Tornado 1:32 (Revell)

[silverburn]

Hi all,

Well, after a summer of racing and generally good weather, I've eventually got back behind the modelling desk! And wow, you should have seen the dust...and the unfinished ship, I was adamant I would get proper sail material for and finish. 6 months ago...

But I thought I'd kick off with this one instead, since I started my modelling last year as a "plane man". While it's the Tiger meet edition, I figured a desert scheme would be more appropriate. Something in the "Iraq: the sequel" theme (all suggestions/reference material links welcome). Also, I prefer my models to be OOB where possible, but I can make exceptions, where the after market is an exceptional improvement on the original. So suggestions please!

Being a relative newbie to the modelling scene, I've been conscious of avoiding the stalwarts - spitfires, hurries, Corsairs, Fxx's and tornados. Purely because some of the work you guys do is stunning, and the inferiority complex kicks in! So it is with some trepidation I start this one.

I'll have this one on the ground "all out" - mainly because it cost £25, and I want my modelling money's worth, so if it's in the kit, it's getting built!

A huge steaming pile of....plastic.

Woah, Decal overload..:

I always like to kick off with ordinance, and this one is no different. So here is my combined 1:32 boom stick collection including stuff from this kit, in various states of non-completion. I'm open to suggestions on load-out, but I do like a fully laden beast where possible. Hopefully you can make out all the various bits. If you can't see a good loadout here, just shout one out anyway - I'll go aftermarket if need be. I wanna see the underkarts groaning under a full loadout

Edited March 28, 2011 by silverburn

[bentwaters81tfw]

If you're gonna load it up, I'd suggest some metal u/c from SAC. £12.50 from AtoZee.

[Mark M]

are you looking to make a desert storm bird? if so pm me it will be worth it

[silverburn]

Hi again all,

An end of day pic.

- Rear wheel bays painted and in

- Front bay painted

- Pylons assembled and seam tidied

- All stores built and smoothed, some even primed (the tanks mainly - wanted to check my seams)

- Wheels built

- Tail components assembled and seam-tidied

All pretty easy stuff so far, nothing too much out of shape. Wheel bays a little lacking in detail though.

I think the main news is - I may spring for the "big" flightpath kit for this; a lot of the finish leaves a lot to be desired. The IP especially will be hard to work with (for me, anyway).

PS - anyone know what this big tank-style thing is in the kit? There's only one of them, and can't find any build instructions. Seems to have little details front and back compared to the wing tanks, and the obvious hole at the back.

[xlpainter]

hi i think it is the refueling pod it goes on the rear of one of the shoulder pylons never seen one fitted to a british one it was in the earlier ids release by revell i think you will need to get british weaponry for a desert scheme

[spike7451]

You'll need the metal undercart.The one sitting on my shelf has had the undercart glued & re-glued so many times it's got a drunken lean to it.The stores you have are useless if you want to make a RAF GR1 apart from the drop tanks,Sidewinders & BOZ-107 pod.Non of the other stores are applicable to the GR1,The Stormshadow pod you have is only applicable to GR4's.

You'll need to make the following mods to make a Gulf GR1;

Add control panel to the top right side of the pilots IP.

Add MACE Crutching fairings on the pylons & fill in the notches for part's 129/130. You wont find these on RAF or Saudi jets.

Add LRMTS fairings to right of nose gear door.

Add various Airials to the fin & other areas.

Add Skyshadow pod to Left outer wing pylon.

One thing you'll need to do & is missing on every Tornado kit,is to add the APU exhaust just behind the right wing.This is such a prominent feature on the Tornado I dont know how they missed it off!!

APU:

If you want them,you're welcome to the kit decals for "Gulf Killer" that are in my kit if you want them.Also I have a sticky in the resources board on the Tornado.

Merv

[T-Tango]

Boy, oh boy, this is gonna be quite a build.

[Jabba]

hi i think it is the refueling pod it goes on the rear of one of the shoulder pylons never seen one fitted to a british one it was in the earlier ids release by revell i think you will need to get british weaponry for a desert scheme

You are indeed correct. The RAF were thinking of trying to get some of these from the German Navy at the time of the Gulf War for low level refuelling but it did not get very far.

[Alan P]

the mighty 1/32 Tornado!

