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1:32 Ripple Tornado ZA326 - A JARTS Tribute


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Good afternoon everyone!

 

I think it's time I stepped into the breach and had a crack at this group build that I had promised to get involved with quite a while ago.

 

So, what will I be building? I'll be having a go at the 1:32 Revell Tornado GR.1 kit that I picked up from Telford last year, hopefully in a raspberry ripple scheme used by the Royal Aircraft Establishment (the Tornado in question being ZA326 currently at Bruntingthorpe).

Hang on a minute, you might be thinking, RAE is not part of the RAF and therefore ineligible for this group build! Well, I fully admit that this would ordinarily be the case, this build will be dedicated to JARTS (JARTS standing for the Joint Aircraft Recovery and Transportation Squadron) which "assisted with the dismantling and reassembling of the aircraft for road transportation" of ZA326. (Source)

 

To further reflect the relation to JARTS, I'll be building ZA326 in a similar state to its current situation with multiple panels removed and/or left open. And finally to distance the aircraft from RAE, I will be painting/decalling ZA326 in its current scheme at Bruntinghthorpe (IE: without the RAE lettering and crest seen during service).

-Pictures will soon follow as I commence the build.

 

Thanks for dropping by! :)

 

Best wishes,

Sam

 

Edited by cathasatail
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You had me for a bit there Sam - then I re-read your comments and remembered the discussion in chat

 

While the aircraft itself isn't (never was?) part of the RAF, I gather you will be modelling it as it is (was?) while in the hands of JARTS.  JARTS is part of the command structure of the RAF (and Royal Navy).

 

Looking forward to seeing this in all its colour

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12 minutes ago, Robert Stuart said:

While the aircraft itself isn't (never was?) part of the RAF, 

You’re right Robert ZA326 was never taken on charge by the RAF: the rear fuselage was extensively damaged by fire whilst the jet was on test at Warton.  The aeroplane was rebuilt but the new rear fuselage was to a later build standard than the original and produced a hybrid that the RAF didn’t want as it would impose a maintenance burden being “different” to other Tornados.  RAE weren’t going to look this gift horse in the mouth as a research and development tool so to them she went direct from Warton.

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As promised, the pictures:

 

DSC_0001.jpg

 

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-The first job was to drill (using a modelling knife) out the hole for the "break glass" emergency canopy release. I'll add a representation of the handle, paint the insides and then add a piece of clear plastic which will be scribed in the pattern seen in this photo:

zd793%20015.jpg

(Photo courtesy of Nigel Heath- Posted by Britmodeller's Julien as part of a Tornado walkaround on this forum (LINK HERE)

 

In addition I have started very early work on the avionics bay:

 

DSC_0003.jpg

 

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(Without clear photos of certain parts of the interior of this and other bays I'm going to have to rely on a bit of creative license (eg: rivets along the back wall of the avionics bay- not that they'll be seen!))

 

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-A mock-up of the panel door, which has been thinned down considerably from the rather thick plastic that makes up the kit.

 

 

And here's one I finished earlier:

 

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(An OOB Hobbyboss 1:48 F-14B- which I'll add to the RFI section at some point)

 

In the meantime, here are some resources that I've come across that might be beneficial for other Tornado builders:

http://www.tornado-data.com/Tid/systems/common.htm

http://www.tornadosig.com/gr1p-za326.html

https://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/2014/08/preserving-rasberry-ripple-tornado-za326-bruntingthorpe/

http://forums.airshows.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=59768

http://www.za326.com/

 

Best wishes,

Sam

 

Edited by cathasatail
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Right, after some time in the labs, it's time for an update!

 

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And now to the rear cockpit panel, which it seems is rather different compared to a standard GR.1 rear cockpit.

 

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(Photo courtesy of "Tornado ZA326" Flickr account) (LINK HERE)

 

More photos (and panels!) to come soon.

 

Best wishes,

Sam

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After the Cosford airshow, and a day to recover, work begins once more!

 

I noticed that in the few images of ZA326 with her nose hinged open, it would appear that the radar has been removed (seen in the 7th image on this website)

Also of note was the location of the electronics racks seen in the same photo. This necessitated the removal of a chunk off of the front of the cockpit/nose pieces, gluing them together and attaching them to the nose cone and hinged section that would otherwise have had the radar affixed to it.

 

IMG_6210.jpg

 

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(The newly trimmed nose pieces can be seen glued below the hinged section for the radar)

 

IMG_6214.jpg

-Meanwhile, slow and frustrating progress is being made in removing a plethora of panels on the fuselage

 

From reference photos it became apparent that the rear cockpit's instruments (on the left hand side) have been shifted back to make way for the throttle and flap levers. Instead of scraping off the detail and cobbling together a replacement, why not cut and splice?

