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Found 9 results

  1. Hi guys. After a while just looking and sometimes commenting, I want to show you my current project. It´s the very nice Harrier kit from Airfix. I built the Gr.3 a few years ago and will now go for a Spanish Navy Matador. Spain procured 10 Harrier Mk.50 (AV-8A) in 1973 via the United States. After production in Great Britain, the jets were first shipped to the USA in 1976, where the Spanish pilots were also trained. In 1977, Spain bought another four planes, one of them to compensate for a jet that crashed in the United States. Two trainers with the designation TAV-8S were also in service with the Spanish Navy. In 1998 Spain sold its two doubles and 7 singles to Thailand, where the last machine was in service until 2006. Next to the kit I purchased a seat and etched parts for the Gr.1 aswell as nozzles, a pitot and nice decals from Spanish manufacturer Series Espanolas. I realized to late that the AV-8A/S needs a different ejection seat than the Gr.1. First step, as always, the cockpit. I used Gunze H307 over a black base for the pit. The difference between the paintwork and the etched parts looks worse than it is. The ejection seat was slightley revised to come a bit closer to the Stencel SEU-3/A used in the AV-8S. It´s not perfect but enoght for this scale. Next was the air intake. I painted the inside with Gunze H316, the later top side paint of the camouflage. Some areas of the hull need improvement (red) compared to the Spanish version, others need some detailing (green). Regards Daniel
  2. Some US Marine Corps aircraft deployed to Nellis AFB for a Marine Air Wing 3 exercise using the Nellis ranges, May 1981. AV-8A 158965, VMA-513, MODEX WF00 AV-8A 159231, VMA-513, WF02 OA-4M 153531, H&MS-13, YU5 OA-4M 154335, H&MS-13, YU7 EA-6B 160437, VMAQ-2, CY10 EA-6B 160705, VMAQ-2, CY12 EA-6B 160786, VMAQ-2, CY16 A-6E 152635, VMA-224, WK00 A-6E 155581, VMA-224, WK10 A-6E 159570, VMA-242, DT8 F-4N 153008, VMFA-323, WS02 F-4N 150651, VMFA-323, WS04 F-4N 152321, VMFA-323, WS05 F-4N 152982, VMFA-323, WS10 F-4N 152975, VMFA-531, EC02 F-4N 153006, VMFA-531, EC10 RF-4B 153091, VMFP-3, RF10 OV-10D 155483, VMO-2, UU20 OV-10D 155489, VMO-2, UU26 AH-1T 160818, HMA-169, SN17 AH-1T 160826, HMA-169, SN22 AH-1T 161015, HMA-169, SN23 UH-1N 159775, HML-267, UV06 Thanks for looking, Sven Old Viper Tester
  3. Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR.1 (A18001V) 1:24 Airfix Vintage Classics The Harrier is an iconic (in the truest sense) example of what was possible when British Aviation was at its prime. It was a revolutionary design back in the 60s, and has seen many improvements and even a complete re-design in the shape of the Harrier II, which saw McDonnell Douglas get more heavily involved, giving the US Marines their much beloved AV-8B, and the British the Gr.5/7/9, all of which had new carbon-composite wings, massively upgraded avionics and improved versions of the doughty Pegasus engine, which was always at the heart of this legendary design. The Harrier is a difficult aircraft to fly due to the high pilot workload, and requires the best pilots to do it justice in the hovering flight mode particularly, where the pilot has to control the throttle, direction of the airflow, and also make minor adjustments to its attitude and altitude with the use of puffer jets, even before having to do anything trivial like avoid obstacles or land. The original Harrier to reach service at the very end of the 1960s was the GR.1, which still bore a substantial familial resemblance to the prototype and the earlier Kestrel, having a pointed nose and relatively confined canopy that hadn't yet been ‘blown’ to improve the pilot’s ability to move his head around to gain better situational awareness. The following GR.3 had a more powerful engine, the peculiar looking laser tracker in an extended nose fairing, as well as many sensor, avionics upgrades and Electronic Counter Measures (ECM). With the re-development of the aircraft into the Harrier II, the anteater nose was phased out and the new composite winged GR.5 with massively improved avionics, engine and other systems took over the mantle. For the most part, the general public don’t really see them as different machines, and the media’s persistent reference to them as “jump jet” makes the corners of eyes twitch for those that know. The Kit Airfix made headlines in the modelling press in the 1970s when it began its range of super-kits in 1:24 that included the Spitfire, Hurricane, Bf.109 and others, plus the GR.1 Harrier that we see again now after a rest period for the moulds. It is a product of 1974, when standards were less than they are today, which is why it has the V suffix to its product code, and the Vintage Classics scroll on the box, so that potential customers go in with their eyes open. That said, the surface detail on the fuselage and wings is pretty impressive for the day, having engraved panel lines and rivets all over it. Some of the ancillary parts would be considered simplified by today’s standards, such as the Mk.9 Martin Baker ejector seat, and the level of detail on the engine, but these can be considered