I would recommend you do get the Flightpath set if you can, but if you prefer OOB then it probably isn't for you. I built a GR.4 using his set and it was a great enhancement, but if you are concerned solely about the cockpit, the Revell cockpit isn't bad on its own though, here's a before and after I did vs. the FP version:

Kit version:

Flightpath:

The other absolute MUST for this kit are the MB.10 seats from Paragon. They are so very much better than the kit version that they are worth every penny.

Cheers,

Al

[silverburn]

Cheers spike & mike, thanks for the pointers!

I've managed to contradict my own ethos almost immediately by springing for the full flightpath set, coming to my postbox in the near future. Oh well. Figured that'll equip me with all the parts i need, so any mistakes will be down to my muppetry, pure and simple.

mark and I will rummage through his material for suitable squadrons and load outs; hopefully there will be a "Scottish" one in there, but I'll not be too bothered if I have to go "English" ;-)

Much to do - but as a modeller i recon its sometimes good to try and be as accurate as your ability allows, and a tornado is a good place to start. :-)

Kicking off whats left of this afternoon on a oob pit build, to get my eye in before the flightpath one arrives.

Edited September 12, 2010 by silverburn

[Shaun]

The Flightpath set is great, if a little complex!

A nice touch in this set is new top surfaces for the top of the intakes, on the kit these areas lacks any detail.

Shaun.

[Mark M]

pm on way, also looking at your stores you need a skyshaddow, i cant remember id the flightpath set has one

[James G]

Hi Silverburn, looking good. That kit has a staggering amount of ordnance with it. I have a cheeky request - if you are not going to use the Storm Shadows, could I procure the decals from them (assuming they are kit part, not the FP ones). Can do payment or a swap of some kind. If you are going to use them, is there any chance of a decal sheet scan? PM me if interested! Cheers, James.

[silverburn]

Hi Silverburn, looking good. That kit has a staggering amount of ordnance with it. I have a cheeky request - if you are not going to use the Storm Shadows, could I procure the decals from them (assuming they are kit part, not the FP ones). Can do payment or a swap of some kind. If you are going to use them, is there any chance of a decal sheet scan? PM me if interested! Cheers, James.

Fraid not - these came without decals by design. I was planning to paint the lines on myself, and scavenge some generic text decals from other kits. I may still be using these, I'm afraid... ...on my 1:32 swordfish maybe...

The ordinance on my table is actually a combination of 1:32 stuff, from my (now dusty, half completed) av-8b, lightning and hunters. And this kit obviously.

Photos of oob tub and seats to follow, once the muppets at talk talk get my broadband running again (currently on 3G on iPad). Good job I got the practise in before the flightpath stuff arrives...I'm rubbish! Lots of splurgy buttons and instruments, and wobbly seatbelt lines. My drybrushing isn't up to scratch either, but you'll see shortly.

Edited September 14, 2010 by silverburn

[Mark M]

e,mails sent if you want the decals let me know

[silverburn]

e,mails sent if you want the decals let me know

Yes please mark, that would be great.

In the meantime, photo's as promised. Nothing glued, and some bits not fitted - need to see how much I'm getting in the flightpath first.

Spent much of time paint with a toothpick! It works ok, but I still managed to "overdo" some wires/cables and buttons. I also "wobbled" with the furry a few times too.

Would love to know how you guys manage to get yours so beautifully consistent and realistic (I've still not sprung for that airbrush yet - so furries and rattle cans for me). If it's just pure skill, I'm deeply envious....

Instruments filled using a toothpick, and dripping in black, adding a drop of gloss on top. Or just using gloss black. Disadvantage to this, is you must dilute, or the paint swamps the underneath detail (so it won't appear when trying to "raise" it). Ho hum. Ideally you want a plain flat back panel, with some decalled instruments, and a overlay with holes for the instruments. If you're crap like me that is...

Edited September 14, 2010 by silverburn

[Mark M]

pm me your address and ill send them in the morning

[spike7451]

Nice work silverburn,

You'll need to give the pit a wash as the gray looks to light to me.The headrest on the seat is black,not green & the big loops on the left of the seat's you can cut off as you'd never see a seat with that fitted on an operational jet.

The loop is meant to be the air hose to connect the PSU part of the seat to the pilots g.suit & is actually kept on the g.suit as it needs to be tested before flight for leaks.

Cockpit floor on the GR1 is painted in grass green non slip paint & black on the GR4.I use fine sandpaper cut & painted to replicate this.

Dont forget to check my sticky as the's cockpit & seat photo's in there.

