Hasegawa's 1/48 AV-8B Harrier WIP:Completed!

Thanks lawdog.  I won't lie, it's been tough.  I'm glad I have models to keep me distracted!

Thanks keavdog!  I really do like weathering stuff.  I've dabbled a bit into it on previous builds, but didn't fully get into until I did Mini W7. 

Thanks Tosh!

Joe, Thanks, and yes I'm so glad I was able to finish this one. 

Edwin, Lol.  I've been spending a lot of time at the bench, not much else to do in the winter. Thank you!  Yes, that is a decal on the canopy.  Bit of a pain in the butt, it's actually 2 decals.

Thanks Brandon!

Keyda, you should be extra proud of this one. You did a super nice job on it. That is a stellar looking build. Well done.

BK

 Keyda, I could have sworn I only looked away for a few minutes, and you completed your build! And did a mighty fine job of it too! 

Wish I could build as quickly as you.

Is that det cord on the canopy a decal?

That turned out really nice, I really like the undertones and weathering.  Sweet feeling doing a nice finish on a kit that previously kicked your butt!

Joe

As always your finished product looks awesome!

Your Friend, Toshi

Cool!  I like the weathering/exhaust.  I've been wanting to do one of these.

Thanks Greg!  I knew what I was in for this time from attempting it several times before, lol.  I just needed to take my time, test fit a lot, and sand where needed to make things fit!

Gary, Thank you!  It certainly has it's issues.  I've attempted it several times, and got beyond frustrated.  Those kits landed up back in the boxes.  I was determined to have a Harrier in the collection though, lol.  That's cool!  Closest I've gotten to a Harrier was watching it the air show.  They are neat looking for sure.  I have tons of those wish I would of thought of that at the time moments, lol.  I wasn't looking forward to that decal at all, lol.  I thought it was going to be like the decal on my F-16 Thunderbird, but it did go on a lot smoother. 

Great job, Miss Keyda! I've built that exact same kit many, many years ago, and I know what you mean about the issues that it has. Your's came out very nice!

VMA-231 was (and still is, I guess) a squadron at Cherry Point, NC. Having sat in many Harriers while stationed there (in all of the Harrier squadrons that were there; I had to test the DECM equipment in them), I have probably sat in the cockpit of that very Harrier. I sure wished I had kept track of the Bureau Numbers of each of the aircraft I had sat in, but it never crossed my mind to do so at the time.

I was really surprised at how well that vertical stabilizer decal went on. I thought that one would be the real problem child of the build, but it turned out to be the easiest part of the build. 

Now you need a TAV-8B (the two-seat trainer variant) to sit alongside your gun squadron variant. Awesome job!

Gary

Rock on, Keyda! Knew you'd be able to pull it off without any trouble.

Looks really grand!

Thanks Mark!

I spent most of the day working on the Harrier.  Most of the decals went on without fight, but a few gave me some issues.  Thankfully I had a few spare decal sheets from the other uncompleted builds.  So no big deal. 

Once the decals were done I did some weathering, and the final assembely.  Here's the finished pics. 

I'l have to start using my camera for the finished pics, the flash from my cell phone washes out all the weathering.  It has it's fair share of mistakes, and smudges, but overall I'm pretty happy with it.  Looks good sitting on the shelf.

MrStecks

Your Harrier is looking good Keyda.  I've never seen one of these in person (apart from static displays), but judging by what everyone is saying it sounds like a must-see (...and hear).

The loudest jets I ever heard was when my dad took me to see the Blue Angels, back when they were flying F4's.  My ears still hurt from that display!

Cheers,
Mark

 

Absolutely!  I used to work at MAC, and was constantly exposed to the sound of those things.  They were intrinsically noisy and their low climbout angle exposed folks on the ground to a lot of noise. Noise level changed markedly at STL when the F-15s started flying- very high climbout angle!  In addition to the Phantoms flown by MAC, the National Guard squadron at STL flew Phantoms.  I lived in Florissant, quite a few miles from airport, but you could easily identify a Phantom taking off from STL, over and above sound of commercial flights.

Your Harrier is looking good Keyda.  I've never seen one of these in person (apart from static displays), but judging by what everyone is saying it sounds like a must-see (...and hear).

The loudest jets I ever heard was when my dad took me to see the Blue Angels, back when they were flying F4's.  My ears still hurt from that display!

Cheers,
Mark

They are pretty loud.  That's all you could hear when they were doing their demo with one back in 2015 at the local airshow.

I spent the entire afternoon messing with the paint job, lol.  I first went with the colors listed in the instructions, and let me tell you, they didn't look right at all.  So I went a different route, and picked what I thought looked right.  Also tried my hand at post shading a bit.  I've never tried it before.  I like the results.  Just need some more practice.  I might have over done the exhaust staining a bit, but then again I've seen the black pouring out of the jet when it's in a hover.

All glossed up and ready for decals.

I should be able to get to the decals tomorrow. 

I was at a airshow at fleming field in St. Paul like 25 years ago where a harrier flew,  boy was it loud even from a 1/4 mile away!!!

