Tamiya's 1/48 scale
Sea Harrier FRS 1

by Tony Prince

Tamiya's 1/48 scale Sea Harrier FRS 1 is available online from Squadron.com for $16.65!

The recent release of the Harrier in 1/32 scale prompted me to keep an eye out for the old Tamiya Sea Harrier kit in 1/48th. This would not be my first effort with this kit as I made the original release way back…

Luckily I found a brand new kit for $20, which I snapped up immediately.

I resolved to bring the kit up to date, but without any after market items.

The first step in the build was to sand off all raised detail & rescribe. This proceeded well enough although I used a fair bit of Tippex along the way to correct a good many mistakes.

Other modifications were:

• Thinning down all the wing spoilers.

• Correcting the fit of the engine bay hatch.

• Enhancing the ejection seat with belts & other bits.

• Putting representative panels on the side consoles as well as some structural details

• inside the sidewalls & rudder pedals (which can’t be seen anyway).

• Removing incorrect air scoops from fuselage access panels & relocating correctly.

• Opening up auxiliary air intakes.

• Repositioning the front undercarriage knuckle to portray weight.

• Constructing front & rear undercarriage bays as well as the air brake interior.

• Removing the upper collision light & relocating a better shaped clear item.

• Rebuilding & reshaping the jet exhaust nozzles using thin card stock, after removing

• the over thick kit louvres.

• Installing tailplane endplates.

• Drilling out the camera lens & replacing with clear sprue, suitably shaped.

Paint is from Gunze & Lifecolor. The decals used are from Xtradecal .

The following excellent references were consulted:

• “Sea Harrier” by Roger Chesneau, from Aeroguide.

• “Sea Harrier, The Last All-British Fighter”, by Jamie Hunter.

• “BAe Sea Harrier” by Kev Darling,  No.75 in the Warpaint Series.

And, of course, many internet sites.

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Model and Text Copyright © 2011 by Tony Prince
Page Created 4 January, 2011
Last Updated 4 January, 2011

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