1/24 Airfix Harrier

[DRUMS01]

I have been a member of this site for some time but I've never posted anything, so this is new to me. 

This was the original kit made in the mid 70's. Considering the period it was molded, some of the kit actually fit pretty good while some was terrible or lacked any detail. The most notable areas needing help were the landing gear and wheel bays, the Martin Baker ejection seat, canopy fit, cockpit side details, lack of weapons mounting hardware, and fit of the main wing with the engine access panel. I attempted to eliminate most of these errors with some scratch building.

The paint scheme I chose is the standard for the GR1 / AV8 of the era. Decals are provided for American, Spanish, and English aircraft. Though it was a tough decision, being from the States, the U.S. Marines version won out. The kit is rather large when finished, but should display well...

It is not my best work, but it is by best 1/24 Airfix Harrier (and only 1), so that will have to do. I have other versions in different scales. It will be interesting to see how this one stacks up to the others. Here are some WIP photos:

Final result...

I love the work being shown in this forum, ..... keep it up. 

DRUMS01

 

 

[GusMac]

Nice introduction. That's a cool first build of a kit with 'issues'. Even for a fairly small airframe it takes up a reasonable amount of room in 1/24. 👍 

[PeteF]

Nice to see a finished one. I tried to build one of those once but gave up on it. 

[harv]

Thanks for the intro. Very nice. I built the Brit.one back in the 80's.  Did come out to bad......harv 

[Peterpools]

Some very nice work on a 'classic' kit. So glad you jumped into the waters and posted your Harrier build.

Keep 'em comin

Peter

[DRUMS01]

Thank you everyone. I built this kit a couple years ago and never shown it in the forum till now. This was a build that tested my endurance. Many parts did not fit well and areas like the wheel wells were completely devoid of any detail at all. Parts of the cockpit were not much better. The vectoring ports in the front rear and wings were not done well or at all either. Then there was the large gaps around the exhaust nozzles which too large amounts of sheet plastic to tame. The kits original decals were trash and could not be used. I was very fortunate that Airfix was willing to provide their newest decals (for a cost). With all this said, if you want a 1/24 Harrier, this is the only game in town. I know it's not a contest winner, but the challenges of overcoming those issues made it a satisfying build for me, and isn't that what modeling is really about?

Thanks once again for looking and the comments. 

DRUMS01

[Bomber_County]

Fantastic opener, this is the first 24th Harrier I’ve seen completed. I remember it well when it came out. Looking forward to your future builds……

[DRUMS01]

Thanks Phil....

While some parts were done well, many were warped, sink marks, incorrect, void of any detail, etc. The panel gaps and overall fitment on a scale from 1-10 (highest) I would rate the model kit a 5.5 - 6.0 for those reasons. Now that there are 1/32 and 1/18 Harriers out there I may have to build them to compare kits. After all, A-10's and Harriers are like Spitfires, Messerschmitts, you can never have too many. 

As far as future builds, I have many "staged" but I am one of those who only model one kit at a time. Other aircraft in the stack, near the top, are 1/32 F-14, 15, 16 all Tamiya's. a 1/48 PBY Pro Modeler from Revell, 1/48 C-130, B-1 Bomber, and so on. I'm currently building the 1/350 IJN Yamato with full detail set in a group build on another forum. It will most likely take till New Years to finish.

Next kit will be an aircraft for sure, or auto, or figure, or ship, or armor,.......... crap... it will be something.

DRUMS01

[GazzaS]

Very nicely done Harrier.