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Tornado F3


Jabba

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I will be using the Hasegawa Tornado F3 kit to make an aircraft from 29 Sqn of the Royal Saudi Air Force during the Gulf conflict of 1990/91. I also have the PP Aeroparts update set to change a few things on the kit plus the AIrwaves dropped flap wings. I know they are normally up but I do like seeing a Tornado with the flaps lowered. I also have the Model Alliance decals for this aircraft with a Carpena set in reserve if required. I will also be looking for a set of large fuel tanks from a Revell Tornado GR1 as these in my mind are better than the Hasegawa ones, and not as heavy as the resin set from the update set.

 

The kit.

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The update sets.

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The decals.

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Welcome to the GB !

Sounds like you have a good plan here and a good number of bits to play with. The PP aeroparts has been for a long time one of the Holy Grails of Tornado accessories, looking forward to seeing one used

Like the idea of the lowered flaps too, it's a detail that shows well the complexity of the wing design

Edited by Giorgio N
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I have made a start on this with the building up of the back end. I did have a bit of a struggle getting the wings to fit properly, but with a bit of judicial shaving of the part that fills the gap I got then done. I also had fun getting the airbrakes to sit flushish with the rest of the fuselage, but when I cut away parts of the area where the airbrake is meant to sit upon it was a lot better as hopefully these pictures show. I have also built up the fin which I will add tonight, plus I have started painting the cockpit area.

 

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I have done a bit more work on this one. I have got the cockpit basically together, just the front stick and the radar hand controller to add which I will do tonight so that I can add the whole lot to one of the fwd fuselage halves. As can be seen I have also lobbed of the top of the rear instrument panel as per the update set instructions, and painted up its replacement for fitting when the fwd fuselage in wholly together. I have added the fin to the rear fuselage, plus the outer intake panels. I did have a bit of fun trying to get the fwd part of the intakes to meet and then be glues, but superglue and some heavy clamping came to the rescue. So it will be out with the filler for the rear fuselage for the parts that require it plus there are some biggish sink marks just rear on the main U/C bays.

 

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Some of these issues are not what Hasegawa is known for... I've often thought that their Tornado range was not as nicely designed as other contemporary kits (the F-111s for example), we're lucky today in having a nice GR.1 from Revell, would be good if someone issued an F.3 of the same quality

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On ‎7‎/‎19‎/‎2018 at 9:11 AM, Giorgio N said:

Some of these issues are not what Hasegawa is known for... I've often thought that their Tornado range was not as nicely designed as other contemporary kits (the F-111s for example), we're lucky today in having a nice GR.1 from Revell, would be good if someone issued an F.3 of the same quality

 

Probably more my inept modelling skills rather than the kit. Yes a better Tornado on par with the Revell would not go amiss.

 

I now have the Fwd fuselage glued together and will mate it with the rear end later on. I said earlier that I will try and find some larger fuel tanks for this model, and so I have as can be seen in the 2nd photo. I have also found some spare F3 decals especially the walkway decals as the ones that I have got in the kit are not that brilliant plus some stencilling, and I still have some GR1 decals that will come in handy for the fuel tanks and some other stencilling.

 

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Like it  a lot, a Tornado with all flaps out is something I love to see.

Glad you have found some good quality stencils, I know by experience how bad quality white walkways can ruin the appearance of an aircraft in this scheme

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Yes I do agree that the decals will be better than the original kit ones. I now have the model sanded down and I have added some of the etch and white metal parts especially around the engines as can be seen in the second photo. In the third photo of the underside, the pitot probe decided to break off so it will be saved and glued on at the end of the build. In the fourth photo another surprise that I found tucked away in the update set that I had not seen properly before. It is a set of ladders and some ejection seats. The one thing that is causing me a bit of a headache is the style of flare dispenser that the Saudis used. I can find many a photo of RAF F3s and I do know that during the build up and at the start of the conflict they were fitted with the square type (as on the left of the photo) and were later fitted with the posher style (as on the right hand of the photo). From what I can see in the photos of Saudi aircraft is that it seems to be the latter style, but as the photos are not clear I cannot be so sure. Does anyone have a clue as to which style should be fitted?

