Desert Storm Harrier Simon Geliot builds Monogram's

1:48th scale AV-8B THE Gulf War of 1991 provided a dramatic demonstration of the effectiveness of airpower. Coalition aircraft were in action providing, between them, the total package from fighter combat air patrols to strategic bombing by B-52's plus everything in between. During the weeks of the air offensive, television news bulletins were filled daily with film of sleek US fast jets taking to the air against the Iraqi Air Force and, in the UK at least, pink painted Jaguars and Tornados returning from dangerous ground attack sorties. 498

There were a tremendous variety of other aircraft and helicopter types involved throughout this period including the AV-8B Harriers of the US Marines who were in action from day one. The Harrier was used mainly for batt lefield interdiction, destroying many tanks pr ior to the ground invasion, and despite operating in such a dangerous environment, only four aircraft were lost.

I would be the first to admit that the Harrier is not the most glamorous looking of aircraft,

but it has a sense of purpose that I have always found quite attractive. The new light grey camouflage scheme and the advent of Superscale decal sheets featuring machines from the Gulf conflict proved too much of a temptation, so I resolved to build my first A V -8B.

T H E K I T

Monogram's 1:48th scale kit is of recent enough origin to be of excellent qual i ty. The components are moulded in a dark blue-grey colour which is fine for the dark scheme that AV-8B's first appeared in, but may prove a problem i f brush

A l t h o u g h n o t i n a D e s e r t S t o r m e n v i r o n m e n t t h i s A V - 8 B H a r r i e r b e l o n g s t o U S M a r i n e C o r p s V M A - 2 3 1 a n d b a c k s u p t h e a u t h o r ' s u s e o f f i n e d e t a i l o n h i s c o m p l e t e d m o d e l . ( M c ­D o n n e l l D o u g l a s p h o t o ) .

painting light greys. Cockpit detail is good although the seat, which is partly moulded with the floor, does not correctly resemble the Stencil lOB fitted to the Harrier. Instrument and console panels carry raised detail which is very convincing if carefully painted.

External stores are included in the kit but are limited. A choice of strakes or gun pack are provided for under the fuselage, the inner wing pylons have long range ferry tanks moulded in place, while Sidewinder missiles and Snakeye bombs are provided for the remaining hard points.

straight edge as it will conform to some of the fuselage contours making the task much easier.

As already mentioned the seat is incorrect and I wanted to replace it, however after much searching I was unable to find a suitable white metal or resin alternative, since I did not want to invest the time and trouble scratch building one I had to settle for the kit parts after all. The sides of the seat are attached to a base which is moulded as part of the cockpit bathtub, such a design would have made replacing the seat very difficult in any case. Also in this photo are the parts forming the intake trunking which include a fully detailed nose wheel well, even though the nose doors are moulded shut!

Stage 4 Before the fuselage halves are joined together it is necessary to repaint and attach the air brake and air dam interiors as well as the main landing gear leg. This is a most aggravating aspect of the kit design in that it is very difficult to achieve a strong joint, and the parts are very likely to be damaged during cleaning up of the fuselage seam. No positive location is provided for the undercarriage leg making it all too easy to fit it at the wrong height, the only way of avoiding this is a very complicated dry run to make sure that all the wheels will be in contact with the ground once the outriggers are in place. As with the nose wheel the main doors should be open on a parked aircraft, but the lack of interior detail caused me to stop short of opening them up and scratch building all the well detail.

Stage 2 Since Harriers of all types are invariably seen parked with the main undercarriage doors open, I decided to open up the fuselage mouldings and make replacement doors from plastic card later on. I can only think that there must have been some last minute design stage at Monogram, as no attempt has been made to make this job easier, such as moulding the closed doors with a reduced thickness of plastic at their margins. The detail provided in the wheel well interior is adequate without addition, although some work will be required later to tidy up the inside lip of the opening.

Stage 5 With the fuselage cemented together it is still possible to gain access to the interior components through the large hole where the wing will eventually fit. This is most useful as it allows plenty of extra adhesive to be applied making sure of a good joint, since should these parts come loose later they will be difficult to relocate. Monogram have resisted the temptation to include any engineering to connect the four exhaust nozzles so that they move in unison, these are instead fitted later from the outside.

Exterior panel detail is represented by raised lines. I chose to replace these with engravings which I feel to be more realistic. To do this I use an Olfa P-cutter which gouges out a groove as it is pulled across the surface of the plastic. The kit's raised lines are used as a positioning guide for this work, remains of these being removed by later sanding. A strip of flexible plastic makes a good

B The wings are formed from just two parts, upper and lower. This method ensures that the correct anhedral angle is built in. Thankfully this Harrier kit has the auxiliary blow-in doors

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correctly moulded to show an aircraft at rest, with the top ones hanging open while the lower ones remain shut, a little filler was required around the wing joint to fare this in with the fuselage contours.

