted February 22 Author Share Posted February 22 The GR.3 fuselage is roughly 20 3/4" long while the FA.2 fuselage is 22 1/2" long. Starfighter, Marcin_Matejko, geedubelyer and 17 others 19 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 Very neat work, Greg! I had no idea Flory had ventured into 3D printing. Kev mozart and Greg W 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg W Posted February 22 Author Share Posted February 22 I hope this little blurb helps fellow FA.2 buffs. FYI, Flightpath has introduced newly revised FRS.1 upgrades that have many useful parts for this project, like better landing gear and a host of useful items. Check it out: https://davidjparkins.com/product-category/flightpath/124th-aircraft-detail-sets-and-display-items/ geedubelyer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg W Posted February 22 Author Share Posted February 22 (edited) 6 minutes ago, LSP_Kevin said: Very neat work, Greg! I had no idea Flory had ventured into 3D printing. Kev Thank you Kevin. Yes, he also does a set of nozzles for this kit too, which I have and they are a big improvement over the kit parts. Edited February 22 by Greg W geedubelyer and LSP_Kevin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 Not in a scale I build but I’ve always considered the F/A 2 to be the best looking of the Harrier series so I’ll follow please. John Greg W 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg W Posted February 22 Author Share Posted February 22 10 hours ago, Biggles87 said: Not in a scale I build but I’ve always considered the F/A 2 to be the best looking of the Harrier series so I’ll follow please. John I am really stoked to do this and it will be great to have you follow along. I have been tempted by the 1:48 Kittyhawk FA.2 but now that I have the unubtainium Heritage Aviation parts my ambition to build the big kits can be exercised. Im not sure which is easier to build though! I guess now its go big or go home... Biggles87 and gunpowder 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 Lovely work so far for sure. Greg W 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonkin Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 Looking forward to following along with this. I have both the GR3 and SHAR FRS1 kits in my own stash and always figured I'd build both at the same time. I've always preferred the look of the FRS2 though. Sadly it looks like Heritage Aviation Models Ltd is no longer trading so unless someone else has the original moulds and/or is willing to sell the conversion kit I expect it will be very hard for others to do the same. Greg W 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnthonyWan Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 Following with interest... Is that Heritage Aviation conversion set still available? Greg W 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaos07 Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 Nice! Superb clean work so far - looking forward to your progress. Greg W 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg W Posted February 24 Author Share Posted February 24 20 hours ago, AnthonyWan said: Following with interest... Is that Heritage Aviation conversion set still available? Unfortunately no, the Heritage Aviation products are not available anymore. Model Monkey? Big Tim? Care to try your hand at a nose and fuselage extension for this kit? Maybe? Please? Ha! Lets make some noise and see if our aftermarket friends will come to the rescue! AnthonyWan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg W Posted February 24 Author Share Posted February 24 On 2/22/2024 at 2:14 PM, Out2gtcha said: Lovely work so far for sure. Thanks Brian, nice to have you check in. 14 hours ago, chaos07 said: Nice! Superb clean work so far - looking forward to your progress. Ok, very good! Thank you 21 hours ago, Bonkin said: Looking forward to following along with this. I have both the GR3 and SHAR FRS1 kits in my own stash and always figured I'd build both at the same time. I've always preferred the look of the FRS2 though. Sadly it looks like Heritage Aviation Models Ltd is no longer trading so unless someone else has the original moulds and/or is willing to sell the conversion kit I expect it will be very hard for others to do the same. Maybe we can drive some interest toward a sympathetic aftermarket outfit after all? Seems like it is worth a try. Thank you very much for showing interest in my attempt at the conversion. To those following along, I plan on diving into the build after I finish my Airfix 1/24 109. Actually, I am going to take my Hasegawa eggplane to the 2024 IPMS Nats, so that is also in front of this too. So far, my prime example for this project, is the excellent WIP by ChrisE: So good to have all of you add to the fun! I have to keep my ADHD in check to keep me from dropping everything and starting on this! Later, friends Out2gtcha, chaos07 and Bonkin 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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