1/72 Sea Harrier FRS.1 x 2 - Airfix vs Italeri comparative assembly

[alex_stela]

On 14/12/2020 at 21:11, Pappy said:

The outriggers would probably not looked so bad until they were compared directly to the Esci offering.It will be interesting to see the improvement afforded by the resin,

 

Aires resin (Quickboost QB 72 385) isn't so "sophisticated" as old Italeri/ESCI plastic parts (!), but is great improvement over Airfix. It's dedicated for SHAR FA.2, but in FA.2 and FRS.1 outriggers were the same.

 

 

Meanwhile, work on Italeri comes to an end. First I attached weapons, antennas, and all the other stuff to the underside of the plane. I decided to extend a front wheel leg of about 1 mm because the front of the plane was a bit too low IMO.

 

 

Then I mounted all the antennas on the top and sides of the airframe and a metal Pitot tube on the front.

 

 

Now I only need to finish and install the canopy - then Italeri kit will be ready for inspection. 😎

 

TBC.

[alex_stela]

Canopy in Italeri is finished. I wanted to make access ladders from Eduard PE sets, but it was beyond my abilities. They are very complicated and without a good PE bending machine, their assembly is almost impossible. But I remembered that I had Brengun BRL72017 PE set "Step ladders for Hunter/Harrier (2 pcs)". It was very easy and pleasant to assebly them!

 

 

However, it soon turned out that they are not suitable for Harriers, because they only have 7 steps and a short headband at the top (it`s good for Hunters, but ladders for Harrier had 8 steps, longer headband and small wheels at the bottom). Both Harriers will therefore be without ladders. 🙄

 

It is time to improve the landing gear in Airfix. I ripped off the main landing gear leg, shortened it about 1.5mm, and then put it back on. I also had to carve the grooves for the outriggers, because Airfix forgot about them.

 

 

I painted and installed the resin outriggers. Surprisingly - everything fit and no additional work was required, so I was able to install all the other elements on the underside of the airframe.

 

 

All I have to do now is mount some antennas on top of the airframe and a Pitot tube on the front. After installing the canopy and painting the position lights - the Airfix model will also be "ready for inspection".

 

 

So soon it will be time to sum up and provide links to the end photo galleries!

[Pappy]

Lovely work Alex

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

 

[Selwyn]

Speaking as a ex Harrier Armourer  I certainly would never buy those pavla gunpods, they are horribly innacurate, too fat, the nose tube is too long, the holes under the nose are not handed in real life, dont know what that fictional thing is suposed on the inside of the pod, it would intefere with anything put on the centreline pylon, the link chute hole is about twice the size as it should be and you would never get a ammunition tank inside  the tiny rear fairing! it just looks wrong.

The Italeri pods are probably the most accurate in shape and would with a bit of work look the business.

 

Selwyn

 

 

[Richard E]

15 hours ago, alex_stela said:

Canopy in Italeri is finished. I wanted to make access ladders from Eduard PE sets, but it was beyond my abilities. They are very complicated and without a good PE bending machine, their assembly is almost impossible. But I remembered that I had Brengun BRL72017 PE set "Step ladders for Hunter/Harrier (2 pcs)". It was very easy and pleasant to assebly them!

 

 

However, it soon turned out that they are not suitable for Harriers, because they only have 7 steps and a short headband at the top (it`s good for Hunters, but ladders for Harrier had 8 steps, longer headband and small wheels at the bottom). Both Harriers will therefore be without ladders. 🙄

 

Perhaps one for @Selwyn to confirm: I think the seven step ladders were used by the Harrier GR Mk.3, as shown in this picture of a 4 Squadron aircraft.  If you can lay hands on them, Davd J Parkins' Flightpath range includes a far more straightforward/less over engineered rendition of the Sea Harrier's ladder.

[Selwyn]

1 minute ago, Richard E said:

 

Perhaps one for @Selwyn to confirm: I think the seven step ladders were used by the Harrier GR Mk.3, as shown in this picture of a 4 Squadron aircraft.  If you can lay hands on them, Davd J Parkins' Flightpath range includes a far more straightforward/less over engineered rendition of the Sea Harrier's ladder.

Never ever saw that style of ladder used on a RAF GR3 Harrier in my time, RAF GR3 harriers were accessed from the other side of the cockpit by ladder, the side shown in the 4 sqn image had built (kick) in footsteps, the black lines on the side of the cockpit guide to the  their location, and the first step dropped down when the cockpit canopy was opened, the pilots harness is hanging on it in this image! 

 

Please excuse the very sad content of this link but it does show an image with the correct RAF harrier ladder.

