Tamiya 1/48 Sea Harrier

[JudgeDredd]

Hey all

I had posted some time ago a model my daughter bought me - an Me262 which was rather an old kit.

This one has been kicking around for some time - 1982 I believe - and has gone through some reboxing. Anyway - I thought I'd share my work with it.

It's quite a challenge - raised panel lines - poor fit - but it's a beautiful aircraft...here's the work so far

It's an old kit, but I was really keen to get a Sea Harrier and this was available at a very reasonable price.

It's slow progress...


Some pretty poor fitting - but I expected this based on how cheap it was

[JudgeDredd]

I'm not going mental with the cockpit and pilot for 3 reasons...

• There's not a lot of detail
• My eyesight isn't great
• My hands are not very steady

I've used enamels and some dry brushing - that's all I'm doing. I went a bit overboard with the dry brushing on the helmet, so I might take that down a bit.

[JudgeDredd]

I've cut some plastic sections off a model car I was given (I don't make cars and the guy was going to chuck it - so he knew I would be using it to experiment) and this is the result thus far...but I'm running out of space to fit stuff "on"...it's getting tight in there and I have big thumbs

[JudgeDredd]

Well...I'm going to call it a day on the engine. Like I said - it wasn't meant to look like a real engine - I just wanted to make it look a bit more detailed...and I'm happy I've done that. It will of course be primed, painted and weathered.

[JudgeDredd]

From this...


...to this...


That'll do 

[JudgeDredd]

Slow going. Too much rugby and gaming.

I tried again to stick some wire on the engine to make it busier, but even araldite wouldn't stick that damn stuff. So I've finished with the engine. It's all primed now and ready to go in the AC

[JudgeDredd]

Whilst I was painting at the weekend with my super dooper Iwata Neo TRN1, I spent some time on the Sea Harrier.

I've got some touching up to do where I've been a bit sparse on the Sea Grey, some touching up on the 1000lb bombs where I should've masked more and the engine needs a couple of colours and some wash







Some slight over spray on the bomb - I should've masked better. You live and learn.

[JudgeDredd]

Some more progress.

Engine as "stock" - I was all for sealing it up never to be shown without alterations


Engine has been "enhanced". It'll do...it's far better than stock and I surprised myself at wanting to have a go at enhancing it





Added some Ultimate Modelling Products Rust




and Dark Dirt washes to dirty it up a bit





and rubbed down a bit...take some of the sting out





Without the flash




And in the fuselage




Sidewinders done and dirtied up a bit with Ultimate Modelling Products Dark Dirt


Bombs have been painted, though I had some overspray on the yellow towards the fins and so have to go over it and also have to try and work out a technique for masking the tip off so I can paint olive drab on the cone area

[JudgeDredd]

I think I'll be repainting the Sidewinders and the 1000lb bombs.

Thanks for looking

[Asid]

The Harrier is one of my favourite planes of all time. It sure takes a lot of work from start to finish. Patience and a steady hand are a must.

This is already looking good. Make sure you post more pics when you add to it.

Thanks for taking the time to make this post and for sharing it with us.

Regards

[Lumituisku]

Awesome work there! This all looks so cool!

[JudgeDredd]

Thank you

More to come

[Attila]

Very  nice, long time not seen this type of good work.

[Frankie]

Such attention to detail is astounding. It takes patience to produce a work of art.

[JudgeDredd]

Thanks Frankie. I'm still very much learning techniques - there are so many. I don't try as hard as some people do and don't go for perfection - I'm just concentrating on building and painting and trying to get decent results.

Some more work today.

I should have done the filling first, but I was originally using this as a testbed for airbrushing so I didn't. As I've put more work into it, I now wish I had.

I'll do some filling and give it another coat or 2 of Dark Sea Grey (I didn't fancy the white/royal blue look) before I fit the bombs and sidewinders (which I have re-sprayed).



Some filling required near the cockpit section (possibly - if I can be bothered)


Filling required at the wing joins - which I will do





I'll be toning down the red and glitz on the red/gun metal section


A bit of filling along the fuselage