Trumpeter 1/32 AV-8B Harrier review - The beginning

[Dave Roof]

Gentlemen,

 

A few weeks ago I had MRI's and X-rays on my ankles. I got the results back and dropped them off at the office of our units medical officer. Later that afternoon I stopped by his office to see if he had looked at the results.....he had. This medical officer, a Navy Captain, looked at me and said rather bluntly "SSgt, your ankles are f*&!$d up!"

 

So a couple of days ago, I took only a quick look at this new kit. Last night, I had the opportunity to really go over the whole kit. As I finished making my mental notes, the words of the Captain echoed in my head as I thought "Trumpeter, your AV-8B is f*&!$d up!"

 

This is going to be a multi-part review spread out over the course of the week and ending this weekend. This will allow me to cover all areas of the kit, as well as make another trip to Cherry Point on Saturday to take more photos and measurements of the lone Day Attack AV-8B to finalize my review.

 

 

I'll start with the external stores (photos of all these sprues/parts will be added when part two is posted):

 

LAU-7 missile launchers for stations 1 and 7. The kit includes two decent AIM-9 Sidewinders, but no rails to put them on.

 

LAU-117 missile launchers for the Mavericks. The kit also includes two decent AGM-65 Maverick missiles, but again, no rails to put them on.

 

MER's (Multiple Ejector Racks) cannot be carried by the Harrier, yet two of them are included. They are not very good either.

 

TER's (Triple Ejector Racks) can be carried by the Harrier, but the ones included aren't done very well. I would recommend replacing them with the TER's included in the Tamiya 1/32 F-4 Phantom kits.

 

Sprue H (x2) should simply be discarded as all of the MK-82 bombs are incorrectly shaped, what appear to be M-117 750 lb bombs are not used by the AV-8B, and better AGM-65 Mavericks (along with LAU-117 launchers) can be found in the Academy F/A-18C and D kits.

 

Sprue WY includes the TER and MER bomb racks. However, I also recommend discarding this sprue and replacing the TER's with those found in the Tamiya F-4's.

 

Sprue WN (x2) include GBU-12 laser guided bombs (a total of 6 bombs). They are OK, but should be much better for 1/32 scale. While useable, I recommend replacing them with the GBU-12 included in the Academy 1/32 F-16C or the ones available from Avionix/Black Box mastered by yours truly

 

Sprue WC (x2) include the AIM-9 missiles. Not quite up to par for 1/32 scale and quite useless without rails to load them on.

 

Sprue Q includes the A/A49E-10 Aircraft 25MM Gun/Ammo Pak. Unfortunately, this is wrong as well. The left pod contains the gun while the right pod contains the ammunition. Trumpeter has you put single barrel cannons in both pods. The Crossover Fairing (kit part Q5) which covers the ammunition feed links between the two pods isn't remotely close to the correct shape.

 

Sprue N (x2) include the fuel tanks. They are passable. However, like most of the ordnance, they are incorrectly shaped and should not be used.

 

 

In Part II tomorrow night, I will cover the forward fuselage section and the cockpit.

 

Dave

[DMunne]

Thanks Dave,

 

At least all of the "gripes" so far can be fixed from my spares box. Perhaps we can find "some new resin" company to produce a set of LAU-7's for us! Looking forward to part II.

 

Best of luck with your ankles, I'll keep you in my prayers.

 

Sincerely,

Crash

[thierry laurent]

Very Interesting.

 

As I already mentioned, I intended to do a tweak list for the kit but as you're already doing the job, may I use such info to format it as a tweak list? This would allow us to put it permanently on the site as forums have a volatility that do not foster visibility of the information...

 

Thierry

[Scotsman]

Thanks Dave .

 

As Crash said , anyone who has built an Academy F-18 should have more than enough bits to overcome the problems highlighted do far I guess.

 

Trumpter have never had a great rep as regards weaponry , however as usual its disapointing they mad so many basic errors..

 

keep it coming Dave ...

[tigger]

Thank you so much Dave so far you have confirmed what I found with the build I did. I will keep watching this one closely.

 

By the way Sorry to hear about your ankles. I am currently fighting the MOD because of my Knees being messed up whilst I was in service, they eventually conceeded that a back injury was thier fault recently but it has taken so long to get them to admit it happened whilst I was in service.

 

John

[Dave Roof]

Thanks Dave,

 

At least all of the "gripes" so far can be fixed from my spares box. Perhaps we can find "some new resin" company to produce a set of LAU-7's for us! Looking forward to part II.

 

Best of luck with your ankles, I'll keep you in my prayers.

 

Sincerely,

Crash

 

As I retire in March, I'll have plenty of time to not only finish some of the masters I've started over the past couple of years, I'll be able to get new ones done. LAU-7 launchers and a DECM pod are on the list. I'll try to find an interested resin company to buy the masters as I'm not too sure I want to get involved in resin production at this time.

 

I appreciate the prayers, but I'll be fine. They're putting in a screw that will limit movement, so it is more of an inconvenience than anything else. The only personal downfall is that I won't be able to run again.......and I love to run. Oh well, I'll get lots of modeling done!

 

 

Very Interesting.

