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1:48 Tamiya Sea Harrier


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1:48 Tamiya Sea Harrier

 

Gday to my BM mates !!

 

I've been looking forward to this one, the mighty RN Sea Harrier.... After the Falklands conflict this jet had us all in awe, and I was fortunate to see the HMS Invincible as a young boy when she came into Fremantle, Western Australia in 84 or so. We were actually there because she was in company with HMAS Aurora, which was one of the my Dad's ships he served on... Please bear with me, I'll show you a few pics...

 

This is my Dad standing the awesome Sea Harrier:

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Here's the big girl, I'm at the bottom centre of the pic......

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And my Dad's old ship !!

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Okay back to the build.....

 

If you have one in the stash or are thinking to buy this one, my only advice would be, DON'T WATCH THE REVIEWS !!! Well each to their own, I probably don't have as high standards than others, but this is another kit that I built as a young boy. I didn't have any big issues, I added a Big Ed PE kit (for Kinetic) and I had fun building it, and thought it turned out okay...

 

Build is here:

Here's the RFI...

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Thanks for stopping by, hope you liked it....

 

Cheers

 

JJ

 

 

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If history had played out differently you'd have seen a lot more of Invincible down your way!

 

You've done a good job, you're certainly a brave soul for tackling a notorious kit, certainly a rare Tamiya stinker. I remember my dad - a harrier nut (a gene that I've inherited!) - started making it in 80s but he soon lost interest in it. 

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Looks great to me. 

 

Does anyone remember the UK magazine Take Off that launched probably around the mid to late 80s? One of the earliest articles in that was with a Falklands Sea Harrier pilot.  

 

Edit Google says it was actually 1993, issue 2.  

Edited by Solvent Parrot
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6 minutes ago, Solvent Parrot said:

Looks great to me. 

 

Does anyone remember the UK magazine Take Off that launched probably around the mid to late 80s? One of the earliest articles in that was with a Falklands Sea Harrier pilot.  

 

Edit Google says it was actually 1993, issue 2.  


Sharkey Ward?

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Super good job BZ to you.

But maybe a bit heavy on the underside weathering.....a fair bit of ardrox required to scrub that...on a Friday afternoon before early chops...(finish work early).Mind you id give the fin a good scrub too get rid of that 800 rubbish....801 the only squadron (shar) for me 😀

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On 9/4/2021 at 11:18 PM, Solvent Parrot said:

Looks great to me. 

 

Does anyone remember the UK magazine Take Off that launched probably around the mid to late 80s? One of the earliest articles in that was with a Falklands Sea Harrier pilot.  

 

Edit Google says it was actually 1993, issue 2.  

 

On 9/4/2021 at 11:25 PM, Ben Hartmann said:


Sharkey Ward?

 

The Take Off articles weren't by Sharkey. The Sea Harrier articles appeared in issues 2 and 3 and are credited to Flt Lt Dave Morgan. I believe they are extracts from a book called Harrier At War by Alfred Price.

 

I built this same kit some time ago, one of the first ones I built since returning to the hobby. I didn't find it a particularly difficult kit to build. It had some tricky moments and by the time the engine was in the fuselage, the mechanism connecting the four nozzles had stopped functioning, but overall it wasn't a demanding build. I know it's not a well regarded kit but for the price it gives a model that looks like a SHAR. I was happy with the result... yours is better though, JJ2016, and a lovely backstory too!

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On 9/7/2021 at 3:06 PM, junglierating said:

Super good job BZ to you.

Thanks mate, you've hit the nail on the head with the weathering.. This is one my my development areas as I'm either too much covering over the pre-shading, or too little. In this case, it was too little but its certainly one of the fun bits for me as the variations have endless possibility !

 

Cheers

 

JJ

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22 hours ago, kiseca said:

I built this same kit some time ago

Cheers mate, my main lesson was not to drink wine and apply the nozzles as I had the the wrong way around and very nearly wedged them in place too. Turns out there is a front and a rear... so ended up having a little paint rework/hangover the contend with !!

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On 9/5/2021 at 4:02 AM, Bobby No Mac said:

If history had played out differently you'd have seen a lot more of Invincible down your way!

 

You've done a good job, you're certainly a brave soul for tackling a notorious kit, certainly a rare Tamiya stinker. I remember my dad - a harrier nut (a gene that I've inherited!) - started making it in 80s but he soon lost interest in it. 

If I remember right, the jet nozzles were hard to put in

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3 hours ago, Josh G said:

If I remember right, the jet nozzles were hard to put in

Yeah now you mention it, they were press fit weren't they? Quite a challenge to get in, worried about taking half the paint off them at the time, and I think that's probably the point where I broke the nozzle linking mechanism. Now they can all turn individually. That would be fun for the pilot!

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Interesting pictures, thanks for sharing mate. Great job on the build and finish of the Harrier too, always been one of my favourites that variant and scheme!

 

Cheers,

Jon

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Looks great .. 'BZ' , I have always been put off by the reviews of the kit. You have done a cracking job :)  

 

My models always seem to look like they have just come out of the paint shop - no matter which method I use 'black basing' , 'pre-shading' etc :) 

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On 9/10/2021 at 10:27 PM, RJ-WobblyHands said:

Looks great .. 'BZ' , I have always been put off by the reviews of the kit. You have done a cracking job :)  

 

My models always seem to look like they have just come out of the paint shop - no matter which method I use 'black basing' , 'pre-shading' etc :) 

 

 

You aren't alone! I really struggle with weathering. I tried pre-shading on the underside of my Sea Harrier, much like the OP has done. When I put the first coats of white on top, it looked like exactly what it was. Some white paint over the top of some black painted lines. Didn't look dirty or weathered at all, just looked like a terrible paintjob. So I put more white paint on, and by the time I was satisfied, the pre-shading isn't visible at all 😐

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