McDonnell Douglas Alternative Harrier Replacement.

[Pablo1965]

Agreed!

[kitnut617]

Thanks everyone, glad you like it ---

I've been wondering what to call this aircraft, that's designation wise.  So I had a look at unused US Military Designations on the internet and I found this:

V-19
V-19A was reserved on 25 February 1977 for the Navy, but the reservation was cancelled on 8 December 1980. A note on the nomenclature record card says:

Cancelled after contact with Tim Nichols (McDonald's [who apparently made the reservation in 1977] replacement) of NavAir. He can find nothing on this reservation.  

Amazingly, it was reserved by McDonnells for a McDonnell Replacement although the timeline might be a bit early.  But we can always say it was resurrected can't we.

So this aircraft is an AV-19A Super Harrier, although the F-15 jocks derogatorally called it the 'Mini-Me'    

[LemonJello]

Oh my, this is going to be something impressive to see. Can't wait for the next set of photos.

[kitnut617]

I've had to do some refinements to the forward fuselage, the front of the Harrier part where the nose cone is attached, is about 1.2mm bigger than the corresponding F-18 part, but the rear end of the Harrier part is a good 2mm smaller than the same point on the F-18 fuselage.  Studying the parts I could see that there was a point that was the same width so I made a mark on both pieces at this point. I then glued on a generous amount of F-18 upper forward fuselage and then the F-18 nose cone (waited for it to dry) then made a diagonal saw cut from the top/center of the fusealge/nose cone straight to the mark on the side of the fuselage.  I then matched this cut on the Harrier part.




I glued in the Harrier cockpit tub and I.P., then glued this to the fuselage.



I found that the joinline was so close to being right, that only the slightest rub with the sanding stick was needed to blend the parts together

[kitnut617]

If anyone has built the Airfix GR.5 Harrier kit, they will know that the canopy doesn't fit very well, it's much too wide for where it's supposed to attach to.  This actually plays into my hands as I had to spread the rear half of the Harrier part to match the F-18.  I did this by carefully cutting with the razorsaw, down both sides of the instrument panel cover, almost up to the front of the windscreen, then I packed a bit of card between the cockpit tub and fuselage sides to push it out, then added some more card in between the rear of the part.  Even doing this the rear canopy is still a tad too wide but it will have to do. (I'm going to experiment with a broken Harrier canopy by boiling it in water using the microwave as I've found on another project, boiling plastic this way does things differently than just boiling it on top of the stove. I'll see what happens to the clear part when I do this)



I've also fitted a bit of the F-15 upper fuselage in behind the the Harrier part, this was suitable squished and bent to form a shape that will work.  I've slipped in the seat and pilot just to see how it would look.



This view shows how the fuselage top line will eventually appear like, from the top of the F-15 part to about half way down the engine bulge I think.

[PR19_Kit]

You surely are a 'Master of Plastic Surgery' Robert.....

[James]

That looks like it'll end up something special. 

[kitbasher]

sexy beast!

[Pablo1965]

This is taking shape very attractive

[Supertom]

Right now I'm totally jealous that I didn't think of that.   

[Old Wombat]

Looking better every time I visit! Looks great, so far!

[kitnut617]

Thanks everyone, appreciate all the kind words

[Eddie M.]

Masterful work sir!!

[kitnut617]

Thanks Eddie ----

I've refined the rectangle-to-round transition, the change in parts like using the F-18 forward underside dictated that the fan front had to go back some more. I took the opportunity to refine the rectangle opening (had to make it a tad smaller) but added 10mm to the length.  Here's a pic of the difference and I've glued the fan front into it (mainly to protect the blades from more damage which thankfully the broken ones I've managed to hide from view).  I also changed the position of the join lines to the sides as the top & bottom arrangement got in the way.



Next thing I started to replicate what I did for the port side to the starboard side but before I went to much further with that I wanted to make sure the new intake duct would go where I wanted it to go.  First though I made a center tapered box to fit inside the duct almost up to the fan spinner,




And after a bit of hacki --- I mean surgery to the insides and the part, got it to fit and glued in,



I then cut a corresponding slot into the bottom side of the transition so it would drop over the center box,



Here's a test fit of the transition in the fuselage, everything is coming together but before I glue it in I'll have to do a bit of painting to the fan, as there's no way I can get in once assembled.

[Hobbes]

Nicely done!