1/48 Hasegawa AV-8B

Gallery Article by Gonzalo D. Mendoza on Aug 19 2009

 

Hello everyone. This is my rendition of the Hasegawa AV-8B Harrier.  I started building this kit about two years ago in Osaka Japan.  I purchased it at a local hobby store there. The paint scheme just caught my eye.  I love shark teeth on aircraft.  Although I do not believe the teeth on this airplane are from a shark, it looks cool none the less.

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I started construction in Osaka but soon lost time and interest and put it away until I returned home to Florida. There it sat for some more time until I decided to finish it. The kit goes together okay. There are major fit problems at the intake area. The nose does not line up well with the fuselage either. I had to use a lot of putty to make it look decent. The landing gear did not fit correctly and it was a pain to install. Unfortunately the all the wheel do not touch the ground at the same time. The cockpit is a little sparse and I think I made seat belts from tape for the seat. I used Mr Color line of paints because in Osaka they do not sell Model Master paints. I just followed the color guide in the instructions provided. However, when I returned to the States I did not bring back the paints from Japan. I simply had no room and I was afraid that they would spill out of the bottle. I had to finish the kit with Model Master paints which do not match at all. I referenced FS number for the paints and I got the corresponding paint applied it and it was several shades different. Oh well. I did not want to repaint the entire kit again. After I finished all the required painting and gloss coating, using Future, I applied the kit decals. I have to say that the decals went on rather well. I used Solvaset to make them hug the curves and lines and I had no problems. After the decals set I sprayed Testor dull coat applied a black wash and that's all she wrote. Regardless of all the issues I think it turned out well. I am happy with the results and I plan on building other Hasegawa Harriers in the future.

Thank you for looking and happy modeling. Any critiques, good or bad, welcomed!

Gonzalo D. Mendoza

Photos and text © by Gonzalo D. Mendoza