NEW HARRIER AFTERMARKET
Four new improvement sets from Czech firm Brengun are a boon for anyone building Hasegawa's US Marine Corps AV-8B in 1/72 scale, as CHRIS CLIFFORD explains.
Hasegawa’s AV-8B Harrier II kits have been on the market since 2000, and have appeared in various re-boxings. If you have any of the iterations sitting in your stash, you may want to consider the new detail sets from Brengun. Four packages have been released, and will certainly add more refinement than what’s offered on the styrene components.
BRL72182 (above) provides new ‘furniture’ for the cockpit, in the shape of resin sidewalls, side consoles and two alternative instrument panels – one for the AV-8B night attack and radar-equipped ‘Plus’, and the other for the early Desert Storm-era AV-8B. Additionally, there is a small but busy photo-etched (PE) metal fret carrying seat harnesses, rudder pedals, a head-up display frame, seat firing handle, antennas and other items. A small acetate sheet is printed with outlines for the HUD glass. 10.02 €
BRL72183 (above) is a simple affair, comprising four replacement (and better detailed) jet exhaust nozzles, with very thin inner vanes. 8.30 €
BRL72184 (above) offers a night-attack nose unit with the forward-looking infrared fairing on top… handy for conversion if your kit has the plain early or radar nose. 6.96 €
BRL72185 has new resin wheels and main and nosewheels (with a leg for the latter), outrigger wheels and PE oleo scissor parts. 7.82 €
The overall quality of parts is good… just take care when removing the resin items from their casting blocks, to avoid damage. All these are available from Brengun direct: www.brengun.cz
