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Airfix Sea Harriers FRS.1 and FA.2


NG899

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Good morning SHAR fans,

A quick note to say that I've finally managed to get the improvements, colour and historical notes (with photos) for the FA.2 completed, including the Club Edition's 800 NAS markings and will be uploading them over the next week or so.

Cheers,

Nick

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Airfix BAe Sea Harrier FA.2 Improvements

These notes are to help modellers who want to get a more accurate representation of a Sea Harrier FA.2 from the Airfix kit.

FA.2 - Building Instructions - Painting corrections during building

The changes needed to the colours given in the following stages of the instructions - using Humbrol paint references - are:

1. The seat frame should be Dark Admiralty Grey, use Dark Sea Grey 164 with a small dash of white added.

2. Use the 164 mix for the cockpit tub, instrument panel and control column below the handgrip. The centre of the seat headrest is matt black but its top should be Dark Green 163 like the seat cushions. As the kit’s pilot wears WW2 vintage flying gear I won’t mention the colours needed there, they are the least of his problems!

3. Unlike the FRS.1 which had various intake interior colours, those on the FA.2 were always satin white. On ZA195, the dark sea grey overall FRS.2/FA.2 prototype, the intakes were light aircraft grey (Humbrol 166).

4. Brand new heat shields should be a bright steel colour, but they soon tarnish and take on a sooty appearance. Use a base colour of 11 and dry brush 33 over them. The same applies to the rear nozzles in stage 6. Regrettably, all that nice detail on part 39B needs cutting back to just above the airbrake bay floor.

10. The inside colour of the airbrake part 38B should be 165. All undercarriage legs should be Ghost Grey 127. The upper section of part 47B should be 130, the lower is 11. The airbrake bay stains badly but not the inside of the airbrake. Correcting the undercarriage option drawings…

i) For a parked SHAR with the engine shut down, as would be the case if you’ve used parts 10B and 11B in stage 8, the main undercarriage doors, parts 16A and 17A, are usually shut; unless ground crew have opened them for maintenance reasons. However, the front u/c doors, parts 18A and 19A should be open. The airbrake will be open in both this and the next option…

ii) For an aircraft in the hover or one on the ground with pilot onboard and the engine running then the second u/c positioning option is fine; the only problem is that all the auxiliary intake doors would be open so you’d have to modify the lower doors on parts 10B and 11B to look like their dropped upper doors.

iii) This is fine for an in-flight SHAR, providing you keep the nozzles back. If you don’t, open all aux doors!

11. As above for the wheel hub colours, though the inside of these mainwheels contain the brakes so their insides can be liberally weathered for brake dust, while their outer hubs can be liberally weathered for the debris they get coated in when in the hover.

15. AIM-9L bodies should be ghost grey 127.

18. The yaw vane part 48A should be painted the airframe colour with the rear of the pivoting vane (the larger bit!) 11 and the front ‘stick’ bit 18. Note 1: neither of the small black IFF aerials - by the yaw vane and ahead of the forward rectangular panel ahead of the undercarriage bay - are supplied in the kit. They are shown on the colour drawings and are easy to add. Note 2: on the fuselage centre-line just aft of the forward nozzles the two holes are shown for the centre-line pylon, which is missing from the instructions but is provided on Sprue A, Part 28.

FA.2 - Colour schemes and markings notes

As with the FRS.1 kit, the FA.2’s decal options are stunning, with three attractive schemes which depict well the colour schemes of each SHAR Squadron in its last year of operations. The decal sheet is very crisply printed and, to my eye, has no register issues. Reports say the decals go on well too using the MicroSet/Sol liquids.

The full-colour colour scheme and decal placement diagrams are very useful. An error carried over from the FRS.1 diagrams is that all the on the ground profiles show the airbrake closed; and, on the FA.2 drawings, the angle of the radome attachment is too vertical, as illustrated by the in-flight photo of ZH800 below.

Please do not take the shades used in the diagrams as the colours of the actual paint finishes! When making 1:48th scale SHARs I always add a few drops of white 130 into the Medium Sea Grey 165 paint to tone it down a bit for scale effect, otherwise it can look too dark, so recommend you do the same in this scale.

Radome colours All the featured aircraft should have Extra Dark Sea Grey radomes (123) rather than DSG ones. Use a 50:50 Dark Green (163) and 94 mix for the radome’s (very glossy) tip rather than straight 94.

