Hi all

I am going to do a full build review of my latest aquistion, the Trumpeter 1/32 AV-8B Harrier. This kit was kindly provided to me by the good folks at Lucky Model for review here at Brit Modeler. I figured since they sent me the kit, rather than do a quick, down and dirty "in box" review of the model, I would actually build it. This kit will be finished 100% OOTB with nothing added except maybe a set of seat belts. As I am building the kit as it is, I will not make any changes in making the model more accurate than what you get in the box. There are reviews of the models contents all over the Intraweb regarding shortcomings and accuracy issues so I will not go into those. Places like Large Scale Planes and Modeling Madness can provide some excellent write ups regarding changes that can be made to make this kit more accurate than what comes in the box. My focus will be on the build itself. I for one like knowing about issues with kits but find that trying to correct everything on any kit(s) I start just tend to bog down my builds.

So this build review will be all about how the kit goes together. I hope you find it helpful and will aid your choice either way in buying this kit.

The kit itself comes in Trumpeters usual sturdy box and depicts a Shark Mouthed AV-8B Harrier II of VMA-231 "Ace of Spades Harrier lifting off from its escort carrier. Not the best boxart I have ever seen but it does show the Harrier in its element. The kit itself contains 423 pieces and sports a length of 443mm and a wingspan of 290mm. Not exactly a huge model for a 1/32 jet so it won't take up a massive amount of display space. The kit itself features fine recessed scribing and it appears thet Trumpeters infamous "mad riveter" was left off of this project. The surface detail is very nice overall and the parts breakdown is very similar to the Hasegawa 1/48 Harrier family. There is a small PE fret which includes seat belts (looks like I don't need to add them afterall) as well as a nice Heads up Display. Stores in the kit include two drop tanks, 2 AGM-65 Mavericks, 2 AIM-9L Sidewinders, 4 MK.82 Snakeyes, 4 Mk.82 Iron Bombs and 2 GBU-12 LGBs. Markings are included for one AV-8B Harrier II of VMA-231 Ace of Spades and one AV-8B Harrier II of VMA-223 Bulldogs. The decals appear very nice and thin as well as being in perfect register. The kit also boasts a 65% LERX and not a 100% LERX.

So enough of the chatter on what you get! Lets get this party started!

Here are a few pics of the box and the sprues. Building begins in earnest tonight. I cannot thank Lucky Model enough for the opportunity to build this review kit. The Harrier is one of my all time favorite jets and having a 1/32 kit in the case will be very cool indeed!











Review sample courtesy of

The build review can be found here

Nice AV-8B Mike!

Looking forward to seeing progress

Looks like a good 'un from first impressions. Get her going & lets see what she's made of

Gonna start her tonight and document as many pertinent things as possible as I move forward. I am really excited to get on with it.

Good stuff... it should look stunning in that glass cabinet of yours. Don't forget to update the review with the finished article when you're done

Nice one Mike. Good to see an OOB review, actually being an OOB review. Even if it's damn frustrating. So many reviews these days are "Well it's OOB,,,,,apart from, ete, etc, etc" Kudos to you buddy.

rich

Thanks man. Don't get me wrong I will be tempted! I "may" add brake lines to the gear if that is acceptable?

Fraud!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rich

Right, I'm opening a book.

3:1 says he drops it just before finishing it.
4:1 says he nearly finishes it
20:1 says his son gets over zealous playing aeroplanes in the back yard and totals it.

Any other bets, please ask and I'll lay the odds, no odds offered for finishing it just in case.




Good luck Mikey, the eyes of the world are watching mate!

Well Rich the pressure is on and with my Su-15 on the semi permanant back burner, this one is the only one on the bench! I will NOT drop it!! and it will be finished! The last one I can't guarantee won't happen LOL

Ah, so it wasn't just me who didn't get a colour plan for the Desert Storm scheme as shown on the box art....

Looking forward to this one Mike, can't have too many Harriers

Odd thing those paint scheme full colour 3 view plates if ironed flat look like they would look cool framed in some cheap Matalan frames or whatever.

2:1 says he adds something that is not in the box (or at least modifies it). AMS is NOT curable...



Yeah you did, just not a great one. That top scheme shown by Mike is supposed to be the boxtop scheme.

hi everyone

Not gtten much work in on the Harrier of late due to orders at Two Mikes and of course Easter but I was able to assemble the main part of the engine and did some fettling around to make sure everything fits. The Pegasus engine is not even a clsoe facsilime of the real thing and I will not bother painting it or adding all of the accessory drives on it. The only reason I am even installing it is to make the fuselage join more solid, the engine intake easier to install and to allow easy installation of the exhaust nozzles. Besides, the only way to view the motor is with the wing off anyway. IMHO the engine is a useless addition to this kit and only drives the MSRP up. The engine intake has 4 deep ejector pin marks and those are filled and will be sanded smootheh tonight beofre an application of Xtracrylix gloss white.