as canvases on which to improve either by scratch-building, or availing yourself of the few aftermarket items that are still available, such as the Airscale instrument panel. The kit arrives in a large top-opening box, and all the space is needed to cater for the sprues and the massive fuselage halves that each have their own runners. There are a total of ten sprues in light grey styrene, a sprue of clear parts, a separate bag containing five black flexible tyres, a large decal sheet, instruction booklet and painting guide sheet printed on both sides in glossy colour. A word of caution regarding un-boxing your brand-new purchase, as although most of the sprues are enclosed with angular runners, there are a lot of flimsy gates connecting the parts to the sprues, and it’s likely that a few parts will have come loose by the time you get around to building your large Harrier, so watch for falling parts and double-check the bags for sprue-litter if you are disposing of them responsibly. Construction begins with the block of ancillaries on top of the Pegasus engine that is made up from a number of parts, and is prepared alongside the mechanism that makes all the exhaust nozzles rotate in unison later on. The actuators are placed in the lower half of the engine on a number of supports, then it is clamped in place by gluing the top of the engine in place and adding the ancillary block and a few other small parts. Each nozzle backing plate will affix to a rounded rectangular block at the end of the actuator axles, taking care not to get any glue on the edges. At the front the big fan and its mounting ring are added, which will be visible through the intakes once the model is finished. All through this process and the rest of the build the paint codes are called out in Humbrol codes in circles, the names of which you can find on the painting guide pages. A pilot figure is included in the box, as was the fashion in the 70s, and he is made up from a front and rear half, plus a pair of arms for you to pose around the controls. He’s surprisingly well sculpted for his day, and with some sympathetic painting should look the part and go some way toward hiding the slightly bland seat, which is next and has been provided with a pair of stencil decals for the sides of the headbox, and the instrument panel also has some decals for the dials, as well as a clear lens for the large central goldfish bowl. A HUD is affixed to the front centre of the panel, and it is slotted into the cockpit tub along with the rudder pedals, control column, ejection seat, pilot, plus front and rear bulkheads. The side consoles are well-detailed for the time too, and if well painted the cockpit should look pretty reasonable to a non-Harrier expert, with perhaps some ribs added to the sidewalls. The nose gear bay is situated behind the cockpit in the space between the intake trunks, and this is made up next, to be inserted into the starboard fuselage half, securing on raised ridges for security. The starboard bay door hooks into the edges of the bay and if left unglued, can open or close once the fuselage is closed up, remembering to insert the door for the other side. The aforementioned intake trunking is then made up from an outer section and a slightly longer inner sleeve, which slips inside the fuselage half and clips around the bay inside. The rear gear bay wall is attached to the centre of the fuselage to be completed later, and a stiffener plate is inserted into a groove inside the fuselage lower. There’s a short interlude next to make up some of the sub-assemblies that you will need later. The Harrier has four vectoring nozzles, two each of hot and cold (it’s all relative), although I can never remember 100% which is which, but usually assume the rear pair are the hot ones because of the plates behind them. They are all made from two halves with two baffles inserted into the body on pegs, avoiding any hideous join-lines in the middle of the nozzles that would be very difficult to fill and sand. The nose gear strut is made from two halves that trap the yoke between them plus three small parts including a landing light, and accepts a single wheel with two-part hub and black flexible tyres, which are firm but still slightly flexible. The rear strut is a single part that has the twin wheels added, each of which is made from two hub halves, the flexible tyre, and a separate collar in the centre that is inserted without glue to allow the wheels to rotate freely - hopefully. A pair of decals are applied to the outer surface of the wheels to give the impression of the holes that are present in the hub fronts, but you could always use them as templates to actually drill them out. Another section of the rear bay is made up from four parts that link together with slots and tabs, and that too is inserted into the fuselage with the doors slipped into place before closing up the fuselage. The elevators are slender, but the centre section is dual layer to avoid sink marks, and has the swash plate added to the root on a tab, with a short peg to slide through the fuselage later. The tail fin is in two halves that are joined around the rudder, leaving it to swing freely if you