G-VTOL Build

[Weaver]

To each his (or her, thank you Reg) own.
I think one finds a level of detail one is comfortable with.  I have built cars in 1/25 with engine detail including plug wires, throttle return springs and fuel lines.  I even built a Funny car with a fully plumbed nitrous system but generally now I just wire the plugs.
I do always try to get the firing order correct though...

I think that's the key to it: does the level of detail you're going into please you, or stop something from bugging you? I did the Skyvan interior because I found some lovely reference pictures of BAS aircraft stuffed with cargo and kit and got a bit carried away with it. I did a fair bit of detailing on the Kawasaki Zephr I built because I've spent so much time around real bikes that a lot of the "scale compromises" bugged the hell out of me.

[NARSES2]

Are they ALL like that, 'cos if so I'll need to be very sure I want the model before I buy another one?

Simple answer is no. The earlier ones I have don't have any, the latter ones have some. The earlier ones tend to have resin bits whereas there is less in the latter ones as their moulding process has improved. Always found the detail adequate without the etch but I've not seen the Harriers or Lightnings.

[PR19_Kit]

This thread must have the highest 'pages to size of parts built' ratio of any build on here. 

So far we've got three pages of posts and an instrument panel that's less than 10 mm long! I better build some more sub-assemblies, if only just to restore a sensible ratio.

The Lightning's pretty similar to the Harrier Chris, with a basic interior with little or no engraving and a hefty PE sheet for the seats and panels etc. I may do that in parallel, once I've worked out how I'm going to Whiff it, and I have an idea or two on that front. 

[PR19_Kit]

Getting back to the actual build....

I've done the rear instrument panel over the last few days, and I know it's a long time to make such a small thing but I get eye and head ache working with such tiny parts so I add one PE piece each day and do something else in the meanwhile.

It's not helped by Sword's part numbering of the PE fret being wrong for the most part. 

Every tiny piece needs to be checked under my big magnifier to see which part on the instruction sheet it resembles. Out of 46 parts only the first 11 have the correct part nos! 

I've assembled some of the front seat and some of the front cockpit bathtub too but I won't post pics of them till they're done.



Oh yes, there's seven parts in the pic above.

[DogfighterZen]

That's one challenging task but it's coming along nicely 
I'll be watching this!

[Captain Canada]

Holy that's a lot of work ! Looks good tho 

[PR19_Kit]

Jeepers, but this is driving me NUTS! 

What with all the tiny PE stuff pinging off all over the model room and the rubbish fit of the styrene parts I'm starting to wonder why I ever started. I think Robert kitnut617's idea of using the Heller Bobcat T4 would have been a better idea, I have a couple of them and the mouldings, specially the wings, are much crisper than the Sword stuff.

I'm doing more work on the front seat and cockpit at the moment, and as before there's a zillion PE parts, none of which will glue onto the plastic but stick themselves onto my fingers with considerable alacrity! I've also added the exhaust nozzles onto the fuselage sides, and you'd have thought that being the be-all and end-all of a Harrier model they'd be a perfect fit.

No........... 

Not only do all four need filing to suit but the shrouds that fit around the front edge of them need trimming down before you can actually get the darns things in the holes!

Fun this is not!

[Gondor]

I'm watching your build with interest Kit as I have one of the sword kits in my stash, it might just stay there for a while longer depending on how well your goes together.

Best of luck 

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

I've read all the reviews of the kit I can find on the Net, and while they all enthuse over the PE stuff I have yet to see anyone who actually shows pics of it all in place on the completed model. Hmmmm.....

[PR19_Kit]

At last I've done the forward seat/cockpit, or as much of it as I'm going to do anyway. Some of the PE parts got left off either because they pinged off into the ether or I just couldn't grip them well enough to place them in position, the ejection seat pan handle being one of them.

So here's the pic of the assembly, there's three plastic bits in here and eighteen PE bits (!), I left four PE bits off. I've just got to do the rear seat/ cockpit now, aaaaagggghhhhh! 

[TallEng]

That does indeed look like the dogs dangly bits
Wether it's worth all the work involved is of course another question....
Which I leave to better persons than I to discuss....
Regards
Keith

P.s. Not sure how to spell wether ( it doesn't look right )

[PR19_Kit]

That does indeed look like the dogs dangly bits
Wether it's worth all the work involved is of course another question....
Which I leave to better persons than I to discuss....
Regards
Keith

P.s. Not sure how to spell wether ( it doesn't look right )

Whether? 

And I agree with you 100%, I'm not sure it was worth all the fiddling about either, and Mrs_PR19 will add '..... all the shouting too!....' 

[kitnut617]

It looks very impressive though Kit --- 

[NARSES2]

It looks very impressive though Kit --- 

It does  Put one of the seats outside the aircraft and say it was taken out for maintenance - at least it would show all your work 

[PR19_Kit]

Not a bad idea that Chris, I may just do that with my Sword Lighting T4 which has the same amount of PE for the seats and cockpit.

Thanks for the congrats too Keith, Chris and Robert, but I only assembled the bits, Eduard probably did all the work on etching and painting. Quite how they do that I've no idea, they must have VERY small paint brushes. The seat belts have 4-5 different colours on each belt! 

While on the subject of Harriers in general, do the models need nose weight usually? It's been almost 40 years since I last built one and I can't remember, and it's not mentioned on any kit instructions that I can find.