Jump to content

Harrier GR5: ZD412 / AH, 3(F) Sqdn


Recommended Posts

Harrier GR5 - ZD412 / AH operated by 3(F) Squadron, RAF around 1990-91

You can take the man out of a Harrier, but you cannot take the Harrier out of the man ... :closedeyes:

Hoorah - back on track with the old faithful. I thought I'd never get build number eleven in my 1/48 scale Harrier project finished, but here she is. It must have been the glorious Summer weather that kept distracting me. This time I have modelled a GR5 in the NATO Green / Lichen Green colour scheme (the only one they wore in service). The Hasegawa 1/48th scale kit has decals for a 3(F) squadron aircraft (ZD410), but I thought I'd change this to ZD412 / AH. This aircraft was the last allocated serial of the original GR5 builds - ZD430 and upwards were designated as GR5As. Harrier ZD412 had an unfortunate end after an aborted take-off at Gutersloh saw here end up attempting a swim in the River Ems on 320th September 1991. Sadly the pilot sustained major injuries according to the accident report. The aircraft was declared a write-off and never flew again. It ended up at Charlwood Yard as wreckage (circa 2009).

Aside from a resin ejection seat and a Phimat sourced from a fellow Harrier SIG member, the build is straight from the box. I opened up the kit's nosewheel bay doors but did not box-off the resulting hole bay. For the brush-painted colour scheme, I used Precision Paint's NATO Green (enamel) on top and Xtracolor X24 (enamel) Lichen Green for the undersides. I'm not a fan of the Xtracolor paint, but used it as it's technically the right colour unlike the Humbrol green I used on the last GR7 build. Eagle-eyed Harrier experts will notice I used the wrong instrument panel coaming - fitting the one identified in the instructions, but I believe this is wrong. The GR5, like the AV-8B has the "plain" instrument coaming and narrow HUD. The GR7, GR9, AV-8B NA and AV-8B Plus had the coaming with the raised detail and wide HUD. :banghead:

I used the kit's decals for all bar the serial, tail code, nozzle rotation markings (kit's are undersized, like most 1/48 scale sheets!) which were home-made using inkjet decal paper. I wasted two MDC decals before giving up and omitting it - for some reason I just couldn't get them to sit right inside the canopy. I also found that I did not put enough Klear on in some areas to avoid the dreaded silvering. Weathering was a combination of Tamiya Weathering powders, indian ink marker pen and some ZIG Brushable pen work. To finish off, I sprayed with Humbrol Matt spray from a can.

So here she is ...

P6220477.jpg

P6220475.jpg

P6220464.jpg

P6220480.jpg

Comments welcome as ever.

The next Harrier on the workbench will be an Indian FRS.51 Sea Harrier. I might do an AV-8B for the Close Air Support GB.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great harrier there. I do like the GR5. I don't know what harrier to do next in my project but have been sidetracked by a T-45 Goshawk to go with my other hawks...having real trouble with finding the red colour though.

Again, very nice harrier!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

-normally the GR-5 puts me to sleep ( even though I've built one)

But that is quite tidy and neat. nice !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...