Note too that decals 77 and 78 are applied to the port side of both tanks, so the scheme illustrations are correct.

Referring to the colour diagrams, use Humbrol 94 also for the lower parts of the outrigger legs, the front part of the fin mounted RWR aerial and the RWR aerial on the tailboom.

The pale red no step X on decal 67 needs separating from the line and placing on the fuselage centre line rather than being offset to port as it is on the decal. All FA.2s appear to have had this X on the centre line. The black oval can be removed and just the white chevron used for the water filler stencil

GPS fitted instead of Doppler panels All of the aircraft featured on the decal sheet for the dates these aircraft are shown at had GPS fitted so the yellow Doppler panel marking (decal 66) is not required for any of these schemes! The two white GPS disc antennae sit on the upper fuselage - one replacing the starboard UHF aerial just behind the canopy the other about 1/3 back on the panel just aft of the re-located UHF aerial on the rear fuselage spine - where the (also) not needed decals 72/73 are shown on the stencil diagram. The drawings show the relocated UHF aerial and, incorrectly, the two behind the canopy.

FA.2s, Sea Eagle and Twin Sidewinders The Sea Harrier FA.2 only ever undertook live Sea Eagle firings in the mid-1990s and I’ve only ever seen an FA.2 carrying the Dark Sea Gey coloured Sea Eagle drill rounds as a static display aircraft at airshows, as in the photo at the bottom of page 22 of the new Warpaint SHAR book. Speaking to several ex-SHAR pilots from the late 1990s onwards, they never saw or flew an FA.2 carrying drill rounds on a Squadron, nor were the twin Sidewinder rails ever fitted to FA.2s post 2000 other than on one 800 NAS deployment in 2002 or on static display aircraft at airshows.

ALE40 chaff/flare dispensers Sadly all the drawings miss these from the panel aft of the airbrake bay. See the photo on page 35 of the EXCELLENT Kagero Topshots book on the FA.2 - THE BEST FA.2 photo reference you can get!

Notes on each colour scheme and photographs of the SHARs

BAe Sea Harrier FA.2 - ZH801/R/125, 800 NAS - Scheme A

ZH801/R/125 of 800 NAS just prior to the Squadron’s Disbandment in March 2004. Photos taken on 26th March 2004 show her carrying gunpods, empty outer pylons and overall Medium Sea Grey 190 gallon tanks; the starboard one looking very bright and new. The starboard outer pylon and front section of the port outer pylon were Dark Sea Grey (164). Both radar altimeter aerials on the ventral fin should by Humbrol 113 not 94.

FA2-ZH801-125-R-VL-26Mar044.jpg

Sea Harrier FA.2 ZH801/R/125 photographed at RNAS Yeovilton on 26th March 2004. Note the clean starboard tank, extra dark sea grey radome and weathering on the rather dirty rear fuselage and ventral fin panel. (Photographs copyright: B Condon via airliners.net)

FA2-ZH801-125-R-VL-26Mar043.jpg

BAe Sea Harrier FA.2 - ZE690/L/003, 801 NAS - Scheme B

ZE690/L/003 of 801 NAS carried these markings, including the black Omega on the fin, in November of 2005 as part of the last ever Sea Harrier deployment on HMS Illustrious. Photos of her on ’Lusti show her fitted with strakes rather than gunpods, overall Medium Sea Grey 190 gallon tanks and an empty centre line pylon. Again, the starboard outer pylon and front section of the port outer pylon were Dark Sea Grey (164). A white AIM-9 drill round was carried on the port outer pylon and a Light Aircraft Grey AIM-9 Acquisition (ACQN) round was carried on the starboard outer pylon.

In black below the windscreen on both sides of the fuselages was the pilot’s name: LT PN TREMELLING.

Remove the pale red line from decal 65 and just apply the pale red no step X on the centre line as, for reasons unknown, ZE690 did not have the line applied across its engine panels. On decals 62 and 68 the pale red line can be reduced in width by ½ along its length on the panel aft of the anti-collision beacon.

