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Hello, Here is my MDD/Alenia AV-8B Harrier II Plus in use with the Marina Militare Italiana (Italian Navy) as “Lupi di Mare” (Sea Wolf) Squadron based at MARISTAER Grottaglie (Italy) and deployed on board of the Garibaldi and Cavour Italian carriers. KIT The model is based on Trumpeter AV-8B Plus kit in 1/32nd scale. This kit is not so good. Details are generally basic and the specific parts of this version as the radome, FLIR and chaff&flare launchers are really off in terms of shape and size. Wing pylons are wrong and doesn’t fit the wings. Ventral pylon is wrong too. External fuel tanks are wrong in shape. The panel lines are mostly incorrected too. The decals sheet in the box doesn’t offer the choice of the Italian’s Harriers… So, it’s a long way to get a decent Harrier replica… CONSTRUCTION Most of the correction and adds steps can be found on the WIP topic of this model. To recap the detail sets I sued and the parts from scratch I made, here is a list: · Aires resin cockpit set; · Aires resin undercarriage bays set; · Eduard PE sheets for internal and external details; · North Star Models resin AGM-65 Maverick missile and rail; · Cutting Edge resin LAU AIM-9 launch rails; · Isra Decal resin Litening targeting pod; · Hasegawa plastic external fuel tanks from an A-4 kit; · AMS Resin undercarriage wheels; · Radome from scratch; · FLIR from scratch; · Chaff&flare dorsal launchers from scratch; · Air scoops, external sensors and aerial antennas from scratch; · ECM ALQ-164 pod from scratch; · Ventral pylon from scratch. COLORS & MARKINGS The Italian’s Harries has a 2-tone grey camouflage: top and side are in 36231, with underside in 36320. Paint were from the acrylics lines of Gunze and Tamiya. For the decal I went with a mix form Phoenix decal for the stencils, Tauro Models were used for the wolf-steps on the vertical tail, Navy’s anchors and roundels. Zotz decal for the wolf-head, pilot name and the MDC inside the canopy. Some RBF tags were added to finish the model. And now some pictures of the completed model. CIAO! Piero