Harrier Building Frenzy

Of the Cold War 'fast jets' - the Harrier is unique in the public imagination for being the 'Jump Jet'. Other faster, more modern VTOL/STOL aircraft have been around since - but none come close to putting vertical take-offs on the map like the Harrier family.

Upon searching through the 'stash' I counted in excess of a dozen Harriers, Sea Harriers and AV-8s in various scales - of which a couple were duplicates (3 Sea Harriers for example). I thus decided to try to trim down the number of jump-jets in the collection - although given my previous track record I'll end up refilling the stash with more of them the next time I walk past a model shop.

Recently completed is the FRS.1 Sea Harrier in 1/48 scale - based on Airfix's older tooling from the 1980s. Once painted and decorated with decals - it looked every bit the part when finished - if lacking in minor surface details. I still think the overall shape and profile of this tooling is better than the Tamiya FRS.1 - so in this respect the kit has aged well when updated with modern decals and paints.

I then decided halfway through the 1/48 build to have a crack at the 1/72 version of another FRS.1 - also by Airfix. The newer tooling really comes alive when placed next to the older, larger kit - with recessed panel lines combined with fine detail on the fuselage and stores.

Much confusion ensued when this model-maker picked up the wrong set of instructions (1/72 tooling is modern, has more parts and is more detailed than the 1/48) and wondered why the part numbers didn't match up. 

The two morals of the story - 1) don't buy too many Harrier kits and 2) don't try to be clever and tackle two builds of the same type of aircraft from the same kit company at the same time!

Next Week - The 1/48 Hawker Fury.... and another Harrier