FA2ZE690-003-LValettaLusti23-Nov-1.jpg

Sea Harrier FA.2 ZE690/L/003 photographed on HMS Illustrious in Valetta harbour, Malta on 23rd November 2005, with an AIM-9 ACQN round on the starboard outer pylon and a white AIM-9 Drill round on the port outer pylon. The ship code L on the starboard side of the fin is mainly missing and the pilot’s name LT PN TREMELLING in black is just visible under the windscreen. Note the light medium sea grey patches on the cockpit sides, the dark sea grey starboard outer pylon and the extra dark sea grey radome. (Photograph copyright: Charles Polidano. via airliners.net)

FA2ZE690-003-LValettaLusti23-Nov-05.jpg

Another view of Sea Harrier FA.2 ZE690/L/003 photographed on HMS Illustrious in Valetta harbour, Malta on 23rd November 2005, showing the white AIM-9 Drill round. (Photograph copyright: Joseph Tonna, via airliners.net)

Both the last CO of 899 NAS, Cdr Jon Lawler RN and 899 pilot thenLt James Blackmore RN, considered ZE690 to have the best handling characteristics of the whole Sea Harrier fleet.

BAe Sea Harrier FA.2 - ZH800/VL/719, 899 NAS - Scheme C

ZH800/VL/719 of 899 NAS carried these markings in February 2005, when it had gunpods fitted and an overall Dark Sea Grey starboard 190 gallon tank and single AIM-9 ACQN rounds on both outer pylons; as the photo below shows.

A mistake on the kit’s decals and on the above drawings is that the early FRS.1 style of winged fist is provided rather than the later style carried by 899’s FA.2s in 2004/5 as illustrated in the photos of ZH800. This can be easily rectified with some spare white decal film and black paint.

The forward radar altimeter aerial on the ventral fin should be Humbrol 113 and not 94.

Remove the pale red no step Xs from decals 62 and 68 and place the further forward on the engine panels when compared to the other two FA.2s, as illustrated in the photo below.

By the time of the Squadron’s Decommissioning on 28th March 2005, ZH800 was coded 713 and ZE690 was coded 719; giving you two more options from the standard kit’s decals.

FA2-ZH800-VL-719-16Oct032.jpg

Sea Harrier FA.2 ZH800/VL/719 in flight over southern England on 16th October 2003. Note the EDSG radome, later style899 Squadron fin markings and dark red forward radar altimeter aerial. (Photograph copyright: Chris Chambers via airliners.net)

FA2-ZH800-VL-719-Valley-23Oct032.jpg

Sea Harrier FA.2 ZH800/VL/719 on finals at RAF Valley, Anglesey on 23rd October 2003. Note the dark sea grey starboard 190 gallon tank, with a weathered front end and the DSG starboard outer pylon with AIM-9 ACQN round. (Photograph copyright: Ray Roberts via airliners.net)

Sea Harrier FA.2 markings - Airfix Club Edition

For those of you who have the Airfix Club Edition boxing of the FA.2 and Harrier GR.7 you get decals instead for one option: the specially marked ‘Satan 1’ - ZD613/R/122 of 800 NAS at the time of the Squadron’s Disbandment in March 2004. Again the decals appear to be of good quality. My experience of trying to get Model Alliance’s 1:48th scale huge decals for this scheme to conform to the upper fuselage and wing contours of the SHAR was rather fraught, even using MicroSet/Sol. I hope that in this scale Airfix’s decals do settle down well. A large beer and lots of care and patience are recommended!

ZD613/R/122 of 899 NAS carried these special Disbandment markings designed by then Lt Rob Trewinnard RN in February and March 2005, when it was fitted with red (Humbrol 64) strakes. Again, the starboard outer pylon and front section of the port outer pylon were Dark Sea Grey (164). Both radar altimeter aerials on the ventral fin should be Humbrol 113 and not 94.

Finally, note that the red of the special markings is quite glossy, as illustrated by the reflection of the fin's ROYAL NAVY lettering on the tailplanes.

FA2-ZD613-122-R-Satan1-Hover2.jpg

FA2-ZD613-122-R-Port2.jpg

Two photographs of Sea Harrier FA.2 ZD613/R/122 photographed at RNAS Yeovilton on 26th March 2004. Note the darker radar altimeter aerials and the extra dark sea grey radome. The pilot’s name under the windscreen on both sides in white is CDR P C J STONE RN. (Photographs copyright: B Condon via airliners.net)

FA2-ZD613-122-R-Satan1Climbing.jpg

A Jamie Hunter special… Sea Harrier FA.2 ZD613/R/122 climbing sharply, illustrating the locating points of the upper sufrace design. (Photograph copyright Jamie Hunter)

FA2-ZD613-122-S-Wing-Outer-pylon-co.jpg

Illustrating the split in the wing underside’s red markings for the inboard pylon. A rather dirty white fairing is in place over the outer pylon’s mounting point. (Photo: Nick Greenall)

I hope these notes and picture help you with all your Airfix SHAR FA.2 builds, good luck!

