Howlindawg

My order arrived from the EU warehouse today. A week late but intact.

You've surpassed yourself John, this has turned out superb!

I had exactly the same question myself, thanks for the replies Gents.

Great - I wasn't sure how much I could thin the clears for AB work. Good to know they don't need any special treatment.

A question for those in the know. Most of the reference images I can find show dark areas on the wing where they pivot into the fuselage. What's the significance of these markings? Are they just the areas of the wing that retract inside when the wings are fully swept back or extended?

John, Did you airbrush the canopy with Tamiya clear yellow? If so did you thin it for the AB?

Nice Milliputtery on the leatherwork. I must give that a try at some point.

I grabbed a few minutes away from decorating the kitchen to sand the wings and shoot on a coat of Ultimate Primer (grey). I must say I'm impressed with this product; it shoots on easily and doesn't obscure any details. Airfix-Tornado---primed by Martin Fay, on Flickr My first attempt at shooting Humbrol Acrylic, undiluted, resulted in a slightly lumpy finish so this time I elected to retry thinned with Gunze Mr Leveling Thinners. As experiments go this was not complete success. My small sample of Dark Sea Grey slowly congealed into a gelatinous sludge. Unfortunately I'm now out of Dark Sea Grey. Fortunately Dark Sea Grey is an almost exact match for Ultimate Primer grey; So I can proceed without having to wait for a trip to the model shop at the weekend. The next colour required is Medium Sea Grey so that's now diluted with plain old tap water ready for its' appointment with the airbrush.

Those seats look great and it's definitely looking like a little vampire at this stage. Looking forward to the end results.

Looking great so far!

I'll be honest from the start; This kit very nearly wasn't going to get built. I bought it on a whim with a view to building a full set of the various interceptor generations. Lightning, Phantom, Tornado and Typhoon. I was so underwhelmed when I opened the box that I just packed it all back up again and pushed it to the back of the shelf. But then I bought myself an airbrush and needed a couple of mule builds to practice on and try out the various types of acrylics that were available locally. I looked through the stash and chose a Revell Fokker Dr.1 to paint with Gunze and Tamiya paints and this Tornado to paint with the much maligned Humbrol Acrylics. First up was the cockpit. Now when I say cockpit what Airfix supply isn't isn't so much a cockpit as a smooth, flat, featureless bathtub. After their delightful little Vampire model this was a real disappointment. Rather than try to make a silk purse from a sows ear by adding detail I've elected to fit the pilot figures and build this as an "in-flight" model with the cockpit closed and undercarriage up. Even so, I think it'll need a little more than a quick coat of 164 - Dark Sea Grey to be acceptable. Airfix-Tornado---cockpit by Martin Fay, on Flickr I've also made a start on the wings, replete with raised panel lines and enormous ejection marks. How very 70's. 2016-09-09-11.30 by Martin Fay, on Flickr Much slicing, scraping and sanding later and we're getting there. Airfix-Tornado---Wing-WIP by Martin Fay, on Flickr And finally I can actually glue something! Airfix-Tornado---Wings-WIP2 by Martin Fay, on Flickr

The canopies look great!

No sign of my delivery scheduled for today either. Seems safe to say that Weta are experiencing some European distribution problems.

TBH - I wish I had done a WIP John - I'd probably have achieved a better result and enjoyed it more if I had. I won't make the same mistake next time.

I was tempted by the wartime version but couldn't resist the Irish Air Corps livery.

Reassured by the quality of the kit I've ordered the Roland D.VIa and Postwar Bristol F.2B to add to the collection. That should be me sorted for 6 to 9 months so.

Well whatever about the ordering experience there's nothing wrong with the kits themselves. The Albatross kit is absolutely beautiful. As has been mentioned previously the outer box was flimsy but the kit itself was well bubble wrapped inside so all was safe and sound.

You got a DPD message? Blatant favoritism I tells ya! I didn't even get that much. Weta could use some decent order fulfillment software.

Well my order is still showing as not shipped on the Weta website. However I've a docket here from DPD to say they attempted delivery today. Had I known it was on it's way I could have arranged to be home to accept the package. Considering the premium prices the service is certainly lacklustre.

Looking seriously good so far.

Looks like I'm sorted now folks, thanks for all the assistance. I've bookmarked all the suggestions for future reference.

I bought a bunch of cheap revel and Airfix 1:72 kits so that I can practice on something that I don't mind ruining. At a fiver a pop I'm not going to loose any sleep if a clear coat goes awry. So far I've had good success with Gunze "Mr Super Clear" from an aerosol and Tamiya clears XF-86 and X-22 airbrushed. I've yet to try the X-35 satin but that's next in line.

Hi John, I did consider a WIP but decided against it for two reasons. 1] I reckoned it was going to be a straight forward OOTB that everyone had already seen before 2] I knew there were going to be long periods of no progress during the build so reckoned it'd probably be a bit bland to follow. I did keep pics along the way so I do have a record of the build. Right up to the point where I secured the top wing with masking tape - right over the un-lacquered decal with the above result. (* Bangs head off table *)

Given perhaps a decade of practice I hope that I might eventually begin to aspire to the quality of 'not your best'. I've thoroughly enjoyed watching this one come together Ian, it looks fantastic.

An interesting subject - shame about the quality issues with the plastic. I shall peep through the keyhole and observe.