Kinetic Harrier T4

[paddy]

Kinetic Harrier review part 1

Having fallen of my bike with the 1/24 Harrier I have done what my Dad always said and got straight back on my bike…… with another Harrier

This is Kinetics 1/48 T4 Harrier which can be built as a T2-4-6 or 8

Kinetic is a new make to me so I didn’t really know what to expect.

So far, I have been very pleased. Fit of parts has been exceptional. Detail is very good; mouldings are sharp, and I am told the new “gold” models are even sharper. The ejector seats are the best I have come across in either standard kit or after market resin or white metal.

As you might expect, as the detail goes up so does the part count, so you need to be very careful with positioning and assembly. For example, when joining the two fuselage halves together the fit is perfect if you get all the sub-assemblies like airbrake wells, wheel wells and the nozzle mechanism inside correctly positioned.

Instructions are a bit hit and miss but its not a huge problem.

Here for example the nozzle mounts seem to reverse from on step too the next

Looking at progress so far, I am happy however the Eduard cockpit PE I have used lets the side down a bit as being “blue” its more detail bling than detail up.

Wheel wells are nicely detailed

As are the airbrake wells and rear wheel well

Seats are the best i have seen in1/48

The kit is obviously based on the Sea harrier. There are a lot of parts in the box that are sea Harrier but not T4 or 2 seat. I dont think any of the ordinance for sea harriers was ever used on the RAF version but the transit or drop tanks might be useful. Remember the Sea Harrier was a fighter, the RAF Harrier was a ground attack so quite different radar and weapons systems and even wing pylons.

wing Fit
one problem i have seen mentioned is the wing to fuselage fit with some builds needing enough filler to warrant filling the gap with plastic card.

The above pic shows the wing fitted. Its not glued...its just fitted in place and the fit is such that it would be possible to continue the build without glue as it just clips perfectly in place....
To be continued...............

 

[Steve Ski]

Excellent start. Yep, get back on the horse, cause it ain't gonna get done lookin at it, right?

 

[moon puppy]

 

[Greg Kimsey]

Makes me want to do one! Love the start and review commentary.

 

[paddy]

Hi Greg
The point is i hear the model has build issues so i bought one so i could see for myself
I'm not a great fan of reviews, one persons issues might pass the next person by un-noticed. A company or an individual can spend a huge amount of money developing a product and have it trashed on line by any nobody. I built one of the test samples of the VFS 1/24 Thunderbolt that was produced by a guy in a small suburban house in the UK with his own money so i know how devastating that can be when a minor problem is blown up out of proportion. Incidentally that model is now also produced by Kinetic.
So far i am mighty impressed with the Harrier T4 and i have purposely not referred back to other peoples builds because i dont want to be influenced ;-)

 

[Greg Kimsey]

Hi Greg
The point is i hear the model has build issues so i bought one so i could see for myself
I'm not a great fan of reviews, one persons issues might pass the next person by un-noticed. A company or an individual can spend a huge amount of money developing a product and have it trashed on line by any nobody. I built one of the test samples of the VFS 1/24 Thunderbolt that was produced by a guy in a small suburban house in the UK with his own money so i know how devastating that can be when a minor problem is blown up out of proportion. Incidentally that model is now also produced by Kinetic.
So far i am mighty impressed with the Harrier T4 and i have purposely not referred back to other peoples builds because i dont want to be influenced ;-)

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View attachment 156785

IMO, Kinetic makes a very good product. I am glad to hear that you are leaning that way as well. I highly respect your views and candid commentary. I also agree, any ragamuffin can give a crappy review and tank a good product. Many MANY peoples have asked me to make a YouTube channel. My skin is pretty thin so there is no way in hell that will EVER happen.

 

[moon puppy]

Yep, best build review is seeing someone build a kit.

 

[Sharkmouth]

@paddy, Agreed about reviews. However, I do look at all of them simply because (as you stated) some have issues and others don't. This was brought forth with the Arma Hobby Mustang (fit in front of windscreen and horizontal stabilizers). One found the issue and easily fixed it while others gnashed their teeth.

 

[paddy]

I have no idea why i have put this in the "Lounge"

Reached the basic paint stage with no real issues

Very light grey underside

RAF dark ocean grey topside

Masked up with Blu tack and RAF green added

Its always a relief when you pull the masking tape off and it doesnt pull the paint ff too

Only one repair needed, good thats it underside. i think this is because i mixed the Grey/white underside paint myself and it didnt key to the plastic as well as straight from the bottle.

There are some really strange anomalies with the model but i will put them in a summing up later.

 

[moon puppy]

 

[Greg Kimsey]

watching and learning. That shot of the masking took me aback for a moment. Like WTF is happening here? It got sunburned and the skin is peeling LOL! So, that is rolled up blue painters tape around the edges? What's in the middle over the large areas? Honestly, I have tried the blue tape and struggle with bending it. I have been using Museum putty noodles and that is working for me. Neat how each of us has our "thing" that works.

