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Tornado GR1A catch-up


chrislowe

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Inspired by @general melchett and his ever-lasting GR1A thread, I got myself the Revell IDS kit and sat down with a load of after market to see if I could do half as good a job as the general. It's only my 2nd model since I came back to the hobby after a 20 year break, so I still feel a bit rusty in places. 

 

At this point, I should say that this build started a while ago. I didn't post much  after the photobucket kerfuffle, so there's a lot of progress to start off with...

 

As normal I started with the seats (am from Aries) and the cockpit (Eduard PE) ...

 

IMG_20180331_210548

 

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Then on to the U/C bays again with the Eduard. I have the Aries set, but the fit seemed to be iffy, and I'm not as experienced with resin, so I opted for the PE.

 

IMG_20180512_105404

 

Hard to pick out all the detail when it's primer gray, but it's all there.

 

Next came the correction of the exhaust port

 

IMG_20180518_190737

 

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Backing the hole near the engines

 

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And assembly of the fuselage...

 

IMG_20180519_081954

 

Then came correction of the wing angle. I got an angle I was happy with, without too much gap at the trailing edge.

 

IMG_20180519_170255

 

I have @Shauns wing seals and pylons...

 

IMG_20180519_170340

 

Next, a ton of correction on the fin tip...

 

IMG_20180619_192504

 

And more assembly with correction to the nose too...

 

IMG_20180619_192438

 

 

 

 

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At this point, I stopped taking as many photos because I was distracted with masking and painting followed by decals to get me to this point

 

IMG_20180907_145547

 

IMG_20180907_145517

 

 

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Added the antennas to the tail fin, the strakes visible in the back of the intakes, raf pylons, blanks over the cannons and the "A" specific pods underneath. 

 

I still have some things to get to, like the paint that extends inside the lip of the intakes, and the antennas on the spine, but first I'm going to do engines followed by flaps and slats.

 

Thanks for looking

 

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Great job Chris, you've done the old thing justice. look forward to seeing the finished result, (probably before I even get the first decal on!)

'Everlasting thread', you're quite right, unfortunately everytime it manages to find itself on the workbench, other stuff with looming magazine deadlines keep getting in the way...but I'll do my best to brush off the cobwebs and get it finished as soon as possible.

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That's terrific and as is often the case in these threads, I'm in complete awe of the skills displayed, both in the building and the decorating.

 

For those like me who aren't so great at actually modelling and just tend to assemble kits, I'm pretty concerned that yet another kit comes with the word 'correction' in nearly every step of the build. Is this Revell kit just as bad as Airfix's, Italeri's and Hobbyboss's Tornado efforts?

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Thanks to everyone for your positive comments. It really gives me the energy to push on knowing that you think it's ok.

 

@Filler it's by no means a bad kit at all. You could make it out of the box with no correction and no after market and it would make a great model. Like many models though it's not perfect, so if you're inclined you can have a crack at making it slightly better. If you haven't, already, have a read of the pinned GR1A thread by @general melchett. The combination of his attention to detail, great explanations and the combined knowledge of the people on this site makes inspiring reading. 

 

Not much of an update today because I'm in St Louis for a while with work, but I did build, paint and fit the engine nozzles before I left.

 

IMG_20180908_114654

 

IMG_20180907_230635

 

Thanks for looking.

 

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15 hours ago, ForestFan said:

I know you will probably hate me for saying this, and it may already have been pointed out, but shouldn't the red on the fin flash face forward?

Sorry!

Haha! Great spot. You're absolutely correct. I'll get it sorted. "Luckily" it's correct on the port side.

Edited by chrislowe
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  • 2 months later...

Another long gap between updates, but I haven't been idle. 

 

First job was fixing the snafu with the fin flash.

 

IMG_20181028_100134

 

Much better. Thanks to @ForestFan for the heads up. Luckily I had a spare.

 

Next on the list was the flaps, slats and undercarriage.

 

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I'm not sure I got the flap position exactly right. I think there's some mis-numbered parts in the instructions, so I was trying to figure out what parts of the flap mechanism went on which side. I'm fairly happy with it, I just think it looks a little over-extended?

 

Undercarriage next. I had the Eduard u/c PE set, much of which I'd already used in the bays, but there were some parts to fit here including a very tricky but rewarding set of hydraulic lines. 

 

IMG_20181127_214706

 

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Next came the pylons and stores. I've been using @Shauns British pylon set, tanks and pods from flightpath, and the AIM9s from the kit. Lots of resin then, especially in the flightpath tanks, which are solid.

 

IMG_20181028_100958

 

 

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Added a pin for the rbf tag...

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So right now, this is the state of the underside...

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Before I add the stores, I'm going to get some more done on the topside, mostly in the cockpit. Not really happy with that at the mo, especially in the rear.

 

IMG_20181127_220850

 

Thanks for looking.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Quick update

Since the last post, i tidied up the rear cockpit a little. 

IMG_20181213_192019

Attached the pylons and stores

 

IMG_20181213_191828

 

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The brass AOA sensor. They really are tiny and I was worried about them falling through the relatively large hole, but I used a CA applicator that I bought in the US to fill the hole with a tiny drop off CA and then got the sensor in place. 

 

IMG_20181213_191901

 

And the pitot

 

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There's not much to do now. The only parts left on the sprues are the mirrors for the canopy. 

 

Also, it needs a bit of weathering although I'm not very practiced at that. I have probably left it quite late as it's not easy to handle without knocking bits that really don't want to be knocked. Should've done it earlier.

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22 hours ago, wasacop said:

I hate to say this coz the build is looking really special but the decal under the refuel probe head “PLU ACCESS” should be on the SkyShadow pod and not where it is.

Ok so this is fixed and also I'm not a total idiot, perhaps. First, the fix...

IMG_20181214_165029

And...

IMG_20181214_165855

 

And then the bit that makes me feel a little better...

The decal nearest the AOA probe is number 81, a small yellow dot with a black triangle:

IMG_20181214_140437

 

And the decal on the left side of the Sky Shadow is also 81!

IMG_20181214_140425

 

Anyway, I think I have put that mis-step behind me, so onwards and upwards with the canopy.

Edited by chrislowe
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  • 3 weeks later...

Quick update. I invested in a pair of the AIM-9Ls from flightpath. They have a metal body with PE for the details. They are very detailed and not the easiest things in the world to assemble. I made good use of the CA applicator that I picked up in the US.

IMG_20181231_152044

 

As I'd already made use of some RBF tags on the pylons, I thought it would be churlish of me not to do the same here, so I used the seeker head covers that came in the flightpath kit.

 

2019-01-03_09-50-12

 

I got close to losing my rag with the solid resin (heavy!) tanks, after they fell off the pylon for the thirtieth time, so today I went and bought some Albion alloys brass rod (1mm) and used that to help fix everything together. It worked really well. It's something I've seen people do on BM and I'm definitely going to do it more in the future.

 

I am very close to calling this RFI, but I've knocked off the light from the port intake. I think it's been eaten by the carpet monster, so I either need to get a replacement from Revell or try scratch building one from sprue.

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I wasn't patient enough to wait for a replacement...

 

IMG_20190104_224921

 

Happy enough with that. If you didn't know, I don't think it would be too obvious.

 

So aside from fixing the canopy in place the only thing left is weathering. 

 

Ever see that meme of a retriever with his paws on the keyboard and the caption "I have no idea what I'm doing"? That's me with weathering. 

 

Brave pills required.

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  • 1 month later...

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