Team Yankee: Harrier Jump Jets

Recently I have been reading the rules for Team Yankee with the aim to paint up a small playable force - I eventually settled on a Soviet Afghantsy force, but when the Harrier Jump Jets for the British were released, I couldn't resist painting some up.

The reason was because as a 7-year old child, I had received this kit - the actual model has long been lost in the midst of time, but I can still remember assembling it and studying the colour scheme to determine how to paint it (along with a trip to the model shop to get all the necessary colours, in enamel no less!). So seeing the Team Yankee release, I was determined to paint up a box in the old faithful colour scheme.

With the Team Yankee versions, they come mostly pre-assembled, with a few extreme details such as the nose, wing armaments and tail fins to be attached. I had done all of this but left the armaments till last as I knew they'd be mostly a uniform green colour, and it would allow me access to paint the undersides of the wing. An initial undercoat of Vallejo Air camo green with the airbrush to start. A soft highlight of camo green mixed with rotting flesh was applied,

I then masked off areas I wanted to keep green, so that the model was ready for the next colour. I had cut the camouflage mask out of soft masking tape, and made sure it was attached firmly to the body of the aircraft.

The next camouflage was a spray of Vallejo Game Air shadow grey.

The panels were then given a highlight with Vallejo Game Air wolf grey, still using the airbrush.

The masking tape was removed, and it was time to pick out the details. I washed the panel lines and did some weathering using Army Painter Strong Tone and Dark Tone. The canopy and air vents were picked out with black. The armaments were applied, and were given a coat of camo green.

To apply the decals, I got ready my Mr. Mark Softer and Mark Fit Strong.

I then chose the decals I wanted to apply, and with the above mediums, got them into the right place.

Finally, glued in the flight stems and the harriers were ready!