The third and final of my Harrier triple build. The first being the FA2 and the second, the AV-8A. I have to say, I am quite happy with how this one turned out too.

Being pretty much the same kit as the FA2, I will refer you to that article for the build notes. The Flightpath FOD guards are made to fit the kinetic intakes and are cleverly integrated into the interior during assembly.

Right from the off, I wanted to do a Falklands harrier. The very comprehensive kinetic decal sheet will allow you to build just about any SHAR used during that conflict in any of the main schemes, but I turned to the Xtradecal sheet for my scheme. To me the EDSG, makes the jet look dark and menacing. My chosen jet is portrayed as she was towards the end of the conflict. She is staring to look a bit battered with a replacement rudder and jet nozzle from a medium sea grey jet.

Painting started with applying a white undercoat to the undersides of the jet and the fuel tanks. Maskol was then dabbed on with a sponge around the pylons and noses of tanks and gunpods. The idea being, once the EDSG had been applied, these little dabs of masks would be rubbed off, revealing the chips of white. Over the white undersides, lightened mix of Mr Paint Extra Dark Sea Grey was ten sprayed through my Badger 150. The demarcation line was masks off, and neat EDSG applied. Over this Mr Color EDSG was randomly mottled as well as some dark Sea Grey. The finish was starting to look a little battered now. To complete the illusion, darkened EDSG was sprayed through one of those splatter templates which are all the rage now. The model now had the tail Royal Navy titles and SQN badge applied. Very thinned EDSG was then applied over this until the title just showed through. Not quite sure if the real jets had these marking ghosting through, but I wanted it as an interest point.

From here, Gunze X113 gloss varnish was applied before the rest of the decals. The xtradecal sheet contains a very thorough run down of the jets from both carriers, calling out any marking oddments or variations. For those questioning those blue LAU10s, apparently some Hermes jets had their rails painted roundel blue as EDSG was starting to run short.

Final assembly consisted of adding tanks, undercarriage, wheels and all those sticky out bits such as pitot tube etc.

I love the SHAR in these colours. The addition of the ladder and FOD guards add a splash of colour to an otherwise dark scheme.. Heading its way towards me is the Skunkworks RN carrier base and tractor, which should make for a nice little display.

And thats it for this instalment of Kinetic harrier builds. I have one remaining GR3 in the inventory, which will be tackled later as an early GR1.

Bae Sea Harrier FRS1. 800SQN. F.A.A. H.M.S Hermes. South Atlantic 1982