Merv

[silverburn]

Nice work silverburn,

You'll need to give the pit a wash as the gray looks to light to me.The headrest on the seat is black,not green & the big loops on the left of the seat's you can cut off as you'd never see a seat with that fitted on an operational jet.

The loop is meant to be the air hose to connect the PSU part of the seat to the pilots g.suit & is actually kept on the g.suit as it needs to be tested before flight for leaks.

Cockpit floor on the GR1 is painted in grass green non slip paint & black on the GR4.I use fine sandpaper cut & painted to replicate this.

Dont forget to check my sticky as the's cockpit & seat photo's in there.

Merv

Yes, I've already noticed this - I'm hoping much of the flightpath stuff replaces this, as this has been a bit of a dry run. And yes, I thought the grey was too light too, and I'll go a shade darker on the resin (or just start again on this one). I might skip the sandpaper, but will definitely go with a more relevant floor colour. And i'll be making a much better effort with the resin seat, don't worry! Thanks for the spots though.

In other news, tonight progress has been on bits and bobs, while I wait for the flightpath kit. Have noticed a few issues...

First, the easy stuff - Radome and internals done. Gloss black will "tighten" overnight - this is fresh gloss.

Now...the saga begins...

Part 1: The pylons. These look dreadful. You can drive a bus in the gap in the leading edge when the wings are swept back, and they're unbelievably loose when swept forward. The general attachment system is pretty weak, considering I *may* run resin loadouts. Suggestions?

Here's the culprit:

...and from the top...

Part 2: The fuselage. Attached the tail to the top (seems safe to do, and performed a dry fit of the two halves. And look what I saw - a massive gap between the (horrid) engine fronts panel, and the top. You can squash it down, but I shouldn't need to. Is this gap normal? Should I worry? Only the two halves just now, but feels pretty flimsy.

...and some sanding due after the tail-fin added - it was gap-tastic.

Edited September 14, 2010 by silverburn

[spike7451]

Dont forget to cut the hole for the APU,it's missing on the kit but such a prominent feature..see the pic I posted above.

Merv

[silverburn]

Dont forget to cut the hole for the APU,it's missing on the kit but such a prominent feature..see the pic I posted above.

Merv

Yep, all in hand. Reference pics are great - got exactly that grey on hand, and the 3 shades of green (floor, seat & seat cover). Can't wait for the flightpath now! I see some shadow storms fitted to the belly in the reference pics; anyone know if they were deployed in the gulf?

[Iain Ogilvie]

Great progress - love the 'pit...

Iain

[Mark M]

not operatioaly in the gulf mate, deffinatley not with 'nikki' you need them LGB's

[Alan P]

Hi mate, enjoying your build so far, just a couple of points for your questions:

With this kit the best option for the intakes is to cover them up. The only viable alternative is to completely re model the intake trunking. OOB that's not really an option. Have a search round other 1/32 builds and you'll get some great top tips on how best to do this!

Storm shadow was deployed in 2003 on an op eval basis but only by the GR4s of 617Sqn.

The Flightpath set contains new pylon faces which you can improve with a bit of Milliput which will solve your pylon problem. In any case, you will need to fix the pylons in place with CA glue or they won't hold any weight at all- that means no swing wings I'm afraid!

Welcome to the Revell Tornado!

cheers, Al

[James G]

Fraid not - these came without decals by design. I was planning to paint the lines on myself, and scavenge some generic text decals from other kits. I may still be using these, I'm afraid... ...on my 1:32 swordfish maybe...

The ordinance on my table is actually a combination of 1:32 stuff, from my (now dusty, half completed) av-8b, lightning and hunters. And this kit obviously.

Photos of oob tub and seats to follow, once the muppets at talk talk get my broadband running again (currently on 3G on iPad). Good job I got the practise in before the flightpath stuff arrives...I'm rubbish! Lots of splurgy buttons and instruments, and wobbly seatbelt lines. My drybrushing isn't up to scratch either, but you'll see shortly.

Hi,

No worries at all, it seems to good to be true that someone does injection Storm Shadows....I too have the FP ones, and will probably use some custom-made decals that I have drawn in MS Paint, and probably paint on the lines rather than mess around with strips of decal. Let me know if you want the decal file, I don't mind sending it on if you think you can use it. My problem is going to be finding a way of replicating the white background on some decals (e.g. laser warning signs) so that the yellow portion looks opague on the dark grey of the missile. Any thoughts?

Cheers

James