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Airfix 1/72 Sea Harrier FRS.1


Stephen

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Bad news for me, as I was planning to pop in to Hannants to pick up a tin of paint. I'll probably have to buy a Harrier now, and I can't afford one. Someone will have to go without a Christmas present!

Obi-Jiff :fish:

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Bad news for me, as I was planning to pop in to Hannants to pick up a tin of paint. I'll probably have to buy a Harrier now, and I can't afford one. Someone will have to go without a Christmas present!

Bad news for me, I found I had all the paints I needed, so there was no excuse to go to Hannants. At least my wallet is happier!

Obi-Jiff :fish:

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General impressions are good. The kit has some similarity with the old (and excellent) ESCI kit (reboxed by Italeri). However, there are a number of differences.

The fuselage halves are one part each (ESCI has the nose halves separate).

The wing top has part of the forward top fuselage on it (unlike ESCI which ends with wing forward edge).

The engine compressor face is a separate part with spaces between blades.

The weapons are much better (and there are more of them) than on ESCI kit.

The interior of landing gear wells and airbrake well is very nice and deep.

Decals appear to be printed by either Cartograf or some other Italian decal printer. They look like current Revell or Italeri decals, with matt surface, crisply printed, in perfect register, and thin).

Cockpit is adequate, with nicely rendered decal sheets for instrument panel and side consoles (better looking than ESCI). The seat is made up of three parts and looks nice - definitely much better than old ESCI seat.

My only gripe is that panel lines are deep and wide. They are not Matchbox style trenches, but they are nowhere near the crisp and fine panels on the ESCI kit. There is no flash (as expected for a new kit, but not always the case), and fit remains to be tested but it looks like the kit will fit well. Plastic has a smooth satin surface (no orange peel effect here).

Boxshortside.jpg

Edited by Vladan Dugaric
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Uh oh! Now I'm very tempted to build that 801 bird...the kit looks rather swanky indeed! Nose gear bay looks a little shallow (nitpicking) but I'm dead impressed with the bulged main gear! How much are these going for??

£7.99 in Modelzone and Hannants.

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I got one yesterday. Definately agree on the decals, excellent quality and content, and look just like the quality you get in an Italeri kit. Top marks for that.

Can't comment on the rest much (as bits still in the bag), but stands up pretty well against the old Esci kit at a very nice price to. Now if you buy this and an Airfix Spitfire, you can swop the pilots around as the SHAR one's left his bonedome at home!

Colin

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Hi,

Vladan, great photos and good summary; thank you! My only concern with the model is the canopy shape - it looked a bit squashed on the ones I saw at SMW. Any chance of a front 3/4 photo being posted?

NOTE for those making XZ457/14 as she looked during the Falklands War she would have had Extra Dark Sea Grey (EDSG) gunpods for most of the action. 457 was equipped with the dk green pods on its return on Hermes to Portsmouth and then Yeovilton on 21st July 1982, these having been acquired from an RAF GR.3 at some time after they arrived on the ship (18th May 1982) and after 24th May - colour photos of 457 on that day show it with EDSG gunpods. XZ457's Falklands headlines read...

BAe Sea Harrier FRS.1 XZ457 First Flight 15 December 1979, pilot John Farley.

2 April 1982, XZ457 arrived on Hermes as VL/714 of 899 NAS with the name LT CDR M BROADWATER in white under the starboard windscreen and with the red triangle + white winged fist 899 ‘zap’ on its starboard nose. The upper wing RCV warning markings were on separate two white rectangles - DANGER inboard, the rest of the stencil outboard. The rear radar altimeter aerial was light tan, the forward one a dark wine red, and the ventral fin's rear IFF aerial had an aluminium border. The yellow stripe marking was carried near its upper wing roundels. The rear red ‘no step’ X was on the centre-line.

