I’ve shelved the 1/18th scale Harrier. (Lost interest) I picked up this kit at a local model contest/Swap meet. The vendor that sold it to me, took very good care of it over the years. Several of the parts were off their trees, but placed in small zip lock bags. The only things that were missing, were 2 spark plugs, and the decals.
He did start some very small assemblies a long time ago. Some very minor clean up. The body parts had some very minor scratches. I wet sanded all the body parts up to 2000 grit. I’m using Tamiya Fine White primer as my base coat. I’ve chosen Tamiya Pure Orange spray paint as the body color.
In an effort to make it look less toylike, I’ve stripped all of the chrome parts. It was a lot. (The parts on toothpicks stuck in the blue foam blocks. I used Super Clean to strip the parts. I was able to get some paint down on the hood today.
The kit engine is quite detailed. I’ve taken
Off the side panels of the hood. I’m going to put a hinge on one side of the top hood piece. I’m going to pose it like the Red one below.
This looks like a great kit @Cbowling. Don’t see many of these around. It’s an interesting subject. I’m looking forward to watching your progress and seeing how it turns out. Good luck with the build! Thanks for posting this one.
Finally got some paint down today. After the body was wet sanded with 2000 grit, I used a tack cloth to get the last of the dust off. I started with Tamiya White Fine Primer. Several mist coats. I waited a few minutes in between coats. I used Tamiya Pure Orange spray. Several light coats until everything was covered. A few minutes between coats.
I decided to go with Alclad chrome. I used their gloss black as a base. I tried to be as thorough as I could when it came to cleaning the parts before black. No thinning required. Ready to spray right out of the bottle. Several very light coats. Waited about an hour, then sprayed the chrome. Some of the parts that were stripped are not going to be re-chromed. I’ll use other Alclad metallic color depending on what the item is.
Beautiful paint work here. Nicely done!
This is looking good!
I gave the orange base coat several days to fully cure. Yesterday, I sprayed Tamiya clear on everything that was orange. Several mist coats until I got the coverage that I was looking for. I’ll let the clear cure for a few days, then start the polishing process. Everything that was originally chrome out of the box , was stripped, and has now been re-chromed.
I worked on the engine today. The fuel lines that come with the kit are black hose. I replaced it with braided fuel lines, and compression fittings from Ted’s Modeling Marketplace. I finished up the day working on the magneto, spark, plug wires, and spark plugs. The interior has been painted semi gloss black. I’m going to use embossing powder to replicate carpet on the floorboards. The soft top was painted with flat black. I used the wheels and tire from the kit.
Nice work! It’s fun to watch your progress on this really cool kit. Thanks for posting.
Lovely work, pretty amazing scalemodel. Love your paint job(s).
Great paint work. Good call on stripping the chrome. I really like alclad products but found the gloss back base to take a long time to dry so I’ve been using Tamiya gloss black. If I don’t strip chrome I usually hit it with Tamiya clear smoke - really knocks down the toy look
Thanks. It’s been a really fun build. I went on eBay to check the price of this kit that is still wrapped in the original cellophane. It’s crazy how much it was going for. Stripping the chrome took a very long time. It was only my second time using the Alclad chrome. I highly suggest you give it a try.
Chris
Thanks for the comment. I’ve had to be really careful about making sure that everything was dust free prior to putting any paint down. Especially when I had to re-chrome things. It’s still a learning process. I normally keep a can of compressed air on my workbench in the garage. I usually spray things off one last time with a short burst of air just before I paint it.
Chris
Thanks buddy. I found out the hard way about the gloss black drying. Even after a day or two. I had to strip quite a few parts and start from scratch. I’ll probably move to Tamiya gloss black from this point moving forward. I tried to be as careful as I could be when I put the mist coats down. Great idea on using clear smoke too to knock down the shine on chrome parts.
Chris
That’s a good idea I could indeed use!! Thanks!
I finished the engine tonight. I need to straighten some of the spark plugs up. The kit supplied a rubber band for the water pump pulleys. I cut a new one from .015 polystyrene sheet. I used clear blue on the header pipes to simulate heat stress. Looking forward to working on the interior next
Oh man that looks just awesome! The plugs look spot on. How do you fix the braided line to the fittings? Had issue there with the braid wicking all the CA away when I tried.
Fabulous work. Except for the background, you’d think this was a picture of a 1:1 scale engine. Everything looks great. Super detailed.
Thanks a lot. The braided line that I use, has a rubber tube inside the braiding. Inside the rubber tube is a copper wire. (for rigidity). I’ve tried using other fuel line, like the one that is coiled up, but it just didn’t look realistic. Also, there is no internal structure to hold it rigid. Just a slight drop of superglue is enough to hold the fitting on the end of the braided line. I’ve tried pulling some off before, but couldn’t. I ended up having to cut it off. Here is the website that I went to to order all the things for the 69 Camaro, and Pontiac Grand Am funny car. This gentleman has everything.
He even provides a detailed chart of hose, and braided line sizes and fittings . It was a huge help in determining what fittings I needed to purchase to match the line that I got.I hope this helps.
Fantastic work Chris, the engine looks great!
Thanks. I’ll have to give it a shot again. I know Teds site - great stuff there for car detailing.
Was able to get quite a bit done this weekend. It’s a big relief to get the body attached to the chassis. The firewall is aftermarket. (Purchased on eBay from hotrodsrus33) Did a
little trimming to get it to get the clearance I needed. The engine was a very tight fit. I used embossing powder again to simulate carpet in the interior. All the chrome pieces help up very well to all the handling. If you plan on using Alclad II chrome, it must be sealed. If not, you’re gonna get fingerprints and actually some of the paint to rub off.
I purchased seat belts from Spot models.
