Small Scale Military Headquarters

supersonicfifi wrote:considering the market' state and the delays I will pick one harrier ASAP. because as it was said before maybe in 10 years you will kick yourself of not buying one in 2015 !



I remember in 2005 to hesitate for the Blue angel F-18 becuase it was 79$ ! (instead of 40-50 $ for all the other models !) I should have bought 10 of theses !!!!

At $280 each after shipping I won't be kicking myself 10 years from now . If it were the F15 on the other hand I would be .

Would agree. Seven years ago I was "keeping up with the Joneses". Nowadays, I'll collect what I like and can fit into my man cave.

Agreed cnq, if this were the F-15E I would be in as well. Maybe someday ???


Steve

Ordered mine from Aviatornut this weekend.

Anyone connection the f14 laser bomb with the av 8b does it fit

A-10LOADER wrote:Agreed cnq, if this were the F-15E I would be in as well. Maybe someday ???


Steve

I would not mind to pay a bit more for the F15E. That's my dream jet in 1/18 along with the Sukhoi Su 27

I was thinking of my past when I kicked myself for not buying something that now is extremely rare in box or uber expensive. I also saw a JSI F-14 original "spotcat" listed on ebay for over $400 with tons of watchers. JSI doesn't make the F-14 anymore right?

How many Spits, P-51's, P-47's and P-38's and other 1/18 stuff / collectibles did people pass on in the past and now?

scbvideoboy wrote:I was thinking of my past when I kicked myself for not buying something that now is extremely rare in box or uber expensive. I also saw a JSI F-14 original "spotcat" listed on ebay for over $400 with tons of watchers. JSI doesn't make the F-14 anymore right?

How many Spits, P-51's, P-47's and P-38's and other 1/18 stuff / collectibles did people pass on in the past and now?

May be sundowner at 300.00 or higher..

Just look at the dautless she gotten more costly over time... if u going to bite might as well now.. if they come out with a better one u can always sale u rs

Been a long time since I posted anything. Anyway, I picked up the Harrier yesterday w/out really reading any of the reviews b/c I didn't want to be persuaded into or out of buying it. I figured I would buy it, warts and all, because I like the plane. I also wanted to support Merit b/c they really try hard to bring us collectors new things that otherwise would never see the light of day. I like them as a company from having stopped by their offices to buy something and ending up getting a personal tour from Tony the owner including an hour sit down in his office where he took the time to show me (just some bum off the street) some future stuff he was working on and mock ups of models that were about to be produced.

Okay so I got the model home and was really impressed with the detail and overall look of the plane. IMHO I don't think previous online photos did the thing justice! I'll also echo what everyone else who've bought the model about the pros and cons. The main con being that the canopy does not come with an open/close option. I ended up taking an Xacto knife to it and it took a couple hours of careful scoring before it finally came off. Thank goodness the factory didn't glue the leading edge of the canopy to the windshield! So I've inculded some photos of the finished surgery. The photos look uglier than it does in person. I was unlucky to get a plane where the dude doing the gluing decided to use a little extra on my model and the canopy was also glued to the inner rail as well as the fuselage. I'll eventually clean up the scoring with some sanding and touch up paint. Also, I used the Xacto to cut the canopy armor back plate from the fuselage and glued it to the canopy as it should be.

Thanks for your review of the new Harrier, Aviatornut. And with pictures as well.

Glad and relieved that this has finally hit the shelves after much trial and tribulation.

Overall, I think it looks good, and has a surprising amout of detail. But really disappointed that they couldn't line up the " Marines" on the tail properly. Pretty noticeable, and just doesn't look right.

Canopy issues are also a concern as well, and seems that they rushed this area a bit. Not being to open it is a fairly major flaw, at least for me.

However, quite pleased with the finished product, and at least it doesn't have any deal breaking problems. And those of you that already have one, do seem quite pleased with it.

Cost is certainly an issue, as Canadian dollar has dropped more than 25% to the USD the last couple of years, making it that much more expensive, and add shipping to that as well.

Not going to pull the trigger on this right away, but it certainly is on the radar. perhaps Santa can find one for a good price.

Here's some updated photos of my Harrier with a spare Litening pod and GBU-16 (from the JSI/Merit F-14) as well as a reference photo. Btw, the predrilled holes in the GBU-16 lined up perfectly with the Harrier's tabs, they just needed to be enlarged ever so slightly. Still need to do some modifications to the Litening pod to make it more accurate (removing the excess molded on hardpoint).

Greetings:

I found there is a way to fix the gap or at least make it less noticeable.

Those parts all snap together. The reason they do not fit right is because they are either snapped together wrong or because the parts fit isn't right. These parts are odd curves and I don't think each part is curved the same way.

I found it is possible to take a screwdriver and pop the bottom part out of the top part. Just be really careful. Then there is an inner part underneath the top portion I popped off(I snapped the tabs in doing this but its okay the way I fixed it). I then reassembled everything by gluing it in place and carefully sanding lightly, filing if needed to get the parts fit better.

This really improved the gap and evened it out on each side.

Corey

I also just fixed the gap issue. My plane had globs of glue that had dried and were impeding the wing root from snapping all the way down. I pried the wing root up, scraped the glue, applied new glue and now it sits flush...looks 100x better too!

trex0770 wrote:Here's some updated photos of my Harrier with a spare Litening pod and GBU-16 (from the JSI/Merit F-14) as well as a reference photo. Btw, the predrilled holes in the GBU-16 lined up perfectly with the Harrier's tabs, they just needed to be enlarged ever so slightly. Still need to do some modifications to the Litening pod to make it more accurate (removing the excess molded on hardpoint).

Thanks

Everything said is true, I've nothing to add.

Here's mine hanging with the others.

rschaap wrote:Looks like it belongs in the air. Need to find room to hang mine. Maybe with a few F-18's.

Here's one idea....

Just removed my canopy and was able to close up the gap under the left wing. Now onto overhauling the cockpit.

BEEAVISION : we need pictures ASAP : pictures ! pictures !!!!!!

supersonicfifi wrote:BEEAVISION : we need pictures ASAP : pictures ! pictures !!!!!!

A magician never reveals his secrets. However, once I'm done I'll be sure to post a few photos. As it is, everything I see in front of me now has already been posted by others here.

If I can get one, I hope to be able to make a flightdeck portion.

I received one in the mail the other day from a very gracious friend who shall remain anonomous, he knows who he is. Thanks again buddy.
Overall not bad. Would I pay $240.00 for it ??, no. I'm not into Harriers that much but, it has potential. On a scale of 1 to 10 I'd give it a 5 or 6. Minuses for me are :
The canopy dosen't open.
No pilot or room for one.
Fuel tanks with holes (where they would attach to the pylon) in the tops and bottoms ??
Those pins used for attaching the various armament, a lot of mine were already broken off in the package. Stupid idea.
The AIM-9's are out of scale, they should have used ones from the F-14.
No gun pods, LANTIRN pod (from the F-14) or GBU's.

I've started to give her a good weathering and need to come up with a way to fix all those broken pins so I can hang some ordnance on her. When I'm finished with her I'll post some pics. In the meantime I've got two 1/18th scale Tomcats that are in need of my attention.


Steve

Doing a quick revision to my harrier. Managed to get the canopy off, and seat out. It looks like either the front gear ceiling or bottom of the seat will need to be shaved order to make it all fit. This is a resin pilot sitting directly on top of the front gear ceiling.

Jay,
If it may help you, have a look at the topic I've launched about the Harrier's pilot problem:
http://www.warbird-photos.com/gpxd/view ... =9&t=33791.