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I have wanted to do a modern Harrier for a while and I even collected many of
the Ammram conversion sets and Monogram kits, but when the Hasegawa kit showed
up in my local shop I dug right in.
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I
decided after some test fitting that I would use the Black box cockpit set which
is meant for the Monogram kit, this was both good and bad. It fits in just fine
if you sand the tub sides down (the Monogram kit is wider) and looks really good
when painted up,
it defiantly added a lot, this was the good part. The bad part came much
latter, I first had a problem getting the BB front instrument panel to fit with
the combing, it is too small. I then decided to use the kit instrument panel and
rebuild the whole area around
the HUD (I had cut it all up for the BB panel) it ended up looking really
good. But when I went to put it in, it was too foreward to met the BB tub and
where the tub instruments curve up was a millimeter apart. I covered this
somewhat with the pieces that are supposed to be in the windshield sides
(compass and dials) and decided to live with the gap, I was not starting over.
If you want to use the BB set in this kit I would recomend useing the instrument
combing/HUD area from the Monogram kit making sure it fits back far enough. I
just saw that Aries released a cockpit set for this kit
(http://www.squadron.com/ItemDetails.asp?item=EA4199)
I would use that instead.
Hasegawa approached
this kit much like they have some of their other kits (such as the A-4 kits) and
they broke the parts down as much as they can to be able to sell as many
different versions as they can.
While I am happy that they will produce the AV-8B, B plus, Night Attack,
GR.7, GR.5 and maybe even the two seaters (that would be cool) but it makes for
a lot of fiddley parts and many seams to fill. The biggest problem I found with
the fit of this kit was the LEX and how there was 1/4 of inch gap between it and
the fuselage, lots to fill! Some of the other parts fit very tightly, I was
surprisedised at well the 3 section nose area fit together, it went right along
the panel lines. Despite the tedious parts breakdown the surface detail is the
usual Hasegawa quality, simply beautiful with every rivet and panel line
represented making the assembly worth it.
That said I may try
my hand at one of Monogram kits for my GR.5/7 (don't know which yet) instead
next time, yeah it would mean a full re-scribe but it may be less of a building
headache in the end. One very nice feature of the parts breakdown was the canopy
and how it was only the metal framing and did not include the fuselage sides,
this allows easy painting of the framing (I used Testors metalizer) without
messing up
the fuselage colors.
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One thing that is odd on this kit is the wing kink visible from a head on
position, this is not accurate as the real jet has a smooth slopping wing. I
don't know why Hasegawa would add this, they got every other detail correct,
it's almost seems like a mistake
in the molds.
The kit
includes a Liteing II FLIR which is now becoming a common sight on US and NATO
aircraft (A-10, F-16, B-52 and F-4 to name a few) I saved mine for a future
project, of course this came a month after I scratch built a pod for my CO ANG
F-16C. The fuel tanks and sidewinders are nice looking too, I added GBU-16s from
the Hasegawa weapon sets to finish it out. By the way, Harriers buddy lased in
Iraq because there wasn't enough pods and it saved a weapon station. The kit gun
pods are also very nice.
I
wanted my Harrier to look different and even though I had the "Hard Corps
Harriers" from 2 Bobs I decided to go with the new Super Scale sheet for
OIF Harriers and I liked the black sheep jet (it also had the most mission
marks). The decals looked great and went fine siting down well, but somehow I
lost the "VMA-214" title on one side and two of the blue stars on the
tail. I drew the 2 stars back on using a technical pen, but as of now I am
without the the VMA titles. If anyone reading this has the sheet and is not
using these markings please contact me and I will trade the rest of the sheet or
some of the 2 bobs sheet with you, I just need that one decal.
I went to town
with the weathering, this is one jet that calls for it, Harriers get very dirty,
look at any photos of them and you can't help but notice all the wonderful
grime. I really like dirty ugly jets, war is a dirty business after all. One of
the reason why Harriers get so sooty is because every time they take off or land
they cup the hot gases under the jet (and away from the intakes) to increase
lift, that is what the fence behind the nose gear is for and the gun pods add to
that. To reproduce this effect I took chalk pastel dust and really worked it in
and around this area on the bottom and towards the tail. I used a technical pen
to highlight the panel lines and chalk sludge to add to the panel and rivets.
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Although I had some frustrations with this kit I am glad with the final outcome,
you can't go wrong with Hasegawa details. But like I said I am going to try a
Monogram kit for my next jump jet, this is not an easy build. I love the Harrier
and I plan on doing every version there is as time goes on, I might do a Airfix
Shar FA2 next or a GR.3 too, so much to build. This was also the second kit that
I built almost entirely at work in my spare time. I am a TV News Photographer in
Denver and just like a fire fighter, my job is full of hours of standing by
followed by moments of shear craziness. I have started to make use of all my
free time by working on my kits in my news car or in the Photo ready room (yes
that is really what we call it).
I can do all the construction at work and then do the airbrushing later at
home and followed with decals and final touches.
As I write this I have the
massive Academy 1/32nd F/A-18C in my news car (takes up half the back seat!) and
I am slowing chipping away at it.
And if you are wondering if I would get in trouble for doing this, my
assignment editor (the person who controls my work day) thinks it's good for me,
that it keeps me calm (I can be a little intense at times) so he doesn't mind
and neither do my reporters, just as
long as I put it down and go when we need to go. It's amazing how much
more building I am getting done!
Everett
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