I have never built a Harrier, but i have 5 1/72nd Airfix kits in the stash so figiured if i am doing one i might as well do 2 together. This is the Sea harrier FA.2.
I’ll be adding an Eduard PE set and Quickboost resin exhausts.
I started out with geting the pit parts prepped and painted.
Not a lot of detail in the pit OOB, all the instruments are added with decals. After painting i just went straight to the PE.
Then the pit was fitted and the fuselage put together. No fit issues here.
You can see in the pic above that there a rim of plastic inside the intakes. I didn’t know it at the time but this would be a problem. Its not suppossed to be there and will have to be removed. Its not flash as its thick plastic, and there is no indication on the instructions. As i went to fit the iner part of the intake attached to the fan i realised it neeed sanding back. I did this just enough for it to fit. But when i went to fit the outer part of the intake, i needed cutting all the way back. The left hand intake is fitted here, but not the right.
The wings did go on nicely, no issues there.
There was some filler needed around the intakes. tail is fitted just need to do some clean up of the filler.
I’m going to go to school on your build here, Bish. I have the Airfix 1/48 Sea Harrier FRS Mk1. I’m sure there will be some transfer of knowledge from 1/72 to 1/48 that I can use.
The kit looks pretty good. Nice detail. I’ll probably build it OOB to depict a Falklands Harrier.
Construction of the Shar is complete so ashide from masking the canopy and intakes, its ready for primer. After some advice from a member on another forum, i realised i had used the wrong intakes. Airfix offers 2 options but doesn’t explain which option should be used for in flight or on the ground. While i was able to remove the intakes, i could not take them apart. So i ordered the resin Pavla set which was swiftly fitted. The doors and hatches will be done off the kit.
And while its in the paint shop, i’l get to work on a tractor for the diorama.
I have this kid in the stash. What is the difference between the in-flight versus the on-the-ground intakes? That little tractor will make the perfect complement to this beautiful bird.
Chad, its those square holes around the outside of the intakes. They have flaps on them which are not srung. So when on the ground and shut down, the upper ones are open while the lower ones shut. Once in flight, they all close from the airflow coming in through the intakes. Real G explained it in the VTOL GB.
Nice work. I always liked the Harrier. This one looks really good. Too bad about the instructions. Perhaps you could let Airfix know of the issue so they can correct it for future kits.
I recently sent Airfix a question regarding if they were going to make an early version of the Mustang (no fillet for tail) in 72nd. No reply yet
To me since there are no good early version Mustangs without surgery in 72nd that if they did it would be a license to print money. I know I’d buy at least a dozen.
Thanks for that link. If i am seeing that rightm, it includes markings for one of the Phantoms based on Ascension during the war. I might have to be picking myself up another Airfix kit for that.
