Barry's TAV-8B Harrier Finished

[Barry]

I'll be having a go at this which has been in my stash for a looong time:





The plastic bits





I don't usually buy after market stuff, so I'm thinking that I must have gotten this brass for half price or something.

[shangos70]

Always nice to see a twin seater.

[Gregers]

Nice. Out of curiosity is this the same moulding that Airfix used?.

All the best.

Greg

[TobyC]

Nice. Out of curiosity is this the same moulding that Airfix used?.

All the best.

Greg

Not according to Scalemates. It's all their own work first released in 1982

[Old_Tonto]

Looking forward to this. Never seen this built before.

[Gregers]

Cheers Toby.

Looking forward to seeing what you do with this one Barry. It's sure to be a great build.

All the best.

Greg

[Barry]

Thanks guys...what I'm hoping to do with this one Greg, is to produce a nice, simple, out of the box airplane minus any of the usual dramas, self inflicted or otherwise.

[Barry]

I sanded the detail off the instrument panels to use these etched brass ones...not impressed. I think that painted, and dry brushed, the original ones would have looked better. Maybe if I go back and tone down the white highlights....




The seats rough painted. They look undersized to me; like when a five year old pretends to be driving the car but can't see over the edge of the windows. Pavla seats ordered from Roll Models.





Glued the fuselage together and, working through openings in the side of the fuselage, managed to install a 'floor' inside this outlet. I'll use filler to build it up level with the fuselage.




TV-8's at rest have the upper three inlet doors open, so I'm doing that.

[Old_Tonto]

That's really nice work Barry. Your attention to detail puts me to shame.

[Barry]

Thanks...Nice and simple seems to be sliding off the table, still hoping for the 'no dramas' part to hold. Annual "Modelzona" competition and swap meet over in Arizona this weekend so I'm packing up today and heading out at oh dark thirty tomorrow. Back with you on Monday. Tarra

[Barry]

Had a great weekend ...huge contest over in Phoenix (Actually at Falcon Field in Mesa) Visited with some good friends, got to chat a little with Paul Bradley (Who needs more material from us for his "Classic Plastic" column) and picked up five new kits. Ready now to have another go at the Harrier!



There are these dimples in the wing tip to fill.



I had to trim the bottom wing insert to get the fences to line up. There are brass ones to be had but I think that they look a little too thin so I'm sticking with these.



Not much to say here. The transparencies are not quite as wide as the fuselage so I cut away a little of the seam on the rear instrument shroud so I could pull the fuselage halves a little closer together. Hope that looks ok in the end.



The fuselage seam is recessed a little (see by the glare pattern in the middle there) and will require filler all the way 'round. Plastic to fill the gaps followed by filler to smooth it out.

[PaulBradley]

Good to see you on Saturday, Barry!

Nice start on the Harrier; those seats don't look right at all, do they.....!

[Barry]

No they don't Paul...and I'm sorry I didn't notice it earlier because, as nice a guy as Mr. Roll Models is, delivery from him is notoriously slow. They may not get here before the end of the GB.

[Barry]

Filled seams and sinks on the wings. Also noted from photos that, 1) the TAV-8B only has one set of wing fences, the outboard ones, and 2) They don't have the aerial refueling gear fitted. I don't know whether or not they have the plumbing for aerial refueling, but I wasn't able to find any with the exterior bits mounted.




Note here that the intake has a slightly tighter curve to it than the fuselage.




Filler to blend it in.



Looking more like an airplane. Hoping to progress a little faster now.

[Barry]

Add LEX...these were tricky because they're just butt joins and it was hard to hold them in place while adding cement.




Open up reaction control vent on top of the wing tip. (It is already provided on the bottom)




Attach fixed portions of the canopies.