The cockpit has also been dry fitted in the fuselage. The instrument panel is nearly finished and photos of that will be added soon. I am a bit concerned with the gaps in the sidewalls as you look towards the forward edge as it gets closer to the instrument panel coaming. I may have to do some adjusting there.

Overall while definitley not the most accurate Harrier on the market, I can say that even just slaving the fuselage halves together and mating them to the forward section, the fit is superb! The fit of the forward section to the fan is a big issue on the Hasegawa 1/48 kit and Trumpeter seems to have solved it on their big Harrier. Once I get the cockpit done, I think the build will go very fast due the the great fit. Trumpeter even got the LERX fitting very well, another issue witht he Hasegawa kit.

Anyway here is a small update. I did some more work in the cockpit and now just need to get it flat coated.

Missed this over the weekend. Fit looks good, and the detail looks crisp. You may be moving slowly, but you're doing good work

OK

The cockpit is very close to being finished. Just need to do a couple of touch ups on the instrument panel and do a flat coat. Then it is time to close up the forward fuselage and start assembling this beast! I also need to add a bit of color tot he CRT screens on the instrument panel. Overall other than the missing throttle, bad fit of the port sidewall the cockpit is decent. The instrument panel if from the Night Attack version as well. The seat has been stripped of its black paint as I was just not happy with it. I will repaint it tonight and get to detailing it as I go. The seat will be installed towards the end of construction so I am not worried. I have also filled the ejector pin marks in the fan section and addad a bit of Dissolved Putty to touch them up. I hope to prime the fan section and paint the intakes tonight or tomorrow. Once that is done, construction can begin in earnest. Anyway, here are the pics so far





















Here is the instrument panel in 1:1

That's starting to look nice mate, you're making a swell job of the pit.


Nice to see you are pretty much sticking to OOB, unlike somebody i could mention.


Just can't get past the shape issues. I'm no Harrier freak, but it just looks wrong all over the place.

richc

Thanks Rich. Lots of work on the pit so far. Mostly touch ups and weathering.

The kit is a mess shape wise but at the end of the day it will "resemble" a Harrier

OK so a question. Since I am doing this OOTB can anyone tell me their thoughts on Trumpy decals? If they are not good, is it ok to use aftermarket??

Geeeez wait 'till Mike finds out Aires just released a new cockpit for this thing!

OMG - he might just cancel the on-line build.


Sorry bud!

MUST RESIST!!!

I "may" get one for an upcoming build but this one is now destined for someones collection. I am donating the build to a worthy cause.

Nice to know that it is going to a worthy cause and that your donating it!

My hats off to you for doing a noble deed!

Now I just need to find the time to work on it! This weekend was filled with Colin's third birthday party on Saturday and yesterday we were out shopping and enjoying what will most likely be the last weekend of great weather here in Arizona before it gets too hot.

I REALLY want to get the kit assembled.

Got a bit finished last night. I flat coated the cockpit and added a bit of future on the MFDs after I put some clear blue on them. I also added a drop of future on the few instrument dials on the instrument panel. I also assembled the nose gear bay and nose gear leg. The gear bay has a nastty seam way up inside that needs attention. The nose gear leg is pretty nice but the instructions are VERY vague on how it fits. I finally figured it out.

The forward fuselage was assembled and thats when I noticed the massive gap of the rear cockpit bulkhead to the fuselage. the tub itself fits everywhere else so the bulkhead is just short. I know this is OOTB but I may have to add a small styrene strip to make the gap disappear. It is bad.

I also base painted the engine face with a mix of Alclad II using dark aluminum, a drop of jet exhaust and a few drops of smoke. I will be going back and doing some highlighting on the fan blades. Tonight I hope to get the white painted in the nose gear bay and the intakes so I can start assembling the main fuselage. Progress should speed up quite a bit from this point forward but I still need to paint that pesky seat!!

Cheers

Mike












Holy Gap Batman!!

I think I will start doing updates less frequently as I get more and more done. Taking the time to shoot pics, edit them and post them at each stage is getting a bit tedious.

Good progress so far Mike... it's actually starting to look like an aircraft now

Indeedy, nice cockpit work Mr Reeves Having seen this chap assembled and nicely painted at Hornchurch last month, you are in for a treat

Got a LOT done on the Harrier yesterday. The main fuselage components are assembled, weapons and tanks are being put together and all of the flight controls are glued together. I also managed to do the basic assembly on the exhaust nozzles. These will require a LOT of cleanup and sanding to make them acceptable. One thing I will comment Trumpeter for is the fit of the wing to the fuselage. The underside of the Harrier is very complex in this area and it is refreshing to me that the LERX and the lower wing joins are perfect! Hasegawa could take a nice lesson in kit engineering in this area. I have also completed the forward fuselage section and rubbed down the seams. I have added a small strip of filler on the main seams of the rear fueslage and those will be sanded down over the weekend. The turbine face has been masked and all of the white areas such as the intakes, gear bays and speedbrak bay will be masked off and sprayed white this evening if time permits. Looking closely at the wing after it has been assembled I can see where Trumpeter "tried" to get the kink in at the mid section but they seemed to have missed it. Also a quick note on assembling the wing to fuselage join. I super glued the wing root on the lower wing section to the fuselage half and then used taut tape to pull it down causing a clean join. I highly recommend this process as it will give you a wonderfully clean join and you should have no sanding or filling required.