wish. Moving parts for playing were a big thing in the 70s. The ventral air-brake is made up from three parts, two making the hinge, while the shovel-shaped brake has detail moulded into the inside face, and a similar hinge is made up for the short rear door for the nose gear bay. If you are using the centreline pylon the two halves are joined together and added later, like the rest of these parts, which includes the two 30mm Aden cannon pods that are ostensibly complete save for the barrel tips that are separate and locate on a pair of shallow pins. The starboard fuselage half has the engine inserted along with the air-brake bay and a collar that holds the elevator in place and allows it to rotate if that floats your boat. A pair of protective plates are fixed to the fuselage sides on two pegs each, and if you plan on mounting the centre pylon, there are two slots to open up, after which you can close up the fuselage, remembering to add the air-brake, cannon pods or replacement strakes, and a couple of small bay doors under the fuselage. The four nozzles are all fitted onto their circular plates, the rudder is slotted into the top of the tail, with a cap added to finish off the stinger, plus a couple of aerials under the fuselage and the two gear legs. There is a forest of small parts festooned around the nose, and the cockpit itself has a separate coaming placed over the panel before the windscreen glazing is glued in place, and yet more sub-assemblies are prepared for completion of the wings. The flying surfaces are first, each made of two sides, then the out-rigger wheels that were in the wingtips on the original design, each one made from a two-part leg that traps the wheel in between the yoke, then this is itself trapped between two halves of the upper section to allow it to rise up and down as necessary, with the final part the retraction jack. The wheel is then spatted by a two-part fairing and put to one side while the four pylons are made up from their halves. The mounting pegs are angled to suit the anhedral of the wings, so take care to mark their intended position so they hang vertically once installed. Just like the real thing the wing is a separate assembly that drops over the fuselage, the lower surface being full-width. The upper skin is in three sections plus separate tips, and when it is glued in place it also traps the flying surfaces and the outriggers in place, which get another fairing added to the front. A pair of small inserts shim out the leading-edge root, and a pair of trailing tubes (possibly fuel dumps) fix between the aileron and flaps, with a large aerial and position light on the hump between the wings. You are told to add the pylons at this stage, but the instructions advise you to apply the decals to the underside before doing so to avoid having to cut them into sections. The last step building the airframe involves gluing the wings in place, adding the lift-off panel over the engine compartment, and fitting the canopy onto its rails to slide back and forth as per the scrap diagram nearby. The rest of the parts are weapons. There is a generous supply of munitions included in the box, including a pair of AIM-9G Sidewinders, which have separate forward and rear sections with paired fins that slide through grooves in the bodywork, sitting on an adapter rail. There are also three 1,000lb iron bombs, which also have separate cross-fins, a separate tapering rear section and a front spinner for arming the weapon. There are two dual-rail adapters to mount a pair of rocket pods each, which have separate nose cones and rears that fit on a two-part body, a pair of two-part drop-tanks, and a pair of 500lb Mk.83 iron bombs with separate tail and nose cones. There is a page on the rear of the instructions with load-out suggestions for RAF and US Marine Corps. aircraft, but if you’re going for accuracy, check your references or ask the knowledgeable members of the forum for real-world suggestions. Markings There are two decal options included on the A4+ sheet, and each one has a full page of colour profiles on the folded A3 sheet, one each for the RAF and USMC. From the box you can build one of the following: Harrier GR.1, No.1(F) Sqn., RAF Wittering, England, 1973 AV-8A Harrier, VMA-513 ‘Flying Nightmares’, USMC Beaufort (Merritt Field), South Carolina, United States, 1973 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. our example received a little damage to one corner during transit, but it shouldn't affect the general usefulness of the sheet. Conclusion Bear in mind that this is a 1970s vintage tooling, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the level of detail on many of the parts, and if any areas appear a little bland to your 21st century eyes, there’s plenty of scope for improvement using a little modelling skill or by opening your wallet. At the end of the day you’re going to be building a large scale early Harrier though, you lucky devil! Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of
  4. Here's my offering - the 1972 release of the Harrier. No instructions or decals, a couple of pieces missing, and some paint on a couple of parts, but nothing that can't be fettled.