Stage? Each tail plane is a single moulding, complete with central connecting pin, again ensuring the correct angles. I did not realise that this pin has a catch moulded on so that no glue was necessary round the moving parts, this meant that my first dry run test turned out to be rather permanent!

Stage 8 Once all the basic construction was completed, attention could be turned to the stores. Gun pods were used straight from the box, but I wanted to hang Snakeye bombs from both the sets of wing pylons, so I had to remove the tank halves that were moulded in place. This is not at all difficult providing that care is taken and the temptation to use one heavy cut rather than repeated gentle cuts, is resisted. There are only three Snakeyes provided in the kit, the remaining one was to be taken from a Hasegawa weapons set, in the event the kit bombs appeared undersize so all were taken from the accessory set.

S t a g e s The undercarriage outriggers were added next since these parts were moulded complete with the associated door and well components and some fill ing was necessary which could not 500

have been carried out after the airframe had been painted. Flats were sanded on the wheels and a dry run carried out to make sure that all the wheels touched the ground. It was at this point that all my worst fears were confirmed, I had mounted the main gear leg too high leaving a gap of some 2mm under the twin wheels. The only way to rectify this was to cut the leg in two and insert a section of rod to make up the length. Once this had been done the unit was re-assembled, re-sprayed white and masked.

Stage 10 The cockpit was going to be completed partially open, so the rear section would not be attached until all painting had been completed. Prior to fitting the windscreen the instrument panel and HUD needed to be added, some sanding was required to blend in the top edge of the panel. The HUD came from a 1:72nd PP Aeroparts set in which some of the frames are over size and consequently work reasonably well in 1:48th scale. The rear cockpit was attached to its separate frame prior to painting along with everything else.

Stage 11 Painting began with an undercoat of dark grey to the canopy frames, though this shows through to the interior giving the correct effect on the finished model. Xtracolour paints were used for the main camouflage colours the numbers being X126 and X136. This paint covers well when sprayed leaving a gloss surface ideal for decal application. Normally I would have masked a hard line between the colours, even in 1:48th scale, but on this model I attempted to paint the demarcation line freehand with the airbrush. This worked reasonably well although it was difficult to do given the wrap around nature of the scheme and the inaccessible fuselage contours around the exhaust/gun pod area.

Stage 12 The decals came from Super Scale sheet 48-410 which provided for AV-8B's from VMA-203, 211, 214 and 231, these aircraft appear in a variety of colour schemes, full details of which are given on the instructions. I had chosen VMA-231 not just for the colour scheme but also for the nose markings which consist of the famous Ace of Spades emblem and in the case of the commander's machine, a sharks mouth. The decals do not

as it became clear that this was not the case, load dropped to one missile under the left wing only and later to none at all.

provide much stencilling, not that much is visible on the Harrier, but in model form this never seems to be subtle enough to be realistic even in larger scales.

Stage 13 After having applied all the decals, final assembly was carried out. This involves adding the undercarriage doors, the airbrake and air dam as well as the pylons and stores. During the Gulf War, Harriers carried a variety of weapons in differing configurations. Triple ejector racks were occasionally used for Snakeye's especially at the start of the offensive, however a more common load was four or six bombs, one to a pylon. This configuration did not require extensive use of additional weapon sets and was therefore chosen for the model. Sidewinder missiles are provided in the kit and can be used on a Desert Storm aircraft. These were carried in pairs during the early days when it was considered that there was a real threat from the Iraqi Air Force,

Stage 14 The finished model was given a coat of matt varnish in preparation for weathering, this was done for most part with powdered artists pastel in a variety of colours. The main areas for attention are the top of the wing, where there are often stains streaking back, especially across the flaps, and the rear fuselage which is stained aft of the rear exhaust nozzles. It should be remembered that the front nozzles expel 'cold' air and do not therefore scorch and discolour in the same way. Since my model was carrying two Sidewinders it represented an aircraft early in the war, I had therefore, to be careful not to get carried away and make the weathering too heavy. A final coat of varnish was used to seal everything in place, before removing the masking from canopy and cockpit. Lastly the pale yellow sealant around the canopy frame was added using thin strips of pre-painted decal film, and the sliding canopy was fixed in position.

In conclusion The finished model certainly captures the feel of the full size machine, and the light grey scheme makes a welcome change to the dark drab colours of earlier Harrier variants. This is quite a small aircraft even in 1:48th scale, and several Desert Storm diorama scenes spring to mind (if only I had the patience!). As it is, my model is displayed next to an Airfix Sea Harrier in an equally war weary Falklands scheme, a reminder of the type's distinguished service career.

References Gulf Air Power Debrief (Aerospace) Detail & Scale volume 28 (Airlife)

The author's completed model of the Monogram AV-8B Harrier in the markings of VMA_231.

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