Global Scale Modeller

Morning all!
Bit of a late entry for me but I love the Harrier so thought I'd jump in with a classic that I have many of in the stash!
I've built this kit a few times and I actually really like it despite some of its flaws.

A little information from wikipedia:
The McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) AV-8B Harrier II is a single-engine ground-attack aircraft that constitutes the second generation of the Harrier Jump Jet family.
Capable of vertical or short takeoff and landing (V/STOL), the aircraft was designed in the late 1970s as an Anglo-American development of the British Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first operational V/STOL aircraft.
The aircraft is primarily employed on light attack or multi-role missions, ranging from close air support of ground troops to armed reconnaissance.
The AV-8B is used by the United States Marine Corps (USMC), the Spanish Navy, and the Italian Navy.
A variant of the AV-8B, the British Aerospace Harrier II, was developed for the British military, while another, the TAV-8B, is a dedicated two-seat trainer.

So this is the boxart:

Heres an overview of the sprews:

In the kit they provide you with 5 decal options and a bag full of Operation Telic weapons:


So I decided on the following loadout:

I've primed the cockpit sections and assembled the wings:

That's all for now folks.
Thanks for looking!

Just a quick update on the GR.7.
Here's the current set up on my bench at the moment:

The internals have also been inserted:

Quick update, Wings are on and sanded.

Gun pods are on.

And she's primed but I had to sort some seamlines around the nose cone and the Outriggers are painted and ready:

Thanks for dropping in - Good to have you along and plenty of time left

Looking forward to seeing this come together - always happy to see a Harrier

Thank you mate!
For me the Harrier is the best, full stop.

Ok so the paint work is underway, this will be the first time I've attempted a 2 tone gray scheme, took a hell of alot of masking but it ended well I think:

I really enjoy building Harriers so I think for the moment this is the way forward.

Just finished getting the paint work finished!
Also put the nozzles on, masked and PVA'd the canopy:

Once I'd done that I airbrushed the under wing pylons, refueling probe(taken from Airfix's new GR.9 kit) and gear doors, note that while I was doing these I sprayed ZD464's 2 Pylons that I'm building for another forum's RAF100 GB.

Well I got the Pylons, landing gear, gear doors, refueling probe, extended air brake and out riggers on and painted the 2 bumps under the nose last night but I was having alot of trouble getting all the landing gear to touch the floor so I slept on it and this morning I came up with a solution and now they all touch so all is well at 4am?!?!
But in the mean time Just as a taster:

The refueling probe(taken from the Airfix New Tool GR.7/9 that would otherwise not be used) went on before the rest, the clamps we're used to bend it into shape:

2 days worth of updates in this post split into 2 parts.

Part 1
As promised a pic of her progress from Wednesday.
Here she is:




Part 2
And again from last night.
It's time to awaken the beast:

Really liking the sharks mouth on the Harrier!

That's cracking along nicely

Love the shark-mouth!

That's really coming on, some great work there!

Thank you both for your kind comments .

I did quite abit of decalling on ZD408 last night, the decals on the Aircraft are done, I've airbrushed on a layer of Flat Varnish which caused one of the left win flap decals to split in 2 places but I micro set'd the he'll out of it and painted over the gap and it's coversed it up quite nicely! I can assume they were the result of trapped air bubbles.
I just need to finish painting and decalling the weapons.


I'm not going to tell you that I forgot to remask the canopy and had to clean it with tissue and window cleaner!
I'm gonna put a layer of klear onto the canopy to get a better finish as that's worked very well before when I've made this mistake.
Also this is my first experience with Hannants varnish range and after following the directions on the rear of the bottle they went on beautifully!

Maverick231 wrote: Sat Sep 15, 2018 8:08 am Thank you both for your kind comments .

I did quite abit of decalling on ZD408 last night, the decals on the Aircraft are done, I've airbrushed on a layer of Flat Varnish which caused one of the left win flap decals to split in 2 places but I micro set'd the he'll out of it and painted over the gap and it's coversed it up quite nicely! I can assume they were the result of trapped air bubbles.
I just need to finish painting and decalling the weapons.


I'm not going to tell you that I forgot to remask the canopy and had to clean it with tissue and window cleaner!
I'm gonna put a layer of klear onto the canopy to get a better finish as that's worked very well before when I've made this mistake.
Also this is my first experience with Hannants varnish range and after following the directions on the rear of the bottle they went on beautifully!

Thats OK I won't read it either
great build and a better save

Haha good man it spoils the illusion!
Well last night I finished the paint on the Paveway 2's and 3's, I only need to add the weapon decals now, then it's onto the Sidewinders, Jamming pod and mavericks.

Last night I finished the Paveway 2's and Paveway 3's and TIALD pod and put them onto their hard points.
I also painted a lot of fine detail onto the aircraft.



Tonight I plan on finishing her.

Lovely job that you have done, may I ask what paints you have used for the two tone grey.

Great progress since I last had chance to check in - that weapon load out looks really tidily done out

Don't worry about the glitch with the canopy masking - we won't tell anyone

Thank you both!
Paints used were Valley Model Air Gunship Grey and Aggressor Grey.
I really do love how this one is turning out.
Once the other weapons are on it'll help the look to break up the green .

Sorry for not posting much content everyone but quite a lot has been going on lately mainly with my car going back in due to a mess up when our local garage fitted a new clutch, long story short the clutch slipped and fell into the gears and one half of our engine fell out due to them not putting the bolts in the correct places.
And now I'm in trouble at work for not being able to attend for the last 2 days so it's been very fun to say the least!

Anyway I got 5 minutes last night to put a lock of prime onto the sidewinder and mavericks:

I know there's a few fibres on them but I really wasn't willing to risk messing things up so I left them to dry and I'll pick at them tonight.

And with one final session she's done!
Reveal pics will follow in the other section!