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Falklands Harrier and Hasegawa F18 Hornet


panzerrob

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Dear all,

 

I have 2 questions regarding  the above mentioned airplanes.

 

The first one is about the Harrier, as used in the Falkland war.

Which kit is the best, the Trumpeter Harrier GR7, or the older Revell Harrier Jump jet?

Or is it better to use the Harrier AV8B kits with a conversion?

 

 

The other one is about Hasegawa's F18 Hornet.

I have this kit and I don't like the decal options in it, the gold/blue  decal sheet. It looks like a prototype aircraft, not a production aircraft.

Do any detail sets exist to turn this kit in a more "production" aircraft?

I do have some F4dable decal sheets and I like to make a Spanish, Finnish or Swiss Hornet.

 

With regards,

Rob

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Paragon or someone did a conversion to make the Hasegawa Hornet into a production bird, but I think it was only to make it an early A. The ones on the F4dable sheet are all late C models IIRC.

 

The Trumpeter Harriers are all second Generation AV-8B models, very different from the first gen Harriers used in the Falklands. I don't think there is a conversion to backdate the kits and it would be a lot of work.

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The old Revell 1/32 kit isn't actually a GR1 or AV-8A, but a Harrier P1127 RAF, which was a development step between the Kestrel and the production Harrier.

 

As such the intakes, forward nozzle shrouds - and possibly the wing leading edge/fences/vortex generators (I'm not near my refs at the moment) all need to be modified to standard. 

 

By the time of the Falklands all the RAF's operational Harriers were LRMTS equipped with the 'dolphin' noses, and the tall fins with forward facing RWR receivers on the leading edge, and a rearward facing one on the aft of the tailcone.

 

A conversion is certainly possible, but it would be nice to see the first gen Harrier family receive some quality attention. It'd also be nice to see someone kick Trumpeter's Travesties of the second generation into touch too.

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I'd like the Sea Harrier from that southern conflict and GR-3's from Belize, too. They would pull me away from the pre-1940's interests that pretty much dominate everything I go after.

 

Tnarg

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It would be an interesting indicator of the research quality of whoever stepped up to the GR3 plate, to see if they included the standard 2-tier SNEB rocket pods habitually carried by Harriers in Europe AND the 3-tier RN rocket pods carried exclusively from the carriers in the Falklands war.

 

Plus the latter would be handy for the HKM FAA Spey Phantom and any Buccaneer that might happen along,sometime in the far distant.

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 I was in Guatemala in the mid 70's when they kept saying "Belize es nuestro", and had some T-33's to back that up against those Harriers. That, and some "Mirages in a secret underground airbase under Mazatenango" ... along with those UFO's from Roswell, I guess. They did do a lot of buzz flights over Guatemala City, and then the earthquake of '76 sort of deflated all of that saber rattling.

 

That drives my interest in doing the "Dogfight Double" with the T-33 and Harrier GR-3. I liked the personal insignia of "Beech Buggy" on the GR-3 with the dune buggy on the tail.

 

Tnarg

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The olde (first gen) Harrier is not only a purposeful looking aircraft in any of its many guises (from AV-8A style to Shar), but I suspect those T-33s and imaginary Mirages would have taken an intensely purposeful shredding from those 30mm ADENS and its agility even without the benefit of AIM-9Ls (which they could also carry)

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Probably a lot worse than the A-4's that the Argentines had. War is not fun, especially on the lower tech side.

 

Tnarg

You have to admire their guts for the sea skimming bomb runs in the A-4s. If the bombs had the proper fuses, a couple of more ships would have been lost.

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Hi all,

 

Big thanks to all of you who responded!

I terminated the Falkland Harrier plan and decided to build my F/A18D first and see whats left over and try to update the Hasegawa F18.

But most likely it will be build out of the box with Swiss decals on it.

I don't wanna spend a lot of time/money on a cheap kit, and when it Looks like an F18 with Swiss decals, it is a Swiss F18, good enough for me since it will end up on top of a large cabinet!

 

Thanks again,

Rob

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just a side note I have a gr3 resin nose I mastered several years ago as well as the sea harrier vac formed nose conversion in my range so they can be done from the original gr1- AV-8a kit.

John

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