WolvoWill

Have managed to bag myself the Academy 1/48 FB-111A kit via ebay for a princely £9.25 (about $19) including shipping I'd like to build the aircraft as a RAAF example in the dark grey colour scheme, with a typical operational loadout. The pigs load carrying ability appeals - I think two GBU-24s, or maybe 4 GBU-10s, would be a pretty special loadout, though loading the thing up with Mk82s seems good as well. Yet I read the F-111G is not as capable as the 'C' models, lacking some avionics upgrades and not being able to carry items such as the Pave Tack pod - so what loadouts are possible? Elta 8222 pods, Harpoons, or even AGM-142s and associated datalink pod (two of these bad boys, the Elta pod and a datalink pod would be an awesome looking load)? Whats possible on the F-111G? I did take a look at F-111.net but they focus mainly on the 'C' variant. Secondly, what decals are available for the G - I see Aussie Decals and Hawkeye models do some good sheets, but they don't seem to be stocked within the UK. Import time? Other aftermarket suggestions would be cool as well, though as I am building the model in an 'in-flight' configuration things like flaps/slats and cockpit sets take a back seat, though better burner cans or other bits to improve accuracy will be considered. Many thanks

In 1/48! Airfix kits should be avoided, be they GR1 (in any of the 3 boxings it came in - GR1B, Desert Storm or GR1/1A), GR4 or F3, although as mentioned a good source of bits to spruce up and 'accurize' the Italeri kits. The Italeri mould for a ground attack Tornado has been released a few times in different iterations with the only differences being stores, decals and whether it has two gun ports or non at all... Revell boxing: Tornado ECR (no guns, Luftwaffe markings only, ECM pods fit only for a German jet, 2x HARMs) Italeri boxings: Tornado IDS (two releases, can build this as an RAF jet as well as Italian by virtue of it having the skyshadow pods, comes with 4x 1000lb bombs, a choice of decal options for RAF and Italian in desert storm, and a Luftwaffe jet, and has both guns in the nose parts) Tornado ECR, same plastic as the Revell ECR, just different decals for a Tigermeet aircraft. Tornado Navy Strike Fighter, contains much the same as the IDS kit but comes with two Kormoran anti-ship missiles and 4 different 1000lb bombs, with decal options for Italian and British jets from Desert Storm and a German Navy bird. As for the Fighter Tornados, only one release - the rareish and expensive (OOP) Italeri 'Tornado ADV Fighter' boxing in 1/48 is the way to go.

Finished this on Christmas eve but have been otherwise occupied since then so no time for photos until now! The appearance of my cat next to the models on the table worried me a bit, lest she knock the models on the floor :shithappens: but thankfully the Tornados scared her off... 1/48 Italeri IDS with Airfix fuel tanks, BOL rails, FLIR fairing, and pylons, 'Drpepperesins' Litening III RD pod, and a Flightpath paveway II modified to be 'enhanced paveway'. Painted with a hairy stick and Humbrol enamels, weathered with the Promodeller wash, pastels and Tamiya weathering powders. Decals by Model Alliance, with all the stencils for the jet coming from the 'Anniversary Tonkas' sheet which is the best source of accurate stencil data for the GR4. Took some new photos of my other GR4 as well...

Very nice! Love the 54 squadron markings, just a shame we'll probably never see them on a fast jet again Given the small number of kits you've built these are really something special - progress being made fast methinks!

Both cannon were removed to make GR1As, not just the one

FGR would be fine if the Typhoon block 5 had any real recce capability, but from what I've read thus far, it doesn't! So why not FA4?

Have highlighted something to correct before it goes to print then! Don't get me wrong - I love model Alliance Decals (can produce a vast stack of instruction books if you don't believe me!) but at times the instruction sheets contain errors typical of a 'cut and paste' way of presenting duplicate information, such as that above, or erroneous colour call outs which could be corrected easily. Only think that lets the instructions down as otherwise they're great!

My last tin of Humbrol 165 was not very good - looked far too light and not blue enough to my eyes, and far too close to Barley grey (humbrol 167), and that was after lots of shaking and stirring. I've recently painted a Tornado GR4 in the xtracolour enamel equivalent and to my eyes thats a far better shade. Sitting my Humbrol painted Tornado F3 next to the GR4 and the F3 just looks wrong so much so that I'm pondering stripping it and giving it a complete repaint in the Xtracolour shade! Will take some photos later!

In its simplest form it would require two new front fuselage halves and a radome (the extra length of the 'plug' is found here), a longer afterburner section (done on the cheap this could be done in two resin parts, with the kit exhaust pipes being utilised). Then you'd probably want the fairings for the missile ejectors to fit under the fuselage (the rear two missiles aren't recessed like the front two, being mounted to two fairings which are included in the ADV kit and 'scabbed on' the bottom of the jet. For full completeness you'd also want the extra pair of missile launch rails and the underfuselage Vicon 78 chaff/flare dispensers, though you could source these from the airfix kit if need be. Its doable but with the likelihood of a 're-pop' given Italerit'd be a brave company to issue it. In addition, the above set is complex enough in itself, with large parts, and doesn't get you any further towards accuracy than the existing ADV kit does as it doesn't address the cockpit properly or give you any thrust reverser mechanism like the Paragon exhaust set does. Personally I want two more F3s...will wait for a re-release though, no way will I spend £30+ on the kit which is what it seems to command these days!

