Muzz

Mark I think I've got a AW set or two, I'll have a look and get back to you. Muzz

Lovelly finish Mike, really like the message detail on the LGB's, how did you do it?

If you decide on the HB kit I'll sell you mine, after recently finishing an Italeri kit I still think their the way to go.

Thanks Magman, kit part 12 it is for the instrument panel

Hi Joel Thanks for that, I noticed the kit comes with 4 instrument panels, do you know which one is for the F?

Hi folks, my Hobby Boss F-111D/E Aardvark arrived the other day as did my Lakenheath Afterburner decals, naturally that means I'm planning on building an F model. I know the this has been discussed before and I know the burner cans are different (Are the Paragon ones OOP?) but can anyone tell me if everything else is the same? The kit comes with lots of extra parts including the Pave Tack (which they would have you use on the D/E!) and I would imagine they plan on releasing F model at some point but I don't know if any other extra parts in the kit are dedicated to the F. Can anyone help?

A really nice finish, love your walk way lines and weathering.

Hi Simon I'm no expert but I do have quite a few refs, the mod was not optional/removable, it just took a bit of time to convert all the airframes, some aircraft received the TIRRS bulge underneath the fuselage early on but didn't receive the side aperture windows for a while after, in some cases up to two years!! Peter Fosters book, Tornado A History has a few pictures of ZA394 'I' and states that the aircraft probably never recieved the full mods before it was lost, but doesn't state whether it recieved the side windows before this. Murray

I'm thinking about one these, might pick one up at the Scottish Nats in Perth in a few weeks, can you tell me what the camo scheme is for the aggressor markings that come with the kit?

You can also get it in a spray can, Model Design Construction (MDC) have it in.

Thanks for all the comments guys. Tony, no problem. The Skyshadow pod is carried less and less now, Spike will tell you the reason for it, think it's either because of fatigue life of the pods or because their not as relevant in this day and age. It's just as common (if not more so) to see the jets carrying two Boz pods, the one on the port wing is a dummy pod with a blank end, sometimes even carrying two dummy pods. The dummy pods are carried as there simply isn't enough live pods to go round and carrying something on the outer pylons is better for the fatigue life of the wings. I've also seen photo's of jets carrying what appears to be dummy Sky Shadow pods and of course they now carry the Terma pod which is a modified BOZ pod but only really carried carried by Kandahar based jets at the moment. Muzz

The kits now finished and pictures are up in Ready for Inspection, thanks for looking.

Finally finished my 14 Squadron GR4 in what I think is the one of the most attractive anniversary colour schemes of recent times. Italeri kit with Paragon flaps/slats, ejection seats, burner cans, fin correction and pylons, parts of the Flightpath conversion set and Model Alliance decals all used. Still in the process of constructing some intake covers to hide the chasm inside the intakes which is why the interiors are unpainted. Full build on In Progress. Thanks to Spike for the fuel tanks and got the metal pitot tube of a chap who sells them on ebay. Will hopefully get some better pictures up in a day or so, all comments welcome.

Your right, more than likely no nose art due to the JP missions being at the start, all the photo's I have of aircraft carrying the JP's are pretty clean paint jobs (ie not too much weathering) and no nose art, I'll be able to give you some of the serials etc that carried the JP's once I retreive my AFM Gulf special edition with the JP's! Think the Muharraq and Dhahran aircraft carried them, not sure about the Tabuk aircraft.

I have a pair of Airfix JP233's if you want them, I know I have some ALARMS as well but would have to check that I have all the fins for them. All are still on the sprues. Muzz

I'm just about finished the same kit using the Flightpath set and Paragon resin parts. Why not purchase a Neomega resin cockpit http://www.neomega-resin.com/tornado.htm and then get some Paragon burner cans, fin correction and pylons. I have a Hobbyboss Tonka in the stash, but think I may give this a wide berth and build another Italeri kit with a Neomega pit! Muzz

Dave No retractable refuelling probe on any Bucc, one was trialled but never adopted, pretty certain the bolt on probe only appeared with the S2. Murray

As soon as I looked at it I thought the nose looks too big, is the wrong shape and the fuselage as a whole has too much of a curve along its length.

Thanks for all the comments folks. James, I've had problems with the decals being too thin, the white ones didn't hold up very well to the blue backround, I knew others had the same problem so I gave MA a phone and they were kind enough to send me another set, no questions asked, great customer service! I've had to double up all the decals to solve the problem the crest you can see with the yellow bits is just a single decal at the moment still to put the second on top which solves the problem. My only problem was I made a big mess of the first white diamond stripe I put on the port side and it broke up making it unusable so theres only a single decal on that side. Uncle Uncool, Col's quite correct and heres the photo you were looking for to prove it.............

Thanks for the comments guys, Bruce you do make sense and I might give that a try if I'm feeling confident! I've been preshading with matt black so I'll try the gloss too, thanks. Just another wee update for you, plugging my way through the decals but getting there, not started on the undercarriage yet. Had a fight with the white decals on the tail but there on and looking not too bad at all.

Here you go, some shots of the resin/white metal bits and one of the photo etch sheet.

Ian Been looking through my many books etc and I dont see why not, can't actually find a photo of a jet carrying the 5 plus sidewinders but there's a photo in Fighting Force of a 14 Sqn jet carrying ALARM on the outside of the inner wing pylon, sidewinder training rounds on the inside and Brimstone / TIALD on the shoulder pylons. Unless you mean carrying them instead of fuel tanks which wouldn't be an operational fit now. Then again if thats what you want to do it's your model. Think they rate as being able to carry nine as it did just that during trial fits.

Another update, I've given the kit a dark wash, added some decals and applied the Alclad to the burner cans etc, tried the Alclad hot metal colours for the first time and I'm really impressed, I'm not greatly skilled with an airbrush and it came out really well. I've had a small problem with my decals from Aviation Workshop, I gave them a phone last Thursday at 10am and spoke with a chap called Andrew Warne, he spoke with AW Boss Man and sorted out a new set which were posted out the same day, hats of to Aviation Workshop for some quality customer care.

After not getting much done over Christmas etc, I've getting back into it again. Pre-shaded the kit, although I never really have much luck with this and end up losing it all in a haze of paint! Got the main colours on too, Xtracrylix, DSG and DCG, tried using Xtracrylix RLM24 lightened with some white for the fin but the airbrush didn't seem to like it so I used Tamiya Flat Blue mixed with a little white. As usual the pre-shadings all but disappeared! Studied some photo's of ZG756 and noticed there's some MSG panels too so have added some of these also. Next up the Alclad burner cans etc.

It's a GR1, ZA459, it does have the rangefinder it just cant be seen in the photo due to it being on the starboard side of the aircraft. Photo taken at Mildenhall in 1993 by any chance? Muzz