  5. Harrier GR.1 50 Years (05690) 1:32 Revell The Harrier began life as a Hawker Siddeley product, and was the first aircraft capable of Short/Vertical Take-Off and Landing (S/VTOL) to reach service, and until its eventual replacement the F-35 Lightning II began flying it was pretty much the only aircraft that was actually capable of carrying out the task it was designed for, although the Harrier was very good at its job unlike other pretenders. We’re excluding rotary wing aircraft just in case the pedant in you was awakening. The GR.1 was the first to reach service with RAF and as the AV-8A in US Marine service as a close air support and reconnaissance aircraft, becoming a favourite with pilots despite the relatively high workload imposed on them by the complex controls necessary to maintain attitude and attitude at slower speeds – long before computers were really good enough and available to assist stability at sizes that could be carried by an aircraft. It was replaced by the GR.3 with the Ferranti LRMTS in an extended nose that gave it a funny look (is that blasphemy?). The Harrier II eventually replaced it with composite components and a much improved capability. The Kit This is an old kit – let’s get that out of the way at the beginning. It has raised panel lines as you would expect from its mid-70s heritage, and the detail is also what you’d expect with a pilot figure that is kind of funny-looking to put it politely, although he’s quite photogenic he just seems a bit… wide, especially given the cramped cockpit of a Harrier. The box is a top-opening affair with a nice digital painting of the aircraft on the front, and a golden 50 years strapline below the title, plus a picture of the paints, glue and brush included in this model set. If you’re a “serious” modeller, you’ll probably just toss these in the back of the drawer and keep the brush for weathering or something similarly lacking the requirement for a sharp point. Inside the box are five sprues in Revell’s trademark green/grey styrene, plus a clear canopy, a modest-sized decal sheet and instruction booklet that includes the separate health warnings sheet that is bin fodder for most of us. You’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all, and when has a modeller ever skewered themselves with a scalpel? Preposterous! What to say about the detail? It’s adequate and can be upgraded easily enough either by adding scratch-built parts or by obtaining aftermarket, although the majority of sets available in this scale seem to be for the later Trumpeter kits of the AV-8B or Harrier II. If you want an earlier Harrier in this scale however, it’s pretty much the only game in town in injection moulded styrene so you’ll be looking at this kit whether you want to or not. The raised panel lines are restrained and with a decent scriber you could re-scribe the airframe if you are minded to, which is best done before you begin the build. Construction begins with the internal mechanism that allows the exhaust nozzles to operate in unison when completed, with two axles and two control arms clipped together without glue. These are then hidden within the two engine halves that are split into top and bottom, joined by a set of ancillary parts that fit to the top and a two-part intake and engine face that is visible from outside. The curiously broad pilot is next, and he has a front and back part with detailed painting guide pointed out as you go, which is also the case for the simple cockpit floor, ejection seat with moulded-in belts and separate headrest, plus decals for the side consoles. The instrument panel also has a decal, which is a good thing as it’s otherwise devoid of any detail whatsoever. A control column, rudder pedals and the pilot (if you want him) finish off the cockpit, then the canopy is made up from clear glazing, a styrene frame and square block underneath to secure it in the track before you close the model up. To us modern modeller that seems a strange thing to do, but if you paint the canopy and cockpit rear deck beforehand, it should work out with some tape stuck to the clear parts to protect them from paint. The cockpit, engine and rear air-brake bay are glued into the starboard side, then the canopy is trapped in place when the fuselage is closed up around it. The four exhaust nozzles are made up from top and bottom halves trapping two vertical vanes in place in their grooves with a little glue. They’re simple parts, but with some effort can be made more realistic with good references of the correct type and a little putty, styrene or foil. With the fuselage closed up the intake lips are fitted, with a lightly