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install the stubs of the latter

first, then add the etch when dry.

Again, this is an improvement,

even though the kit part will be

perfectly acceptable for many.

BRINGING IT TOGETHER

I had already fitted the main

undercarriage bay and intake

trunking to the airframe, so now it

was time to fit the cockpit. A little

adjustment was needed here and

there, particularly at the rear, but

with a little care and test-fitting,

it all clicks very nicely into place.

I now painted the interior of the

intake trunking and the intakes.

On the grey/green camouflaged

Harriers this was the same colour

as the external paint scheme:

dark green starboard side and

dark sea grey port side. On both

sides the colour goes all the way

back to the engine turbine face, so

don’t be tempted to use white on

a camouflaged machine. For the

overall dark sea grey machines the

interior was light aircraft grey,

but as ever, check your references

for your particular subject.

Talking of the turbine face: Stage

7, which shows the fuselage coming

together, makes no mention of any

part(s) for it. “Okay, perhaps we

install a bit later”, or so I thought.

So I checked ahead, eventually

reaching Stage 12, where the wing

is fitted. It was clearly going to

be impossible to install anything

inside the fuselage after this point!

A quick look at the sprue layout

diagram revealed nothing that

looked like a turbine face. I found it

very hard to believe that there is no

turbine face included in the kit, and

sure enough, a quick check of the

plastic revealed Part C3. I examined

the instructions again: definitely

not mentioned in Stage 7, and not

on the sprue diagram either. In

fact, the first place C3 appears is in

Stage 17, where it is clearly depicted

inside the completed intake!

So just a word of caution: I

suggest the first thing you do

when you look at the instructions

is to turn to Stage 7 and write on

it in capital letters something

like, “Don’t forget C3!!!” You

could even draw a turbine if

you’re feeling artistic.

Now it was time to bring the

fuselage together. I double-checked

that I’d got everything in place: a

pair of cockpits; nosewheel bay;

intake trunking and turbine face;

nozzle swivels; undercarriage and

airbrake bay; and that all those

were painted as far as necessary.

Starting at the nose, I fitted the

parts together, and the fit was very

nearly perfect, needing just a bit

of adjustment to the slots which

receive the cockpit side consoles.

After cementing the nose, I then

went to the tail and worked forward

with glue and tape, ending up

behind the nose wheel bay. Locating

the swivel mechanism proved

easy; it’s just trapped between

the fuselage halves. The rest was

straightforward, although it was

necessary to trim some plastic from

the internal mating edges of the

nosewheel bay, which just shows

the importance of getting this

positioned absolutely right earlier.

WINGS

The wings are where a lot of the

work lies in this kit. Two complete

sets are included, both consisting

of a complete top mainplane and

two lower halves; you can put

one set straight into the spares

box as it’s applicable to the

Sea Harrier FA2. The other set,

unfortunately, has mismatched

upper and lower halves, which

I’m told is a fault carried forward

from the Sea Harrier FRS1 boxing.

The main problem is at the wing

tips, and this has two causes. First,

there is a raised triangle inside the

wing-tip leading edge, which needs

to be removed. The lower wing part

also features a strange curve by

the outrigger fairing, which does

not match the shape of the upper

section. Simply remove this so that

the lower wing matches the line of

the upper. Neither fix is a great deal

of work, but in your scribe’s opinion

should really not be necessary.

The other issue is the dog-

tooth on the leading edge, where

again the upper and lower parts do

not match. Again, the fix is fairly

simple: I added a small scrap of

plastic and a touch of filler to the

lower wing, then sanded it to match

the shape of the upper wing.

Each wing has twelve vortex

generators, and the Eduard exterior

set supplies a full complement of

24 of these, along with a template

to ensure correct placement.

They are thinner than those

moulded on to the kit wing, so it

would seem the obvious course

to replace them – or would it?

I decided against, for two

reasons. The first of these was my

natural laziness, but the second

was more significant and that was

what decided me. Each small part

is folded, so there is a section of

brass at right angles to the vortex

generator to give a bigger mating

surface. Despite being thin, these

would nevertheless stand proud of

the wing surface, an effect which

in my opinion would negate any

improvement. I suppose I could

have used the Eduard template to

remove some plastic so the plates

sat flush, but thought this was

likely to be somewhat hit-and-

miss. I therefore decided that the

kit parts would be acceptable here.

There were two more items of

Eduard etch to add to the top wing,

Parts 46 and 47, both replacing

moulded kit detail. After sanding

that off, Eduard’s Part 46 was

fitted easily, but Part 47 was less

cooperative. Being simply a border

to a panel, it is very thin and fragile,

and I irrecoverably bent it out of

shape whilst cleaning up and fitting

it. As the moulded detail had already

been removed, I resorted to using

some thin card strip, glued, then

sanded to shape, which fortunately

looked reasonably effective.

The wings were finished

off by adding four etched wing

fences from the kit fret, the flaps

and the ailerons, and all these

fitted without any issues. With

hindsight I would suggest leaving

the kit-supplied etched wing

fences until just before painting;

they are rather prone to being

bent or even knocked off when

cleaning up seams on the model.

You may notice that the kit

provides alternative aileron hinges

(E1) to allow the ailerons to be

drooped together and that these are

not mentioned in the instructions.

Please do not be tempted to do this.

Drooping the ailerons to provide

greater flap area was a feature

of second-generation Harriers

(GR5, AV-8B, and subsequent

marks), not the first generation

variants. Finally I decided to

leave the clear navigation lights

off until the end of the build.

ODDS AND ENDS

In between letting all this dry,

I made up a few more sub-

assemblies. The wheels fit together

The badly fitting intake, probably due to slightly misaligned internals (see text)

Forward internals in place: front cockpit and

nosewheel bay

Main undercarriage doors – strengthening

piece of scrap card inside

Replacing a very delicate piece of etch. Yet to

be shaped

Pylons with and without Eduard’s underside

detail part

18 • OCTOBER 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

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