Monogram 1/48 AV-8A Hawker Harrier - WIP

When it comes to kits.

    I always felt the same. Except for ships, I thought Monogram was the cat's meow ! Their planes( even the ones with working features) always went together smoothly and if you didn't mind a few raised panel lines they looked great finished too! Their Cars I always recommended. Simple, straightforward and you didn have to paint them except if they were molded in silver.

    They did the metallic color alright in the "Century Series" Planes but blew it on cars. And the " Century Series" is still my favorite to Foil-Chrome. Price point always seemed fair and Box Covers always enticing.

I’m still working in the cockpit here....

Finished up the ejection seat

and I started adding the Airscale instrument decals to the panel

The IP decals are going to be something of a slow process...

Looking good.  Some of those air scale decals are tiny

Looking good 

keavdog

Looking good.  Some of those air scale decals are tiny

 

They sure are tiny! I think I need to post a photo with a penny or other coin to give an idea of how small this stuff is... it looks a bit rough blown up in photos, but pretty good in real life.

Yeah the decals make all the difference. A lot of detail though for the time. 

Mopar Madness

Yeah the decals make all the difference. A lot of detail though for the time. 

 

Agreed! The base parts are pretty darn good. I'm just helping them out a little bit.

Well yesterday I finally finished up paint and decal work in the cockpit. 

and for a little scale reference, the obligatory giant penny

now I just have the wheel wells and intake area to deal with before I can get the fuselage closed up.

Chemteacher

Some fine work. Enjoying your build.

 

Thank you sir. Taking a slow steady approach here.

Oh Boy!

    That Seat is just plain Killer! Love the work so far!

Thanks TB.

The last few days I have been working on painting interior parts, mainly the wheel wells, and getting parts ready to be glued inside the fuselage.

and then next thing ya know, it is starting to look like an aircraft... somewhat...

and some close ups of the cockpit and nose wheel well

next comes seam clean up...

I am definitely interested in the fit and finish. I wouldn't mind getting my hands on the vintage AV-8B. Those wheel wells look good as does the finished front office.

Thanks Chad. This is an original issue of the kit, so the fit is good.

So over the past few days I have been working on seam clean up. I used Tamiya Gray putty and wet sanding, a great combination. 

I still need to scribe lost panel lines to replace detail lost while sanding.

And I built the wing...

of course I had to test fit the wing... 

Nice snug fit! I’ll have to just watch alignment when I do glue it in place... that all on this one for this week...

Coming along nicely Stik.  Your on that part of the build that takes me the most time.  Once the fuselage and wing cleanup is done the rest kinda falls into place.  I don't always enjoy landing gear but I have the most fun after the kits airframe is together and tidy.  
Looking forward to seeing more.

Have a safe and happy holiday weekend.

Paul

Harriers are interesting a/c to work around.  They are even more compact than A-4.  They really feel (the Alphas especiallty) like something that ought box up in a clamshell and be carted about on the back of a 5 ton.

From memory, the Alphas in USMC service followed Brit practice of neutraling all the control surfaces and fitting lock pins in when parked.

The Bravos were left "drooped" when parked, whish was related to how the surfaces needed configuring for t/o.

UK & MC Alphas will have two 30mm muzzles for the Aden undermounts.  The loding doors were often see drooping open--there was something that you wanted to do pre-flight if going about with ordnance, I forget just what.

The sound on these birds was something.  Other than the 45º at front center, they are hugely quiet, even hovering overhead.  Turn that intake towards you, and it sounds like what it is, an F0 tornado

This wil lbe a cool build, I'll predict it now.

CapnMac82

The sound on these birds was something.  Other than the 45º at front center, they are hugely quiet, even hovering overhead.  Turn that intake towards you, and it sounds like what it is, an F0 tornado

Echo that - the first time I saw (and heard) one was when I was very young, at a local event, late 60s - early 70s.  A Harrier put on a demo, including a hover & pirouette  very close to the crowd- I was totally entranced, and also totally deafened!  I was fortunate enough to see these superb aircraft quite a few times more, until their premature, forced retirement from British service to save money.

Stik, that's looking really good - I have a couple af Harriers in the stash, and you're making my fingers itch!

A rare old kit from the mid 70s.  One of my favorite aircraft and my wife's second favortite after the C-130 she used to work on.

Very nice stick. Keep going. I built one of those when they were first released and liked it so much I went and bought 2 more. I remember the early 50s when VTOL was tried with the Pogo, the X-13, and Hillers rotating wing, and another one I cannot recall at the moment. The Harrier finally did it successfully and now the F-35 and the Osprey did the rotating nacells. I still have the Aurora X-13 and Lindbergs Pogo and the other experimental VTOL kit as well as the Aurora Hiller kit. The Harrier is impressive and another remarkable accomplishment in aviation by the Brits, eg the Rolls Merline engine, Frank Whittles first successful jet engine, etc.   

Thanks for the kind words guys! 

Capn, I do recall being around them during V/STOL ops, and from most any angle they seemed ungodly loud once transitioned to nozzles down.

Hutch, I do hope to see one of your Harriers on here sometime soon

Ikar, now what is there not to love about this mean little bird?

Ranger, I do agree! So many attempts at VTOL/VSTOL, and yet the Harrier was the first practical and longest serving fix wing types. And it took another 40+ years to come up with a more capable replacement as well as a utilitarian companion.

See!

   Even now it's beginning to look like a "Mad Mosquito". My knick Name for a fully Bombed up and Missiled up Harrier, Especially the early ones!

Tanker-Builder

See!

   Even now it's beginning to look like a "Mad Mosquito". My knick Name for a fully Bombed up and Missiled up Harrier, Especially the early ones!

 

with those broad intakes, short nose/beak, and small wings I think it's more of an angry sparrow ;)

Hey Stick!

Just found this while looking for info on the Monogram early Harrier....I should have known that you would be building it!!  Will be following closely.  Love the work so far; top notch as always!!

Dave W.

Thanks Dave. I'm hoping that I can get back on this one before the end of the year. Life always seems to get busier during the holidays.

Hey stik...

I've been kicking around ideas for my next few projects, and my Monogram AV-8A is within arm's reach. I think I hear it calling my name...

Anyway, I have a question for you. I know that the early USMC Harriers were delivered in British colors. Any idea what the cockpit colors, or "close enough" FS numbers, might have been? Just trying to get things straight in my head before I decide on my next project.

Thanks in advance and...get this thing done! Looking forward to seeing it finished.

Cheers!

-O

Supposedly the RAF GR.1/GR.3 and AV-A Harriers were built with Admiralty Grey as the cockpit color. Humbrol makes it as a gloss shade.

Thanks for the encouragement on getting this one wrapped up Omar. I have a couple other projects on the front burner before I resume this one. So maybe May or so.