Esci 1/72 Sea Harrier

[stillp]

I think this is going to be my next build:

As per my usual, picked up for a fiver in a charity shop. Box a little squashed, but the sprues look undamaged in their sealed bag. Not sure if the decals should be this shade of yellow though:

I've never seen this before - two of the sprues joined together and folded one over the other.

Had me worried that some of the parts were interlocked, but no, it unfolded without damage.

Three grey sprues plus one clear:

This is my first Esci kit, and so far I'm impressed - very little flash, not ejector marks in visible places as far as I can tell, and nice finely-recessed detail:

There are some flow lines on the larger surfaces, as you can see on the wing above, and a couple of nasty sink marks on the forward fuselage halves, but nothing major. The canopy has some stress marks and a few scratches, but I'm sure it'll look better after a bath in Klear/Pledge/JohnsonsMultisurfacePolish.
Any comments or suggestions will be gratefully received.
Should get started tomorrow.
Pete

 

[Archetype]

I'll sit in if you don't mind!

 

[stillp]

You're very welcome Chris! Let me know if when I start doing something stupid please.
Pete

 

[Archetype]

I'm here for the tips and tricks!

 

[Jakko]

Esci was one of the premier manufacturers, back in the 1970s and 80s or so, and this is an original kit so it won’t suffer from having worn-out moulds as much as current reissues by Italeri (or whoever) might. They’re also the one who popularised 1:72 scale for armour models, BTW, apparently largely because they weren’t really aware of the British 1:76 tradition and were already making aircraft in 1:72

 

[JR]

I'll follow along Pete, not I can offer any advice , unless you want to set fire to it !

 

[Mini Me]

I'm in and I brought Matron along in case 453 starts playing with matches Rick H.

 

[minitnkr]

Back to large scale I see. PaulE

 

[papa 695]

Looks a nice kit Peter, just pulled up my chair. I've got my cup is the kettle on?

 

[PaulTRose]

always happy to see a harrier built

i always found the styrene that esci used to be quite brittle, easy to clip/cut off a bit more than planned

 

[colin m]

Esci are nice little kits. And a Shar as well, ticks all the boxes for me. I built the Italeri GR3 (was an Esci in another life) a few years back, apart from a bit of a sparse cockpit, it was a nice build. I look forward to seeing this one built.

 

[stillp]

Done a little more. The plastic isn't brittle Paul, but it doesn't sand very well. I should have looked more carefully before I wrote that there weren't any ejector marks, I've found quite a few now.
I don't know if this risks being a tail sitter so I stuck some weight in the nose just in case.

The nose halves above have a bit of a warp, so they fit together at the front or at the rear, but not both, so it'll need a spot of filler.
Pete

 

[Jim R]

Hi Peter
I always imagined that Esci kits were poor but this looks rather nice. Interesting what Jakko said about Esci kits. I am looking forward to see how this goes.
Jim

 

[Archetype]

Looking good! Noseweight is prudent, just in case.

 

[stillp]

Here's a shot of the cockpit closed up:

Next task is to join the main fuselage halves, which will need a bit of a juggling act as there are several parts that need to be fitted between the halves.
Pete

 

[langy71]

ooo a Shar, mind if i squeeze in ?

I'm sure Mr Race will put down his pyrotechnic supplies and squash up a bit for me..

 

[stillp]

Fuse halves are joined, and the pointy bit on the front added.

I didn't quite get the halves aligned, and sanding the join has shown up a couple of sink marks, so there's some Mr Dissolved Putty drying now. I see sanding in my future... Can't decide whether to fit and mask the canopy now, or leave the pit open so I can blow the dust out.
I might need to find a scriber for the panel lines too.
Pete

 

[JR]

They used to based at Wittering at one point, we got so used to seeing them flying in the end you hardly bothered to look up. The best view of them was along the side of the A1 , there you could see the vertical take off's and landings, now that was good.

 

[stillp]

The wings and the underwing pylons are on, but I've reached the first real fit issue - the Aden gun pods have no location points at all. They need to fit either side of that central pylon, on an area of the fuselage that curves in two directions. I'd expected there would be a position where the fit was good enough to show they were in the correct place, but no, they slide around wherever they are. As a result I have to hold them in a place that 'looks about right' with tape and rubber bands, then add a little Extra Thin.

The instructions would have you fit the jet nozzles and heat shields at this point, but I'm, leaving them off until after painting, to save a bit of masking. The undercarriage will also go on later to avoid breakage!
That central pylon looks a bit odd, ESCI haven't provided anything to be fitted to it. There are a couple of decals which seem to be "Explosive Release" warnings, which will probably be impossible to fit because of the Aden pods. Looking at online walkarounds, some Harriers seemed to fly with an empty centre pylon and some with a missile fitted, but I can't find anything suitable in my spares box so I'll leave it empty.
Getting close to paint now!
Pete

 

[Archetype]

All good progress!