Trumpeter

1/32 AV-8B Harrier II

Kit Number: 02229

Reviewed by  Rob Folden, IPMS# 45545

MSRP: $169.95 Website: Trumpeter Models Review sample supplied by: Stevens International The United States Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II is a medium sized attack aircraft capable of both Vertical and Short Take-Off and Landing [V/STOL]. The revolutionary design of the Harrier originally came from British Aerospace Engineering [BAe now BAE]. When the US needed a "jump jet" for the USMC to operate from Assault Ships, which had a much smaller runway than carriers, the McDonnell Douglas Corporation took the BAE Harrier and drastically redesigned it. BAe rejoined the project, and the Harrier II was born. McDonnell Douglas was merged with Boeing, and the Boeing/BAE partnership continued through to create the Harrier II Plus, a more advanced version of the USMC jet. Powered by a Rolls Royce Pegasus engine, the Harrier's distinct characteristic is its ability to take-off and land vertically, as well has being able to sustain a hover. This is accomplished by the use of vectorable exhaust nozzles. Instead of venting exhaust and thrust through a single or double nozzle at the rear of the aircraft, the Harrier uses four vectoring nozzles in the fuselage. Located two on each side, the front two nozzles direct cold air from the compressor blades, while the rear nozzles vent the hot exhaust from the rear of the engine. This creates a four point lifting system, that when combined with stabilizing/maneuvering "puffer" jets at the wing tips and tail, allow the Harrier to hover in the air like a helicopter. When in forward flight mode, the front "cold-air" nozzles have an added benefit of providing a minimal level of heat suppression for the rear nozzles. This protects the fuselage from over heating [exhaust deflectors are also used] and also helps protect against heat seeking missiles. The Harrier has had a short, but well distinguished carrier with the Marines, its only US operator. I can tell you, having watched these aircraft operate up close, it's still a mind-blowing sight to behold. Trumpeter's new 1/32 AV-8B Harrier II represents the USMC's main workhorse well. While not the largest Harrier kit around [at one time Airfix had released a 1/24 Harrier], the Trumpeter kit is still very impressive. Measuring 17.5 inches in length, with a wingspan of 11.5 inches, this model will take some room to display. The kit comes in a rather sizable box, filled to the brim with sprues. The weapons alone make up 6 sprues. The kit provide a full engine, which can be viewed thanks to a well engineered removable wing [see pictures]. The detail throughout the kit is fantastic, making for a great model straight from the box. Tires are provided in vinyl rubber, and a small fret of photo-etched brass is also included. The instruction sheet is very well thought out, with clear and concise directions, leaving almost nothing to interpret wrong. Two full color painting guides are included. One for the aircraft, featuring two paint schemes, and a second just for the weapons. I personally enjoyed this, because I usually use these types of guides to decorate the workshop after completing a model. The moldings are very crisp, with almost no clean up needed in terms of sink marks, ejector pin marks, and mold seams. Construction has you begin with the front "pod", containing the cockpit and nose gear bay. Since I really wanted to build up that nice engine first, that's where I began. The engine is very accurate, but I did note that some details were missing. Most notable was the insulation on the rear exhaust splitter. Reference photos on the internet showed this to be a quilted, metallic material. After extensive testing, I found a roll of medical tape left over from an injury. It had a nice quilted look, and when painted with Testors' Metallizers, it looked very convincing. There are two structural braces that are also missing on each side of the engine, but I opted not to add them in. The exhaust nozzles are designed to be movable, but, like so many moving parts on kits, after painting mine were "permanently non-positional". The tanks on either side of the engine are well proportioned, however I found the instructions had the placement of the front tanks reversed. I was very pleased to find the intake was a single, large piece. There are a couple of small ejector marks on the inside to fill and sand, but luckily, they are partially hidden later on with the exterior intake pieces are added. The intake blades are a little one-dimensional, but a good detail wash brings it out. I opted to add some additional wiring to the engine control unit on top, just to "clutter" it up a bit more. One thing I will note, the kit color suggestions for the inside of the engine bay, and the front cold-air splitter are incorrect. Reference photos show the engine bay to be mostly bare metal, with about a 6" white edge along the top. NOT the green zinc chromate the kit calls for. Additionally, most photos I found show the front exhaust splitter to be an orangish-yellow color. Almost like fiber-glass resin. The cockpit, one of my favorite areas to build on model aircraft. I have to give Trumpeter a major round of applause here. The kit's cockpit looks simply gorgeous. The level of detail is well beyond even some resin sets I've worked with. The instrument panel, side panels, and stick are very nicely done with raised details that make dry-brushing and detail painting a breeze. I was very surprised to find the rear of the ejection seat, and the area both behind [the rails] and below the seat to be detailed as well. Decals are provided for the two large LCD screens, as well as some of the larger analog gauges, however I opted not to use them for a more powered down look. The seat is nicely done. Photo-etched seat belts are provided, which at first glance looked to be too small, but once applied looked spot on. The HUD is made of four pieces, two clear glass panes, and a two-piece photo-etched frame. There is a clear insert into the IP for the HUD projector. Under this piece, behind the IP, is a large, open box. This allows for a couple different ideas. First, is to paint the area with a metal paint, or even use metal foil which would "illuminate" the HUD projector. The second, is the route I took. Using a small 1.5mm X 1.5mm square LED, I illuminated the projector from below. I then painted the inside of the projector glass with clear green and the outside with flat black. After carefully scribing a HUD display into the black, I added a small square of clear acetate, tinted green, over the Projector piece. This hid the black paint, and kept the green look. Once lit, the image scribed into the projector actually reflects onto the HUD. This effect is only visible from the rear of the model, looking forward through where the pilot's head would be. Now, some members of my IPMS chapter say this makes me a little nuts, I say they are right. The rest of the front "pod" is made up of the nose gear and bay. Both are very well details, although I was not pleased with the large seam through the middle of the landing light. I applied some putty, smoothed it out with thinner, and once dry, I applied Bare Metal foil to the light, and then fit the kit lens in place. Not as good as an MV lens, but good enough.