 

Selwyn

[Smudge]

Nice project, very interesting to see the two kits compared like this. 

 

How did you do the MDC and the line around the edge of the canopy?

 

Very nice finish on both of them. Look forward to seeing them in Ready For Inspection.

[heloman1]

Excellent work Alex, who would have thought, a forty year + old kit would still be a good proposition?

 

Colin

[Richard E]

4 hours ago, Selwyn said:

Never ever saw that style of ladder used on a RAF GR3 Harrier in my time, RAF GR3 harriers were accessed from the other side of the cockpit by ladder.

 

I've only ever seen pictures of it being used by 4 Squadron during off-airfield operations; the example that you have shown in the other picture seems to be used far more frequently.

[Selwyn]

3 hours ago, Richard E said:

 

I've only ever seen pictures of it being used by 4 Squadron during off-airfield operations; the example that you have shown in the other picture seems to be used far more frequently.

I left 4 sqn  in 1983 so the use of that ladder type must have been after that.

 

Selwyn

[alex_stela]

On 26/12/2020 at 12:54, Selwyn said:

Speaking as a ex Harrier Armourer  I certainly would never buy those pavla gunpods, they are horribly innacurate, too fat, the nose tube is too long, the holes under the nose are not handed in real life, dont know what that fictional thing is suposed on the inside of the pod, it would intefere with anything put on the centreline pylon, the link chute hole is about twice the size as it should be and you would never get a ammunition tank inside  the tiny rear fairing! it just looks wrong.

The Italeri pods are probably the most accurate in shape and would with a bit of work look the business.

You are absolutely right! I don't know who at Pavla designed it, but I think he had the wrong glasses. 

 

When it comes to ladders, it should be like this in Sea Harrier:

 

On 26/12/2020 at 14:26, Smudge said:

How did you do the MDC and the line around the edge of the canopy?

 

MDC is from Eduard set, line around edge is handpainted. Not very easy and not very pleasant work...

 

On 26/12/2020 at 14:41, heloman1 said:

who would have thought, a forty year + old kit would still be a good proposition?

Yes, ESCI is the best so far. I think Italeri will release it again in 2022.

 

 

Well, it's time to summarize this comparison.

 

Kits:

 

Italeri/ESCI - Still the best 1/72 SHAR kit in accuracy. Yes, it needs some work, has a few shortcomings and issues, it`s visibly old and should be long forgotten and replaced with something better, but... it's end of 2020 and it's just still the best 1/72 Sea Harrier. 

 

Airfix - You can buy it if you are not interested in accuracy and your Sea Harrier will be in "flying" position with the landing gear retracted. If not - just skip that pile of plastic. Although it's easy to assemble, it takes a lot of work to fix all the bugs and it still won't look as good as the old ESCI! Positives? Really good decals!

 

Used extras:

 

Eduard PE sets - They seem nice, but not all parts are really useful, and a ladder (that takes up 1/3 of a large frame) is almost impossible to assemble. You can buy it, but don't expect any miracles.

Pavla resin air intakes / exhaust nozzles sets - It's really better to work on kit parts than to assemble this crap. And for the resin air intakes for Airfix someone should go to jail! Unfortunately there is no alternative for intakes, but in the topic of exhaust - I saw really nice nozzles from Aires Quickboost for FA.2!

 

Pavla resin gunpods - As Selwyn wrote earlier - just don't buy them! Inaccurate, too fat, just... WRONG. And trying to fit them into the model takes days. Avoid far!

 

Master metal Pitot tubes - Good replacement for plastic parts. AOA probe is an added bonus.

 

Pavla resin MB.10H ejection seats - Not entirely accurate, but still much better than what's in the kits. There can be problems with the fit to the cockpit, especially in Italeri. You can buy - they are cheap.

 

Aires Quickboost resin outriggers - Not as good as those in Italeri kit (!), but "must have" if you are building any 1/72 Sea Harrier from Airfix!

 

 

OK, and now it's time for "Ready for inspection" galleries.

 

Here is one of Italeri model":

 

and here is one of Airfix:

 

Thanks to everyone for your attention!

[Serkan Sen]

Great build thread Alex. Except landing gear issues you are very close to happy end...

Serkan

[Juan R-S]

This article was a tour de force on assembling the Esci and Airfix kits. I really appreciate the hard work you did to bring them into a kit that truly resembles the real airplane.

Wish Pavla ,or somebody else had, come up with a correct air intake. that way we could do the kits with landing gear down. As it is, you are best doing it "in-flight".

As things stand, we may  have to puchase both kits and mix parts to get an accurate Sea Harrier. Hopefully Airfix will re do those molds...maybe.