John

Shipwreck, lol.  Good thing the only model in there is the current WIP! 

Jax is hiding under the bed.  I put a couple of baby gates, one on top of the other in my hallway so he can start venturing out of my bedroom without the rest of my zoo bothering him too much.  He scoped out the bathroom, and my daughters room while hissing and growling at my other 2 cats, lol.  He's fine though.

Edwin, More than likely he is here to stay.  I will try my best to get everyone aclimated to one another!

I got the bottom painted light ghost grey.  I tried to play around with it, and do sort of a black basing method, but not with straight black underneath.  I use a pretty dark grey primer, so I think it has some good tonal variation underneath.  Not sure it shows up to well in the pics though.

Should have the rest of the colors painted on later on this afternoon.

Keyda81

Thanks!  I'm hoping to get back to work on this today.  I have moved my Mom's cat Jax into the bedroom to try and make him more comfortable, so I didn't want to turn on the paint booth and scare the crap out of him with it.  I did some quiet things yesterday, like some more sanding.  I'm all ready for paint now.  He'll just have to hide under my bed while the booth is on.  He trusts me enough to come out when I call him now. 

 

 

 

Got a feeling Jax is going to become a permanent member of your household

Good luck with today’s priming! Hope it’s the last round

Thanks!  I'm hoping to get back to work on this today.  I have moved my Mom's cat Jax into the bedroom to try and make him more comfortable, so I didn't want to turn on the paint booth and scare the crap out of him with it.  I did some quiet things yesterday, like some more sanding.  I'm all ready for paint now.  He'll just have to hide under my bed while the booth is on.  He trusts me enough to come out when I call him now. 

Great work so far on a beautiful aircraft.

Good luck with the rest of the build.

Have fun!

Cheers

The Harrier is an impressive piece of kit. There is a British varient in private hands and doing the air show circuit. The pilot is a retired Marine Harrier pilot and does an impressive show. It is rewarding to have seen the efforts to acheive STOL and VTOL come to fruition after having seen the efforts such as the Ryan X-13 and the Hiller efforts at rotating the engine pods. And then finally the  sucess of the V-22 and the Harrier. Thank you also to Frank Whittle. Keep up the good work Kayda.

Shipwreck, Thanks.  Yes they do, Dad less than a year and a half ago at age 62.  Mom was 61.  I at least have my Aunt(Mom's sister)and a bunch of other family to help me through it.

Tosh, Yes it is, extremely hard.  I'll make it through one day at a time.  Thank you.

Please except my condolences.  Having to loose a loved one especially your mother is a hard thing to deal with.  I know!  

I built a 1/32 Sea Harrier and it came out just perfect!  It was a Trumpeter kit.  There were two threads going on at the same time.  Mines and I forgot whom the other member was, but I do know that he helped me with the build.  It ended up in the Digital Forum Show Case.  

It looks like your Harrier is coming along just fine.  Your skills have superseded since you’ve become an FSM Forum Member.  Good luck to you and I’ll be following along.

Your friend, Toshi

Don Stauffer

Looking great!

I have a found place in my heart for that airplane. I attended a demonstration of the AV-8b on McDD ramp.  I am used to seeing helicopters hover.  But it was just weird to see a fixed wing aircraft, with no visible means of support, hover about forty feet in the air. It was like I was seeing trick photography.  It really impressed me.  The acceleration out of the hover was really impressive too.

 

 

Thanks!  I know what you mean, I was totally amazed the first time I seen one in action.  It was back in 2015 at the local air show.  I got a few pics of it.  This was before I got my good camera, lol.

Hopefully I can get back to working on the Harrier this afternoon.  At the moment I'm keeping an eye on a new pet member of the family.  My Mom passed away a few weeks ago, and I've been trying to find a new home for her cat.  But after over two weeks of going to the house twice a day to feed him I felt bad for him being alone most of the time, and decided on a trial run with the rest of my zoo.  So that brings my total to 5 pets.  2 dogs, and 3 cats.  Hopefully everything works out. 

Looking great!

I have a found place in my heart for that airplane. I attended a demonstration of the AV-8b on McDD ramp.  I am used to seeing helicopters hover.  But it was just weird to see a fixed wing aircraft, with no visible means of support, hover about forty feet in the air. It was like I was seeing trick photography.  It really impressed me.  The acceleration out of the hover was really impressive too.

DRUMS01

Keyda81,

Its looking good and I'm sure you cannot wait to get it primed. I also like the Harrier and built a 1/24 Airfix Harrier last year. I am watching with interest as I have this kit in my stash too. Good luck, but it looks like you don't need it.

Have fun...

Ben

 

Sometimes I dread primer, it just brings out all the stuff I need to either add putty to, or sand, lol.  But the Harrier hasn't been to bad.  I've certainly come across worse.  Thanks!

All masked off, and ready for primer.

This is round 3 of primer.  Still a few more spots to work on, but I'm getting closer to paint.

Landing gear weathered, and some primer on the other fiddly bits.

Might be able to get paint on it tomorrow.  I don't have much else going on, plenty of time to work on it.