recessed set of blow-in doors depicted on the outside with the option of cutting the top ones out and replacing them with dropped ones that obey the laws of gravity like the real thing. There are a ton of references out there to help you, or you can just leave them be and enjoy some retro-modelling with a heavy dose of nostalgia for me as I built this kit as a youngster and it ended up hung from my ceiling by a few pieces of cotton and a drawing pin. The nozzles are attached to their axle-stubs next, taking care with the glue so they remain moveable, and there are a pair of ribbed heat-protection plates behind the rear nozzles, which are known as the hot nozzles. The wings are simple affairs with a soft approximation of the vortex generators on the upper surface, although if you’re a detailer you’ll need to replace them with some more sharp in-scale parts. The wings are fitted to the fuselage on each side by the usual tab and slot, and each one has a pronounced anhedral like the real thing, and a pair of clear lenses for the wingtip lights. The cockpit coaming and windscreen are also fitted at this stage, and as with the canopy they’re a product of their time, slightly thick and with some mild distortion visible. The tail fin is two parts, as are the elevators although the swash-plates are moulded into the fuselage so moving them from the neutral position would require some surgery. Adding the rear pen-nib fairing with integral puffer jets over the boat-like tail strake finishes off the main airframe, with only the wheels, nose cone, air-brake and weapons left to do. The Harrier has bicycle undercarriage with a single wheel at the nose and dual wheel at the rear. The nose leg is split vertically and traps the two-part wheel in place, with the rear wheel also made of two parts but with the three-part wheels fitted into the stub axles at each side. You can add either two belly strakes to the underside or the two gun packs, as the Harrier needed one or the other to reduce the jetwash wrapping round under the fuselage and reducing lift enough to make it an issue. The outrigger wheels that stop the aircraft from keeling over are next, and again the two-part wheel is trapped between the two-part leg, then fitted into their wells with the curved bay door finishing off at the front. It’s worth mentioning that you can also build your Harrier with the wheels up by omitting the legs and wheels and using different outrigger parts. Now for some stores. Whilst you’re not spoiled for choice due to both the kit’s age and the fact that it’s an early version of the Harrier, you do get enough to fill the wing stations and don’t forget you’ve also had the choice of two gun pods for the underside of the fuselage. On the inner stations there are a pair of additional fuel tanks, which are made from two halves plus an insert for the tail fins and moulded-in pylons. On the outer station are a pair of Matra rocket pods with their pylons moulded in, all of which slot into the underside of the wings on tabs. While your Harrier is on its back, you fit a couple of antennae, a clear nav light, and the air brake with its large retraction jack that fits onto the bay you installed earlier. Flipping the model back over, the two bunny-ear intakes behind the cockpit are added, the nose cone and pitot are popped into the nose cavity, and another clear nav light fits into the spine of the fuselage. The last act is to drop the cover over the engine that allows the viewer a peek inside if you lay off the glue. Markings There are two decal options provided on the sheet, and it’s nostalgia time again with grey/green camouflage over light blue and big bright roundels under the wing, just like the diecast Harrier I had as a kid. There are some scrap diagrams showing the stores and their stencils, with their locations shown as dotted lines on the main drawings so that they don’t obscure the view of the roundels and codes. From the box you can build one of the following: No.3 Squadron, RAF, Wildenrath, Germany, August 1974 No.20 Squadron, RAF, Wildenrath, Germany, August 1971 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. The instrument panel decals don’t have a coloured background, so you’ll need to paint the panels a background colour before use. Conclusion It’s an old kit but it checks out. If you set your expectations accordingly and either leave out the pilot or replace him with something a little more realistic, a decent model can result. Sadly, the kit I built as a kid went to landfill many years ago but its nice to see it again. Recommended. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or