 

As I already mentioned, I intended to do a tweak list for the kit but as you're already doing the job, may I use such info to format it as a tweak list? This would allow us to put it permanently on the site as forums have a volatility that do not foster visibility of the information...

 

Thierry

 

Thierry,

 

You may use whatever you want for your tweak list. I'll get your PM answered this evening regarding the other questions you had.

 

 

Thanks Dave .

 

As Crash said , anyone who has built an Academy F-18 should have more than enough bits to overcome the problems highlighted do far I guess.

 

Trumpter have never had a great rep as regards weaponry , however as usual its disapointing they mad so many basic errors..

 

keep it coming Dave ...

 

Academy needs to seriously consider releasing a weapons set in 1/32 scale! They're stuff is the most accurate in kit form and with all of the stuff Trumpeter keeps messing up, Academy would make a killing!

 

Yeah, it definitely 'looks' like a Harrier, but there are a lot of issues with it. Honestly, it looks like they rushed it just to get it out and cut a lot of corners on details.

 

 

Thank you so much Dave so far you have confirmed what I found with the build I did. I will keep watching this one closely.

 

By the way Sorry to hear about your ankles. I am currently fighting the MOD because of my Knees being messed up whilst I was in service, they eventually conceeded that a back injury was thier fault recently but it has taken so long to get them to admit it happened whilst I was in service.

 

John

 

Thank you John. For those that don't care about the 'issues', your build should serve as inspiration as it shows what can be done with the kit despite its problems. Nothing like good old fashion modeling skills to turn a lemon into lemonade!

 

I have my full physical with the VA this morning.........We'll see how that goes!

 

Dave

[Derek B]

Good review thus far Dave - all very good gen indeed ('the word 'gen' being UK RAF slang for good and accurate info). Good luck with your fitness assessment today.

 

Cheers

 

Derek

[ScottsGT]

Yeah, it definitely 'looks' like a Harrier, but there are a lot of issues with it. Honestly, it looks like they rushed it just to get it out and cut a lot of corners on details.

 

 

That's funny!!! It's been on all the "Coming in 20XX" pages for the past 5 or 6 years! I think they have had plenty of time to get it right. They just decided not to. I'm getting one though! If I can make do with the A-7's, this is no problem!!

[Firecaptain]

Thanks for what you've done so far Dave looking forward to the rest of the review.....looks like a lot of plastic to be throwin away.....

WHY does Trumpy keep doing this to us and insist on "guessing" at shapes and specs?

 

(know what you're going through with the ankles....I've got bad knees, hip and back)

[t.valdez]

I hesitated getting the Harrier AV-8B, simply because it's not my favorite variant of the AC. The variant that I am hoping Trumpeter will release some day is the Sea Harrier variant used in the Falklands war campaign. Can you tell me if there is the potential for a Sea Harrier based on the major components of the AV-8B? Or do you think, in your opinion, a resin aftermarket conversion set is what's needed to get a Sea Harrier out of this current iteration?

Biding my time and saving my nickels for a Sea Harrier.

[DavidJMason]

Hi Dave Roof,

 

Please keep your comments on the Trumpeter Harrier (early version) comming. I will be meeting with Trumpeter executives this week at the IPMS Philippines National Contest in Manila and we will be discussing thse discrepancies. The gun pod error will definately be changed. See photo

 

Also please note that when we reviewed the test shot of this kit earlier this year the weapons were not included. When I recieved my kit two days ago this was the first time I had seen the weapons.

 

Also be advised that this kit is the first of four Harrier kits Trumpeter will do. Next up will be the night attack version, then the B plus, then the GR-7. Whatever discrepancies noted in this kit will be corrected in the future kits.

 

Capt Dave Mason

IPMS Philippines

IPMS USA

[Tomcat Fanatic]

And all that errors come in for 120+$... thanks but no thanks..

[DavidJMason]

The price of the Trumpeter Harrier in Hong Kong and the Philippines is approximately $60 USD. The reason it's much more expensive in the US and Europe is because YOU the buyer must pay extra for shipping, import taxes, the distributers fees, and the Hobby shop/Mail order mark-up. $60 is a reasonable price for this kit.

 

Dave Mason

[Barry]

The price of the Trumpeter Harrier in Hong Kong and the Philippines is approximately $60 USD. The reason it's much more expensive in the US and Europe is because YOU the buyer must pay extra for shipping, import taxes, the distributers fees, and the Hobby shop/Mail order mark-up. $60 is a reasonable price for this kit.

 

Dave Mason

I'm afraid Dave is right; it’s the price of all the other cost that drives these import kit prices.

Every one of us I suspect would pay $60.00 for these kits without so much as a squeak; I know I would!

 

Barry

[DaveJ]

The price of the Trumpeter Harrier in Hong Kong and the Philippines is approximately $60 USD. The reason it's much more expensive in the US and Europe is because YOU the buyer must pay extra for shipping, import taxes, the distributers fees, and the Hobby shop/Mail order mark-up. $60 is a reasonable price for this kit.

 

Dave Mason

 

I've been saying this for a long while now. (usually every time Trumpeter releases a new kit) There are quite a few people in the chain between Trumpeter and the customer, and all of 'em have their hand out for a taste of the action. It's a very normal part of the importing and distribution process, so it's not like I'm calling foul on anybody, but it sure does add up.