Nick

Edited by NG899
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  • 7 months later...

i have plans in a month or 2 to build both harriers, is there a way i can keep this thread in a place so i can find it quickerly? taaa

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mate its pinned in the modern section it wont go any where

what that mean? i guess its pinned, i sort of understand that, but how do i find the pinned stuff? ok i go and see if i can find it

you could add it to favourites as well

you mean using mozilla? wouldnt work, as i have a seperate computer in models room for when im building etc. this is one i used day to day.

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  • 1 month later...

I know this is an old thread but I have just picked up the Airfix FRS1 at lunchtime and was about to post the exact questions already answered here.

Brilliant stuff many thanks Nick

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  • 6 months later...

it's even older now but I've just read it and copied it - just as I'm about to start on my kits.

so I went through this in the nick of time.........

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  • 5 weeks later...

Nice to see some pics of 457 post Falklands, we hold that exact same aircraft in our collection at Boscombe, completely rebuilt to static display after potentially being scrapped after an accident. Some of you may have seen it as we had it on the road, in it's original DSG/White scheme at Yeovilton in past years. If anyone knows the whereabouts of a Shar cockpit canopy going for a reasonable price please could you PM me?

Thanks

Rob Hames (Boscombe Down Aviation Collection Communications Assistant)

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  • 6 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

After falling across this series of posts (very interesting and well-researched!), I decided to look at my stashed FRS1 & FA2. I was glad to read that the 190G tanks are standard in the FA2, I thought they'd fudge it with the original 100G ones - will save me a few bob in afters.

I did have to look through the sprues a couple of times however to see if there are any fuselage hangers for AMRAAMs. The kit art (side of 'Royal Navy' & standard FA2 boxings) shows them, but the instructions don't and it doesn't look like they're on the sprues.

Does anyone know if a) there are any aftermarket bits that replicate these or B) the more likely, that I'm stupid and can't see them in the box.

Cheers

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  • 3 months later...

Hello all,

I am just litle bit studying Harriers, because I would like to build one, especially from Falkland war. As one of the options, I have one question regarding to Harrier FRS.1 black 14, XZ457. On the photos is shown overpainted marking on the fin. Was it overpainted after comming home from Falklands, or does the aircraft look like in April-June 1982??? As I understand, the white kill markings were painted during the way home, but the fin appearance is unclear to me. Also thank you for this contribution with description and photos.

Best regards,

David

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Hello all,

I am just litle bit studying Harriers, because I would like to build one, especially from Falkland war. As one of the options, I have one question regarding to Harrier FRS.1 black 14, XZ457. On the photos is shown overpainted marking on the fin. Was it overpainted after comming home from Falklands, or does the aircraft look like in April-June 1982??? As I understand, the white kill markings were painted during the way home, but the fin appearance is unclear to me. Also thank you for this contribution with description and photos.

Best regards,

David

XZ457 came from 899Sqn and the markings would have been painted over on the way down to the Falklands,SHARs on Hermes had the white undersides brush painted with EDSG.

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That's right David, 899 Naval Air Squadron's SHARs and pilots got split between the two carriers - HMS Hermes and HMS Invincible, as did 809 Squaddron's when they joined the Task Force later in May. The lead Squadron on Hermes was 800NAS while that on Invincible 801NAS. It's a long story!

Going back to your model of FRS1 XZ457/14, which scale will you be working in? 1:72nd or 1:48th?

Cheers,

Nick

Edited by NG899
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  • 2 months later...

Airfix BAe Sea Harrier FA.2 Improvements

These notes are to help modellers who want to get a more accurate representation of a Sea Harrier FA.2 from the Airfix kit.

FA.2 - Building Instructions - Painting corrections during building

The changes needed to the colours given in the following stages of the instructions - using Humbrol paint references - are:

1. The seat frame should be Dark Admiralty Grey, use Dark Sea Grey 164 with a small dash of white added.

2. Use the 164 mix for the cockpit tub, instrument panel and control column below the handgrip. The centre of the seat headrest is matt black but its top should be Dark Green 163 like the seat cushions. As the kit's pilot wears WW2 vintage flying gear I won't mention the colours needed there, they are the least of his problems!

