BAE Harrier GR7A/GR9
Dave Eyles finds no filler is needed and appreciates some nice touches as he builds a great looking aircraft
This month we take to the skies of Afghanistan in 2006 with the Airfix boxing of the BAE Harrier in 1:72 scale. The Harrier GR9 was a heavily updated development of the existing GR7, incorporating the ability to use a range of advanced precision weaponry, new communication systems and airframe upgrades.
The box is the usual tray type from Airfix crammed full of light grey plastic sprues along with one clear sprue, decals for two machines and the building instructions. Typically, the cockpit is first to be made and this falls together with just enough detail for the scale and represents the tight confines of the real aircraft very well. Next is the installation of the engine which, thanks to some great engineering by Airfix, just slots into place in one half of the fuselage before the other half is cemented to it and it starts to look like an aircraft.
The characteristic wings were then constructed and fitted so well to the fuselage that they clicked into place and needed no filler. In fact, no filler was used at all in this build. After the rear tailplanes were added, it was on to the underwing stores which do add an aggressive weighty look to the aircraft. The undercarriage was next which has the wheels and oleos keyed so the flat spot on the tyres always sits on the ground – a very nice touch.
The cockpit glazing needed some extra attention as there was a seam running its full length that needed sanding away with progressively finer sanding sticks until the seam was polished out fully.
After a coat of grey primer, I airbrushed the lower parts with Model Air Vallejo BS Medium Sea Grey 71307. Then, after masking, Model Air Vallejo BS Dark Sea Grey 71053 was airbrushed over the upper parts of the wings and fuselage.
The decals for “Michelle”, Harrier Detachment, Operation Herrick, Kandahar, Afghanistan, 2006 were used and they attached beautifully with Micro Set and Micro Sol decal setting solutions. This is a lovely little kit of a great looking aircraft that looks like it means business with all that ordnance slung under its wings. That ends my last Out of the Box article for Best of British. It’s time to hang up the airbrush and put away the scalpel, at least as far as building for BOB is concerned. I will still dabble in my spare time. So, after nine years, 108 models, hundreds of photos and thousands of words, it’s time to say thank you to Airfix for supplying the models, to editor Simon Stabler for giving me this opportunity to show off and, of course, to all you readers who, I hope, enjoyed this page.