viperarng25 Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 WOW...I really hate this kit. Major fit issues all over the place. Anyone else had problems with this kit? Open to suggestions or comments. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cobrahistorian Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 Mine wasn't too bad. I've got it up for painting now. It took a little filler on the underside of the nose, but other than that, it was fine. Jon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
viperarng25 Posted October 15, 2007 Author Share Posted October 15, 2007 The LEX is the problem spot Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AnthonyWan Posted October 15, 2007 Share Posted October 15, 2007 Test fit, test fit, and test fit. I found on my GR.7 that if I sanded the locating surfaces down a bit, and then did more fitting, the overall seam and fit problems tend to be eliminated. AW Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonbryon Posted October 15, 2007 Share Posted October 15, 2007 (edited) WOW...I really hate this kit. Major fit issues all over the place. Anyone else had problems with this kit? Open to suggestions or comments. I LOVE this kit. The fit is actually very good - much better than many other Hasegawa modern jets, such as the F-teen range. The problem is with the instructions, which are rubbish. If you follow them you will have no end of problems. I wrote a fairly extensive message on the matter: http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index....&hl=harrier And this is my recommended construction sequence (you can find it on my website at http://www.thebryons.com/av8bplus.html): "My suggestion for general construction of these kits is as follows: *Attach the rear fuselage halves (A1 & B1) together and insert the lower fuselage (B4); I found the fit to be excellent here. I did not bother with the polycaps to make the exhausts rotate, but I did install parts X1-X5 to give the rear fuselage some rigidity. At the same time, I joined the front nose halves to the rear nose halves, and then sandwiched the cockpit between them, resulting in a complete nose unit. Again, the fit was perfect. The engine fan (A5) was attached to the rear of the nose, not the front of the rear fuselage. *Next, I attached the lower wings (E2 & E3) to the rear fuselage. Some small gaps were easily filled. Then I attached the wingtips to the upper wing (D3) to get perfect alignment on the upper surface. I also attached the upper LERX part to the upper wing for the same reason. *Part B3 (the rear cockpit decking) was inserted (but not glued) in place at the front of the rear fuselage (note that the nose unit is still separate). This ensures the fuselage is the correct width. Then I glued in place the lower LERX insert. I found the fit to the fuselage to be very good, but less good with the lower wing. The gaps here are easily filled, but there is some scribing that doesn't match between the lower wing and LERX, and this is harder to deal with (I didn't do very well - the panel line on my finished build has a kink in it). Once all that was set, I installed the upper wing assembly. *Now the nose unit needs attaching to the rear fuselage. I Installed B3 in place on the nose unit and then attached the whole assembly to the rear fuselage. Perfect. On my future Harrier builds I may try permanently attaching B3 to the rear fuselage and then adding the nose. The last step is critical. If you follow the instructions, what is most likely to happen is this: the nose unit will be attached at an angle ill-constrained by the pieces; that is, it is easy to stick the nose on the fuselage at a nose-high or nose-down angle. This will result in the space for B3 being too small or too big, and then lots of people will throw their hands in the air and say this is a poor fitting kit. It is nothing of the sort; it is critical that the nose is added at the correct angle, and this is easily ensured by attaching B3 to the nose or fuselage before bringing them together. Using my method for constructing the wings will also result in very few fit issues. I would say the general fit of this kit is considerably better than Hasegawa's F-14s and F/A-18s, about the same as the F-8s, and not quite as good as the A-4s or F-104s." HTH Cheers Jon Edited October 15, 2007 by jonbryon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
afterburner Posted October 15, 2007 Share Posted October 15, 2007 wow, Jon- nice work and nice tips. Great work! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
lgl007 Posted October 15, 2007 Share Posted October 15, 2007 You would think that Hasagawa would get things right... I mean look at Tamiya... their kits get more and more perfect with each new edition... But in many cases they got us by the 'short and curlies' since there is often times not much else out there for us to choose from that comes close... :-( -Greg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
vanilla gorilla Posted October 15, 2007 Share Posted October 15, 2007 I'm far from a pro and have my "issues" with every build, but this one bordered on rediculous. There are ways to fix the fit issues, as stated above, but if you have to create your own build process because the instructions are that off then that constitutes a "problem" with the kit. Call it 'fit' or whatever else you like_VG Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChernayaAkula Posted October 15, 2007 Share Posted October 15, 2007 I LOVE this kit. <...> I wrote a fairly extensive message on the matter:http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index....&hl=harrier <...> Fantastic build, Jon! Looks marvellous! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonbryon Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 ...but if you have to create your own build process ... Don't we do that anyway? Who follows the instructions? Cheers Jon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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