The rest of the fuselage went together without so much as a single incident. The fit was great, requiring very little putty and sanding. I did note a mis-fit of the two canopy sections if you choose to close the canopy, but trust me, with a nice cockpit like that, leave it open. There is a small mold seam along the top of the main canopy. This is to be expected with any kit where the canopy has a complex "bubble" curve. About 5 minutes with a polishing kit up to 12,000 grit, and a dip in Future, and you'd never know it was ever there. A quick note, I recommend using a white glue to attach the rear view mirrors. For the paint scheme, I chose to go with the traditional grey scheme. While not something I normally do, for this model I did post-shade the panel lines to add some depth to the model. Having seen these birds up close, I can tell you that the panel lines do stand out. As with all naval aircraft, the Harrier is treated to anti-corrosion measures, especially along panel lines. The hot exhaust nozzles were painted with a variety of Testors' Metallizers. As was the exhaust deflector. Note- the forward nozzles are not bare metal, they are painted to match the rest of the aircraft. The kit provides an extensive decals sheet for both the aircraft and the weapons. The decals are crisp, thin, and went on without any problems. I did use a bit of Micro-sol on some of the decals around the intake and tail. The formation lights are provided as decals, though some need to be shortened to match the molded in frames. Weathering along the bottom of the fuselage was done with a little Testors' Metallizer Exhaust and Tamiya Weather kit Oil Stain. I have seen these birds even dirtier than what I went with, so don't worry about putting it on heavy. The weapon pylons are well molded, as are the weapons themselves. I do have to disagree with the kit on a couple weapons points. First, the kit includes both the Triple Ejector Racks [TER] and Multiple Ejector Racks [MER], however the Harrier is not capable of carrying the MERs. Additionally, the kit weapons diagram shows the GBU-12's being used on the TERs on the middle pylons. While the TER is used on the middle pylon, it is only for smaller weapons. The TER with the GBU-12 needs to go on the inner pylons. My suggestion is to lay the wing upside down, and hold everything in place. If it looks wrong, chances are it is. In my case, if I used the GBU-12s on the middle pylon, they would have interfered with the Sidewinders on the outer pylon. There is a bit of cleanup required for the Mavericks and the GBU-12s. And there are a lot of decals for all weapons, including the yellow bands for the GBU's. I was quite impressed to find the bands actually lined up perfectly, with no gaps. Once in place on the model, the weapons give the Harrier a very menacing look. Overall, I am very pleased with the outcome of the Harrier. After almost a perfect two months, I have a great addition to my collection, one which will definitely be making its way to some local contests. Although a little on the pricey side, I have to recommend this kit to anyone who is a 1/32 aircraft builder, USMC builder, and of course Harrier builder. I would like to extend my thanks to both Stevens International, for providing the review sample, and IPMS for giving me the opportunity to review the kit. Thanks for reading, and happy modeling!