1/48 Harvard HARS collection

[N4521U]

Another HARS aircraft, their ***Texan, privately owned, in 1/48th by a donation from our generous forum friend Fubar, AKA Geo. A Revell kit with some very nice detail, and some detail what could use some scratch building, and some modifying. Right up my alley. No pictures of the sprues, I got into it too quickly.

First photo is of the plane in the collection. I say "in the collection" because it is not At the museum. Seems it had engine trouble on take-off and is under repair at another location. Wings are off, engine is off back to the firewall. But none the less, I am building her, because I have a kit to work with.

I have cut the ailerons from the wings. It's gonna be a bit of a chore to get them sorted because the bottom is farther back in the wing than the bottom and it should Not be. So the bottom surface will have to be altered to reality.

I'll have to rid the kit of the exhaust, and do something more realistic with it.

I've done a bit of excavating around the tail wheel, one side sown here.

I didn't like the look of the clamping bolts on the prop hub so I filed them off, filed in a little slot and glued in some styrene rod. I'll finish them to size when dry. And the rudder has been cut from the fuselage. I glued only the rudder mating surfaces before cutting from the fusey.

I sailor on.

***Had to delete the Harvard picture, it's not the HARS plane! Later for the real thing.

 

[Lucky13]

 

[Wurger]

I echo the post above.

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff Bill. These might help with engine and prop detail.

 

[Crimea_River]

Nice work so far mate.

 

[Gnomey]

Good work so far Bill!

 

[Vic Balshaw]

You're doing HARS Bill.

 

[N4521U]

Thanks guys.
Went down to the museum today.
A fresh Harvard, skin off the sides......
WOW Plenty of interior photos now.

 

[Wayne Little]

Damn nice work Bill!

 

[N4521U]

I had to remove the Harvard photo, found it's from another museum... Later for the real plane pic.

Meanwhile I am hacking up the cockpit. Shaved and removed the foot plates and put in some HO guage channel, just looks better. I will hang a more real looking set pf peddles as well.

Also noted in another Harvard that is under restoration that the pilots stick has a loop at the top similar to a Spitfire! I'll have to confirm HARS Harvard has the same and will change that if needed. Also found the kit cockpit frame is pretty nice, but the instrument boxes for switches and stuff are all wrong, and will have to do some scratch work on them. One pilot with the kit, so no student in the rear!

I sailor on.

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff Bill.
The Harvard, as supplied to RAF and Commonwealth air forces, had the 'fighter style' stick grip, as you've discovered, and there were a few other fittings that were 'British', for want of a better term. Some of these depended on the factory, and the model type ( I believe their were more differences on Canadian-produced aircraft), and the rear (fixed) canopy,sometimes longer, depending on model, seat harnesses, some instruments, undercarriage doors (or lack of), and the type of exhaust are examples.
The exhaust, in particular, often quickly identified a Harvard, as opposed to Texan, AT6 etc, from certain angles, and this was normally the extended type, as seen in the two photos I posted, and on the model of the Boscombe Down aircraft I built.
Of course, having access to the actual aircraft being modelled should be an enormous advantage.

 

[N4521U]

And silly me.......... it's a Texan, VH-AXN, and privately owned.
So I don't know What is going on with it as I can only find one picture.
I'll have to find out where it's parked.

 

[Bustedwing]

Harvards are great, love them. There's a couple local at Delta Airpark here that still fly occaisonally. Love the prop sound ! They usually form up a formation and do a Rememberance day flyover. Ill see if I can find some pics and post them if it helps. That yellow one looks awesome, what scale is it ??

 

[Airframes]

It's the 1/48th scale Italeri (ex-Occidental) kit, with the canopy and exhaust slightly modified.

 

[T Bolt]

Nice start there Bill.
If you want to detail that hex bolt on the tip of the prop hub there is a simple way to do it. Stretched sprue will retain the shape of the sprue before stretching, so simply file the round sprue into a hex shape then heat and stretch it. The bolt head can then be sliced from the string.

 

[Crimea_River]

Now there's a good tip!

 

[N4521U]

It's a TEXAN !

I've got the hex done and turned out okay.