Following its successful introduction into service with the Royal Airforce, the Harrier generated considerable interest for export orders to other countries. The largest demand for the vertical take-off and landing aircraft came from the United States Marine Corps, who saw the excellent potential to provide close air support while operating from the decks of the smaller amphibious landing ships supporting the Marines. Starting in the early 1970s, the Harrier entered service with the USMC. The AV-8A Harrier was used by the Marines until 1979, when it was replaced by the AV-8C, and today the USMC flies the AV-8B Harrier II.

Beginning with the rest of the fuselage assembly (from Part I of my review), the fit of the two fuselage halves was good, but my alignment of the bomb bay catwalk and structure must have been a little off, since it’s slightly closer to one side. I installed most of the glass except for the radio hatch and nose; the waist and nose glass had to be sanded to fit. I used Micro Mask to mask the windows since I couldn’t find an aftermarket mask set for the E model. Some spots must have not been covered, because it was a lot of work to clean off overspray.

The Su-33 Flanker-D is the carrier based twin-engine air superiority fighter derived from the Su-27. It was first used back in 1995 and officially entered service in 1998. However with the break up of the Soviet Union only 24 of this aircraft were produced. In comparison to the Su-27, the Su-33 has a strengthened undercarriage and structure, folding wings and stabilizers, better engines and of course the wings are larger to increase lift.