Master modeler Michael
Kirchoff has once again produced a stunning cockpit detail set. This most
recent set contains 19 cast resin pieces for the old Monogram Harrier. Below you'll see the major components of
the detail set in close-up detail photos...the detail on this set is very crisp
and flawless. The seat is a special thing, because to the best of my
knowledge no one makes an aftermarket seat for this model. So up till now
you were stuck with the kit seat and it's molded into the cockpit.
Needless to say it's a very nice seat...typical Black Box perfection. The
only flaw I found on my sample set was a slight warp on the thin shade cover
above the instrument panel. I quickly fixed this slight flaw in under 2
minutes with a pair of tweezers and a bit of steam from my kettle (before and
after pictures are below in this review). This little flaw was no big deal
at all, but I thought it was best to fix it and show that it's no big deal to
deal with. I could have done a slightly better job with a few more minutes
of time, but I was a bit rushed for time. This set includes some very tiny thin parts for the sides of
the HUD display and these are very nicely done. The cockpit tub is way out
of the league when compared to the kit cockpit tub. The Black Box tub has
detail galore all over the place. A big improvement over the bland kit
tub. Yup, all in all a very nice set.
This was added
after my original review.
There seems to be
some fit problems with the seat being too wide for the cockpit tub. After
following this for the past day or so on the ARC dissucssion board, I decided
to haul out my Black Box AV-8B cockpit set and see what was going on. To
ensure I was accurate I hauled out my micrometer. Here's what I
found.....sorry measurements are in mm but it will still make sense (roughly
24mm to the inch in case you're curious)
The rear bottom of
the seat is 9.9mm wide
The front bottom of the seat is 9.6mm wide
The rear top of the seat is 9.7mm wide
The front top of seat is 9.7mm wide
When I say "front top" or "rear top" I'm referring to the
part of the seat that will touch the inner sidewalls of the cockpit tub (I hope
that makes sense). So I'm not actually talking about the top of the
seat.....just the upper most part of the seat that could give width problems in
the fit.
Now the cockpit tub
measures at 9.8mm at the rear and 9.5 mm at the front part by the front of the
seat. So the seat is too wide for the cockpit tub.
But I also noticed the sidewalls right next to the seat were wider at the bottom
than the top. This seems to be a case of "too soft" resin being
handled before it was fully hardened and I doubt this flaw was part of the
masters that Michael Kirchoff made up for Black Box. Do you know what I going to
say next? ;-)
I hauled out my trusty electric kettle and made a cup of tea.....then I used a
pair of tweezers to hold the tub for 3 to 5 seconds over the steam at the
boiling kettle opening. CAREFUL OF STEAM BURNS. I then widened the opening for
the seat in the cockpit tub a tiny bit. The resin becomes very easy to adjust
after 3 to 5 seconds of a steam.
My seat now rattles in the cockpit tub opening. You can always sand a bit of
resin from the outside of the cockpit tub if it's too wide to fit in the model.
Also invest in a micrometer....they are critical for this hobby when you get
into problems.
Steve Bamford
(click on pictures below to bring up
full screen pictures)