Looks like they've managed to make a set that will be even fiddlier to assemble than the Aires ones, judging by all the PE. And thats saying something!

The Jag has always been notorious for being underpowered - it has the unusual ability to light the afterburners when at part throttle (on most other aircraft the afterburners can only be turned on when the engines are operating at maximum 'dry' thrust). This part throttle reheat was necessary as (depending on fuel and weapons load, and altitude, temperature humidity etc) an engine failure could leave the Jag struggling to maintain altitude and speed, and when it came to landing the jet with one engine out, the lack of responsiveness with dry power meant a way of getting extra thrust quickly when at lower than max dry power settings was necessary as otherwise the approach could be very hairy indeed. Without part throttle reheat if you got too low or slow on an engine out approach, in the Jag you wouldnt necessarily have the grunt to climb out using dry power on your one remaining engine, or the time to wait for the engines to spool to 100% and light the burners... The jag also had some 'interesting' high AoA handling characteristics as well - it was rather underfinned (a mistake not made for the Tornado ), and as such tended to lose directional stability rather abrubtly above 16 degrees AoA! I love the Jag but its a jet not without its flaws! A tricky beast to fly for sure compared to some of the more powerful, 'carefree handling' types which came later!

From the airfix kit you should salvage the following: - Large 'Hindenburger' fuel tanks - Fuselage weapons pylons - Outermost wing weapons pylons (more accurate in shape than the Italeri ones, and they fit the Italeri kit perfectly) - IR linescan 'bump' for the under-fuselage part of the TIRRS setup (only needed if you're building a GR1A or GR4A, these being the gunless recce variants) - Weapons (from the GR4 boxing the Paveway III bombs are usable if a bit chunky, whilst the undernose FLIR fairing is necessary for a GR4/4A and can't be sourced anywhere else these days. The BOL rails aren't common for the RAF Tornados but have been seen on a few GR4s operating in the Middle East) - Decals (assuming they are printed 'in register' you'll struggle to find a better or more comprehensive set of decals even in aftermarket land - only the stencil sheet included with the 'Model Alliance Anniversary Tonkas' sheet betters it, but even this this seems to be a better printed version of the Airfix artwork which is accurate!) The rest of the Airfix kit is ready for the bin in my view! Certainly not one of their better efforts, thats for sure. Final tips - don't use the Italeri supplied fuel tanks as they are too small and only accurate for the prototype airframes. The GR4 has the cannon removed from the left hand side of the fuselage so you'll need to fill and sand the gun port. GR1A and GR4As never had any guns, so you'll need to do this for both sides to model one of these airframes. Any Tornado variant will need the Paragon designs 'front fin correction' resin part as all of the Italeri Tornado's are mishapen in this area.

Like it a lot, weathering looks great, quite subtle I reckon (my Tornados are probably dirtier ). Where are the 617 decals from, the airfix kit I presume? Really want to do a 617 jet myself at some point, ideally this one! but its finding a source for the tail letters!!

Have been *VERY* tempted but I figure I may as well wait, the stash and pile of half completed projects is large enough as it is.....

I love em... Built one already - ZJ917, originally a 17 squadron jet but then it was moved over to 3 squadron, so I re-applied their markings over the top, and added the extra missiles and rails for a QRA fit. Next model to build will be an 11 squadron one toting 4 Paveways - ZJ919 methinks Then I have another in the stash which will probably emerge as ZJ913 in 17 squadron markings. Am waiting for a two seater before 29 squadron gets a look in though! I hope to have a 1/48 Typhoon for every squadron but if the markings stay a bit bland and we don't start hanging more interesting weaponry off them then I may not bother! Still liking the idea for now though....

Agree completely on the Ebay shops - not much chance of a bargain these days for some items as they're sold with a buy it now price identical to RRP! Airfix Tornados really are OTT though at RRP, especially if you're buying them solely for Hindenburger tanks, pylons and decals (and the latter is a gamble due to the lottery of printing quality - thankfully my last two Ebayed GR4 sheets were very usable indeed in this respect ).

Tornado's please!

