Scale aviation modeller international

will be difficult, if not impossible,

to apply with the tailplanes fitted.

Next was the tail fin, and

this didn’t fit so well, but there

was nothing a couple of minutes

with a file and some wet-and-

dry could not sort out. I also

added the intakes, and the fit of

the port one proved particularly

troublesome. This was probably

my fault; I found I had not got

the front of the intake trunking

(K8) completely flush against

the front lip of the fuselage (K1).

Again, this was fixable by simply

rubbing down the protrusion.

The last job before preparing

for paintwork was to fit the two

under-fuselage strakes, Parts

E22. There is another little niggle

here: the slots they fit into are

not long enough. It was the work

of a minute or two to measure,

measure again, then extend each

slot forward with a P-cutter, but

again, should it really be necessary?

PAINTING

After a wash in warm soapy

water, the model was allowed

to dry. Next, I masked off the

cockpit and intakes and sprayed

an overall coat of Tamiya XF19.

As expected, this revealed a

number of seams and other

imperfections needing attention.

It was then time to spray the

main colour scheme. The underside

for my chosen option was light

aircraft grey, for which I used

Tamiya XF80. As usual with Tamiya

paints, I added a little gloss clear,

X22, to the mix. This seems to make

the paint somewhat more durable,

as well as contributing towards a

glossy finish for decalling. What

makes this scheme even simpler

is that you do not need to mask the

undercarriage or airbrake bays, as

these are the same colour inside.

Whilst waiting for this to dry, I

turned my attention to the canopies.

These are beautifully clear, with

a very effective representation of

the miniature detonating cord. As

an added bonus the sprue has tabs

which slightly exceed the height of

the canopy, presumably to prevent

the clear parts getting crushed

in the box: other manufacturers

may wish to take note.

I tried Eduard’s new “TFace”

masks to prepare the canopies for

painting. Normally, Eduard canopy

masks are designed so you mask

and only spray one surface – the

outer – with the interior colour,

then the exterior colours. This

usually means that the interior

colour appears glossy when viewed

from the inside. The “TFace” sets

provide masks for the inside of

the canopy as well as the outside,

which allows you to spray the

interior colour on the interior,

and achieve the correct sheen.

I thought that masking inside

the canopy might prove tricky,

but it turned out to be no more so

than masking outside. As usual

with Eduard’s masks, they fitted

very well with a bit of care. It is

also worth noting that alternative

masks are provided for the

windscreen front panel: one for

if you leave the moulded wiper in

place, and one for if you remove

it to add an aftermarket part.

Although there is such a part in

the Eduard interior set, I decided

to leave the moulded one in place.

There is one small disadvantage

to using the “TFace” masks for this

kit: the canopies have a number of

internal fitments, and these must be

omitted until the inside is painted.

So back to the main scheme:

the underside was masked out and

some dark sea grey sprayed, this

time using Tamiya XF-54, and when

this was dry the green (XF-81) was

painted. The camouflage in this

scheme is fairly hard-edged on the

real thing, so I masked with Tamiya

tape, cutting thin strips to define

the outline and then filling in.

Doing this leads you to realise what

a truly complex shape the Harrier is!

All went well, despite a slight

glitch in that I reversed the colours

on both tailplanes, because I’d made

the outline, then masked over the

wrong section! So the masks were

reapplied and the parts resprayed,

setting the project back slightly.

DECALS

After a coat of gloss, it was time for

some decals. These are contained

on a large A4 sheet, designed

by Crossdelta and printed by

Cartograph. You would expect them

to perform faultlessly with this

pedigree, and sure enough they

did, snuggling well into the detail

with my customary application of

Micro-Set and -Sol. The amount

of airframe stencilling on the

sheet looks very daunting, but

some markings appear twice or

more to cater for the different

backgrounds – camouflage, grey

or black. There are, for example,

3 subtly different sets of warning

triangles for the weapons pylons.

Also duplicated (almost) are

fuselage roundels: each variant has

one complete pair, intended for use

when the intake auxiliary doors

are shut, and one pair in sections

for use with the open doors. I

used the latter and found these

fitted well. As for the fuselage and

underwing serials, each has to be

made up from a two-letter block

and individual numbers. Not quite

as easy as complete serial numbers

being provided, but it saves space

on the sheet, presumably means

a small saving on production

costs, and you will have a good

selection of letters and numbers

left over for the spares box.

After decalling, a coat of satin

varnish sealed the finish. I did

very little weathering, apart from

Differing shapes on the wings: remove portion

marked at pencil line

Same parts outside, with card shim ...

This triangle should be sanded flush with the

rest of the wing interiors surface

... and the fit is still not great: more filling and a spot respray needed

20 • OCTOBER 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

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