  6. Hello all... I will be going for a classic jump jet here. In 1971 the USMC started operating the AV-8A Harrier, from Wiki.. "The AV-8A entered service with the Marine Corps in 1971, replacing other aircraft in the Marines' attack squadrons. The service became interested in performing ship-borne operations with the Harrier." Not quite sure which kit or markings i will be going with yet as this is technically a place holder. I will attempt to get the 1/72 Airfix kit, but I may fall back to the 1/72 Hasegawa kit. My guess is i will be going with VMA-513 as they are the only unit listed for 1971. Though I've studied both kits. Either will work but the Airfix offering has the Decal set i need. Really hoping i can find that one. Dennis
  7. For years I've been hunting Ebay for the 1/700 Dragon kit of Tarawa-class LHA. Unfortunately both original Dragon (Tarawa/Saipan/Peleliu) and Revell-boxed (Saipan) kits are fetching prices above 60 $, sometimes reaching even the three-digit level. And then some weeks ago at Scalemates I have found the assembly instruction sheet (in PDF) of Italeri 1:720 USS Nassau that I (and thousands of other people) thought to be the rebox of the crude 1970s-vintage Revell 1/720 Tarawa/Saipan kit. Then I compared the Italeri sheet with Dragon one and the conclusion shocked me totally: the 1/720 as stated on the box and instruction sheet cannot be true - this mistifaction has been done by Italeri perhaps only to "fit into" their line of 1/720 ships. And Italeri #530 USS Nassau can be easily bought for 20 Euros ! In 5 days such an opportunity appeared on Ebay and in next 3 days the kit in pristine condition (wrapped/unopened box) joined my stash. After opening the box you can find the sealed bag of plastic sprues labelled "Made in China by DRAGON" and all the sprues are identical to DRAGON 1/700 Tarawa-class ships. Even on decals set there's "1/700 USS Nassau" inscription and THIS IS THE TRUE... Nevertheless the kit features the airwing consisting of 4 AV-8B Harriers, 4 CH-46E Sea Knights and 2 CH-53E Super Stallions - the same aircraft are already standing on the deck of my 1/700 USS Wasp LHD-1 model by HobbyBoss. Wanting to differentiate these two amphibious ship class a little I decided to build the USS Nassau with her 1982 airwing. Of course 1982 means no AV-8B and no CH-53E. Moreover the aircraft supplied by Dragon/Italeri can be only called the caricatures of the original thing. So I dug my drawer a little to find several Trumpeter/HB aircraft surplus to fit the deck of USS Wasp and USS Nimitz. The lone AV-8B will be modified to represent the AV-8A, while two CH-53Es will be backdated to the CH-53D standard. Then I'd like to build 3 or 4 UH-1Ns using parts of SH-60s and (if patience allows) scratch-build some 2 or 3 OV-10 Broncos. So let's look at the Harriers: The main fuselage is almost the same. The nose must be shortened, the canopy lowered and the tailplane leading edge must be modified too. The biggest task however is modifying the wing - AV-8A had shorter span, more sweep, outriggers closer to the wingtips and the LERX must be omitted. Here you can see the AV-8A fuselage and the tailplanes after surgery (there's an unmodified AV-8B left on the same sprue): Then there are the Stallions: Here also happily the main fuselage is the same. The sponsons must be shortened, the third engine deleted (as will be one rotor blade too), the tailboom must be shortened and thinned, both vertical and horizontal tail must be shortened and the dorsal "hump" must be seriously modified. After all these operations cutting 0.8mm off each tail rotor blade and 1.4mm off each main rotor blade looks trivial. Here you have the modified CH-53D airframe next to the "stock" CH-53E also awaiting paint job: And here some old joke - a safety match just to remind you how tiny the 1/700 aircraft really are. To be continued Cheers Michael
  8. Taken at the Moffet Field Air Show, 1989. Nice sentiment on the intake... High tech canopy latch protectors. Wonder if that sticker would be legible in 1/72nd scale... Sven
  9. After a year when I have really struggled to find time for modelling, I have definitely been busy over the Christmas break! These are both based on the old ESCI model (still IMHO the best 1/72 Harriers), using both decal options from one box (one of these kits came as a dirty bag of bits without decals, but fortunately with all its parts!). First up, an AV-8A of the US Marines: And then a Matador - Toro, toro, see you tomorrow my son! When you can't decide what to build, build a Harrier, then build another for luck - Happy New Year all! FredT
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