IMG_6216.jpg

And so that's exactly what I did :)

 

And finally, the rear cockpit panel is slowly coming together- starting with the coaming.

IMG_6215.jpg

 

 

Talking of Cosford, here are few pics I took:

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DSC_0815_00001.jpg

 

DSC_0342_00001.jpg

 

Best wishes, :)

 

Sam

Edited by cathasatail
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Nice work in the cockpit and avionics bays there.  The rear cockpit looks like it’s GR. 1(T) standard, rather than bog-standard GR. 1.  The ring behind the radome was designed to open to starboard to facilitate access to the radar equipment behind the scanner and was, IIRC, referred to as the maxi-skirt.😉

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Another small update for today

 

IMG_6223.jpg

(I'll use a knife blade to finely trim the edges of each instrument to be in alignment with each other)

 

Hopefully I'll have this panel finished and painted by tomorrow!
In the meantime I've given some more thought to the panels that will be open, and as a result I have decided to open a section or two of the "spine" of the aircraft as well- having seen some of the fantastic reference images here, courtesy of the Panavia Tornado SIG.

 

Kind regards,

Sam

Edited by cathasatail
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Well, to keep to my promise, here's the state of play after some work last night:

 

IMG_6224.jpg

(There's a small bit of coaming that goes over the top left "box" next to the radar scope(?) ).

 

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(Only test fits- they're not glued in yet!)

 

-Naturally there are bits and pieces to touch up (an example being the warning indicator panel at the bottom right of the rear cockpit panel) and these will be done in-between work on the cockpit "tub" itself.

Also of note is the throttle quadrant and wing-sweep lever that I've scratchbuilt for the rear cockpit- lying under a base coat of grey.

 

Best wishes,

Sam

 

Edited by cathasatail
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Hi everyone,

 

The observant amongst you might have noticed a lack of updates over the past week.

I have recently managed to get a summer placement attached to the Cardiovascular research lab at my university. This is a double-edged sword: naturally it's an opportunity to develop my lab skills far more rapidly than would otherwise be the case (and I'm having a great time as well), on the other hand it means that I'm only left weekends and evenings to work on the Tornado. I'll be away this week, but expect updates to resume soon!

 

Thank you for your patience. Best wishes,

Sam

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi all!

Hope you've had a great week and managed not to get too sunburnt in this weather ;)

 

So, on the Friday and Saturday I had a short trip down to London: quite possibly the best two days of my life (seeing Taylor Swift in concert has been a life goal of mine for a few years now)!

 

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Anyway, you're all here for the build- so without further ado:

 

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(I'll be adding a frame where the blue is)

 

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-Initial work on the radome and the "maxi-skirt"

 

As for the cockpit, I have a few more dials/buttons to paint on and a tad of weathering to do before I can call the panels themselves done. There are plenty of wires to add in before I can call the cockpit done, but it's coming along.

 

Immediate plan of action:

-Finish cockpit tub

-Scratchbuild the nose avionics compartment (located immediately behind the radome and maxi-skirt arrangement)

-Add details to the sidewalls of the cockpit tub and close up the nose section

 

There's a lot to get done, and 21 days to do it in. I think it can just about be done.

Thanks for following on with this build :)

 

Best wishes,

Sam

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Hi all,

 

Another quick update:

 

IMG_6465.jpg

 

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Work so far on the nose electronics/avionics bay and nose internals

 

IMG_6467.jpg

I've added some more wiring and details to the cockpit

 

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And I've added a bit of sidewall detail too

 

IMG_6472.jpg

You can see (just about, in this grainy image-apologies) that I've added a blue frame around the black box, and I've added some detailing to the very top edge of the sides of the cockpit

 

IMG_6473.jpg

(Plenty more wires still to add!)

 

IMG_6474.jpg

 

IMG_6475_2.jpg

 

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And a brief test fit, with the nose electronics structure in place

 

-Plenty still to do!

 

Best wishes,

Sam

Edited by cathasatail
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It's become apparent over the last week that I'm not going to be able to finish this build, without rushing, on time.

I shall probably be shifting this over to a thread on the WIP section of the forum (which I will link to, if anyone wants to follow along).

 

Sorry for not being able to finish this one within the timescale and I think if I'm doing a GB build in the future, then I shall choose a somewhat more straightforward kit! :D

 

Best wishes,

Sam

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  • 2 weeks later...

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