At Sea

Seeing as this is an Interceptor group build, and my other entry so far is a pure interceptor that's only claimed kill was a C-130 it scared out of the sky, presumably because the pilot was so surprised by the appearance of the double delta Javelin! It seems only right that I construct an aircraft that actually did some intercepting, and I can think of no better candidate that the most recent Air-to -Air victor in this country's history than Lt. Dave Smith's XZ499. I considered Flt.Lt. Dave Morgan's ZA177 but it's a Sea Harrier and he was a 'crab-on-secondment' or 'there to show them how it's done' depending on which side of the inter-service rivalry you sit. Also XZ499 was the last recorded kill. Anyhow, it's a Sea Harrier, so it's going to have a Navy type on board! I bought the kit from and eBay seller and it was quite damaged in transit, I accepted a partial refund but actually it turned out to be not as mangled as it first appeared. Should be okay. Living in Somerset we became very accustomed to Sea Harriers to the point where to only looked skyward if something more interesting come along... ...I miss them now.

16 December, so home for 2 weeks over Christmas. Plenty of time to finish this. Plus I have another kit to assemble whilst I am here! Thread starting soon!!

Not an awful lot more I can do on this now until we get some paint on it at home... Not putting the IFR probe or the wing tip pitots on as they'll never survive the flight home. Will do some of the smaller vents and still to build the weapons, so that'll keep me busy. Intake rings will be added after painting, as will the exhaust rings which will be done in Metalcote steel. What looks like a step on the port side of the canopy by the Nav's left hand is no there in real life, funny camera effect. It is a combination the black paint stopping on the surround and the panel line join with glue run it. I had to pick the model up and check as it looks horrendous here! 🙂 Happy with the pilots and the cockpit, need some yellow paint to do the stripes on the ejector handles and the life jackets of the crew. Over the North Sea in a 50's designed jet I'd want a lifejacket too! There's the 'not a step' from a better angle.

A beautiful finish, the restrained weathering and marks from jet ways etc is spot on.

What a great day out, not surprised it inspired you to build it! From what I see so far it should be a good result.

Now just STOP IT! This passing off Airfix 1/24 Typhoons as 1/48 models has to stop! 🙂

Lovely. It's a nice kit still even after all these years.

Nicely done, love a Toom!

Note also the 45 degree wing sweep on parked German Tornado's As I understand it this was necessitated by the narrow HAS that they had at the majority of their airbases, SOP for German Tornados was to put wings to 45 degrees on shut down to prevent any accidents.

Perfect. He looks a happy fellow! Best job in the world!

Were JaBog32 always ECR? Was the ECR around in 1985 or were they IDS then converted to the ECR when it came out? I only ask as I wish to model the aircraft on that old Revell Box Top (44+43) and that is JaBog32, but that picture is very early as it has Norm 76 pylons and tanks still. So IDS yes?

I 100% agree! I love that picture, and for me Norm '83 is exactly what comes to mind when I think Tornado. I think the biggest pity with Revell's 1/48 kit is that they did not offer the decal options from the original Tornado IDS/GR.1 boxing, 3 really good and colourful options which I plan to build using aftermarket.

HaHen decals cover most German Tornados,.. https://www.hahen.com/epages/64625185.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/64625185/Products/48047 Now I know these are for the grey schemes but I can't see the difference in the Norm 83 squadron shields or codes. The fin shield for JaBoG 32 is silver on my set at home, their MarineFleiger schemes are nice too and you can get the walkways. The biggest downside is the carrier film is not pre cut, so you have to do that which is a pain for stencils and the carrier film was thick on one set I had.

I nearly bought this for my second build in this GB but then found out that it's not a kit.

I don't put the full amount in, 25g usually does it, but I've never experimented with nothing... ...if wings forward, could ballast the nose of the drop tanks?

It's not too late to put some people in there & build it in flight!

It's a common sprue with the GR4 kit. See the GPS antenna on the spine. I have kept mine & will use it in conjunction with a Eduard GR.4 cockpit set to turn one of my IDS kits into an GR.4 on the cheap.

Cracking on! I really love this kit. I think it possibly Airfix’s best.

This is worth buying if you haven't got it. The translation is clunky in places but it's a great resource. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Soviet-Cold-Fighters-Alexander-Mladenov/dp/178155496X

Here is my other Javelin.

Where’s the rest gone?! 1/48 Hasegawa Phantom dudes posing as 1960’s RAF chaps. I have to add some yellow for their life vests & the stripes on the ejection handles but they fit really well.

I build 1/48 as a preference and only drift into 1/72 when physical size is an issue, such as bombers. Rather than down scaling the Javelin I'm hoping they up scale the Buccaneer! My own take is that having no knowledge of the Javelin as an aircraft until a few years ago (Bill Waterton's book) and then buying the Airfix 1/48 kit on a whim I was delighted by it. It remains one of Airfix's great kits in terms of it's engineering and construction sequence and really set the tone for those that followed such as the Gnat & the Hunter, I am now building another one just because it was so much fun the first time! It doesn't really matter what the subject is if it is done this well.

I love that some of these projects have been in the planning stage for about 6 years... That's determined procrastination!

Thanks chaps, that's exactly what I was looking for.

Well whichever you decide if you need any bits I don’t drop me a PM as all my wheels and legs etc will be going into the recycling pot otherwise. 👍