T0M4ever

Not an update, but does anyone have some decent shots of the inside of the Tornado airbrake bay? I only seem to be able to find pics from the side which don't really give a decent view of what is in there. Thanks.

How much did it cost you to ge them to product the P/E for you then?

I think I might have to, as one side is scribed and one isn't

Finally after a very long summer of distractions I have been able to get back into my modelling! I've mostly been working on the F3 as I don't have a huge amount of space at the moment so there are only so many small fiddly bits I can have out at one time without losing all or most of them. This is my progress so far, I have had to redesign the interior of the bottom fuselage a bit to fit in my intake trunking. I needed to sand down the top of the main u/c bays so I had a nice flat area so the trunking would fit inside when the two halves were put together. I've also put in a few of the PE vents that were in the Eduard set and I've changed the area between the burner cans so it looks more like the correct shape. Here is the trunking I made. I used some heat shrink tubing to get the seamless tube and Milliput to make the mould. I also tried to make an engine face which worked out ok as I don't have any resin or anything similar to use in the mould. I think the Future on it with the black underneath makes the detail hard to see in this picture. I have started detailing the front u/c bay, it's nearly done so I thought I'd show that too: The cockpit has been fairly fiddly trying to get the PE which was designed for the Italeri kit to fit the Airfix parts - but I think it looks ok now with some paint on. I wasn't entirely sure on the colour as Dark Admiralty Grey look very dark compared to the pictures, so I added some Humbrol 147 to lighten it up a bit. Hopefully the cockpit will be done in the comming week and then I can consider trying to put the fuselage together and see what challenges that throws up , I love Airfix. Any comments or suggestions welcome.

AWACS Tornado, great idea

There should really be a 'Pictures of Flightpath sets' sticky I have the Victor K2 set and some CBLS.200's I could add to the party.

Does anyone have any pics of the back wall of an F3 cockpit? I've found some pics of the same area in an IDS and Italian ECR, are they likely to look the same?

Is all the detail on those flaps & slats scratch built? It looks really good.

Small update, I have mostly been gluing all the sub-assemblies. Lots of them, but nothing really picture worthy! I've also started tackling the Tornado fuselage. Airfix have the shape of the thrust reversing mechanism completely wrong. This is how they had moulded it: Not a perfect picture, but you get the idea. This however, is what it should look like: You can clearly see in this picture that the airframe is angled inwards between the exhausts, with the thrust reversing mechanism in the middle. Not the shapless blob with detail-less vertical walls above and below it. I have started to rectify this, I have cut out the middle part from the Airfix kit, and filed down the rest to form the correct angled shape. I need to fill in the gaps, but it looks more like the correct shape. This has caused another problem though, should I use the Paragon resin part, or the Eduard PE to replicate this area? The Paragon part is flat (as I assume the Italeri kit must be too), and if I try to bend it to the correct shape I may ruin it I have also drilled out the exhausts/ducts on the underside. I was only armed with a small file, so it took a lot longer than it should have! Thanks for looking.

Good point, forgot about that! I'll have a look. I've already tried dry-fitting the fuselage, the nose section of the top half is 3 to 4mm wider then the bottom half! Luckily I have a whole tube of filler to hand.

I couldn't decide which kit I wanted to make my next project, so I have started two. These were my favourite aircraft when I was a child (mostly because of the swing wings I think!), plus they were intereptors which made them much more interesting then the mud movers at the time! This is what I have to start with: Airfix Tornado F3 (got cheaply from e-bay thankfully), MA 'Firebirds 2000' decal sheet, Aeroclub u/c legs, Paragon wheels, seats and burner cans, Eduard PE. Most of this is for the Italeri kit, but I am sure I can make it fit. Hopefully it will come out looking something like this: http://www.airliners.net/photo/UK---Air/Pa...o-F3/0138155/L/ The second kit is Hasegawa's F-14A+ with an Aires F-14B cockpit and Fightertown's 'Pukin' Dogs Last Ride' decal sheet. I am planning on adding the intake trunking to the Airfix kit, but I have not been able to find any decent pictures that show inside the intake. Does anyone know what shape the trunking should be? Does it curve inwards so you can't actually see the engine faces? Any help would be appreciated. As always feel free to offer any tips or criticisms as we go!

Someone has yet to watch the film Ace Ventura Pet Detective then

Mine is missing too, not that it deserves any votes Oh no it's not!!!sorry...been busy

That's stunning, it looks almost real from some angles! Proper job

My completed build: Revell Tornado IDS 1/144

Finished! Next to the Airfix 1/48 I made earlier:

True, I didn't think I'd be able to get the right shapes in this scale using tape. Luckily the areas that look really bad are on the tape i used to cover the spine so it should be ok.

Before the Maskol comes off: and after: Some of the edges are a bit ragged because of the way the Maskol peels off, so I will have to sort them tomorrow. Then I just need some aircraft grey for the wing roots and black for the fin and nose, and we will nearly be ready for some decals!

That's looking really sharp. Have you got any closeups of the completed cockpit?

It's a welcome break from 1/48 actually. I don't feel the urge to detail every part as much as possible! I have primed it, added the white stripe on the spine and the olive green has now gone on. I took a photo once the white was on, but the with the camera flash it just looked like a white Tornado outline!

Nice looking IP's. I have one of these in 1/32 which will have tiger stripes I am saving it for when I can do it justice!

That's a very nice end result! I have three of these in the loft waiting for me

She is now ready for some painting! Seats are in, and the cockpit is on and masked (that had to be the hardest job so far! It's just so small). I also made wing seals using wine bottle foil.

I have also bought the Paragon burner cans which are designed for the Italeri kit, but hopefully I can bodge them onto the Airfix kit.

By making everything five times as I keep losing loads of little bits on the floor I am used to 1/48 so this looks so tiny!