1/48 Kinetic Harrier

[Lord Riot]

I couldn’t wait to start this brilliant new Harrier kit that my dad very kindly bought for my birthday recently! Not only that but he included a set of extra decals too.

 

 

The kit decals are superb. I like how the fuselage roundels include notches cut out for the intake doors.

 

 

 

 

I’m actually not sure what option to make yet. My favourite Harrier markings are 233 OCU wraparound camo, but I already have the Airfix one in those colours and will be making my Kinetic T4 the same. So I’m thinking No. 1 Sqn for this model. But will it be a pointed nose or laser, wraparound or light grey underneath? I need to decide before starting as there’s lots of optional parts. There’s a lot of plastic.

 

 

 

Quite a few pieces are stores I won’t use, and you get two upper wings and various other bits for Sea Harriers/AV-8s that I won’t need. Also included is this little metal etching set.

 

 

Paints ready! 
 

 

 

 

 

[viper-30]

Excellent...looking forward to this wasn’t really sure about getting one but might well have to now as spent a bit of time operating with 1 SQN ..

[Lord Riot]

Finally made a start, as usual on the bang seat first. It looks pretty nice, especially as you get some metal seat belts too. 
 

 

 

The etch should bring it to life a bit. There don’t seem to be decals for the headrest sides though, probably have to raid the spares drawer for those.

[heloman1]

Nice looking kit,  real box full of parts. Is that two sets of wings I see? Grey underside if you already have the wrap around scheme. Think I'll pull up a comfy chair.

 

Colin

[Lord Riot]

Thanks Colin, yes it has two sets of wings, two cockpits and no less than three ejector seats! I’m assuming there’s some sprue commonality with the two-seater and AV-8. Either that or the Americans are about to unveil a three seat wild weasel Harrier that Kinetic knew about before anyone else! 
 

 

[iainpeden]

and/or a biplane version?

[Lord Riot]

Anyone know if 1 Sqn ever had any laser nose GR3s with grey undersides, or was the wraparound applied when the laser and fin sensors etc were added?
 

 

 

[Lord Riot]

Strangely for such a nice kit, and one with etched parts, you’re expected to paint the cockpit dials, there aren’t even any decals! I’ve done my best but I think I’d be better trying to find an Eduard etched Harrier instrument panel set.
 

[exdraken]

nice start!

 

you are in a building rush currently, no!

 

 

 

[Biggles87]

It looks very nice so far, looking forward to getting one myself so I’ll tag along please.

You’ve made a pretty good job of the IP, did you use any decals at all?

 

John

PS the Kinetic Alpha Jet only has raised circles on the IPs too, I dotted mine with a .3mm Edding Profipen, which doesn’t look too bad if you don’t get too close.

[Lord Riot]

Thanks John, no decals at all, I just used a black pen and some yellow paint. It’s ok from a distance but close-up photos aren’t kind! I want to display it with the canopy open so may need to tidy it up a bit.

[Pappy]

On 1/26/2021 at 6:38 PM, Lord Riot said:

Finally made a start, as usual on the bang seat first. It looks pretty nice, especially as you get some metal seat belts too. 
 

 

 

The etch should bring it to life a bit. There don’t seem to be decals for the headrest sides though, probably have to raid the spares drawer for those.

Actually, I think that the headbox data plate decals are included, have a look at the bottom of the sheet, around no. 74

 

[Biggles87]

11 minutes ago, Lord Riot said:

Thanks John, no decals at all, I just used a black pen and some yellow paint. It’s ok from a distance but close-up photos aren’t kind! I want to display it with the canopy open so may need to tidy it up a bit.

Just about the same as mine then. I have some Airscale sheets of instruments/data plates/warning panels which i thought of using but decided that I wanted to get the Alpha Jet finished fairly quickly ( for me ) as I've been having trouble finishing anything lately.

The PE sheet looks pretty good, including what look like the rubbing plates for the tailplanes, something else missing on the Alpha Jet.

