Airfix 1/72 Sea Harrier FA.2 - FINISHED

[Mr Flibble]

Hi Guys,

For a while I've been thinking to myself; "Can I claim the Sea Harrier is my favourite aircraft when I haven't built a model of one?".

I'm going to put that right, I hope!

This stalled initially when I found that the main wing section was a bit warped and didn't respond to me trying to reshape it.

So I sent a message to Airfix through their website and 2 or 3 days later I had a replacement, free of charge. Fair play to Airfix!

Here is a collection of shots of my initial progress.



Teeny tiny cockpit!






Cheers,
Phil.

[ArabJazzie]

Ive built 2 of these and cant fault them too much! Look the part on the shelf at least!
Arabest,
Geoff

[A40-BP]

Nice little kit indeed, just remember the canopy is wrong, so a replacement is recommended, and not to use the Sea Eagle's! Also, i think its got a WW2 pilot if i recall, the FRS.1 defo has!

7

[RoverDriver]

m

[Mr Flibble]

Nice little kit indeed, just remember the canopy is wrong, so a replacement is recommended, and not to use the Sea Eagle's! Also, i think its got a WW2 pilot if i recall, the FRS.1 defo has!

7

Do you know of any aftermarket canopies, Wayne?

Or is it a case of buy two different kits and use the best bits of each?

[A40-BP]

[/quote]

Do you know of any aftermarket canopies, Wayne?

Or is it a case of buy two different kits and use the best bits of each?[/quote]

Oddly for reasons unknown, no-one's ever done a correction on the canopy for it, cockpit, wing surfaces, intakes and nozzles you can get replacements for, despite being all correct! They do however do a replacement nose cone for it, which is more accurate, but i cant tell the difference!

I use the canopy from the esci FRS.1/GR.3, which ive parted out for convert to T-birds, thus not needing the canopy.

And its Warren mate, come on youve met me enough times!

7

[Mr Flibble]

Lol apologies.
I knew it was a W.

I'll remember next time Wayne.

[Mr Flibble]

I'm on an Easter weekend mission with this one - shaded in the canopy, priming and preshading done followed by Medium Sea Grey (Humbrol 165, lightened with a few drops of white) and a bit of light/dark shading.





Cheers,
Phil.

[Mr Flibble]

On with the decals!

[SHARFA2]

I'm making this at the moment but it will be no where as good as that...I think I'll leave it to the experts. Looking forward to seeing this completed.

[Kenny]

Wow you're really making quick progress with this Phil. I'm very impressed so far

[Dragon Rapide]

Very impressive! Just a quick question, out of interest from your first post. Why did you go back to Airfix and not Mr Models, or the shop from whom you bought it? I didn't realise you could go direct to the manufacturer.

[Mr Flibble]

Thanks guys.

DR,
I went to Airfix after a quick Google search to see if anyone else had similar problems.

Original kit manufacturers tend to have a parts replacement service e.g. Airfix or Revell. I think the importer for Hasegawa kits does a similar thing.

I found that you can send details of exactly what part (kit, sprue number etc.) you need through the contact form on the Airfix website so, I gave that a go and it worked - very quickly too!

I don't know for sure, but I expect Mr. Models wouldn't have been able to replace the part without breaking open a whole kit - and I don't know if this sort of thing is refund/exchange territory. I'd started the kit before realising anyway.

[scotthldr]

Coming along nicely Phil.

[Dragon Rapide]

Many thanks, Mr F - helpful advice for the future.

[jag636]

Looks nice but, on FA 2 airframes the ariel under the nose isn't yellow thats on FRS 1 only, I thought you ought to know as you want the model to look like you could fly it, so far it isthe best I've seen .

[Mr Flibble]

Hi Jag,
Thanks for the pointer - I fear I've gone too far as the decal has set and has now been sealed over with flat coat.
Foolishly didn't follow the notes on Britmodeller for that particluar one, nor did I check my photo references properly
Ah well - there's always next time. I don't think this is the only time I'm going to build this kit

[jag636]

Always a happy to see others work and pass on knowledge picked up over the thousand years of aviation , I have worked on FA 2 ZA176 at newark and helped move others of the type, I love the airframe and lament the passing of the Harriers as a whole .

[Mr Flibble]

A little more progress to reprt:
Weathering and flat coat and some dry fitted fuel tanks (which have yet to be flat coated themselves).



Cheers,
Phil.

[Deacon]

That does look the business mate.

Alan

[jag636]

WOW! can I test fly it we may need it if the Argies kick off again, and me thinks I may just start building again after seeing this great work or just polish ZA176

keep it up you are doing it justice

[Ben H]

Looks fantastic Phil!

[Mr Flibble]

Done!
Can't think of very much to say other than I'm releived to have now completed this one.
The kit builds up nicely but obviously has shape issues that whilst are not disastrous, are quite apparent. Also the panel lines are too heavy, but I decided that even that wouldn't put me off.
Glad to now have a SHar on the SHelf!

















Thanks for your comments during the build guys. As always, much appreciated.

Phil.

[A40-BP]

Looks a cracker Phil, well done! And thankyou for sharing the build.

7

[Kenny]

Superb job Phil! I'm not a very high standard modeller, so this looks perfect to me and I think you've made a very fine model to be proud of