1/48 Hasegawa AV-8B Harrier II

by Graham Symmonds

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Enclosed are some photos of my Hasegawa Desert Harrier – I altered the kit to make in more into a Night Attack Harrier II.  I only worked on the major visible bits – the nose sensor and the extra chaff launchers.  I flopped around trying to decide which version to build – I wanted to do a grey harrier, with the litening pod and an LGB, so that lead me to making the mods.

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In addition, I wanted to try my hand at a bit of a diorama, so I acquired the Just Plane Stuff 1/48 US Navy Carrier deck and painted it with the markings of an LHD.  In addition, I got the Testors US Navy Flight Deck Crew for a couple of figures.  I was trying to achieve the look of a particular picture.  It took a bit of searching on the web to find a deck pattern I could translate to the deck surface.  A bit of airbrushing with various, changing greys and then some black to show exhaust stains worked out quite well.

The Harrier was a bit of a challenge – lots of finicky little bits – in a way it makes you appreciate the technological marvel that it is!  The three colour grey scheme went on well – except when I let the paint get too thick with the resulting blobs everywhere, requiring repainting of just about everything.  I added the requisite dirty bottom third for a Harrier and then washed with Tamiya smoke and some burnt umber water colours to give it a bit of a worn look.

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I chose the SuperScale decals from VMA 223 Bulldogs – a little colour goes a long way on a grey plane!

Graham

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Photos and text © by Graham Symmonds