Looking forward to more;

Stay safe.

 

John

[bigbadbadge]

Looks like a nice kit,  will tag along. Nice start.

Chris

[Lord Riot]

1 hour ago, Pappy said:

Actually, I think that the headbox data plate decals are included, have a look at the bottom of the sheet, around no. 74

 

 

Thanks Pappy, I wondered about those but I couldn’t see them shown in the instructions, so assumed they must be for ordnance. That’s great then, I’ll use them on the seat. I’ll probably keep the seat out til the end so I can work on it more easily.

[Dr. Quack]

Watching this one with interest - I quite fancy doing a Falkands era Gr.3. They tell me this goes together more easily than the Kinetic shar Frs 1. 

Great start.

May I sit quietly in the corner drinking my beer and licking the salt off my nuts?

Q

[Cris Garcia]

Excellent gift! I finished this beautiful kit last week and it's a joy to build (having had the experience with Kinetic's SHAR FRS.1). 

On the "Ready for Inspection" you can find it and some very informative comments by the experts, they can help you avoid some mistakes made by amateurs like me.

 

All the best, and a happy build!

 

Cris.

[Lord Riot]

Cockpit built and painted, I’ll slot in the seat at the end of the build. I’ve built and the main wheel bay and airbrake interior to, though it still needs a second coat. Apparently the airbrake housing is the same colour as the camo, I was expecting it to be white like the undercarriage bays.

 

[Lord Riot]

The fuselage takes a bit of squeezing to hold together, but generally the fit is good. The cockpit and intake section is a really nice and easy fit too. 
 

[Lord Riot]

The big intakes are a very nice fit and really well made with the optional vents open or closed. My Harrier will be displayed with them open. You need to paint the insides before fitting but it does tell you this in the instructions which are pretty clear. 
 

 

 

Next stage is the wings, and again they’re a nice fit. I’m building this with the help of the excellent advice provided by @NG899 on little extra things to do like filling in the step under the dogtooth part of the leading edge.

 

 

I think I’ve settled on this being an early GR3, still with the pointed nose and light grey undersides but two-colour roundels, circa mid 70s at Wittering. Though I may need to rethink as the build progresses!

[heloman1]

Coming along nicely. I've just posted on the Starfighter build re the face blind handles and an easy way of getting the black/yellow bands. I've used embroidery silks for it. The silk thread is flat and if you tease out one strand to each then wrap them simultaneously around the handles they form equal bands. Then just secure them with CA or Future.

 

Colin

[Biggles87]

Oooh, that sounds like a good idea Colin. My preferred method has been two strands of fuse wire, one painted black and the other yellow, then twisted around each other. I think that SWMBO has some embroidery silk so I might try that next time.

Sorry for the intrusion.

 

John

[Selwyn]

On 1/26/2021 at 8:38 AM, Lord Riot said:

Finally made a start, as usual on the bang seat first. It looks pretty nice, especially as you get some metal seat belts too. 
 

 

 

The etch should bring it to life a bit. There don’t seem to be decals for the headrest sides though, probably have to raid the spares drawer for those.

Just a point. The long belts are incorrect for the early GR1/3 they were only retrofitted to the seats  in 1981/82.

 

Selwyn

[Lord Riot]

Strangely the instructions don’t tell you to remove the tab at the front of the wing section. It won’t fit to the fuselage unless you cut it off, there is no slot or anything. 
 

 

I decided to spray the undersides of the wings light aircraft grey before fitting them. The shape of the fuselage and downward camber of the wings makes masking more difficult, so I’ll also spray the underside leading edges green/grey before fitting too, then mask up the whole underside so I can get the Tamiya tape right up to the fuselage. I’ll mask along the fuselage and spray it LAG before fitting the wings too, should be easier. 
 

 

I finally bought some ‘tyre black’ instead of just using standard matt black for painting tyres. Pretty happy with this colour for the tyres, though close ups do my handpainting no favours!
 

 

 

[exdraken]

Great progress!