3. Unlike the FRS.1 which had various intake interior colours, those on the FA.2 were always satin white. On ZA195, the dark sea grey overall FRS.2/FA.2 prototype, the intakes were light aircraft grey (Humbrol 166).

4. Brand new heat shields should be a bright steel colour, but they soon tarnish and take on a sooty appearance. Use a base colour of 11 and dry brush 33 over them. The same applies to the rear nozzles in stage 6. Regrettably, all that nice detail on part 39B needs cutting back to just above the airbrake bay floor.

10. The inside colour of the airbrake part 38B should be 165. All undercarriage legs should be Ghost Grey 127. The upper section of part 47B should be 130, the lower is 11. The airbrake bay stains badly but not the inside of the airbrake. Correcting the undercarriage option drawings…

i) For a parked SHAR with the engine shut down, as would be the case if you've used parts 10B and 11B in stage 8, the main undercarriage doors, parts 16A and 17A, are usually shut; unless ground crew have opened them for maintenance reasons. However, the front u/c doors, parts 18A and 19A should be open. The airbrake will be open in both this and the next option…

ii) For an aircraft in the hover or one on the ground with pilot onboard and the engine running then the second u/c positioning option is fine; the only problem is that all the auxiliary intake doors would be open so you'd have to modify the lower doors on parts 10B and 11B to look like their dropped upper doors.

iii) This is fine for an in-flight SHAR, providing you keep the nozzles back. If you don't, open all aux doors!

11. As above for the wheel hub colours, though the inside of these mainwheels contain the brakes so their insides can be liberally weathered for brake dust, while their outer hubs can be liberally weathered for the debris they get coated in when in the hover.

15. AIM-9L bodies should be ghost grey 127.

18. The yaw vane part 48A should be painted the airframe colour with the rear of the pivoting vane (the larger bit!) 11 and the front 'stick' bit 18. Note 1: neither of the small black IFF aerials - by the yaw vane and ahead of the forward rectangular panel ahead of the undercarriage bay - are supplied in the kit. They are shown on the colour drawings and are easy to add. Note 2: on the fuselage centre-line just aft of the forward nozzles the two holes are shown for the centre-line pylon, which is missing from the instructions but is provided on Sprue A, Part 28.

FA.2 - Colour schemes and markings notes

As with the FRS.1 kit, the FA.2's decal options are stunning, with three attractive schemes which depict well the colour schemes of each SHAR Squadron in its last year of operations. The decal sheet is very crisply printed and, to my eye, has no register issues. Reports say the decals go on well too using the MicroSet/Sol liquids.

The full-colour colour scheme and decal placement diagrams are very useful. An error carried over from the FRS.1 diagrams is that all the on the ground profiles show the airbrake closed; and, on the FA.2 drawings, the angle of the radome attachment is too vertical, as illustrated by the in-flight photo of ZH800 below.

Please do not take the shades used in the diagrams as the colours of the actual paint finishes! When making 1:48th scale SHARs I always add a few drops of white 130 into the Medium Sea Grey 165 paint to tone it down a bit for scale effect, otherwise it can look too dark, so recommend you do the same in this scale.

Radome colours All the featured aircraft should have Extra Dark Sea Grey radomes (123) rather than DSG ones. Use a 50:50 Dark Green (163) and 94 mix for the radome's (very glossy) tip rather than straight 94.

Note too that decals 77 and 78 are applied to the port side of both tanks, so the scheme illustrations are correct.

Referring to the colour diagrams, use Humbrol 94 also for the lower parts of the outrigger legs, the front part of the fin mounted RWR aerial and the RWR aerial on the tailboom.

The pale red no step X on decal 67 needs separating from the line and placing on the fuselage centre line rather than being offset to port as it is on the decal. All FA.2s appear to have had this X on the centre line. The black oval can be removed and just the white chevron used for the water filler stencil

GPS fitted instead of Doppler panels All of the aircraft featured on the decal sheet for the dates these aircraft are shown at had GPS fitted so the yellow Doppler panel marking (decal 66) is not required for any of these schemes! The two white GPS disc antennae sit on the upper fuselage - one replacing the starboard UHF aerial just behind the canopy the other about 1/3 back on the panel just aft of the re-located UHF aerial on the rear fuselage spine - where the (also) not needed decals 72/73 are shown on the stencil diagram. The drawings show the relocated UHF aerial and, incorrectly, the two behind the canopy.