As you can see in a couple of the photos I have taped the forward fuselage to the rear and slipped the MLG into place to see how the model sits. I am not happy!! The nose gear seems to sit VERY high causing the model to banana as seen from the side. I have scoured the net looking at photos of others builds, to make sure I assembled the NLG correctly and they all seem to suffer from this issue. It really exaggerates the look of the already pooched nose on the kit. The drop tanks also look too long and skinny from the photos I have seen. Oh well, onwards and upwards on this OOTB build right??

As an aside, I will also be installing the strakes on the lower fuselage instead of the gun packs as the kit offerings are totally wrong. Anyway here is some progress. Hope you like it so far.

Mike






Look at the fit of the LERX!! Good one Trumpy!!












Look at how high that nose sits!!

Looking more like a Harrier every time I see it. So where is the error with the kit landing gear? Strut, yoke or both? might it get better when the wheels are on?

Yoke looks to be fully extended (like no weight on wheels). Nose strut looks OK if a little simplified (e.g. landing light, tie down rings). Damper mount is... er... just "wrong". Nothing that can't be fixed though.

The oke appears too straight. If you look at Harries on the ground it is at about 45 degress off the strut. This is more like 70. Almost like it has its weight off the wheels.


True but this one is OOTB otherwise it would be getting fixed. It is hard for me not to do the repairs needed!

Well strictly speaking, if you altered the angle of the yoke, it would still be out of the box... if you pin it or not, that's up to you

If building OOTB, can you still sand that access panel flat on either side of the cockpit? (and the slime light - same issue, real one is flush).

Why is that barking I keep hearing getting LOUDER??!!

Nice workmanship, shame about what the effort is being put into...

It's the best 1:32 Harrier II on the market...

I may scale the access panel and slime lights down once I get it closer to the paint barn

RE: Landing gear...

This looks like an anomoly of your kit. Mine is still not weighed enough, but it's far better. However, I've had real fun with the vents and the join of the pit to the fan. I'll post a photo of mine, next time I get a few minutes to do some. Safe to say you've overtaken me now, you cad



The rear is also not weighed enough either - it's like trumpy took the photo's/measurements of an "engine out" airframe. They certainly sit much higher without one (The East fortune GR3 for example).

Sadly, that's is an indication of how much we really need a good Harrier kit in this scale...

I'll second that Talon. Preferably in 1:24 (Are you listening Heritage Aviation Models? )


Coming on well though Mike. Don't get disracted by that Hawk though will you?

Oh don't worry Kirk, I am not distracted by the Hawk but, I was distracted by both for the past 5 days in Florida visiting Mickey Mouse

How is Mickey these days?

Hi all. Long time modeller, first time replier. Was reading the build log and you asked about Trumpeter decals. They are great to use. I have never had a problem with them.

It is starting to look a lot like a Harrier II to me. Isn't that the aim of building models? Each to his own but I am just happy that someone is releasing lots of 1/32 scale stuff other then WW2 fighters...

Keep up the good work Mike. Remember OOB.. OOB.. OOB.. OOB..

Thanks Warren....gonna actualy try to get some work done on it tonight and hopefully spray some paint this weekend if all goes as planned. It is going to be very much 100% OOTB

Well after a long respite, this one is back on track. I will be posting a sizeable update on it later tonight.

Cheers

Mike

good!
about time too!

Bout time too Mr R

Well it has certainly been a while since my last update on this one. Between casting and prepping for the IPMS Nationals and getting ready for our upcoming move, I have not had much bench time to speak of. Anyway, here it is as of today in all of its masked up glory! I call this the ugly stage of the model as I have painted all of the white areas and masked them fairly temporarily so I could prime the model. The kit has been primed, other than the control surfaces which I just added and had a few remaining blemishes removed and rescribing done. I have also added the intakes on top of the fuselage and once again, they are near totally the wrong shape compared to the real thing. I have also started putting together other sub assemblies such as exhaust nozzles, fuel tanks, pylons and two GBU-12's. These all need a bit of cleaning up before they are ready for paint. The finish line is in sight! I hope to get the kit in the beginning overall paint stage by the weekend. All comments and critiques welcome.

Cheers

Mike



Here I added the strakes as the gun pods are totally wrong. The strakes do not fit well at all and still require some fettling about










WTF happened here Trumpeter??




Nozzles...what can I say other than what a mess they are!! The fit is laughable



Tanks and GBU's




Getting a start on the seat.......more to come there

Looking good Mike.

You're beating this one into shape!

Mike- I'm reading between the lines here!

Nice work Mike, but I have to wonder why this kit keeps getting good reviews?! It is a real stinker - just about everything about it is quite obviously a mess! You have done very well with the raw materials given.