Hawker Harpy F.1A; aircraft ‘XL196/J' of 43 Sqdr., Royal Air Force, Leuchars

[Captain Canada]

Wow ! She looks just awesome in those colours and markings ! Great stuff indeed !

[Glenn Gilbertson]

Great story and a magnificent looking model! It should convince a few punters!

[major]

Love it! Amazing how a paint job can totally change the look of an aircraft.

[Dizzyfugu]

Thanks a lot to everyone!

Here's a late third party addition (not directly a response to kitbasher - but the issue seems to be inspiring): Canadian modelling colleague and illustrator Franclab from FlickR created a two-seat version of the Harpy, based on the beauty pics:


Hawker Harpy F.2 by Franclab, on Flickr

Lovely, too!

[Dizzyfugu]

And here's another one - good ideas seem to pop up in parallel, it seems... 

Lovely idea, too!


Dassault Mystère V by Franclab, on Flickr

[PR19_Kit]

Blimey, he was quick off the mark with them! 

The 2 seater's fin shouts 'JAVELIN' at me, presumably because of the big fin flash. Perhaps the F2s were sub-contracted to Gloster? 

[diegoepoimaria]

Beautiful model, beautiful conversion, beautiful story and beautiful photos ... Mate, i envy you! 

[Mossie]

Looks excellent, right of the front page of British Secret Projects!

This in-progress pic got me thinking: a tailless delta aircraft? Maybe chop a little section out of the fuselage to shorten it. I suppose that would make it look sorta Fairey Delta III-ish. Maybe even some canards for a Shenyang version of the Chengdu J-9?

I thought exactly the same, add a full delta wing and it's almost a single seat Fairey Delta III.  Wing from a Mirage IV or Avro Arrow, maybe a B-58 or a 1/48 J-8B?  A pair of Freightdog Red Dean and the illusion is complete.

[Dizzyfugu]

The tailless delta option caught me, too, as I added the stabilizers after painting. The OOB delta wings are rather small, so shortening the fuselage by maybe 1" should be enough - maybe half of that in front of the wings, the rest behind? Could work - I'd be curious to see that, too! The J-8II is a BIG aircraft!

Or you implant some bigger delta wings to the OOB fuselage, which is rather easy - maybe from a Heller Mirage IV (it could provide a twin cockpit, too!), or a Delta Dagger/Dart? Hmmm.... 

BTW, Franclab was busy - here's an alternative to the stillborn CF-105: the imported CF-106, as an ECM variant (the CAF's 'Electric Harpy'). Note the Voodoo canopy!


CF-106B "Electric Harpy" by Franclab, on Flickr

[pyro-manic]

Looks great! It's definitely not a Hawker machine, though - far too brutal. Any of the other manufacturers, certainly, but it hasn't got the style of a Hawker design (curved wing/fin-tips etc). I'd agree that Fairey seems a good bet.

And a (possibly rather pedantic, but hey-ho) note: it should be "43 Squadron", not "43rd".

[Dizzyfugu]

Agree - the J-8II has much of the Fairey Delta III project. But as Fairey did a real submission to F.155T I searched for a manufacturer that could suppyl this one. Sure, Hawker had its own, but that's what I just settled for. 

And thanks for the clarification on 43 Squadron, I was not aware of that. 

[James]

Damn, that looks right.  You're absolutely right, it just screams "1960s British design"! Absolutely brilliant idea and execution.  We need more Hawker Harpy whifs. Different camos, different load-outs, a twin-seater...

Is it just me that thinlks that the Harpy is the result of a Fairey Delta III and a Phantom having a brief encounter over the North Sea?

[Dizzyfugu]

And the Chinese watched it and needed 20 years to take it to the hardware stage!   

[eatthis]

i really like this!

[pyro-manic]

Agree - the J-8II has much of the Fairey Delta III project. But as Fairey did a real submission to F.155T I searched for a manufacturer that could suppyl this one. Sure, Hawker had its own, but that's what I just settled for.  

And thanks for the clarification on 43 Squadron, I was not aware of that.  

Fair enough - it's a cracking model any way you look at it! Very smart, and yet again I'm amazed at the speed you work at. I didn't finish anything last year, though I started probably four or five builds at least. Got more than twenty unfinished ones on the (rather dusty) bench now....

British squadrons are always named like that, be it "One Squadron, RAF" or "Eight Nine Nine Naval Air Squadron" or whatever. No "rd", "th" etc. That's how the Americans do it.