FA.2s, Sea Eagle and Twin Sidewinders The Sea Harrier FA.2 only ever undertook live Sea Eagle firings in the mid-1990s and I've only ever seen an FA.2 carrying the Dark Sea Gey coloured Sea Eagle drill rounds as a static display aircraft at airshows, as in the photo at the bottom of page 22 of the new Warpaint SHAR book. Speaking to several ex-SHAR pilots from the late 1990s onwards, they never saw or flew an FA.2 carrying drill rounds on a Squadron, nor were the twin Sidewinder rails ever fitted to FA.2s post 2000 other than on one 800 NAS deployment in 2002 or on static display aircraft at airshows.

ALE40 chaff/flare dispensers Sadly all the drawings miss these from the panel aft of the airbrake bay. See the photo on page 35 of the EXCELLENT Kagero Topshots book on the FA.2 - THE BEST FA.2 photo reference you can get!

Notes on each colour scheme and photographs of the SHARs

BAe Sea Harrier FA.2 - ZH801/R/125, 800 NAS - Scheme A

ZH801/R/125 of 800 NAS just prior to the Squadron's Disbandment in March 2004. Photos taken on 26th March 2004 show her carrying gunpods, empty outer pylons and overall Medium Sea Grey 190 gallon tanks; the starboard one looking very bright and new. The starboard outer pylon and front section of the port outer pylon were Dark Sea Grey (164). Both radar altimeter aerials on the ventral fin should by Humbrol 113 not 94.

FA2-ZH801-125-R-VL-26Mar044.jpg

Sea Harrier FA.2 ZH801/R/125 photographed at RNAS Yeovilton on 26th March 2004. Note the clean starboard tank, extra dark sea grey radome and weathering on the rather dirty rear fuselage and ventral fin panel. (Photographs copyright: B Condon via airliners.net)

FA2-ZH801-125-R-VL-26Mar043.jpg

BAe Sea Harrier FA.2 - ZE690/L/003, 801 NAS - Scheme B

ZE690/L/003 of 801 NAS carried these markings, including the black Omega on the fin, in November of 2005 as part of the last ever Sea Harrier deployment on HMS Illustrious. Photos of her on 'Lusti show her fitted with strakes rather than gunpods, overall Medium Sea Grey 190 gallon tanks and an empty centre line pylon. Again, the starboard outer pylon and front section of the port outer pylon were Dark Sea Grey (164). A white AIM-9 drill round was carried on the port outer pylon and a Light Aircraft Grey AIM-9 Acquisition (ACQN) round was carried on the starboard outer pylon.

In black below the windscreen on both sides of the fuselages was the pilot's name: LT PN TREMELLING.

Remove the pale red line from decal 65 and just apply the pale red no step X on the centre line as, for reasons unknown, ZE690 did not have the line applied across its engine panels. On decals 62 and 68 the pale red line can be reduced in width by ½ along its length on the panel aft of the anti-collision beacon.

FA2ZE690-003-LValettaLusti23-Nov-1.jpg

Sea Harrier FA.2 ZE690/L/003 photographed on HMS Illustrious in Valetta harbour, Malta on 23rd November 2005, with an AIM-9 ACQN round on the starboard outer pylon and a white AIM-9 Drill round on the port outer pylon. The ship code L on the starboard side of the fin is mainly missing and the pilot's name LT PN TREMELLING in black is just visible under the windscreen. Note the light medium sea grey patches on the cockpit sides, the dark sea grey starboard outer pylon and the extra dark sea grey radome. (Photograph copyright: Charles Polidano. via airliners.net)

FA2ZE690-003-LValettaLusti23-Nov-05.jpg

Another view of Sea Harrier FA.2 ZE690/L/003 photographed on HMS Illustrious in Valetta harbour, Malta on 23rd November 2005, showing the white AIM-9 Drill round. (Photograph copyright: Joseph Tonna, via airliners.net)

Both the last CO of 899 NAS, Cdr Jon Lawler RN and 899 pilot thenLt James Blackmore RN, considered ZE690 to have the best handling characteristics of the whole Sea Harrier fleet.