First up, Airfix's Hawk 100 built up as an RAF Mk.128 (or T.2 in RAF parlance). Decals are a hotch potch of Xtradecals (for the 'ZK011' serial) and Model Alliance (using various bits and bobs from the 2003 Hawk special schemes and Commonwealth Hawk sheets). Painted with a tamiya matt black aerosol, then sealed with 6-8 coats of future. Next up, Eduards re-issue of the Mirage 2000N, with a few extras to make it a 'D', with weapons and the PDL-CT pod sourced from the spares box. Fit wise I found this kit a bit of a challenge, with the wing root to fuselage joint requiring lots of effort. I'd recommend doing the rear canopy open as well - I tried to do mine closed and I used white glue to hold it in place, with a small g clamp bending it slightly so it fit better (its slightly too wide and too shallow, but 'pinching' it from either side makes it fit correctly). Of course on removing the clamp, the white glue stretched and it doesn't fit flush anymore, and I think I'd make too much of a mess trying to remedy it . Needs a bit more weathering too, as it doesn't show up well, especially on the fuselage sides. Finally, some slightly better photos of my Tornado GR4. This time I used my dads camera rather than my phones, but the resultant images are still poor compared to most you folks take. Any tips on how to improve? All comments and constructive criticism welcome

Amazing work, and such an eye catching scheme Being largely painted on will really help with the realism I feel - IMHO decals never look quite right when covering as large an area as would be necessary for that particular paint job. A brave decision to replicate it with paint though, definitely not an easy job!

Ejector seat is wrong I believe (correct for USMC Harriers but not for Brit ones). Think otherwise its fine, but the fit can be interesting (LERX, wingtips and upper wing sections caused me some headaches). Also some people talk about it being possible to make a 'banana' Harrier with the whole nose section forward of the intake canted upwards slightly, due to the slightly uneasy way in which the nose joints onto the fan face. Not sure on this myself, have yet to see a definite answer and most models end up looking okay to my eyes!

More aftermarket goodness of this type is always welcome Best of luck with your new venture! Would be nice to see a few bits and bobs for modern RAF jets, as there are some notable absences, if you're looking for subjects.... British/Canadian CRV-7 Rocket pods (19 shot or 6 shot training pod) Typhoon centerline and inner-most wing pylons (missing from Revells otherwise excellent 1/48 'phoon) Brimstone missiles and triple launch adapters Tornado outer 'shoulder' ALARM pylons A simple Tornado GR4 update set would be possible and highly desirable too to my mind - these days the only way to make an accurate GR4 involves cross kitting the (better) Italeri IDS kit with an airfix GR4 'donor' for some parts that are simply not available in the world of aftermarket, and can only be sources in this way. Given the Airfix kit has a RRP of £21.99 and rarely go for less than £10 on ebay, any aftermarket set for the Tornado that includes these parts that negates the need to spend this much would be a winner in my view.

Many thanks for the offer, whilst I say 'I'd like to build <insert noisy jet aircraft here>' rather a lot I'm actually trying to avoid buying anything else for the next month or so, unless its exceptionally rare or limited availability! The re-released italeri Mirage 2000 you speak of is actually fairly obtainable this side of the pond when compared to the other Mirages, it essentially being the Esci kit reboxed with new decals. Its not a bad kit, but the Heller kit is still the best representation of a 2000, and sadly the rarest (Esci/Italeri and Monogram/Revell of Germany offerings are positively common in comparison ). With rumour of an Eduard release of the Heller 2000C with added resin goodies of a similar ilk to the 2000N/D repop, I think I'll wait a bit before considering any Mirage 2000! The rare one I probably would buy were one available at a good price is the Italeri boxing of the Mirage F1CT/CR. This too is an Esci kit re-issued, but with new decals, and additional new underwing stores and 'lumps and bumps' to represent the CT/CR (the French Air Force's 'latest and greatest' Mirage F1 variant, modified for attack/recce in the late 1980s to helpmake up for a shortfall in attack aircraft and a surfeit of fighters in the wake of Mirage 2000 deliveries).

Not sure why they're so rare, you don't see many 2000s or F-1s built up either, never mind kits for sale! Myself I'd love to have a go at an F1CT, and also a Mirage 2000 (would like Eduard to re-issue the Heller 'C' kit with new parts so as to make a 2000-5 or a 2000-9). I hear rumours that the latter is due later this year, but as for the former, am still on the look out for the updated Italeri kit!

Email me...am going back to Aberystwyth this week (4 days out on the lash with mates from uni ) and there is in fact a decent model shopthere that sells some of the Tamiys TS sprays. Not sure if they have every colour available, but can see what I can do if you want me to pick up any (just pay me the cost price and postage and they're yours ). Its a great little shop, but alas it doesn't seem to sell much stock, which means its a good store for hard to find kits or paints. My last purchase was a 1/48 Revell Rafale B, and the year before then I got an Italeri Tornado ADV for £10.99! Kicking myself slightly though as I missed out on an Italeri Mirafe F1CT/CR that they had for £10.99 last time I was there but is now sold, and is a kit I really want but another that goes for £30 on when one appears on Ebay....

Got a PR9 on order with hannants already, and some Model Alliance decals in the drawer too (Persian Princess for me please! ). If the kits are good I may buy another, an American B-57 (ideally the G model) in Vietnam configuration appeals to me the most after the PR9 though, with the B8s and goldfish bowls looking a bit plain jane in British markings compared to how mean the tandem seat, SEA scheme yank jets look - heresy to say as such on this forum perhaps.... A B-57G would be nice, apparently the first aircraft to use laser guided bombs in action (500lb paveway Is) and also the first aircraft to designate its own targets with laser....