 

[paddy]

Hi Greg
Blu tack in the UK is a kind of Clay used for sticking poster to a wall for example. Its a mouldable plastic clay/putty. I wold guess it very much like your Museum putty which we dont have here ? Basically you roll it into long sausages and lay it on the model to form the edges of the camo then fill in the gaps between the edges with bits of masking tape.

 

[iambrb]

Wow Paddy that is just incredible work! At this rate I may have to try one of those wingy-thingies

 

[Sharkmouth]

I have been using Museum putty noodles and that is working for me.

Museum putty is a more modern version of Silly Putty

Blu tack in the UK is a kind of Clay used for sticking poster to a wall for example. Its a mouldable plastic clay/putty.

Blu-Tak is available in the US as well as UHU Tac which has the same properties.

 

[Greg Kimsey]

Hi Greg
Blu tack in the UK is a kind of Clay used for sticking poster to a wall for example. Its a mouldable plastic clay/putty. I wold guess it very much like your Museum putty which we dont have here ? Basically you roll it into long sausages and lay it on the model to form the edges of the camo then fill in the gaps between the edges with bits of masking tape.

Yep, exactly the same thing. We started carrying it when we had an Antiques mall, and the vendors used it to keep lids from glass objects from falling off. Then the college kids found out we had it and they used it to put posters on their walls. It has so many uses!

 

[Greg Kimsey]

Museum putty is a more modern version of Silly Putty

Blu-Tak is available in the US as well as UHU Tac which has the same properties.

View attachment 156854

I use that too. I can't tell a difference except price.

 

[paddy]

I had a bit of a disaster with the paint this week Its a problem i have had in the past and forgot about.
I find Tamiya clear in rattle cans works really well over other Tamiya rattle can colours but has issues over Tamiya acrylic sprayed with an air brush.
Tamiya acrylic sprayed with an air brush.

Basically the propellant or thinners in the cans activates the paint despite giving the paint 48 hours drying time.

anyway it was an easy fix and here is where i am at now

I was spraying the whole thing in semi gloss clear to help the decals and stop silvering however having applied a few small decals i'm not sure i have succeeded so will look at a coat of future and then a flat coat.
A point of interest i hadn't realised with the harrier is the front and rear cockpits seem to be completely separate so the front could bang out and the rear would remain a pressurised separate

cockpit ?

 

[Greg Kimsey]

Aww man, good save! I love this plane

 

[moon puppy]

That's really interesting with the isolated cockpits.
Good save, Carry on Paddy!

 

[paddy]

Kinetic have given us a subject here that has been missing in the catalogues forever.

As a T. bird Harrier its probably a limited market so we have to take that into consideration and supplying the small market must be encouraged.

Kinetic produce a Harrier FRS1 , FA2, GR1 , GR3, GR7/9 ,T2 too T10, AV8A and AV8B in 1/48 and obviously there is quite an overlap in models and sprues.

The T. Birds are based on the FRS1 , the Royal Navy fighter version I think ? the result is a box with approx. 350 parts of which you will need to use approx. 150. This is because it’s a Sea Harrier kit with extra parts but crucially not all the Sea harrier parts so it’s not 2 for 1

For example, the complete single seat cockpit is included, 2 sets of wings and 3 tail fins as well as a complete weapons load out for a FRS1 which doesn’t apply to a T. Bird.



Because of this you need good instructions to identify which parts you need to use for Harrier you are building, and this is really the short coming of the model.

For example. Having built the model I then found an engine fan in the box….There is no reference to this part in the instructions. There are Aden cannon pods in the load out instructions but nowhere does it tell you where they go ? Obviously they go on the underside of the fuselage but there are no marking on this part to show where. Section 7 shows the joining of the fuselage halves, Section 8 tells you that you should have added the thrust nozzles inside before you closed the fuselage up….

Section 19 shows the Airbrake fitted and extended….well it wasn’t there in section 18 so what parts were used ? there are several airbrakes etc in the box ?.

How much would it have cost to get someone too proof read the instructions or even build the model using them before you sent them to the printers ?

So the issue here is the T bird is not a stand alone model but draws on several aspects of the other models in Kinetics Harrier fleet.

As I said this is not surprising as its probably a low demand subject compared with a GR7/AV8B

The plus side here is its and excellent kit once you get your head round it and planning ahead and good reference material pays dividends. Ultimately if you are experienced then you get all the parts you need ( and many more beside) to make a model to be really proud off, the rest is up to you.

Once finished you will have a lot of parts in the spares box as well as a decals. A lot of decals are repeated in black or white depending on the colour of the camo/paint finish. These Cartograf decals (A4 sheet) are excellent, and I did read elsewhere that you could reasonably pay £20.00+ for the decals alone on the detail up market they are that good.

Anyway, this is my attempt, having had a go with this I am really looking forward to doing another and with the experienced gained here I know I can do better.