BAe Sea Harrier FA.2 - ZH800/VL/719, 899 NAS - Scheme C

ZH800/VL/719 of 899 NAS carried these markings in February 2005, when it had gunpods fitted and an overall Dark Sea Grey starboard 190 gallon tank and single AIM-9 ACQN rounds on both outer pylons; as the photo below shows.

A mistake on the kit's decals and on the above drawings is that the early FRS.1 style of winged fist is provided rather than the later style carried by 899's FA.2s in 2004/5 as illustrated in the photos of ZH800. This can be easily rectified with some spare white decal film and black paint.

The forward radar altimeter aerial on the ventral fin should be Humbrol 113 and not 94.

Remove the pale red no step Xs from decals 62 and 68 and place the further forward on the engine panels when compared to the other two FA.2s, as illustrated in the photo below.

By the time of the Squadron's Decommissioning on 28th March 2005, ZH800 was coded 713 and ZE690 was coded 719; giving you two more options from the standard kit's decals.

FA2-ZH800-VL-719-16Oct032.jpg

Sea Harrier FA.2 ZH800/VL/719 in flight over southern England on 16th October 2003. Note the EDSG radome, later style899 Squadron fin markings and dark red forward radar altimeter aerial. (Photograph copyright: Chris Chambers via airliners.net)

FA2-ZH800-VL-719-Valley-23Oct032.jpg

Sea Harrier FA.2 ZH800/VL/719 on finals at RAF Valley, Anglesey on 23rd October 2003. Note the dark sea grey starboard 190 gallon tank, with a weathered front end and the DSG starboard outer pylon with AIM-9 ACQN round. (Photograph copyright: Ray Roberts via airliners.net)

Sea Harrier FA.2 markings - Airfix Club Edition

For those of you who have the Airfix Club Edition boxing of the FA.2 and Harrier GR.7 you get decals instead for one option: the specially marked 'Satan 1' - ZD613/R/122 of 800 NAS at the time of the Squadron's Disbandment in March 2004. Again the decals appear to be of good quality. My experience of trying to get Model Alliance's 1:48th scale huge decals for this scheme to conform to the upper fuselage and wing contours of the SHAR was rather fraught, even using MicroSet/Sol. I hope that in this scale Airfix's decals do settle down well. A large beer and lots of care and patience are recommended!

ZD613/R/122 of 899 NAS carried these special Disbandment markings designed by then Lt Rob Trewinnard RN in February and March 2005, when it was fitted with red (Humbrol 64) strakes. Again, the starboard outer pylon and front section of the port outer pylon were Dark Sea Grey (164). Both radar altimeter aerials on the ventral fin should be Humbrol 113 and not 94.

Finally, note that the red of the special markings is quite glossy, as illustrated by the reflection of the fin's ROYAL NAVY lettering on the tailplanes.

FA2-ZD613-122-R-Satan1-Hover2.jpg

FA2-ZD613-122-R-Port2.jpg

Two photographs of Sea Harrier FA.2 ZD613/R/122 photographed at RNAS Yeovilton on 26th March 2004. Note the darker radar altimeter aerials and the extra dark sea grey radome. The pilot's name under the windscreen on both sides in white is CDR P C J STONE RN. (Photographs copyright: B Condon via airliners.net)

FA2-ZD613-122-R-Satan1Climbing.jpg

A Jamie Hunter special… Sea Harrier FA.2 ZD613/R/122 climbing sharply, illustrating the locating points of the upper sufrace design. (Photograph copyright Jamie Hunter)

FA2-ZD613-122-S-Wing-Outer-pylon-co.jpg

Illustrating the split in the wing underside's red markings for the inboard pylon. A rather dirty white fairing is in place over the outer pylon's mounting point. (Photo: Nick Greenall)

I hope these notes and picture help you with all your Airfix SHAR FA.2 builds, good luck!

Nick

I was just wondering ,what is the point of these small fairings,i dont recall ever seing them fitted to raf harriers......Neil

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Assuming you mean the underwing ones, they cover the pylon attachment points. You don't tend to see them on RAF GR3s as they usually had the outer pylon fitted. There is a slimmer versio for the inner pylon as well.

Thanks for that,i take it one should remove the lumps from the lower wing of the esci kit,unless of course you dont fit the outer pylons........Neil

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