The Indian Navy is one
of the few forces in the world flying the Sea Harrier (SHAR) FRS Mk 51 as a part
of its naval capability. Deliveries of the aircraft started in the second half
of 1984, and as of date, 15 Mk 51's and four T-Mk 60s dual seat trainers are in
operation. They fly with the No. 300 White Tigers Squadron, operating out of INS
Hansa at Dabolim in sunny, beautiful Goa.
Sadly,
these aircraft might be mothballed with the recent signing of a deal between
India and Russia for the 'Admiral Gorshkov' carrier, which will
reportedly use the sea variant of the Mig-29, called the Mig-29K.
The model I built is
the IN 613, delivered on 24 July 1990. Indian Navy Sea Harriers use Magic-IIs
for air defense. In the anti-ship role, the Sea Harrier can carry two Sea Eagle
AShMs. The drop tanks are also different from normal British SHARs, in that they
have fins on the rear.
Modeling the
Tamiya SHAR
Modeling the
Cockpit
I used the Neomega resin
cockpit set for the SHAR, since the existing cockpit tub is simply awful.
The set comes out superbly, and the cockpit inner details were painted
with some artistic licence. Quite a bit of surgery was required on the
cockpit areas of the kit to accommodate the kit in the end, and it came
out beautifully.
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The fuselage
and undercarriage
The fuselage and
undercarriage areas were developed next. I added framing to the wheel well
covers. I scratchbuilt the front nose wheel light by heating the tip of a
piece of clear styrene, and drilling a small hole at its rear to insert a
small bit of wire. This was then attached to the nose wheel by drilling a
hole clear through it and pulling the wire through. The resin side walls
were stuck to the fuselage sides in the cockpit and painted. The Pegasus
engine and other wheel assemblies were made and kept aside.
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Re-Paneling
and Inlet vane carving
The model came with raised
panel lines, so I decided to rebuild the whole by scratching all lines
with a needle in a pin vise. Also, at this time, the inlet vanes on the
engine inlets were carved out with a #11 knife, since these are open when
the SHAR is on the ground. Wing tip lights were carved out, and replaced
with clear styrene (having a drop of paint in a small hole in them). A
needle was also added to the nose to simulate the probe.
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Painting and
Decaling
The model was then painted
with a home-brewed acrylic paint in the appropriate colors of Extra Dark
Sea Grey, White undersides and black nose. I made the decals for the plane
myself, which included the roundels and Hindi lettering, on an inkjet
printer. The decals were sprayed with a coat of Future, and allowed to dry
for a full week before application onto the model. Finally, a coat of
Future followed by a coat of acrylic matt finish completed the model
Note : The roundels
were applied on the under wing surfaces later. This is why they are not
visible in the picture below.
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Some Final notes
1. I
have not loaded this
plane with any goodies like the drop tanks and missiles, for the simple reason
that I didn't have them . The kit does come with a set of drop tanks, but I
ran into problems while trying to add the fins.
2. Also, I had made the sensor on
the nose, but it broke off at the time of the photo shoot .
3. The leaping tiger
decal on the nose didn't come out as well as I expected, so I have to reprint
and get it done. Oh well, guess I
still have some more work to do.....
Otherwise, I found
this kit quite challenging, and not as problematic as a lot of other people have
found it to be. I enjoyed the experience, and this being my first kit in 1/48,
it made it doubly so.
All the best, and
Happy Modeling in 2004!!!
Shekar
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