After EDSG over-painting: side number black 14 - note this means that the numbers are not located in the same positions on both fuselage sides, both sides' 14s have an EDSG overpainted 7 ahead of them (as 714 they would have aligned with each other), - airbrake number black 4. The lower nozzle angle markings were not over-painted. This SHAR had non-standard red ejection seat triangle markings (correctly depicted for this a/c in the kit's decals, its contemporary SHARs had ejection sheet triangles like those provided for XZ451/100) and a darker EDSG patch on the starboard cockpit side.

1 May, XZ457 armed with three DA 1,000lb bombs was flown by Lt Andy McHarg, ‘Tartan 3’, for the raid on the airstrip at Goose Green; timed to coincide with the main dawn attack on Port Stanley.

21 May, Lt Clive Morrell destroyed A-4Q Skyhawk 0660/3-A-307 of 3 Escuadrilla with an AIM-9L and damaged A-4Q Skyhawk 0665/3-A-312 of 3 Escuadrilla with cannon fire, this A-4Q being lost while attempting an emergency landing; both pilots, Capitan de Corbetta Philipi and Teniente de Navio Arca, ejected safely.

24 May, Lt Cdr Andy Auld destroyed two Daggers C-419 and C-430 of Grupo 6 with two AIM-9Ls; both pilots, Mayor Puga and Capitan Diaz, ejected safely. (On this date it still head EDSG gunpods, which would have had none of the kit's decals 90/91 applied to them.)

By 14 June, XZ457 had flown 66 operational sorties, dropped three 1,000lb bombs, fired six hundred and eighty 30mm cannon rounds and three AIM-9Ls.

21 July, returned to Portsmouth on Hermes with the addition of two white Mirage stencils above a white Skyhawk stencil below the cockpit on the port side. Both gun pods were overall Dark Green replacements from a Harrier GR.3. The camera panel was a MSG painted replacement (see also ZA194) with a strip of aluminium-coloured gaffa-tape over the aperture (the panel on which decal 30 sits).

I hope that helps modellers of XZ457 out a bit. If any of you need any more info on 457 or any other FRS.1, whether pre, during or post-Falklands..., please ask!

Cheers,

Nick

Edited by NG899
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Windshieldprofile.jpg

Windshield3-4view.jpg

Canopyprofile.jpg

Canopy3-4view.jpg

The side view doesn't look squashed, but I don't know how it will appear on the finished model. Usually (but not always), what you see in test shots is what makes it into production model. Very rarely (as in case of new Airfix Spitfire Mk.IXc) are some minor tweaks made.

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And, yes, there are two sets of aux blow-in doors for the intake - open and closed. Open ones are done correctly, with top doors open, gradually closing towards sides, then fully closed from there on down.

Of note are also missile fins which are not flat slabs, but have profile that is nice and sharp at the edges with multi-faceted sides. This is something that is not often done, especially not on lower cost kits.

The nozzle vanes are unfortunately done in halves so there will be seams on them. On the other side, they are commendably thin (and it will probably be a simple task to either replace them or just laminate them with very thin plasticard so seams are hidden).

Edited by Vladan Dugaric
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There should not be a step anywhere on the frame - they should just have engraved the frame boundaries. Paint thickness is probably more than adequate scale representation of the frame if it stands proud of the transparency at all on the real item - many planes have them flush anyway, SHAR included, but even if the frame is raised, it would be invisible in 1/72 scale.

See this photo from markmarples' gallery (taken from his post in thread Airfix SHar FA.2, Sprue Shot Sweetness in 72nd):

100_1166.jpg

Edited by Vladan Dugaric
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the nozzle vanes will be an easier fix this way than having to carve out solid blocks :D

The step in the canopy framing is possibly due to the inner frame that can be seen on maark's photos?

Price is comparable/ slightly cheaper than the current Italeri box which may be about to go out of production. I have plenty of the Esci/Italeri Shars but will be nice to get a couple of these chaps as well :lol:

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The step in the canopy framing is possibly due to the inner frame that can be seen on mark's photos?

There is no inner frame. If you mean the item on the inside edge with evenly spaced vertical slits, thats the inflatable rubber pressure seal

I can post details pic's from my canopy if you wish ?

.

Edited by Dave T
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