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Revell Tornado GR1 1/72 - when to give up?


Battle

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For the past 3 weeks I've been building a Revell Tornado GR1 1/72 (posted here because it's in a late 90s scheme, so after the Cold War) and it's now about 90% finished, or rather it was until an hour ago when I managed to knock both pylons off the left wing within 5 minutes of each other. This is something I'd been worried about doing right from the start due to the ridiculously fragile mechanism for holding them on.  I've tried making replacement swivel mounts from fine wire but that was going no-where, and even simply gluing the pylons back on has proved impossible so far, as the glue isn't getting any purchase on the gloss finish of the wing and the size of the 2250 litre drop tanks means that they topple over when the aircraft is upside down and cause the new joint to break. I had wanted to build a Tornado for quite a while so to reach a situation like this where I can't make any more progress is rather irritating and seems like a waste of £13! Right now it's looking like it will probably be consigned to the dustbin as I simply don't have the room for a 'shelf of doom' or similar. Has anyone else had a similar experience with this kit?

Edited by Battle
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I have never built the Revell kit although I am about to start on one soon but your experience is rather par for the course with every other Tornado kit I have ever built.

 

What I have done in the past is to fix broken off pylons back in place by using a fine drill piece on a pin drill to make a hole in the pylon , superglue a section of paperclip into place and once cured superglue the pylon and store into a fixed position using the locating hole in the wing.     The combination of the strength of the superglue and rigidity of the paperclip being secured into the parts at both ends has always worked for me for wing stores problems and for those other Tornado bugbears of broken main undercarriage legs and tailerons snapping off at the swivel joint.

 

Be a pity to see all of your work so far wasted so hope this helps. 

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Had a similar problem with a 1/48 Italeri Tornado and took a similar approach to the above except instead of inserting paperclip I drilled holes large enough in both the pylons and wings to insert tiny neodymium magnets. Now the pylons simply snap on and off as required.

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Thanks for the advice. I might have a go with drilling a hole and using a paperclip. Unfortunately I won't be able to make any progress any time soon as I need to go away very soon for a few months for work so I'll just try and get other parts of the model finished for now and try and fix the pylons if I get a chance in the future. The tailerons also snapped off earlier in the build but I was able to glue those back on in a fixed position. 

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On 6/27/2017 at 10:15 PM, Nocoolname said:

Had a similar problem with a 1/48 Italeri Tornado and took a similar approach to the above except instead of inserting paperclip I drilled holes large enough in both the pylons and wings to insert tiny neodymium magnets. Now the pylons simply snap on and off as required.

 

This is a great idea! I'll look into the possibility of doing this. 

 

16 hours ago, Nocoolname said:

Oddly enough I also had the tailerons snap. Sorted it with aluminium rod inserted into the tailerons which then just slot into the available holes in the fuselage 

 

I was quite happy to glue the tailerons in a fixed position but this is a good idea too.

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Hi, Battle,

 

In my first Tornado I had the same problem and simply glued the pylon to the wing (it was not yet painted, but it could be done anyway). In every new one I have built since, I glue them from the start (the swivelling wing is after all s mimickry; I choose the wing position and glue it fixed)

 

Fernando

Edited by Fernando
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I built the Revell 1/72 Tornado GR1 some years back, and came away from the experience convinced that it was the best Tornado kit that you can get in that scale.  I didn't have any of the problems that you mentioned, but I did have problems with warping on some fuselage parts which, although a serious problem, I regarded as a one-off and couldn't blame the kit, and would love to build another one day.

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On 6/29/2017 at 11:25 AM, Fernando said:

Hi, Battle,

 

In my first Tornado I had the same problem and simply glued the pylon to the wing (it was not yet painted, but it could be done anyway). In every new one I have built since, I glue them from the start (the swivelling wing is after all s mimickry; I choose the wing position and glue it fixed)

 

Fernando

 

Thanks Fernando. I agree the wing-swinging is a bit of a gimmick so it's not really the end of the world that I've had to fix them in position. 

 

On 6/29/2017 at 2:51 PM, Hepster said:

 couldn't blame the kit, and would love to build another one day.

 

It is a fantastic kit of a very nice aircraft. Other than the poor painting and decal instructions I would rank it very highly indeed. 

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Built a few of these, scratch off your paint and superglue the length of the pylon to the wing. The alternative is go drill a hole and use rod, brass normally because it cuts easier but paperclip will do. Just make sure you cut the length before inserting and dont make the hole too big, you wamt a snug fit

 

Good luck

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