 

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Thanks for the info Giorgio, that is my stock web site when it comes to Gulf war aircraft pictures and I have already taken a look. Unfortunately the ones that they have do not clearly show (in my poor old eyes) the area where the flare dispensers are so I can determine which ones I require. I will keep looking or try and contact the Tornado (why did I not think of that in the first place) S.I.G, to see if they know.

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Looking good with the camo scheme on !

I know that some don't like the air forces obsession with grey schemes but I personally find the original Tornado F.3 scheme to be quite good looking. What paints did you use ? In pictures they look pretty accurate to me, something that can't be said of all brands

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I have now got this one painted, there are still a few odds and sods, but they can wait until after I have decalled it. So it is on with a couple of coats of Klear and then the decal.

 

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Looking good !

I'll have to get some of these Hataka paints myself, as said above they look accurate on your model. I see they also have some interesting colours that are not present in other companies catalogues, like the blue-grey and the olive green used on FAA helicopters

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Whilst I have been applying Klear to the model I have been building up the Fuel Tanks and Wing Weapon Pylons. I have got to figure a way of attaching the Fuel Tanks to the Pylons as the Tanks have two small holes, whist the Pylon has a fitting to go into a slot. I will be using the kit Skyflash missiles, but will be sourcing the Sidewinders from a Hasegawa weapons kit. I shall hopefully start applying he decals tonight.

 

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The tanks are resin, right ? If so I'd try to drill small holes in the pylons aligned with the holes in the tanks. Then I'd attach them using short length of metal wire going through the holes on both pylons and wings and the help of some 2-component epoxy. In my experience this is the best way to prevent the heavy resin tanks from falling off the pylons at some point....

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9 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

The tanks are resin, right ? If so I'd try to drill small holes in the pylons aligned with the holes in the tanks. Then I'd attach them using short length of metal wire going through the holes on both pylons and wings and the help of some 2-component epoxy. In my experience this is the best way to prevent the heavy resin tanks from falling off the pylons at some point....

 

Unfortunately I do not think that that will work due to the tanks being plastic (spares from left overs of a built Revell GR1 kit) and the pylons are metal. What I am thinking of doing is borrowing a wing pylon from another Revell GR1 kit, marking their extremities, then matching the metal pylons with these and then seeing where the tongue part will go on the tank and then making a matching slot in the tank. I will see about this over the weekend.

 

On the kit I have applied the major decals after fitting the walkway decals. I normally fit these as part of the stencil decals, but I did notice that the RSAF on the upper wing straddles the walkway so rather than cutting this I applied the RSAF over the walkway. I will hopefully get most of the stencils on this weekend.

 

 

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I have now applied the stencils to the model, or as many as I am going to. There are a few more but I started to get a bit bogged eyed having to use the kit decal (rubbish decals) instruction sheet to find the decal, then use the newer decal (And better decals) sheet instructions to find the equivalent decal so I could use it. Sometimes however the decal on the new sheet was ether already used on the model I built from the kit, or was totally the wrong colour or later style of marking from the time period that I wanted. If that was the case I was sometimes able to use a decal from a Revell GR1 and so I had to go through the whole process again. Still I am happy with what I have achieved, and can now carry on with decaling the weapons and fuel tanks. 

I still have the ejection seat and the U/C to build up.

 

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Ah, stencils, they are the curse of modellers of modern aircraft types ! 😁

Seriously, applying all stencils on a modern type is often nervebreaking. In any case you did a good job here. I've always had mixed feelings about the look of Saudi F.3s, as they are in a sense very subdued (no bright unit markings) and at the same time the green national markings are very exotic and sure more colourful than the RAF (and Italian) low-vis roundels. Maybe it's simply because they are something different from the look I'm used to when thinking of this aircraft. Your model represents well this combination.

 

Speaking of pylons, I see what you mean, your idea is most likely the best one in this case

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  • 4 weeks later...

After about two weeks away from this one due to holiday, I have got back to it also realising that the end date was sooner than I thought (although I have now found out that it is much later I still need to finish this at the end of the weekend as my club meets on Monday and this is this months entry). I have added the U/C, the nose U/C doors and painted few bits that were required, but still have a few small parts to paint. I have made up and started to paint the ejector seats and as you can see in the last picture the weapons, fuel tanks and pylons have all been painted and decalled. I have kept the weathering to just a small amount on the tail as these were resumably new aircraft at the time period of the model.

 

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