1/700 EV 3D Printed AV-8Bs

[Bill Oreto]

This is for all the 1/700 flat deck gator guys like me. I purchased EV�s 1/700 AV-8Bs for my flat deck gators. 4 come in a nice little plastic box and a little baggie within. The 4 aircraft are printed in that brittle dark gray resin we are all used to by now. The aircraft are beautiful prints, very nice detail of fuselage. All attachment points are from beneath. Very intimidating. The attachment points are tail and belly staying clear of nose, belly and wing landing gear. Still with all the many attachment points one has to be careful that you don�t want to cut away the landing gear. Recommend a magna visor and lots of light.

My cutting tool of choice is Premium OR Grade Castroviejo 5.5� straight cut micro surgical scissors found on Amazon for $11.00. Very sharp and I keep them in their little plastic scabbard when not in use. It allows me to provide as much pressure as needed for the cut. Thicker cuts different cutting tools. Back to the AV-8B. There are very fine attachment points under wings they have to be cut away for the obvious reason the aircraft won�t sit right on landing gear. On the outer wings there is a wheeled support strut for the wings. This is replicated in the 3D print so be careful and identify what is an attachment point and what is not.

The weapons pylons are empty but printed on the base of the cradle sprue are printed Mk82 bombs, another bomb I can�t identify, what appears to be Hellfire missiles and the nicest 1/700 3D printed Sidewinder missiles I have seen to date. No drop tanks. Plenty of spare weapons if you wish to add Sidewinders to other aircraft other than AV-8B

Typically I don�t like add on accessories to any 1/700 aircraft. Like putting pants on flies. In this case I have no choice but to use them if I want my Harriers to look business like. Here I probably will place the Harrier on its back in an upright tweezer. I will use a dental micro-brush to apply white glue to pylon and a Pic-N-Stic (another dental tool) to place weapon upon pylon.

There are no decals for national insignia or Marines but I believe you can find these at Starfighter Decals.

Highly recommended AV-8B other than the pain to add weapons to pylons. Another 3D printer is printing 1/700 AV-8Bs for me with loaded pylons . When I receive them I will compare but so far EV�s AV-8Bs rule.

[Bill Oreto]

Ok I stated �No drop tanks�. I was in error. There are two sets of cylindrical, pointed nose with tail fins offerings on each resin cradle. One set very large and smaller set. The larger of the sets are the drop tanks and the smaller the MK-82s. I checked images and yup there they are. Huge tanks for such a small aircraft.