STOVL Canberra

[kitnut617]

Looking good.  I never would have thought that an Canberra with a Harrier under each wing would look right, but you've done it.

Ed

Thanks Ed, you know some amazing coincidences happened as I was building it, for instance, once I found out where the load cg of a Canberra is (apparently about the forward edge of the wheel bays) and then lining up the lift cg of a Harrier (center of the four nozzles in the down position), I found the the main wheel leg hinge of the Harrier would line up exactly under the real main spar of the Canberra.  Things like that just make the plan come together so much easier.

[Weaver]

Looking damn fine now - I too wondered how it would come out, but you've done a sterling job of blending the parts together in a credible manner. 

Looking good.  I never would have thought that an Canberra with a Harrier under each wing would look right, but you've done it.

Ed

Thanks Ed, you know some amazing coincidences happened as I was building it, for instance, once I found out where the load cg of a Canberra is (apparently about the forward edge of the wheel bays) and then lining up the lift cg of a Harrier (center of the four nozzles in the down position), I found the the main wheel leg hinge of the Harrier would line up exactly under the real main spar of the Canberra.  Things like that just make the plan come together so much easier.

That shouldn't actually be too surprising really: main u/c legs and main spars (on naturally stable aircraft) both need to be just behind the CofG.Damn handy when it actually works out on the model!

[Eddie M.]

Very inspiring work. Work like this is what keeps me going as a modeler.

[arkon]

glad to see some more pics, looks  .is this goin to be navy?

[kitnut617]

glad to see some more pics, looks   .is this goin to be navy?

Thanks arkon, but no, although it could be associated to JFH.  Scooterman is sending me some odds & ends of a Harrier No.3 Sqn. decal sheet, and thedarkmaster has provided me with some lo-vis Canberra roundels etc.  I'm going to mix & match them and I've decided on a Harrier variation of the two-tone grey camo (as in the latest style) but might look a little USMC-ish

[kitnut617]

Got some more done over the last couple of weeks, the first nacelle is glued on and a round of PSV was done on it, the second nacelle is almost finished, just some refinements to the front nozzle fairings and the u/c bay doors to go back on and then check that the nozzles will fit properly.  I've filled in over the wing for the second nacelle which is all glued in now.

I've moved the cockpit tub further forward so the bulkhead behind the seats lines up with the forward fuselage join line, by doing this it brings the seat position into the widest point of the canopy, and I've done some pre-fit-up with a couple of pylons.  I'm using all the pylons from the GR.7 kit and the large ones which are usually beside the fuselage I've elongated using the rear half of a F-15 pylon which just happens to match up quite well.  I'll probably add a bit of card to the leading edges of all the other pylons as it looks a little odd leaving them as they are when fitted to the Canberra wing, which doesn't have quite as much leading edge sweep as the Harrier.

I had thought this will be tail sitter but with the chunks of resin, the wheel centers moved back about 3 to 4mm it is quite nose heavy, that is until I trial fitted the tailplanes and it's as I first thought, it tail sits but only just.  Mind you when I raise the fin and the tailplanes 10mm like I did to the wing it will probably be quite a tail sitter, I'm going to leave putting the radome on till last I think.

And instead of having split flaps, it will have Harrier style flaps so I'll be scribing some lines to represent that, I'll give it all the lift augmenters of the latest Harriers too.

[PR19_Kit]

Robert,

That's going to be AWESOME when you've finished it, not that it isn't already of course. 

[batmancustoms]

very cool my man!

[Brian da Basher]

Your STOVL Canberra is coming along excellently, kitnut! I think the second pic is my favorite. Seeing you update us on this project was a real treat!

Brian da Basher

[kitnut617]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the nice comments.

[Sisko]

Been a while since I checked in on this and it is coming along!

Looks great!

[Weaver]

This is looking excellent - well done!

[kitnut617]

More progress, I've jumped ahead to what I want to do to the fuselage.  After a very informative chat with Evan, I'm moving the tailplane up the same amount as the wing, about 10mm.  I've cut the fin/rudder off and I've also carefully cut a hole in the side of the fuselage to take a Harrier airbrake door, did this by finding a corresponding curve on the fuselage to the curve on the door which sort of places it in the area that the B-57 has. it only needed a bit of sanding to get the front end of the door to form to the fuselage contour.

I next added a 10mm strip of card to the bottom of the fin and using the angle of the dorsal fillet continued it down to the new bottom of the fin, did the same with the trailing edge too.  I then added a spar then drilled a hole through the new pieces to slide a short length of brass rod to act as a stiffener.  The spar is a bit longer than what will be needed so I've cut a slot in the bottom of the fuselage so it will protrude through and I'll use this to help with squaring up the fin/tail assembly.  I added some styrene strip to the root of the tailplane and then carefully trimmed it back to suit the new rudder profile.

[kitnut617]

Another view of the tail assembly and how it will look once all glued together.  Because the jet thrust line is at roughly the same level with the new nacelles I'm going to have the tailplane horizontal instaed of canted up a few degrees, I've read somewhere that the taiplane was angle up like that to move it out of the thrust line so it's doesn't need it now.

[ElectrikBlue]

It is nice to see your work in progress, great model!