RAF Harrier GR.3 diorama in 1/72

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A RAF Harrier GR.3 diorama in 1/72 has been one of those ideas that are bubbling away in the back of my mind for quite some time.

The story

Somewhere in West Germany, circa 1980. A RAF Harrier GR.3 pilot is getting his new orders from a British Army officer for his next exercise sortie. Also in the scene is a NATO umpire watching the exchange of orders, a couple of RAF Regiment figures, one having a brew, plus an erk trying to keep out of the way by looking busy. It’s early days of the exercise, as they are not yet in an NBC state.

So when I finally had all the components in my stash, I decided to give it a go. These included:

Italeria 1/72 Harrier GR.3

Picked this kit up at Taunton Hobbycraft. It was the Falklands War edition, but luckily for me, I had some spare decals from an old Airfix Harrier to fit better for a Harrier based in West Germany during the Cold War. I’ll post a link at the end of the blog if you want to purchase a Italeria Harrier.

Airfix 1/76 LWB Land Rover

I always try to keep a stash of useful vehicle kits, including the Airfix (originally JB Models) and 1/76 Land Rovers. I’m not too worried about mixing 1/76 with 1/72 for dioramas (see my Oxford diecast blog post). I’ll post a link at the end of the blog to the Airix site to purchase the LWB Landy.

Airfix 1/72 NATO Ground Crew

Picked up the Airfix NATO Ground Crew many years ago. It would be nice for Airfix to re-release them at some point. But they are ideal for this diorama.

Elhiem 1/72 British Army figures

Getting British Cold War figures in 1/72 scale is quite a challenge. Lucky for us Cold War builders, Elhiem do a nice range of war gaming figures from the Cold War era.

Building the RAF Harrier GR.3 diorama in 1/72 (pictures).

Work in progress Harrier GR.3 diorama

Image 5 of 17

Next step was to create some trees, using wire and string. The wire was purchased from the local garden centre, and the string is that very coarse stuff. Having twisted these by hand, I have since purchased a small hand drill to help with this job!