Need advice on selecting an AV-8B Harrier II+

[Marvinblue]

Hi all! I'm mulling over whether or not to include one in my 1/48th collection. Which would be the best to buy? Also, does anyone out there have some Two Bob's decals for this subject they don't want or are left over from a project? I've looked around their website and all their Harrier sheets seem to be sold out. Love the fact they included three sets of decals in the one sheet!

TIA

[LanceB]

There is only one kit that will build a B+ and that is the Hasegawa kit. That said, the Monogram is still a very good option for fixing the wing issue with the Hasegawa kit. If you have the funds, I would recommend getting both and using the Monogram wing on the Hasegawa kit, or if you really like cutting using Hasegawa's B+ specific parts on a Monogram base.

[DiaboliCole]

IMO, the hasegawa harrier is a very good kit. The pit needs virtually no modification, and aside from the foreward wing to intake/fuselage joins, it goes together with need for filler typical of most kits. Superscale offers a variety of decal options as well. Twobob's has some great sheets, but I'm partial to MCAS Yuma birds. In regards to a wing swap with the Monogram kit, I believe it includes the smaller lerx common to the older desert models. The radar equipped II+ necessitates the wider lerx included in the hasegawa boxing.

[pingu1]

One thing that does need modifying in all Hasegawa RAF Harrier IIs, in both 1/72 and 1/48, is the ejector seat.

http://kits.kitreview.com/harriergr7reviewdw_1.htm

The 1/48 seat is a modification of the Stencel seat provided in the AV-8B kits, and isn't accurate for either the AV-8B or the RAF's Harrier IIs. The 1/72 seat is just the same as that provided in the AV-8B. Luckily, there are a number of resin/ white metal Martin-Baker Mk.12s available in both scales.

Cheers,

Chris.

[Marvinblue]

Looking at pics at kitreview.com, the cockpit and chaff/flare dispensers look as though they have raised detail on them. Why would they also have decals printed for them as well?

[pingu1]

Looking at pics at kitreview.com, the cockpit and chaff/flare dispensers look as though they have raised detail on them. Why would they also have decals printed for them as well?

To give the modeller a choice. Some people don't like/ don't have the skill to do a good job of painting instrument panels. For them, there's the option of sanding off the detail and using the instrument panel decals. If you close the canopy, you can't usually tell the difference. Revell AG do this on many of their kits, and in some cases, such as Hasegawa in 1/72, it saves having to go to the trouble and expense of moulding detail on the instrument panels in the first place. :)

Cheers,

Chris.

Edited November 26, 2006 by pingu1

[Marvinblue]

Thanks for the explanation! Finally, is there any difference between Hasegawa kits H09605 1/48 AV-8B HARRIER II PLUS VMA-223 BULLDOGS and H07234 1/48 AV-8B NIGHT ATTACK HARRIER? Is it simply one has the radar, the other hasn't?

[pingu1]

Hi, Marvin,

the first kit has the 65% LERX, and the second kit has the 100% LERX and radar parts. They are different; VMA-223 has 152 parts, while the Night Attack Harrier has 164.

Cheers,

Chris.

[LanceB]

Thanks for the explanation! Finally, is there any difference between Hasegawa kits H09605 1/48 AV-8B HARRIER II PLUS VMA-223 BULLDOGS and H07234 1/48 AV-8B NIGHT ATTACK HARRIER? Is it simply one has the radar, the other hasn't?

Both have the 100% LERX. The Harrier II Plus has the radar, with a pointy nose. The Night Attack Harrier does not have radar, it has the original nose shape with a large pod on top for the night vision system. As was correctly pointed out, the Monogram kit has the smaller LERX, so you would need to cut the LERX and engine accessory compartment clamshell doors off the Mono parts and fit the Hasegawa ones. It is actually not difficult to do, I have a spare Monogram wing I am keeping for when I get around to building a Hasegawa Harrier, and I played around with cutting it to take the Hasegawa LERX parts. Took very little time - measure twice, cut once and cut a little small, then file to fit. Whether this is "needed" is up to the user. Personally, as a former Harrier mech, I really don't like the Hasegawa wing and can't see how it could be fixed to look right from head-on without more work than is needed to fit and scribe a Monogram wing. But that could be just me, I'm weird like that with bashing kits...

[jonbryon]

I'm building two Hasegawa 1/48 Harriers at the moment (an AV-8B+ and an AV-8B). I'd read a lot about these kits before hand and approached them with some trepidation - people seemed the think the fit was generally awful! Well, it isn't. The trick is to ignore the instructions and dry-fit the entire airframe to figure out your plan of attack. I decided to do it this way:

1. Join the rear fuselage halves together with lower fuselage insert. Fit is very good.

2. Join the right and left nosecone halves to respective front fuselage halves and then join to make a complete nose section. Fit is very good.

3. Join lower wings to rear fuselage. Fit is good.

4. Fit lower LERX pieces (for both 65% and 100%) to the rear fuselage *making sure* part B3 (just behind the cockpit) is temporarily fitted in place. If not, the fit of the LERX will be awful as the rear fuselage needs spreading a little to fit the LERX and part B3. The fit of the LERX is very good, it's just that the seam is awkward to get to.

5. Attach the engine fan to the rear of the nose section (*not* the front of the rear fuselage - that really screws things up) and part B3 as well.

6. Then attach the upper wing followed by the upper LERX followed by the complete nose section. This eliminates any fit problems with the LERX, part B3 and the nose section.

I also attached the wing tips to the upper wing before attaching the upper wing to the lower to ensure they fitted flush.

Of the Hasegawa 1/48 modern jets I have built multiple copies of, this ranks better in terms of fit that their F-14 and F/A-18s and not as good as their A-4s and F-104s. I'd say it was similar to the F-8 in terms of overall fit.

I'm enjoying building them and am not put off building their GR5 and GR7.

HTH

Jon

[Almansur]

Check Drewe Manton's build of the Hasegawa (either here or at Hyperscale, can't remember where...). With some modeling skills and a minimum of cutting and adjusting, he did a very nice job. Far better, and far easier, than mating the Monos wing to the Hasegawa!

[Marvinblue]

Hi guys! Thanks for all your advice so far! I have another quesiton for you all; does the Hasegawa Italian Navy Harrier http://www.hasegawa-model.co.jp/e-w/NEWDET...0604/09684.html easily build into a USMC bird?

Thanks!

[LanceB]

Hi guys! Thanks for all your advice so far! I have another quesiton for you all; does the Hasegawa Italian Navy Harrier http://www.hasegawa-model.co.jp/e-w/NEWDET...0604/09684.html easily build into a USMC bird?

Thanks!

Yes, it is the same plastic as the AV-8B+ radar Harrier kit. Just different decals.